trek 830 conversion

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Trek 830 Review

September 20, 2023

‍ Key Takeaways

• The Trek 830 has a versatile design for both on and off-road adventures.
• Its durable frame construction ensures long-lasting performance.
• The Trek 830 has significantly shaped the biking industry since its launch.

This article may contain affiliate links where we earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

‍ Finding the perfect off-road companion just got easier. Dive into our Trek 830 Review to uncover the rugged bike built for your wildest trails.

The Trek 830 offers sturdy construction and reliable performance, making it a popular option among riders who want a dependable, long-lasting bike that can handle rugged terrain. It’s a solid choice for those looking to embark on off-road adventures.

With years of expertise in the cycling industry, I understand the importance of reliable information when purchasing a new bike. Drawing from my own experiences and the collective knowledge of riders who have owned or tested the Trek 830, I offer a trustworthy account of this mountain bike, ensuring that you can decide whether this is the right bicycle for you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

‍ ‍ ‍ Overview of the Trek 830

The Trek 830 is a popular mountain bike known for its durability and versatile riding capabilities. Over the years, it has received numerous positive reviews from riders who have used it on various terrains, proving its worth as a reliable bicycle for beginner and intermediate riders.

It stands out as a good mountain bike for those who seek a reliable and sturdy option for light off-roading and urban usage. Its 21-speed configuration and suspension fork provide smooth shifting and handling on different terrains.

Moreover, the bulletproof frame has remained popular for riders who value durability . Its drivetrain and chain rings help transfer power to the bike’s wheels.

Design and Structure

When delving into the Trek 830 review, one cannot overlook the significance of its design and structure. A bicycle's design and construction are pivotal in determining its performance, comfort, and suitability for various terrains.

In this section, we’ll thoroughly analyze the Trek 830's frame materials, suspension, wheels and tires to understand how they contribute to its versatility and reliability on urban streets and off-road trails.

The Trek 830 is known for its sturdy steel frame, which offers significant durability. It has been designed to withstand years of regular use, and many users have reported that their Trek 830 still functions well even after decades of use.

The construction of the frame contributes to the bike's stability, allowing the rider to have confidence in its ability to handle different types of terrain and conditions.

Regarding suspension, the Trek 830 features a front suspension fork. This component helps smoothen the ride while navigating rough trails or uneven surfaces.

Although it may not have the advanced technology found in some modern mountain bikes, the front suspension is still effective in providing a comfortable riding experience.

Wheel and Tires

The wheels, rims, and tires of the Trek 830 are designed for mountain biking, granting the rider better traction and control on various surfaces. The bike originally comes with 26-inch wheels, widely considered reliable and suitable for rough terrains and gravel roads.

The tires are suitable for off-road adventures and can be replaced with slicker tires for a smoother ride on paved surfaces.

Key Features

In this section, we’ll discuss the key features of the Trek 830 mountain bike. We’ll cover aspects like grip shifts and controls, forks and pedals, and shocks and brakes.

Grip Shifts and Controls

The Trek 830 features 21-speed grip shifts that provide better control and smooth shifting across various terrains. These grip shifts are positioned on the handlebars and are made for a comfortable and easy-to-use shifting experience.

With its reliable Shimano components and relaxed geometry,  cyclists can trust this bike for smooth control and performance.

Fork and Pedals

The bike includes a suspension fork that enhances the ride quality and, while not the most advanced, still does an adequate job of absorbing bumps and shocks from rough terrain. This fork from Rock Shox provides a good balance between stability and comfort on surfaces like rocky or loose tracks.

As for the pedals, they are durable and designed to handle various off-road challenges without compromising the rider's safety.

Shocks and Brakes

Although the Trek 830 has a somewhat basic suspension system, it still offers a decent level of shock absorption for a pleasurable riding experience. The bike's suspension and sturdy frame allow riders to roll smoothly on tough terrains.

Also, the Trek 830 is equipped with efficient brakes that offer dependable and responsive braking in different conditions for reliable stopping power. This feature helps ensure riders' safety and enables them to have more control over their ride.

Riding Experience

Now, let’s discuss the riding experience of the Trek 830, focusing on trail riding and road as well as city commuting. As an avid cyclist, I’ve ridden the Trek 830 in various conditions and terrains, and I'll share my thoughts on how it performs.

Trail Riding

When it comes to trail riding, the Trek 830 holds its ground quite well. The bike's sturdy frame, fenders, and suspension fork allow it to tackle dirt trails, loose rocks, and mud. However, it may not be the best choice for tackling more technical trails or extreme off-road conditions.

Road and City Commuting

The Trek 830 also shines as a road and city commuter bike. With its 21 speeds, riders can easily navigate various terrains, including a greenway and campus. The bike's durability ensures it can withstand the wear and tear of daily use, ensuring it can remain in good shape for an extended period.

This bike should be adjusted and tuned to perform well in commuting, making it a versatile choice for cyclists seeking off-road and urban adventures.

Purchase and Sale

In this section, we'll discuss purchasing and selling the Trek 830 Antelope mountain bike. We'll explore its price, available deals, and customer experiences.

Price and Available Deals

The Trek 830 Antelope is a popular mountain bike that has been enjoyed by riders for decades. Due to the age of the bike, it may not be readily available for purchase in stores or from the original manufacturer.

However, you can often find the Trek 830 Antelope for sale on platforms like Craigslist and other second-hand marketplaces. The price of the bike will vary depending on factors such as its condition, upgrades, and possible rust.

Additionally, as with other used products, be prepared to negotiate prices when looking to purchase or sell the Trek 830.

Customer Experiences

Many owners of the Trek 830 Antelope have praised its durability, mentioning that it's well-suited for various terrain and activities. One user posted that he has had the bike since 1995, and at age 40 , it still rides smoothly and is in good condition. He even plans on passing it down to his daughter.

Another customer who purchased their Trek 830 Antelope in 1992 reports that the bike can still be ridden normally despite using it to transport heavy-duty cargo in its racks. This durability speaks to the quality and excellent condition of the bike's frame, making it a great option for those who need a sturdy, reliable ride.

When considering upgrades, some owners have replaced components such as the saddle or other parts over time. Keep in mind that the Trek 830 Antelope is no longer in production, so sourcing replacement parts in great condition may require some searching.

Nevertheless, the bike's overall quality and performance have earned it positive reviews and a loyal following among its users.

Comparison with Other Models

If you're considering the Trek 830 mountain bike, it's important to know how it compares with other models within its class. In this section, we'll explore some key differences and similarities between the Trek 830 and other popular mountain bikes available in the USA market.

Here's a brief comparison table comparing the Trek 830 with other prominent models in its class:

Keep in mind that prices and features may vary depending on the specific model year and retailer. Make sure to compare the most up-to-date information before making a final decision.

The Trek 830 provides a reliable option for those who want a durable and affordable bike. However, riders looking for a more advanced seat tube or a lighter frame material may prefer exploring other options like those mentioned above.

The Trek 830: A Classic Mountain Bike That Shaped the Industry

The Trek 830 is a classic mountain bike that has earned a reputation as a reliable, durable, and versatile bicycle. Launched in the early 1990s, this bike helped shape the mountain biking industry as it evolved from a fledgling sport into the global phenomenon it is today.

In this section, we’ll explore the history and impact of Trek 830, with a focus on how it set the stage for the development of modern mountain bike technology.

The Trek 830 offered a diverse range of cycling experiences by providing a 21-speed system for tackling different terrains and showcased reliable shifting and admirable performance.

This versatility helped the Trek 830 become popular for riders of various skill levels and interests. Moreover, its accessible design and competitive price point played a vital role in expanding the sport of mountain biking by making it more approachable and enjoyable for beginners who have decided to embrace biking.

Through its innovative design and unmatched durability, the Trek 830 has left a lasting impact on the mountain biking industry. Its legacy can be seen in the advanced technology, materials, and designs used in modern mountain bikes today, for which the Trek 830 helped pave the way.

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About THE AUTHOR

Danny Lawson

Mountain biking is more than just a hobby for me - it's a way of life. I love the challenge and excitement that comes with it, and I'm always pushing myself to go faster and ride harder. Some people might think that mountain biking is dangerous, but I see it as the only way to live.

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Trek 830 Restoration (Antelope)

Vintage Trek 830 Restoration: I found this bike for $30 and gave it new life for rides around town. This was my experience bringing it back to life.

My wife hasn’t had a bike in years, but when I found this dirty Trek 830 Antelope for sale on offer up, I picked it up for $30!! It felt like the deal of a lifetime. There’s tons of life still in this bike.

How to find vintage mountain bikes to fix up?

There seems to be three main places to look for vintage mountain bikes. Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp. The recent 90s MTB renaissance has made the bikes slightly more in demand so people who know this have them priced higher.

Here’s my thoughts on finding one at a great price. Craigslist seems to have the most bikes, but often priced higher. OfferUp has lower prices, but you have to search longer. Also, try searching for your “desired brand + mountain bike” vs searching for the model. People have these sitting around, but with less knowledge probably don’t list the bike as “1992 trek 930”.

This is my second vintage trek project. Previously I worked on a 1990 Trek 930 Singletrack restoration that I still ride a ton. That project is over here.

Trek 830 Deal of a Lifetime?

Looking for a vintage Trek 830 restoration project, I would have been happy finding any bike from 800 to 900. When I saw this 830 online for $30, I knew I need it to get it. It was listed as “Trek Mountain Bike” 15 years old. LOL. It’s probably 30 years old and has been sitting in the garage for 15 years. The condition almost didn’t matter. But I learned an important lesson.

When I arrived at the house, I lost focus. The house was a beautiful multi-million dollar place. The bike was kept in the garage. I assumed this bike had been taken care of a bit. Wrong. And lesson learned. Never assume condition.

At some point, something fell and hit the top tube. This bent the rear dropouts and put the rear wheel out of alignment. The person selling this bike knew something wasn’t right with the bike because the shifting wasn’t working, but I didn’t ask questions because the deal seemed good at any price. It turned out the shifter was blown, but there were also other issues to fix up. Thankfully the frame is still straight minus the small dent in the top tube which would be hard to see if you weren’t looking. Lesson learned. I wouldn’t resell this bike without disclosing that information.

Trek 830 Clean Up

The paint underlying this bike was actually pretty nice. That red really pops!! It was under a film of dust that had been hardening for decades. And the whole bike smelled like smoke! I spent hours carefully scrubbing with soap and water trying to only take off the dust and remnants of duct tape that were hardened to the frame.

It came out looking great!!

Trek 830 Components Going Forward

First steps in vintage Trek 830 restoration project: Remove everything. Clean it all and then make decisions. What to let go of? What to keep?

New Components Added

(Affiliate Links below – these are the actual parts that I purchased for this project)

Brake Levers . These are actually pretty nice considering how cheap they are. I don’t expect this bike to get ridden hard, so these will be perfect.

Brooks B67 Saddle . The Brooks B67saddle upgrade really was for me (I didn’t tell my wife this though). I probably could have added much cheaper seat and my wife would not have cared, but I was interested in how this seat would work with the springs and I figured if she didn’t like it, I would be able to add this to a future bike I work on. The result. It’s pretty awesome. The springs are loaded strong and it’s not like a typical beach cruiser seat that bounces with you, but there is a little give there.

Cruiser style handlebars. I really wanted handlebars that would put my wife in a comfortable position and I didn’t want to replace the stem because that opens up a whole new level of stuff to buy. These handlebars had a lot of sweep and rise.

7 speed shifter . The right shifter was torched on the original bike. AND the shifters on this bike were connected to the brake levers. At the end of the day, I decided to add new levers and shifters. Personally, I like friction shifters and had a 3x front shifter in my parts bin. This was a decent Shimano shifter that I found and it works great for the job.

Crankset from leftover from my Trek 950

RaceFace Grips . I love these so I added them here. They feel amazing.

Housing and Cables . The original cables were rusted out and adding new cables and housing makes the bike look sharp and clean. Plus, it’s actually not that expensive to add this. Also, I love the process of rebuilding the bike with new cables.

New 7 Speed Chain . This is an off brand chain. It’s cheaper and will do the job for this bike. If I was Bikepacking on this, I would pay up for a better one.

We took the bikes out on our anniversary and rode around town. It was so much fun. My wife loved the bike and now we also ride around the neighborhood with the kids.

Trek 830 Mountain Track (1995)

• Singe speed

• Add component

Related builds

Is The Trek 830 A Good Mountain Bike? [Trek 830 Review]

Table of Contents

The Trek 830 was originally produced back in 1988, followed by versions in 1992, 1994, 1996, and so on. It is a classic model of the Trek 8 series.

Welcome to the Best Bike Select blog. This is a comprehensive review of Trek 830.

What are the features of the Trek 830, what are the pros and cons of the Trek 830, what are the Trek 830 mountain bike specs, and what are the alternatives to it?

With these questions in mind, let’s move on to the official review.

Features of the Trek 830

Sturdy steel frame (3.5/5).

Aside from that, the Trek 830 is extremely durable.

According to a user who purchased the Trek antelope 830 in 1992, it can still be ridden normally, and it was rented out to purchase for the purpose of hauling cargo.

I must say that the Trek 830 frame is extremely durable. The tig-welded steel frame is not easily cracked during the ride and can always maintain the degree of steel solidity, so no later weak phenomenon will appear.

