Bingham, Wayne R. wrote:
> As one of several Trek fans on the CR list, I've enjoyed reading your
> posts on your time with Trek, and the workings of the business in the
> era. I was wondering if you might be able to shed some light on another
> facet of frame production in the early 80's. I have a custom Trek track
> frame, which I suspect to be from about '84, that was built for a
> supposed Olympic hopeful named Laura Payke. My understanding is that
> all track frames were custom built, but I have little information other
> than that. I was hoping that you might offer some insight into Trek's
> track frame production at the time. Was there a specific protocol for
> track frame construction, specific builder or builders perhaps? Was
> there a large output of track frames or something rare? Were all track
> frames custom? The frame I have is sort-of dark red, built with
> Reynolds 753 tubes (at least according to the decals on the seat tube
> and fork blades), uses Trek's IC seat lug with the plug-in stay caps,
> and has Laura's name on the top tube. And, in general actually, any
> other info you might have on Trek's track frame history.
Ah, yes. I remember working on those frames. They were custom-designed for each rider by Tim Isaac and built by a small group of brazers: Rich Fauerbach, Kelly Gamble, and myself. There was no commercial production of track frames at all; they were solely produced for the teams we sponsored.
And yes, they were built from Reynolds 753 tubing. Rich, Kelly, and I were the only builders who worked on the 753 material. We had a production 753 road frame as well (model 170) that used the same frame geometry as the Columbus SL model 970. I think only a few dozen were made. The model 170 frames were also built individually in the prototype workshop where the team bikes were built.
--
-John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA