I have done braze-on additions on two old Treks recently, a 1981 model 728
and an earlier model 700. Brazing looked nice and complete on both and
nicer than some more prestigious frames--these frames were both handed to me
nekkid and paintless.
DF
> In a message dated 1/25/2001 5:35:22 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> monkey37@bluemarble.net writes:
>
> << After sandblasting the frame I was inspecting it and found 3 different
> paces with incomplete brazing, one the upper headtube lug, one at the
> seattube to BB juncture, and the last one on rear brake bridge. I was
kinda
> shocked since I had just finished reading an interview with Joe Stark in
the
> Riv Reader and he talked all about Trek's quality control. >>
>
> Yes, let's not romanticize Treks too much. They were a relatively high
> production product and had as many glitches and goobers as other mass
> produced bikes.
>
> I was the first representative for Trek in the Southeastern USA, when I
> started with them in the late 1970s my territory was from Wash, DC to the
tip
> of Florida!
>
> I remember a trip to Waterloo in which we were touring the factory and in
one
> huge room, I saw stacks & rows of frames in high high racks. I noticed
they
> were all heavily rusted to a uniform, all-over bright reddish brown! The
> fellow giving the tour (Maybe Tim Isaac, ex-Match guy & now at Litespeed!)
> said that didn't matter as they dipped them in nearby cauldrons of striper
> right before they were painted.. It seemed too much to believe. Where are
you
> when we need you, JP Weigle? (Frame Saver)
>
> The main factory housed the frame making operations and I was interested
in
> the bottom bracket /frame tubing assembly technique... They clamped a
bottom
> bracket shell in a fixture, slathered everything in sight with paste flux,
> then had a kind of clamping gizmo that the seat or down tube were clamped
> into in.. the operator would grab a lever and the tube was ram rodded into
> the female socket of the bb shell with some heavy force! It damned well
was
> made to fit!
>
> But despite these seemingly crude techniques, the bikes in general did
very
> well and I am sure a very small percentage gave trouble (Unlike the snap
and
> pop OCLVs of later years!)
>
> Dale Brown