And Trek 830 is not easily dented when hit, and if there is a dent, it is relatively easy to repair, and even if not repaired, it will not affect the normal riding of Trek 830.

21 speed (4.0/5)

This is somewhat similar to the 800 produced at the same time, with multiple speeds to accommodate different terrain when riding.

It is a mountain bike after all. Light off-roading is possible, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

21 speeds would feel better on greenways, roads, or on campus.

Sturdy rims and spokes (4.0/5)

Union stainless steel, 2.0mm straight gauge, 32 spokes, and Weinmann 519, not easily deformed when encountering potholes.

There are also Brass nipples at the intersection of the spokes and rim to prevent rusting, which prolongs the life of the rim very well.

26 x 2.10 inch Trek Big Kahuna tires (4.0/5)

Slightly wider than the Trek 800 , the tires have a good grip on gravel roads in the countryside.

Leave mounting holes for rear rack and fenders (4.0/5)

There are no special accessories from the factory, but the corresponding mounting holes are left to give the Trek 830 versatility.

With them installed, it can be turned into a leisure bike. The rear rack can also hold items.

Trek 830 antelope specs

Pros and cons of trek 830.

• Inexpensive
• Sturdy frame
• Rear rack and fenders can be installed
• No suspension
• Non-durable footrests

Related Questions

• What is the current price range for a Trek 830 for sale?

The current value of a Trek 830 is around $70-$109, depending on the condition of the bike. But it is already a pretty good value bike.

• How much does a Trek 830 weigh?

The Trek 830 weighs about 32 lbs.

• What is the weight limit of Trek 830?

300lbs (136kg)

• What size bike is a Trek 830?

There are these frame sizes: 13″, 16.5″, 18″, 19.5″, 21″, 22.5″.

• Who is the Trek 830 mountain track for?

This bike is ideal for commuting and is extremely durable. There are many limitations if you use it as a mountain bike, such as the lack of suspension, which can be very dangerous when riding in the mountains.

The damping is entirely dependent on the tires and your riding abilities (avoiding big obstacles). It’s strong enough to be used with a rear rack to transport some light cargo on the side of the road.

Is The Trek 850 A Good Mountain Bike? [Trek 850 Review]

Is Trek 800 Mountain Bike A Good Bike? [Reviews]

Best Mountain Bikes Under $2000

What are the bikes that can replace the Trek 830?

Trek 820 mountain bike vs trek 830.

Trek’s 820 mountain bike is the most affordable model in the company’s lineup. It also has a steel frame and is lightweight, but it comes with a shock-absorbing fork with coil springs.

For a comfortable, controlled ride, the shock-absorbing fork allows the front wheel to move up and down over bumps while the handlebars remain stable.

A rear rack and fenders, like on the Trek 830, can be added. Longer rides are more relaxing.

The 820 has a sturdy steel frame, a dependable 21-speed Shimano drivetrain, semi-smooth tires that roll well on the road and trails, durable alloy wheels, and a shock fork that absorbs bumps.

The Trek 820 is an excellent choice for a low-cost entry-level mountain bike.

Learn more: Is The Trek 820 Mountain Bike Really Suitable For Newbies?

Trek Marlin 4 mountain bike VS Trek 830

The Trek Marlin 4 is ideal for first-time mountain bikers looking for a low-cost mountain bike with a 100mm shock fork for trail riding that reduces ground impact.

When you have a sturdy commuter bike that also suspends the shock fork like the Trek Marlin 4, you can lose less power and get to your destination faster.

Mechanical discs ensure a low-maintenance, lightweight aluminum frame with precise internal alignment. Elegant appearance. It could be a good replacement for the Trek 830.

Learn more: Trek Marlin 4 Review -Best Entry Level Mountain Bike

Schwinn Sidewinder Mountain Bike VS Trek 830

The Schwinn Sidewinder is a Schwinn brand mountain bike that comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

Online shopping is extremely convenient. Trigger shifters with 21 speeds for quick gear changes.

A wider height span is accommodated by a tool-free, always-adjustable Seatpost height.

About the same budget as the Trek 830, it also has mechanical disc brakes for more precise braking.

The Schwinn Sidewinder is perfect for casual riders and occasional mountain riding without any problems at all.

Learn more: Schwinn Sidewinder Mountain Bike Review-Is It Worth Buying?

Final Verdict (3.5/5)

Trek’s 830 mountain bike is a classic Trek mountain bike. A mountain bike with a cool road bike shape and a front fork with no shocks. It can also be difficult for riders who are used to riding lightly off-road with a shock fork.

However, it is a good commuter bike, with a sturdy body that is still strong enough to pull cargo. Many people remember Trek 830, which has been with the rider for ten years. Overall, a good commuter bike but not a good mountain bike.

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Table 2 - TUBING TENSILE STRENGTH AND YIELD STRENGTH*

* Most of the information in Tables 1 and 2 was extracted from Jalon Hawk's DesperadoCycles.com web site. Included at his site is Jalon's excellent write up of the geometry and physical properties of the various tubings and what it all means.

** Tubeset weight is not consistent among tubing manufacturers. The length of some of the tubes in a set is different between makers as is the length of butted sections. As a result, the total tubeset weights are not indicative of the relative weight of the resulting bike.

HELICOMATIC HUBS

Trek used Maillard Helicomatic rear hubs on some road bike Models in the mid 80s. They were a clever French innovation using a special cassette (of cogs) that mounts onto a special hub. Great idea, but poorly engineered and tested; they proved to be unreliable. For more information, see Sheldon Brown's comments at http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ha-i.html#helicomatic and at The Yellow Jersey http://www.yellowjersey.org/helico.html .

What to do if you have one on your Trek and it no longer works, or you want a more reliable setup? People often replace the Helicomatic hub/wheel with a freewheel wheel or freehub wheel. If they are concerned about originality, they keep their original wheel and work to find a replacement for the hub or cassette. They show up occasionally on Ebay.com.

Vintage Trek bikes were originally painted with DuPont Imron paint. Imron is a two part paint that is difficult to use by other than professional painters. Imron is still available from DuPont. Some frame painters still use it today. However, some localities have clean air regulations that prohibit its use.

Classic Rendezvous provides a list of expert bike frame painters and refinishers. Desperado Cycles uses Imron as do Joe Bell Bicycle Refinishing , Rad Finishes and Spectrum Cycles . If you know of other painters who do, please let me know .

Many of the Imron colors used by Trek are still available. Trek generally used the same Imron color name as did DuPont, so it often is possible to match the original color. The Joe Bell Bicycle Refinishing web site has a PDF copy of the Imron color chart on its site.

For many years, Trek had a service to repaint an old Trek for an owner or bike shop. It would not reproduce the original colors and graphics, but used the then current year graphics and colors. This way, a bike might have been made in one year but have paint and graphics from a later year. The repaint service was discontinued around 2010.

