Topkek loves functional bikes

Really nice done- with a cult bike. Thought of doing the same thing for ages..
Where did you get that NOS frame- from Trek? All I see these days are black ones

@The_Dane
Sorry for the late reply, didn't see your post. My local Trek dealer were able to order the frameset (f+f, including headset and seatpost bolt) from the stock in The Netherlands i think, and had it within a week. The black frames are the disc brake version, the green one only come with canti studs as far as I know. It's not listed on Treks website, I just found out about it from a post on an other forum.

Pic is the Macho Man with a pair of Conti AT Ride 42c (39mm actual) tires. They are the first knobbies I've ridden in quite a while, so they were great fun on the forest roads yesterday.

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Love the trek, been trying to convince my long hauling friend to build one instead of the cinelli hobo he's been eyeing up.

Ayy, time for some fun in the woods! Building this GT Karakoram for riding our local trail with a couple of colleagues. I've never riden a proper mtb before, and even though this havent got any suspension, it will hopefully give me an idea if fat rubber and dirt is something i will enjoy, before i decide wether to shell out on a modern mtb.

I've always had a crush on the GT triple triangle, so I was very excited about getting my hands on this. Ordered some blue goodies to attach to, but the 68mm bottom bracket appears to be a 73mm even if it says 68 on both package and unit itself. The nds cup wont screw all the way in, and its not the shell, I have fitted an other one without any issues. Threading on the cup is not bad either, and it seems it just wont fit on the other part of the unit. Anyway, will have to get a replacement next week.

Wheels are home build 36h Sun Ringle Rhyno lite rims on Deore hubs, and drivetrain will be a 1x9 with a narrow wide 34t up front and an Alivio shadow RD with a 12-36 cassette in the back. V-brake front and back, and Continental tires.

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Looks Sweet! I'm planning on building a vtg mtb soon too, GT's are sick!

Nice! Sensible component choice

Thanks.
I can't find any info on the tubes of the frame, does anyone know if it's anything special? The top and down tubes are "flattened" in opposite directions at each end, kinda like Columbus Max, if that makes sense. I think it's a 1997 model, and i can't figure out how close to the top or bottom in the line up it was.

Also, my chain breaker broke while I was removing a couple of links, so I havent been able to finish this yet despite having all the parts home. Today the new Park Tool CT 3.2 chain breaker arrived, and it seems a lot sturdier than the old tool (which lasted three years, so i'm not complaining), so will probably be able to take it for spin in the weekend.

The Karakoram was upper mid-range. Below the zaskar & avalanche but better than tequesta, timberline, talera. Tubing should be double butted tange. Here's the catalagoue of '94 http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/10521-3/1994.pdf

I see, thank you. It's a pretty nice ride, really looking forward to testing it on the trail on saturday. The brakes are really powerful and surprisingly easy to modulate, but I guess that may all change if things get too wet.

I think I could use a little setback on the seatpost, but it takes an obscure 29,6mm post, and this inline BBB is the only one I've come across so far. This is how it looks:

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Got a few upgrades in the mail a few days ago.

PRO LT compact ergo bars, delicious 3mm fizik tape, Tektro cr710 canti brakes with two pair of salmons on the side.
The brakes were a massive pita to set up, and I dont even know why, I'm usually good with cantis. The barrel adjuster quick release is nice though, and the modulation is better than with the mini v's, and almost as powerful.
I'm not sure about the bars yet. To get a horizontal ramp transition to the hoods you need to tilt the bars, so that the flat ergo section on the tops are a bit too much at an angle. They are still a great improvement over the FSA Veros.

Fitted it all last night, and we're going on a short weekend tour, so will post pictures of final result later.

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Pretty please, is that 63cm Trek frame? I believe I'm seeing a "3" on that seatpost sticker… Beautiful build!

Hi, thanks, sorry I didnt see you comment. It's a 60 cm frame.

All of these are lovely builds. Would you mind giving details of the V or Mini-V brakes you're using with drop handlebar levers/shifters? And are they better than cantis for stopping power/speed? Thanks!

Thanks @essdi.

