'91 Trek 2300 In All Its Bright 90's Colored Glory
Posted Apr 12, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC
1.4K129
Wanted to do a build with some bright, fun colors and found this Trek 2300 with the green and neon yellow. Added some pink for extra 90's flair and a little more fun all around.
34
This is beautiful. What size is it?
Possible follow-up, what is your address and when are you not at home?
But seriously, I am now looking for this frameset. I love that look and would love to give one new life. Yours looks rad.
16
This one is a 54, I usually ride a 56 but I often size down on some frames.
The 2100 and 2300 bikes aren't too difficult to find and usually only sell for around 500 or so. Just gotta watch for the condition of the lugs to make sure there's no bonding issues. The other color variants I know are purple, maroon, neon yellow, and a bare polished.
9
I've got one of the purple and black. 92 I believe. Rides like a champ.
7
How do you know for sure though without x-ray...like the Alans and Treks are great but also scary.
3
You're not looking for cracks in the carbon on these as much as you are debonding of the join between the lugs and tubes. On the older frames of this design the tubes were bonded directly to the lugs making them susceptible to galvanic corrosion from moisture buildup. By the early 90s Trek and a few others were using layers of kevlar and other non-reactive materials between the tubes and lugs to partially mitigate the possibility of corrosion causing failure of the epoxy join. Issues could still happen but were less likely than on earlier frames from Exxon, TVT, and ALAN.
Proper storage of the bikes by keeping them out of large temperature swings, avoiding very humid or wet environments, and other measures help to greatly reduce the likelihood of any issues.
As far as inspecting frames it can help to look for some telltale signs of issues such as bubbling of paint around joint between the lug and tube, white powder around the lugs (like what you might see from a battery), and listening to the frame for any creaks around the lugs. While its not 100% if a frame looks to be in good condition and appears to have not been heavily abused its likely ok. That said I do periodically inspect all my older frames for changes in their condition.
3
So much nicer to look at than the ubiquitous all black every thing.
20
Years ago the black on black on black with extra black was kinda cool cause it was so uncommon but its been played out for a while now. I always like seeing bikes with nice bright colors on them.
14
Checking out bikes at LBS, do you have blacker
2
Back in '12 I had a guy who was looking for a road bike and was interested in the Cannondale CAAD10 Black Inc. Now the Black Inc was pretty darn black on black but he legit asked me if I had anything blacker.
He didn't like that the chainrings, cassette, and brake track weren't entirely black.
1
Lol nice. I bought a red CAAD10 around then as my first bike.
2
Black on black is much better than a gaudy busy design. This is better than all black imo.
2
This is the "Saved by the Bell" of bikes.
14
Saved by the bell, the Power Rangers Angel Grove Gym, The Fresh Prince, and more 90's shows with these bright color palettes were what I had in mind when building it.
12
This just screams "matching spandex". 9 out of 10 cyclists from the 1990s agree: fluorescent colours make you go faster.
12
I already have found a cycling cap to match the bike but now I think I gotta get a full kit.
11
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Try StolenGoat for some awesome kit. I spent too much money on them for this season. StarWars Jersey, Hanzo and tow of their multi colored jerseys recently. Really like the fit and styles.
2
I may also go faster, if I feel slightly more visible
4
The bits of pink are the perfect accent! I love it.
6
Everyone knows pink bikes are faster.
7
I like how you repurposed an industrial sawblade for a big ring.
4
Nice big 53/39. If I had a spare biopace ring I'd put that on it.
5
I would say that your safe out there being a highlighter but cars somehow still seem to aim for you no matter the color.
My Felt super lite is bright blue and I wear bright blue clothing with a stop light and mirror but somehow people still get to close or in one case ran a stop sign nearly hitting me.
3
You could be covered in LEDs and people would still miss you. Its amazing how oblivious some people are. In addition to my bikes I also have a bright yellow car I drive occasionally and people still miss that.
5
I'm not into vintage bikes at all, but this is fucking awesome!
3
Woah woah woah, you're gonna make the bike feel old. I prefer to use the term Retro so it doesn't feel bad about going into its 30's .
4
Guess I should call myself retro as well...
4
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3
That bike is dope!!!