TREK DECALS

One source of reproduction Trek decals is VeloCals.com . Here are examples of reproduction Trek graphics made by VeloCals . You can contact JR Anderson of VeloCals at [email protected] .

PAINT TOUCH UP

Because the paint used on Vintage Treks, Imron, is a two-part paint, it is difficult to use for touchup. Many serious bike collectors use Testor's paint. It comes in little bottles and spray cans. It is used for car and airplane models and can be found at hobby shops in lots of colors. If you can't find a match, mix a couple of colors together.

Richard Kaufman writes: "Testor's "Model Master" Enamel Paint in FRENCH BLUE is a virtual match for the Dupont Imron "Race Blue" on my '85 Trek 600. No mixing with other colors required, in my opinion."

Car paint touch up paint also works fine. Get it at a car parts store or car dealer. The bottle comes with its own paintbrush. Color matching can take a bit of work, you may need to mix two or more bottles.

Others have had good luck with fingernail polish, red bikes are especially good for this but, depending on the latest fashion, other colors work as well.

Another option is take the bike to a specialty shop that sells auto paints (not just an auto body shop). They will scan the paint on the bike and mix a perfect match. They can give you the paint in a jar or can put it in a spray bottle. It is a bit pricey; on the order of $60.

THREADING THE DERAILLEUR CABLE THROUGH THE CHAINSTAY

Trek ran the rear derailleur cable through the right chainstay for most of their steel road bikes beginning in 1985 and ending in 1989. A clever idea - that has its supporters and detractors. However, cleverness is also required when replacing the cable. Rich Tong's "Tong Family Blog" lists some helpful methods.

INTERNAL RUSTPROOFING OF A FRAME

Unlike some other frame materials, a steel frame does not degrade through normal use or simply through age. However, if a steel bike is ridden in the rain or is kept outdoors, rust on the inside surfaces of the frame tubing can be a problem. A way to check if your frame has been damaged by rust is to remove the bottom bracket and look at the bottom bracket shell and the tubes. Some rust is normal, but lots of rust or significant pitting can be a problem.

To prevent, or significantly reduce, internal rusting, people spray the inside of the tubes with a rust preventative. Two excellent products are "Frame Saver" by J. Peter Weigle and "Boeshield T-9" developed by Boeing. Frame Saver dries to a wax-like coating. It is available at most pro bike shops and over the web. Boeshield T-9 is a protectant and lubricant; it stays oily. Which to use? Peter Weigle is a custom frame maker (support a fellow bike guy). Boeing makes lots of great things that fly, but I believe bikes are not included . . .

People also use LPS 3, a heavy-duty rust inhibitor, which leaves a transparent waxy film. It is commonly available at hardware stores in spray cans.

A simple solution is to spray the insides with WD-40 penetrating oil. It dries to a thin, varnish-like coating that protects the metal. Not quite as good as the three products above, but much better than nothing at all. (BTW - because of this drying characteristic, WD-40 should not be used as a long-term lubricant.)

The rustproofing products above generally do not require removing the rust inside the frame tubes before applying. However, cleaning the inside of the bottom bracket and the headtube of loose rust is a good idea. To treat, remove the bottom bracket, headset and seat post. Spray into every opening in the frame, including the vent holes in the stays. Then, I like to tape over the openings and rotate the frame slowly a few times in various directions, to be sure that all internal surfaces are soaked. Remove the tape and let the excess run out. For the waxy coating types, and WD-40, it it best to allow a day or two drying time before reassembling.

CONVERTING FROM A QUILL STEM TO A MODERN THREADLESS STEM

Your vintage bike came with a quill stem. Can it be converted to a more modern threadless stem? NO, YES, and YES.

NO - The steerer tube on the original fork is almost certainly not long enough to use a full threadless system.

YES - A new fork which has a sufficiently long steerer tube is required. New forks typically are made for threadless stems, and have no threads on the steerer tube. One can employ a used fork from a (much) larger bike that has a sufficiently long steer tube. However, any threaded upper portion of the used fork must be cut off. In this conversion, a threadless headset will be required.

CAUTION - You should NOT attach the threadless stem to the threaded portion of a fork's steerer tube. The steerer tube may (will) break at the threads. This can result in a dramatic alteration of the rider's appearance.

YES - There is an adapter one can buy that has a quill at one end and a cylinder at the other. The quill is inserted into the steerer tube and tightened. The threadless stem is clamped onto the cylindrical end. These threadless stem adapters are available at most bike shops or on the Internet at places like performancebike.com or nashbar.com. Cost is about $20.

UPGRADING FROM A DOUBLE TO TRIPLE CRANK

This is a common upgrade for people living in hilly areas. It can be done by replacing a double crank with a triple crank or by attaching a triple chainring adapter, a triplizer, to the existing double crank. Information on tripleizers (triple chainring adapters) , has been provided here by Don Gillies.

What new/used parts do you need to replace a double crank with a triple?

• Triple right crank
• L onger bottom bracket axle or new bottom bracket
• W ide range rear derailleur (either a road triple or mountain bike triple)
• Longer chain
• STI or Ergo triple front shifter or a friction shifter capable of handling a triple (most can).
• A new front derailleur may be needed if: 1. the existing one doesn't have enough range to shift to the inner and outer rings, or 2. if the chain drags on the tail of the derailleur when in the small ring.

If you want to use a small inner ring, less than 30 teeth or so, (touring over the Rockies, stump pulling or just peace of mind) and a large ring of 50 teeth or more, a new front derailleur with a long tail will probably be required. Here are some suggestions for long-tailed front derailleurs (all no longer made): Huret Duo Par, Huret Pilot, SunTour Cyclone MK II, Simplex SJA 522, Simplex SJA 102, Shimano N-600, SunTour Mountech. A Campagnolo Super Record front will work with inner rings down to about 28 teeth.

Drew Saunders has detailed information on making a double to triple conversion. http://www.stanford.edu/~dru/tripleize.html . This page also describes the use of the " tripleizer " chain ring.

A Campagnolo Nuovo or Super Record double crank arm can be converted to a triple by drilling and tapping the crank arm to accept a 74mm BCD inner chainring. It requires some precision, so don't try it with a hand drill. Various shops can do it for you, including Elliott Bay Bicycles in Seattle.

An alternative to a new bottom bracket is to add a longer axle to the existing cup and cone bottom bracket. It may not be easy to determining the length needed. See Sheldon Brown's Bottom Bracket Size Database for a discussion of this problem: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbsize.html . Vintage Trek road bike bottom bracket shells are the English/Japanese standard 68mm wide. Used parts can be found at bicycle swap meets, used bike shops, or on eBay.com

If you are able to find a vintage used road triple crank, you may have a challenge finding a bottom bracket or crank axle of the right length. See Sheldon Brown's site, http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbsize.html , for guidance.

