About the saddle, Strip a classic selle italia flite and sand it.
It looks very nice and it's very comfy!

Unfortunately I prefer the USPS paint scheme...black gloss is a dime a dozen. USPS was very unique.

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Thing 1 & Thing 2 & Thing 3

Beautiful

Big improvement. I didn't like the lance-alike paint. I think you've just made a really really nice Parlee-like training bike for very little money (with the clinchers). Great job.

Also the workmanship under that white paint looks excellent - I had imagined there would be a mass of filler, weave and uni mix, but instead looks great quality.

When I was doing my own Trek 5200/5500 OCLV USPS build (http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=80605) my original plan was eventually to strip the paint and show the nude carbon as an option for the future.

That looks amazing! Wow, did you keep the original fork? Thats the only non weigh weenie part because of the alloy or steel (in my case) steerer. That really is beautiful carbon. From and function on display.

Unfortunately stripping the paint and showing the beautiful nude carbon is no longer an option for me, because I'm going on to a new build.

But I was finally able to weigh my 54cm frame (year 2000) officially. Mine was 1,142g I was shocked because thats still great even for today. Those Trek engineers really did great on their first serious run at the Tour De France which they won with Lance.

pics of the frame weight here (viewtopic.php?f=10&t=80605&p=737052#p737052)

yep, i kept the original fork with alloy crown and steerer tube.

had to paint the top of the carbon blades leading to the crown, and hope it blended in ok.

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cannondale flash3 alloy 29er
trek 5200 nude carbon
pegoretti marcelo

Great job. Lovely & clean.
I have a gloss Addict that I'm thinking of stripping down to remove some decals then getting it re-clear coated.
I'm in the UK; do Argos get a thumbs up? Decent price?

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"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
Josh Billings

argos didn't over promise anything. once mark saw the frame he called to say there was a newer decal type face we could try, and so i asked him to use his judgement. i believe they also removed the crown race off the fork for me and didn't charge. when i got it back i saw they had remembered to refit it. the cost was 135 UK pounds plus carriage for the clearcoat and decals. i did the prep work which took 3 weeks of most evenings, wet sanding, with a mask.

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cannondale flash3 alloy 29er
trek 5200 nude carbon
pegoretti marcelo

The bike looks awesome in black, but I don't understand how the you can "hate" Treks yet like this one because it is painted. It is the same bike, different color. I own this bike as well in the white USPS scheme. Great frame then, holds up against any Chinese cookie cutter frame.

Yeah, although I think it look great in black, the bike in original form is in the Smithsonian. Go figure! The frame is legendary even before Lance rode one. One of the earliest legitimate carbon frames made. I almost sold mine many times but recently swapped components and added Ritchey controls.


Here's mine.

It's incredible how much the carbon quality on this bike, looks very much like a Parlee today. What a shame Trek never did clearcoated version of this frame, as far as I recall. I now realize how good these frames were back then, 10 years ago and that's thanks to your amazing bike.

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A light bike does replace good fitness.

Thanks for the reply re Argos; I'll check them out.
Cheers.

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"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
Josh Billings

That's a stunner. Very nice.

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Mr.Gib wrote:

I think this is where you are making a mistake. If it was my money I'd be looking for a frame that climbs like a scalded baby monkey on amphetamines. A goat on steroids will just not be as fast uphill.

One of the nicest bikes around the last months!

I want to describe the OPs bike as "RETRO FUTURISTIC"

I remember back in the early 90's and going to my local bikeshop and seeing older Kestrel and Klein frames that looked similar with glossy/creamy white or black paint jobs and just be mesmerized thinking what the future of carbon fiber and cycling would bring.


of course those bikes just seemed astronomically expensive and were practically seemed like fragile functional pieces of art at the time.

I can understand why some don't like the old USPS Trek bikes, because they were garish, but also because they sparked a whole boom of carbon frames for the masses (who were now willing to spend money on carbon en masse). A whole new boom of FREDs increased in population exponentially.

But you can't deny the form + function of these Trek OCLV 5200/5500/5900 frames that Lance won on. Especially seeing it stripped of its skin in the OP's bike. These were hand made in the USA and its ironic that there is so much beauty hidden under all that "in your face Americana" that is the USPS Postal Service Paint Schemes.

I for one love those USPS Paint Schemes because they are a symbolism of that time in history. But seeing what is underneath actually makes me appreciate it more.