3
Nice! Way to embrace a 90s color scheme. I'm helping my father-in-law re-tool his 1989 Trek 1200 (aluminum and Shimano 105 components). The gearing is way too high for him to easily tackle the steep hills around here. The "small ring" in the front is a 42 and the "big cog" in the back is a not-so-big 25T. They expected you to have legs like the pros back then! Ha! It will be a little sad to remove the Biopace oval chainrings on his bike, but he is excited to ride it again (for nostalgia -- he has a modern carbon fiber bike, too). Your drivetrain looks pretty similar to stock gearing for those bikes. I hope you've got the motor to drive it!
3
Thanks!
Its pretty flat where I live so I've always run traditional 53/39 with a 12-25. I did recently put a 52/36 on my high mileage bike but that's the closest I've come to having a compact.
My '89 Miyata Carbontech has a set of 105 biopace rings which has always been pretty cool to ride.
2
Yeah, he is from the farm fields of the Midwest so the gearing wasn't a problem when the terrain was flatter. It was optimal, really, for where he used to live. Around here (where he now lives, too), if you want to go on a scenic ride, it will probably involve a lot of climbing -- and not just well-graded slopes, either.
We are keeping all of the old parts, so it can always be "restored" to its former glory. In the meantime, he is getting some nice stuff from my parts-bin that will give him gearing low enough that he'll actually ride the bike more often. Better to alter it and ride it than for it to be a "garage queen" as my father-in-law would say.
2
Awesome that you're able tog et it converted over for him. Keeping the original crankset or going with more modern arms and a compact?
1
The bike is going to remain 7 speed with the original shifters, but these parts were changed over yesterday in short order:
- Crankset (to a silver, 5-arm compact crankset with 50/34 gearing that matches the original aesthetic reasonably well)
- Rear derailleur (silver Shimano Tiagra 9-speed model, which also matches reasonable well against the original silver 105 7-speed derailleur)
- Cassette (11-30T 7-speed hyperglide; I put him on the job of grinding the wide splines off the hyperglide cassette so it would fit on his old uniglide hub, which was in excellent condition after some fresh grease). He did that while I did the rest of the swaps.
- Now it just needs a chain and some derailleur tuning and he'll be in business. I'm thinking that a 9 or 10 speed chain would work best (to match the rear derailleur and crankset), but if you have opinions on the matter, I'm happy to hear them! I have 6/7/8 speed chains and 10 speed chains already on hand.
Overall: The bike will look relatively stock (from a distance anyway!), but with gearing that he will enjoy a lot more for his local rides. And all of this stuff from my parts bin will get put to good use again, which always makes me happy.
2
I feel for him - my 91 1200 came with a 53/42 and 23-13, which was absolutely not great for the steeper hills around here (especially at my fitness level). Replaced it with a New Albion 42/30 with a Shimano 28-12 and get way more out of it.
2
Ha ha. Indeed. 42 x 23 is hardly a "low" gear for most of us, particularly in hilly terrain! I'm sure that new setup did the trick nicely. I was happy to make use of what was in my parts bin for my father-in-law's bike. I think the new 34x30 low gear he'll have will be a pretty solid option, particularly compared to the stock gearing. Not too dissimilar to your 30/28, really. And he'll still have some bigger gears for the group rides he goes on with a 50T big ring.
2
Yeah his new ones should do well; it's 1.13 vs mine at 1.07. I'd have gone larger, but I ran into a combination of the derailleur not having enough (potential) clearance and issues of chain capacity - both work out to 28t being the theoretical max.
I've braided spaghetti noodles for legs, though, so a 50t chainring would be lost on me hah.
1
This is perfect..all you need is a super soaker around your shoulders when riding
3
Don't have any super soakers but I have some old 90's nerf guns somewhere.
1
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3
That is a work of art
3
Thanks! Its a ton of fun doing a new build and picking out how to coordinate all the parts/colors.
1
God it’s beautiful
3
Damn dude, that shit is so fuckin sexy this needs a NSFW tag
3
That's a really nice looking bike, damn
2
God Dam what a sexy Trek
2
This belongs on r/bikeporn. What a magnificent creature!
2
This is so 90s it hurts. That saddle is perfection 👌
Thanks! The saddle is from Supacaz, I've used their tape on other builds before but had no idea they made saddles. My wife is the one who found this saddle and showed it to me when I was planning the build out.
The saddle felt really good on the first ride so I also picked up another one for one of my newer bikes.
It just needs some proper 90’s neon LOOK pedals to really finish it off.
I own too many SPD compatible shoes with CB cleats to convert now. XD
There are these:
https://rideissi.com/pedals/issi-flash
The yellow ones are pretty bright.
Irony is that that saddle wouldn’t have existed in ‘91. Although if it did it would have been pretty cool.