For a vintage Trek, a common setup is to find a used Sugino AT crankset (triple) and use a Shimano UN52 or UN72 or UN73 sealed bottom bracket with 127.5mm axle. This may require a 2mm spacer on the right bottom bracket end to provide sufficient spacing between the small ring and the chainstay. The spacer is typically available at your local bike shop.

One possible solution to the crank axle length problem is to take the crank and bike to your local bike shop. Ask them to sell you a new bottom bracket and install it for you. It is likely the will have only Shimano sealed bottom brackets to choose from. They may have to do some trial an error fitting, trying a few bottom brackets until they come up with one that works. Let them know that using a 1mm or 2mm spacer on the right side is OK.

ADDING MORE REAR COGS OR CONVERTING TO INDEX SHIFTING

Vintage Treks typically came with 5 or 6 or 7 rear cogs. More modern rear hubs have 8, 9 or 10 cogs. Can an old Trek be modified to have more cogs? Yes, but it does take some money and work.

First, you must decide on the number of rear gears you want. If you want more than 8 gears in the rear, it is likely you will need a new crank. A 9 speed chain will likely fall between the chainwheels. A 10 speed chain is more of a problem.

A modern Shimano road hub with 130mm spacing can take a 8, 9 or 10 speed cassette. With a commercially-available spacer, the hub can be used with a 7 speed cassette. This road hub requires 130mm rear dropout spacing (see the Spreading Rear Dropouts section below).

Campagnolo and Shimano components are generally not compatible with each other if index shifting (click shifting) is your goal. Campy or Shimano rear shifters will not work with the other's rear derailleurs or cassettes. (An exception is that 9 speed hubs/wheels can be used, imperfectly, with the other's equipment.) Cassettes of one manufacturer will not fit on the other's rear hubs. However, Campy and Shimano front shifters and derailleurs are usually compatible.

If you are going to buy new road components of a single manufacturer, the components will be compatible, if a common speed (8, 9 or 10) for the parts is specified. If you are going to use components of different years and models, there are some incompatibilities of which you should be aware. The book "Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance" by Leonard Zinn contains details of these problems.

What is needed to convert from a freewheel hub (5, 6, or 7 speeds) to a cassette hub system with index shifting?

• A rear hub capable of carrying a cassette with the targeted number of gears. (This usually entails buying a new wheel.)
• A cassette with the desired number of cogs, that matches the new rear hub.
• New shifters that are made for the number of cogs on the cassette.
• Cable stops to replace the downtube shifters (if you are using integrated brake lever/shifters [AKA brifters] or barcon [bar end] shifters).
• New rear derailleur designed for index shifting. A caution - a rear derailleur designed for a lower number of cogs (e.g. 7) will shift cogs with more gears, BUT - there may not be clearance between the derailleur and the spokes.
• Front derailleur designed for index shifting. If you want to friction shift, almost any front derailleur will work.
• New chain designed for the targeted number of cogs in the cassette. A modern 8 speed chain will also work with 5, 6, or 7 speed cogs. Nine cogs require 9 speed chains; ten cogs require 10 speed chains.

If your bike has brazed-on bosses for downtube shifters, to convert from 5 or 6 speed shifters you probably can find 7 (or rarely, 8) speed Shimano indexed downtube shifters that will fit.

Many conversions use Shimano bar end (also called barcon) indexed shifters. They were available in 7 and 8 speeds (find used or NOS on eBay.com). Nine-speed barcons are still available new. Bar-end shifters avoid the expense of STI integrated brake levers/shifters and allows you to keep your current brake levers. They require replacing your downtube shifters with downtube cable stops.

A caution - some downtube clamp-on shifter bosses made for friction shifting, that may be on your lower to mid-level Trek bike, are not compatible with standard shifters that fit on brazed-on bosses. Downtube cable stops also will not fit on these nonstandard types of clamp-on bosses. Types that do not work are various Shimano ones, including Shimano 600, and many by SunTour. Old Campagnolo Nuovo/Super Record clamp-on bosses work fine as do Shimano clamp-on bosses made for index shifting.

A shifter alternative is to use a brifter for shifting the rear derailleur, but a downtube shifter for the front. A regular brake lever can be used for the front brake. This weight-saving setup was often used by Lance on his climbing bike. Also, with this method you can use your existing non-indexing front derailleur and non-indexing downtube shifter.

Here are three innovative shifter alternatives that can facilitate upgrading or modernizing an old bike:

The Kelly Takeoff is: "A simple, low cost alternative to integrated shifting. Lightweight chromoly. Mounts simply. Uses your conventional shifters & aero/non-aero brake levers. Great for retrofits." Paul Component Engineering Thumbies thumb shifter mounts: "These are designed to be used with indexed Shimano bar-end (aka barcon) shifters. Both 9-speed and 8-speed indexed shifters are readily available, and these shifters also still have a friction option for everything else." Bar-end Shifter Mounts from Rivendell Bicycle Works . "If you have regular downtube shifters that you want to convert to bar-enders, you need these. Most shifters work on them. Not all, but most." CONVERTING FROM 27" DIAMETER WHEELS TO 700C WHEELS Many older Treks came with 27" diameter wheels/tires. More modern bikes use 700C wheels/tires. A common question is: "Can I simply replace my 27" wheels with 700C"? The answer is yes, if your brake pads can be lowered in their slots by 4mm or more. This is usually the case. A practical test is to borrow a set of 700C wheels and try them. If the pads cannot be lowered that much, the brakes calipers will have to be replaced with others that allow this much reach. There are plenty of good 27" tires available at road bike shops or on the Internet. Touring, commuting, and training tire availability is not a problem; lots of choices. Why change from 27" to 700C? Three reasons: 1. You want to use racing clincher tires. The selection and availability of lightweight skinny tires in 700C is huge. 2. You want to use tubular tires (which are not available in 27" diameter). 3. If you think 27" wheels/tires are old fashioned or your riding buddies give you grief.

SPREADING REAR DROPOUTS

Early Vintage Treks, 1976 to 1982 (or so), have a rear dropout spacing of 120mm. After 82, spacing increased to 126mm to accommodate 6 or 7 speed hubs. With a bit of effort (or $) you can bend the stays on your steel Trek to increase the spacing to work with modern hubs. Modern spacing is 130mm for 8, 9 or 10 speed (road hubs). One can even spread to 135mm to employ the extra strength of mountain bike rear hubs. This is common for touring bikes.

CAUTION: Only steel frames can be safely spread. Aluminum and carbon frames should not be spread as they tend to break or be damaged, not bend. Additionally, frames of Reynolds 753 steel tubing (such as the Trek Model 170) should not be spread. The forces required are so high that damage to the frame (or the person bending) is likely.