The All City has Tiagra 4700 STI levers with Tektro rx-5 mini v brakes and Kool Stop salmon pads. I like the combination very much - plenty of pad clearance against braking surface (18mm internal diameter DT swiss r460 rim), and good power and modulation. Placement of the studs can vary between frames, but here the brakes will clear a studded 40mm continental cx tire.

The Trek 520 started out with the same STI/brake combo as above, but it was tight with 38mm Paselas and fenders, so after a year I switched to cantis, which i hated, and then to a pair of Shimano mini v's. I believe they are called br-r353, they look exactly like them at least. Tire/fender clearance is a bit better, as the arms are a little longer, and there is still enough pad clearance against brake surface too. I think the power is even better than the Tektros, and I would probably get these again over the Tektros if I had to.

The cantis I had were the Tektro cr710, and they were an absolute pain to install and adjust. I have installed lots of old cantis on other bikes, but these were just horrible. I remember the power as about as good as the Tektro mini v's, and they obviously had a lot more tire clearance. I found that they would start to squeal a lot more than the mini v's, which required furhter adjustments - which was the reason i eventually replaced them

Over all the mini v's are extrememly easy to deal with, while the canti's require constant adjustments for optimal performance. Thats my experience at least, but I know some people love cantis. Hope that helped.

That's very helpful, thank you very much. Has the Panasonic from the start of the thread changed at all...?!

Only a little. We changed the seat, and the bars have changed twice i think, but nothing major, just a little more rise and backsweep. We added a Racktime rear rack as well, and bought a Racktime basket - really nice integration between those two, the basket is easy to add/remove and can be locked to the rack. My gf loves it.

With the trek, did you just walk into a dealer trying to find some kind of NOS touring frame? Cool that they managed to procure it so quickly for you. I need something similar! Would you ever sell it? @topkek

The green frameset I got was actually the current version of the 520 at that time, so nothing NOS about it. It's just that the black disc brake version was the only one advertised in Europe i think, so I only knew the green canti version existed from some US forum.

I've considered replacing the frameset+brakes+wheels for a similar setup but with disc brakes, but even if I managed to sell it, the total would still be an expense my bike budget wont allow at the moment.
But yeah now that you ask, I'm tempted again, haha...

@topkek ah fair enough cheers. The trek is such a nice build, did you add a chainstay protector?
Do you wish it had more braking power? I had a similar style kaffenback with discs, sold it, regretted it, got a cross check with cantis and I miss having disc brakes.

Thanks, I like it a lot too. The frame came with a clear plastic sticker sort of chain stay protector, and its still going strong.

It has plenty of braking power and also good modulation in dry weather. The reason I've considered moving to disc brakes is the performance in wet weather, which I'm not completely satisfied with. I commute year round in any kind of weather, so it's just been bugging me lately. And on top of that, I have this maybe farfetched feeling that disc brakes doesnt leave the same amount of black dusty dirt on the bike as rim brakes does.

That said, I have no other experience with disc brakes than my hydraulic deores on my mtb (not the GT from this thread, I've since replaced it with a Specialized Chisel), which I havent ridden in wet weather, so I'm basing this desire for disc brakes on opinions from strangers on the internet, of which LFGSS is a great source.

I have this maybe farfetched feeling that disc brakes doesnt leave the same amount of black dusty dirt on the bike as rim brakes does

Very true.

I have tanwalls, rim brake rear and disc front, the difference is night and day

Thanks for the input, you're not making this easier for me.

Thread dredge. I'm considering a 520 canti frameset, without guards, how big a tyre do you reckon it'll take?
Lovely commute/touring build by the way.

Thank you, @jontea, I've since changed the bars, saddle and brakes, and added a pizza rack with a wald basket. Love how it is right now, I consider it pretty much finished.

I run 38c Paselas which measure about 36mm, with 45mm sks longboards. The mudguards fits perfectly, and there's room for the tires as well, but I would not go much wider to be honest, maybe a 38 or 40 would be okay - with those mudguards.

I'm not sure about clearance without mudguards, but I can measure it tomorrow and take some pictures.

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