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The shed clearout continues. Loads of stuff dropped off at the local ReCycle place today. I have however kept back a 1999 Trek 8500 frame, some Hope wheels and other odds and ends that I think may well be compatible.
Before I get stuck in, does anyone have any advice?
Also, the frame has a Hayes mount brake fitting. What's that all about for goodness sakes!?! Do adapters for such exist?
My advice would be to get on with it. You won't know what bits are missing until start bolting bits together no matter how well you plan. Just start spannering and see how it goes. Oh, and you can get adapters for most brake options
My advice is to not keep track of what you end up spending on all those niggly bits to complete the build (and realising it would have purchased a pretty nice bike)
Buy some beers because at some point you'll realise something you gave away is an essential part of the build and will either be tricky to find it expensive to buy. At that point open the beers.
Yeah, like the shifters that are now in the Swansea charity shop. Balls!
And the discs.
Grips too. Oh bother, this isn't going too well.
Maybe some whisky too.
Try to plan ahead a little so that you're not doing loads of tiny orders, and paying £5 a go postage, for all the bits you are missing.
Embrace the frustration
Somehow
Do adapters for such exist?
There will be thousands of them sitting in people's spare parts boxes. Problem is finding someone who has one that they don't want.
Bear in mind it’s an old frame with old geometry and potentially some old standards - your brake mounts / straight headtube etc. It’s amazing how much money you spend on little things and how quickly it adds up.
Also can be surprising what money you get selling old stuff on eBay - you might be better off selling the lot and buying something newer....
Worth thinking about the level of kit you'll end up with on there - a lot of older stuff, especially thing like 26" tyres are now in very limited offerings. Guessing that it was probably an 8sp, maybe 9? Check rear mech compatibility, it's unlikely you'll squeeze a 10sp cassette onto older wheels which then makes shift/mech availability a pain.
Try to decide first what you want to run it as (commuter, pub bike, a complete retro rebuild) and then work out logisitics like maybe running it as a 1x or even SSing it.