Unfortunately, there is some (but minor) risk involved in permanently bending a frame; the brake bridge or chainstay bridge can pop, leaving you with junk or an expensive repair job. An experienced bike shop can do the spreading, but usually with the proviso that is is at your risk.

One do-it-yourself method employs an 8" or longer piece of allthread, two nuts, and two washers. Allthread is a continuously-threaded rod available in most hardware stores. Use either 5/16" or 3/8" diameter. The allthread is placed in the dropouts and the nuts are turned outward to spread the dropouts. The washers go between the nuts and the dropouts. Lubricate the allthread to make the process easier.

You must spread well beyond the target width to get the stays to bend. It is an iterative process. Screw the dropouts out a bit, measure the spread, unscrew the allthread, and measure the result. If no permanent spreading is accomplished, spread again, going a bit farther. Repeat this process until the target is reached. Use care, there is little distance between spreading with no permanent bending and spreading with permanent bending. If you do go beyond the target width, use the allthread in reverse to bend the dropouts back together. Columbus tubing is commonly thought to be the most difficult to bend, followed by Ishiwata and then Reynolds 531.

I wrap the bridges with many turns of string and/or strapping tape to help assure they do not pop. However, realize that the tape or string can damage the paint. One can use the string method described by Sheldon Brown (see below) to check alignment after the spreading. Most Trek frames do not have dimpled chainstays, so spreading using the allthread method tends to spread the stays uniformly, and does not significantly affect alignment.

A final test of alignment is whether you can ride the bike with no hands and have the bike go straight with both bike and rider vertical.

More frame spreading information is available at Sheldon Brown's site http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html . He suggests an alternative method for spreading, employing a wooden 2 x 4. However, the 2 x 4 method can misalign the entire rear triangle. If this happens, one can use the allthread in reverse to keep the dropouts from spreading apart while using the 2 x 4 to twist the rear triangle back into alignment.

After spreading the dropouts, a good frame shop will align the dropout faces to make them parallel. They will have a tool just for this purpose. For the do-it-yourselfer, this is not normally necessary. Non parallel dropouts are often cited as a cause of axle breakage, at least for freewheel-type hubs. However, with the wide bearing location of modern cassette hubs, the problem is not encountered.

A shortcut, useful for going from 126mm to 130mm, is not to permanently spread the frame. When you install the 130mm hub, just pull apart the dropouts to make it fit. Not very elegant, but works just fine.

IS IT COLUMBUS TUBING?

Is the tubing on your frame Columbus? If so, the steerer tube outer surface would probably have a little Columbus dove stamped on it. Also, if Columbus, the lower portion of inside of the steerer tube will typically have "ridges" or "rifling". (The inner surface of the top of the tube will be smooth to accept the stem.) If either is the case, the fork tubing is almost certainly Columbus. If the fork is original, the rest of the frame is almost certainly Columbus. However, if either the dove or the rifling are missing, it is not proof it is not Columbus, but it likely is not.

On vintage Treks, the Cinelli bottom bracket (with cast in "Cinelli") was more commonly used with Columbus tubing. However, it is not a reliable indicator as it also was used with Reynolds 531 tubing.

SOURCES OF GENERAL VINTAGE LIGHTWEIGHT INFORMATION HOW TO CONTACT TREK TECHNICAL SUPPORT HOW TO FIND VINTAGE BIKE PARTS BASIC SPECS FOR VINTAGE TREK STEEL ROAD BIKES STEEL TUBING SPECS FOR EARLY TREKS HELICOMATIC HUBS PAINT TREK DECALS PAINT TOUCH UP INTERNAL RUSTPROOFING OF A FRAME THREADING THE DERAILLEUR CABLE THROUGH THE CHAINSTAY CONVERTING FROM A QUILL STEM TO A MODERN THREADLESS STEM ADDING MORE REAR COGS OR CONVERTING TO INDEX SHIFTING UPGRADING FROM A DOUBLE TO TRIPLE CRANK CONVERTING FROM 27" DIAMETER WHEELS TO 700C WHEELS SPREADING REAR DROPOUTS IS IT COLUMBUS TUBING?

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Setting up a Trek 830

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eyezlee said: I've currently got Shimano V-brakes on it. Thinking about Avid BB-7. What do I need to do to run discs? Replace the fork? I assume that I can run the same brake levers. Click to expand...

Thinking that if I replaced wheelsets, it would be a good time to upgrade brakes too. V-Brakes are running fine. What do you guys think about the Mavic 717 with XT hubs??  

eyezlee said: Thinking that if I replaced wheelsets, it would be a good time to upgrade brakes too. V-Brakes are running fine. What do you guys think about the Mavic 717 with XT hubs?? Click to expand...

Rodar speaks truth. If you have a Trek 830- a fine bike, don't do disc brakes. It might be impossible to find a fork with disc brake tabs and a 1" steerer. If your wheelset is shot, I guess buy a new one, but for less than 30 per wheel you can have hub bearings replaced and get it trued. If your brakes aren't amazing, pricepoint.com has SD7s for a perpetual good deal. If you need a different take on commuting, then I'd search ebay for 650b wheelsets, pick one up (89+shipping), Paul's Components Moto BMX brakes and enjoy a pretty sweet ride, though for the monetary investment, stick with the 26". Rodar y Rodar has a great example of a 26" bike that does EVERYTHING. He can hook you up with some photos of what a proper rig should look like. Enjoy the glory of the vintage sleds.  

It sounds like you pretty much enjoy your 830 but have a little "upgraditis". Here`s an idea- you can go ahead and buy a new set of schnazzy wheels, but be sure you have disc-compatible hubs and V-compatible rims and hang onto your old wheels also. Then, if you ever do get another bike you`ll have a set of nice hoops to throw on it and you can put the old ones back on the 830 to either sell or use as an extra or for special purpose. Just a thought. As to LX or SLX, they do cost a little less, and honestly even Deore hubs will probably do the job just fine, but if you want to scratch that itch you may as well get a little bling for the extra $30 or so. As for the rims, pretty much any Mavic is very nice and the 717s would make for a great all around wheelset. My .02  

Thank you all for the answers and consultation. What I'm really doing is setting this up as a trainer as I shop for road bike(s). My daughter and I are going to train and do the Oklahoma Freewheel (Texas to Kansas) event in June 2010. I've also got a Trek 820 that I'm going to configure the same way. Over at Bicycle Wheel Warehouse I found the Mavic 717 v-brake rim with XT disc hubs for $263.50. Is that a good price?  

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Trek 830 mountain bike drop bar conversion.

