Trek 420 Refurb: Assessment

Well my 420 refub is not going to be exactly like the catalog shot above, although I am taking a few tips from this shot.  Much of the bike is stock but two areas that will change are the wheels and brakes.

The 420 came stock with 27" wheels and I am usually a champion of sticking with 27" wheels as many folks have the mistaken impression that either A) you can't find 27" tires or B) there is only one size to choose from which is not the case at all as I have talked about here before.  In the case of the 420 however it came to me with the rear wheel already 700c, I also have a set of 700c tires I can use, so I picked up this 700c front wheel that had the same rim as the rear earlier this summer for $20.  This will be my first ever 700c wheelset on a bike made for 27".

I picked up this pair of Tektro 539 Dual pivot brakes with nutted mounting a few months ago thinking they would be good for one of the many projects in the queue.  I tried them on the Novara Randonee but they weren't a great fit so I am hoping they will work on the 420, they should provide  improved braking over the stock single pivot DiaCompes.

From left to right above, the new 7 speed Cassette I talked about arrived and as a 12-32 will give a good range of gears, much better than the narrow range racing cassette that is currently on the rear hub.  A KMZ chain with quick link and some cloth tapes that mirrors what came stock and should play off the maroon decals on the bike.  RJ the bike guy has a video on wrapping cloth bar tape the Trek way so I will be following that.  And in finally the humble bell cable and housing set, for a friction set up I find this works fine and its about $6 for a full set vs. $20 if I went the Velo Orange route or more like $40 for Jagwire or Shimano.

I have new bearing for both the bottom bracket and headset ready to go.

I have the set of 700 x 32 Panaracer Paselas, with tubes, that I had on the Allez.  They probably have 50 miles or less on them and should clean up nicely and fit better on the 420 than they did on the Allez.  I will certainly note they are nearly new not brand new when I list the 420 but they have the advantage of being paid for.

starting point

first pass with goof off

More Goof Off and some scrubbing

The frame is going to demand a lot of attention. I have started removing some of the road tar spots on the frame, the Goof off works great, there are more spots on the fork.  And the more I look at the frame the more rust spots I see from chips and scrapes that went down to the bare metal.  This bike was definitely not a garage queen and may have been stored outside in its life as a college bike although the components don't show signs of rust from being left in the elements for long periods.  I am going to have to spend some time with the Naval jelly to remove the rust and try to find a decent nail polish match to protect the bare metal.  I think I can get the paint to the looks good from 10 feet away stage but it will have some patina close up.

Ride. Scrub away years of grime. Smile. Repeat.