TheShipwright's retro MTB load lugger

I joined the ranks of retro mountain bikers with the purchase of this 1992 Trek 990.

From here https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/3536­84/#comment15517465

Initially I was not planning to do much, just wanted to get it rolling, however the wheels couldn't be trued as the spokes had seized on the nipples, not uncommon on 30 year old wheels I imagine, I tried plusgas for a few days but no joy.

After purchasing lightly used wheels, that could take a 10 speed cassette, I decided I'd build it 3*9 as I had a cassette and 9 speed shifter already. I only needed a front deraileur and front/left shifter.

Not really fussed about the looks, if that wasn't obvious already, so not planning on painting it at this stage.

So far
Fitted an 80's steel stem (parts bin)
One On Mary's (parts bin) with lock on grips and old 2*7 shifters (to be swapped out), I'll keep the brake levers.
WTB saddle (parts bin) in great condition I just can't remember if it's comfy!
Table Tops 2.25s (purchased from here)
Front Rack Minoura porteur (purchased from here)
122.5mm bottom bracket new
Wellgo platform pedals (purchased from here)

It's got a nice 'patina' but is lacquered over so safe'ish from futher rust.

I like the seat stay tops!

and it's got decent clearance at the front with a 2.25s

and decent clearance at the back with a 2.25s

Here's a mid way build mock up snap

EDIT: Actually as it's temporarily stopped raining I took another snap mock up.

The original clamp/seatpost was too small and had deformed the seat tube slightly.
It was quite easy to resolve using a wooden mallet and mandrel inside the seat tube.
I cleaned it up afterwards with some sand-paper wrapped around broom handle and now the new seatpost fits perfect and slides in and out without scratching it up!

Still to complete
Shifters (purchased from here)
Fit front derailuer (ebay)
Cable up
Mudgaurds which fit over my 2.25s
Fine tune seating/bars etc

Rear Carrdice bagman QR (parts bin)

I painted (quite badly) over the lime green paint on the lugs, with gloss black but left the forks lime green as I'm swapping them out for altered Surly Cross Check forks and the new Cross Check forks are black.

At a later date I'm going to try detailing the Trek Panto. I thought maybe sand off the paint on the Trek lettering and lacquer over it again.

I'm really dithering about bullmoose handlebars from Planet X.

Today's tinkering resulted in a poor mans Surly Moloko bar created bodged up!
I'm waiting on some components so tinkering is all I can do at present.

Subscribed!

The bars look mental, in a good way. Liking the inner tube rack straps ;)

^Agreed, looks rad already, can't wait to see it finished!

Cheers, yep def looks a bit mental.
I've got the jones alpkit copies on my 29er and I miss being able to lean forward.

We'll see how it goes they may come off again.

Got my shifters today and cleaned them, got rid of the grit in them.

Cabling up next I think.

@ectoplasmosis I copied the inner tubes idea of someone who picked something up from me on his cargo bike. They work really well, grippy, easy to tie and it's better than them going in the bin. Eye injuries, from the bungie cords with metal hooks, are quite common apparently and can be quite serious.

Yep, got the same arrangement on the British Eagle. Has the bonus of the lower diagonal strap acting as a non-slip strip when the upper one is used to hold a thing down.

Those need to go in the Jones loop bars without the cost thread

quickie update.
Whilst the missus took the kids outto a local "jumble trail", more on that below, I cabled up the brakes and gears, switched the heavy AF steel stem for a stem adaptor and ahead stem. It's clunky but I'm changing the fork anyway and will be using an ahead in the future.
Brakes I bought from @alban are great but the back brake squeals like squealy thing!!!
Had a quick peek for toe in etc and when testing it off the bike I can see the rear stays flexing quite a lot so have ordered a brake booster.

On my last V braked 26" MTB, I never had any noise from the brakes, I guess it was obviously made of stouter stuff!

Also switched the rack for a pizza rack I bought from @Jake (cheers Jake!)

Here's how it looks now.

Looking really great! Much improved from when I had it, the black looks way better than the green and the black forks I can imagine will look sweet to match.

Glad you like the brakes, hope you manage to sort the noise. I’m gonna put a pair of boosters on the Trek 950 as I tried some on a pal’s bike this weekend and they feel really amazing.

This looks great dude. Liking the Mary mega bar setup.

Cheers @Alban and @Settle.
When it's on the road proper I'll how the bar ends in the middle work out but I'm hopefully from my trip around the garden a few times.

..

Minor update, fitted mudgaurds and an old but nice Brooks B68. The saddle is the size of a small sofa but works well on a upright bike.
Had a spare rear mudguard so fitted it at the front, had to bodge a support bracket from the front of the rack to raise the gaurd up off the tyre.

Had a weird issue with shifting, the chain was repeatedly catchingon the middle ring and wrap itself. Luckily it was always happened at slow speed and didn't lead to any issues. It transpires the middle ring was steel and being thinner than alloy the chainring bolts were too long. To overcome this it packed with washers which moved the chainline out. I had a spare inner ring, which is alloy, so could remove the washers and it's all sorted now and shifting smoothly.

Couple of small jobs still to do including, trim the stays and maybe
touch up bar ends and maybe wrap the bar endsin some thick black cotton twine.

Side on