• Trek Antelope 830 frame (OX True Temper)
• Grand Bois "Papillon" rims (shimano hubs, LX rear and LX dynamo up front)
• Sugino XD 48x34 crank set
• Schwalbe Marathon tyres
• Tektro RL520 v-brake drop levers
• Generic long arm v-brakes (found on eBay)  
• Shimano Ultegra 6480 8sp Bar End Shifter Set
• Deore m591 long cage rear derailleur 
• Deore front derailleur
• Ritchey Logic 1 1/8 threaded headset 
• A very tall 1 1/8 quill stem with only 40mm extension
• Bars are Fairweather/Nitto  M174AA all road
• Saddle is a San Marco Ponza

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1998 Trek 830 “The T-Wreck”

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Has anyone converted a Trek bike to electric.

• Thread starter JMS51
• Start date Dec 12, 2020
• Dec 12, 2020

I have a Trek 7000 aluminum frame bike that I would like to convert to electric with at least 700 watts due to the hills in my area. I have been looking for a good rear hub kit but am seeing a lot of mid crank kits. My frame diameter seems to be larger than the mounting clamps of those kits advertise. Anyone convert a Trek or similar bike?  

Well-Known Member

Yes Alot of people have successfully converted a Trek to an ebike. I did it with a Trek cromoly frame with very few issues. One important note, with a 700w hub motor be ABSOLUTELY sure to install at least 1 tourque arm, as aluminum tends to fracture under such high out motors at the drop out. There are literately tons of hub kits out there and they are by far the easiest to install, my recommendation would be the rear install for handling characteristics. Have fun! Also I reccomend the "geared" rear hub...a bit more prone to matainance issues (nothing compared to a gas engine) but the direct drive is louder and drags when you take the power off.  

Tars Tarkas

If anyone can provide a links to recommended kits, I'd sure be interested. TT  

Deacon Blues

Ebikeling.com Lunabike.com I buy the motors built into a wheel of the appropriate size for my bike. Note you want one for 135 mm dropout as you do not probably have a fat tire bike. My ebikeling motor lasted ~4500 miles & 2.5 years. I now have a Mac12 from luna which is designed to go slower with heavier loads. I carry 80 lb cargo sometimes. The mac12 goes on the flat up to about 23 mph. It uses less watthours on my hilly commute than the ebikeling. note the latest luna kit came without switched brake handles or any input to the controller for such handles. If the mac took off full throttle, I'd have to reach in front of the handlebar and turn the key off. both vendors have reputations that include competent batteries. I built my battery into an aluminum frame with plastic foam to keep the rain off and warm in the winter. I take the battery off from Dec 15 to Feb 28 though. it freezes here. Grin is in Canada. If you want customs to play games with your parts, buy from there.  

• Dec 15, 2020

I used a 500 watt "Voilamart" 36 volt kit on a Trek"800" with the steel frame( couldn't get it to drop in an aluminum Huffy I was converting, had a brainstorm, flopped the old steel Trek over and lo and behold dropped right in.The 36 volt rear hub climbed well and went plenty of fast for the 'rim brakes" the 20 ah battery give it plenty of endurance.I think I could have used it on the Huffy if I could have got the 6spd freewheel swapped. As it was the Trek already had a 7 spd derailleur installed, got it working pretty good then give it to my younger brother. Am planning on taking the Front hub motor and kit off the Huffy and putting the std wheel back on it and putting tthe 6 spd 750 watt hub motor on the huffy if it will work( anybody want the 500 watt front hub kit 26" from the huffy? it yours for $50 plus shipping.  

Huh oh, looks like the "Tabby Kittens were doing something else when I left besides eating on the Twix candy bar, had to delete a few double posts.  

• Dec 16, 2020

harryS said: I put a ebikeling kit on a Trek 830 in 2015. It was 500W 36V rear geared hub for $200. Added a $280 36V dolphin battery and it's been a reliable ebike. Always there if I want it. Just a simple three speed PAS with throttle. 20 mph. No display. No frills. The natural upgrade would have been to upgrade to a 5 level PAS controller with LCD, but I never did, View attachment 74347 I have purchased several more ebikeling geared hub motor kits. I did not like the way their newer LCD kits work with the geared motors. No speed display when coasting. Crude PAS response. I junked their electronics and put on KT controllers. His business has grown, and he is now a big seller, especially for the higher power direct drive kits. If you want a direct drive motor, ebikeling, voilamart and a whole bunch of no names will fix you up, and you can fly at 30+ mph on 48V. You have to decide whether you want a direct drive or geared motor. Or you could consider a mid drive. The Bafang BBS02 is about 450? I paid $550 in 2016. The standard kits fit bottom bracket widths of 68-72mm. There are higher cost kits for wider bikes. Better for hills, but you still have to be a bicyclist at heart because you still need to use the gears. Personally, I think the mid drive is easier to install. The cabling is easier and there is no controller to mount on the frame. A hub motor is tricky when you have rim brakes. You may have to dish the wheel to center it between the calipers. View attachment 74348 Grin is very pricey. You need to be making a super bike if you use their kits as you'll be close to a thousand bucks. Even a cheap kit/battery will cost around $500-600. For that kind of money, you could almost buy an imported ebike. Click to expand...

JES2020 said: How much trouble was it to swap the ebikling controller to the KT? I have an ebilking controller in the mail and hoping it will plug and play into a KT set up. Still trying to upgrade from 22 amp to 30. Click to expand...

harryS said: I had no problem with the motor cable. I matched by color, and the motor ran, I believe most of the major motor and controller guys have standardized on how these should be wired, although all of the old tyme kit ebikers will say it's blind luck if they fit. You can only use the display and controller from the same maker. Can't mix and match ebikeling's SW900 display with a KT controller or an LCD3 with an ebikeling box. The rest is just looking at the throttle, PAS sensor, speed sensor, and figuring which wire is ground, power, or signal. Be prepared to splice and solder. Click to expand...

• Dec 17, 2020

About 10 years ago I did a DIY conversion of an entry level Trek MTB, a 3700 model I believe. I liked the idea of 'two wheel drive' so I went with a pre-laced front hub motor. Grin Tech had a 9C motor on close out that was rated 36V, 750W. Their bench tests showed that it would perform well within temp limits at 48V so I drove it with a 48V, 20Ah pack and a 25A controller. Displays were pretty limited 'back in the old days' of ebikes so I wired in a Watts Up power meter to track electrical performance and kept the bike's wired bike 'computer' for speed and distance. The cheap front suspension fork wasn't going to cut it so I swapped in a Cromo fork and downhill BMX bearing sets. The Grin Motor Simulator predicted that this motor would climb any of our local hills while developing over 1Kw. They were right on. Plenty of power. I'd recommend their Simulator to anyone considering a build. It doesn't cover every available motor/controller combo, but in most cases you can get close so you're not completely in the dark. I rode this bike for some years retiring it when the battery pack started to fade. Its replacement is a mid-drive which I'm liking even better for the weight distribution and ease of flat repair. What would I have done differently with the first DYI bike? 1. With our steep hills and the weight of the bike the rim brakes were marginal. They never failed to stop me, but the stopping distance was longer than I liked. Disc brakes would have a much better choice. 2. Wider tires. The original tires were maybe 45mm. They didn't absorb enough of the road bumps and holes. I replaced them with wider tires when the time came, but should have done it out of the box. They made the ride much smoother. Good luck with your build.  

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Moskva-Class Cruisers

Separate design teams often attempt to meet a set of ship specifications with completely different, although equally valid, strategies. To fulfill the requirements issued in April 2169 for the successor (NX-223) to the Daedalus class, which was introduced at the end of the Romulan War, Prosser & Ankopitch proposed a ship with an extremely large, spherical command hull attached to a nearly vestigial engineering hull. The proposal from the Mikoyan-Tupolev-Dassault Bureau used a long narrow command hull with a minimal frontal silhouette counterbalanced by an equally long engineering hull.

The engineers at Tezuka-Republic decided that the division of ship's functions between a command/crew hull and an engineering hull was arbitrary and unnecessarily restricted design options. Therefore, rather than gathering all the specified facilities in a single hull, their design TR-223A spread them across two hulls, as in Daedalus , and segregated the SSWR-IV-C warp core to a "bustle" at the extreme aft end of the secondary hull. This bustle could be separated easily and quickly from the rest of the engineering hull in the event of a warp core breach. The now-unpowered warp nacelles would then be shed. In this way, the demands of safety would be met without warp dynamics being degraded either by an excessively large frontal silhouette or by longitudinal warp field imbalance.

Although the Ship Specifications Review Board praised Tezuka-Republic for its creative solution to the problem of admittedly contradictory requirements for extreme safety and improved warp performance, they were forced to disqualify design TR-223A for not precisely meeting contract specifications. Therefore, in October 2171, construction contract NX-223 for Starfleet's new cruiser was awarded to Prosser & Ankopitch for what would become the Wasp class .

However, almost no one was happy with the new Wasp ships. Even before the contract was awarded, voices within Starfleet and within industry had strongly criticized the specifications of April 2169. These critics charged that they would lead to a mediocre, albeit safe, fighting ship. Two separate classes were needed, not a single class that was neither a proper explorer nor a proper warship. When Wasp was finally launched in 2173, her performance during precommisioning trials clearly showed that the critics had been correct. Although the performance problems were related in part to the continuing unavailability of the more powerful Tezuka-Republic Hiryu ("Flying Dragon") mark III warp nacelles, Wasp was obviously not the ship Starfleet had hoped for.

In a second attempt to obtain a reliable and capable warship, new specifications (NX-374) were issued in September 2175, little more than a year after USS  Wasp had entered service. Adding to this sense of urgency were intelligence reports suggesting that the Romulans had either developed or otherwise acquired matter/antimatter (M/AM) reactors. This time the specifications put less emphasis upon safety. The original requirement for completely separate command and engineering hulls was eliminated; instead, any hull configuration was allowed as long as the warp core could be quickly separated from the rest of the ship. Furthermore, requirements for speed, acceleration, and maneuverability both under impulse power and under warp power were increased, as were performance levels for target acquisition, tracking, and servicing.

These new specifications were a clear, albeit belated, admission that the critics had been correct all along: one class could not be expected to serve as both an explorer and a main battleship. In fact, starship technology was not considered sufficiently mature for a single ship to adequately fulfill both mission profiles until 2245, when the Constitution -class heavy cruiser was launched. (The controversy continues even today in the wake of the problems of the Galaxy -class explorer.)

Luckily, the designers and engineers at Tezuka-Republic had not been idle since their disappointing loss of the Wasp contract in 2171. Instead, they had spent their time refining design TR-223A so that their new entry (TR-374A) was markedly superior to what had been submitted 5 years earlier. In particular, the new SSWR-V warp reactor allowed the bustle to be made smaller, lighter, and even more easily separable. Therefore, it was hardly surprising when in November 2176 Tezuka-Republic was awarded the production contract over designs from Shimata-Dominquez, Prosser & Ankopitch, Mikoyan-Tupolev Dassault, Monarch R&U, and Thornycroft/Ebisu for what was to become the Moskva class.

However, engineering prowess may not have been the only factor in Tezuka-Republic's winning of the contract. There were accusations that the delay in delivery of the Hiryu warp engines was an attempt by Tezuka-Republic to prevent Wasp from reaching her designed performance levels. While no conclusive incriminating evidence has come to light, the delivery of the long-awaited engines shortly before the scheduled launch of Moskva in December 2177 is certainly suspicious. Tezuka-Republic maintains that if their submission of 2169 had been selected, its performance would also have not have met design specifications without the Hiryu engines. However, critics charge that TR-223A was not as reliant as Wasp on the type of engine used. Furthermore, once the Wasp contract was awarded, and even after Wasp was launched, Tezuka-Republic certainly made no efforts to accelerate delivery of Hiryu.

These controversies were soon rendered moot as the new Moskva class was recognized as a significant advance in starship design. The most important new feature was Moskva's discoid primary hull. Earlier designs had chosen a spherical primary hull for reasons of economy. Simple geometric relationships dictate that a spherical hull has the smallest surface area for a given volume. Therefore, construction costs are lower and shields are more efficient. Furthermore, institutional inertia had led nearly all exploratory cruisers originating until that time from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the United States Astronautics Agency, the United Earth Space Probe Agency, and its successor organizations to have spherical hulls.

The designers of USS  Moskva employed a biconvex disc for several reasons. Their initial motive was to increase hull volume while minimizing both frontal and lateral silhouettes. A warship with large frontal and lateral silhouettes would be at a greater disadvantage in most tactical situations than would be a ship with an increased superior silhouette. However, the discoid hull allowed the traditional radial layout of command hulls to be retained.

More important than these tactical advantages were functional advantages. As was shown with the Wasp class, warp field geometry would have been awkward if a spherical hull with its relatively large frontal area had been used. The discoid hull was also found to channel warp field flow across its upper surface towards the bussard ram scoops of the warp nacelles. This channeling effect improved field efficiency at all power levels and speeds. As the understanding of warp field mechanics was refined, the trend towards saucer-shaped primary hulls would be intensified in later Starfleet vessels.

In most respects, the Moskva class continued design and engineering trends established in the Comet and Daedalus classes introduced at the end of the Romulan War. As in these classes, ship functions were clearly divided between a command/crew hull and an engineering/propulsion hull. The bridge was returned to its customary position atop the command hull and the shuttlecraft bay was again placed in the secondary hull. The fusion reactor was centered along the longitudinal axis of the ship, and impulse thrust ports exited immediately in front of the warp bustle detachment seam.

Weaponry was the then-standard mix of fusion-warhead missiles and lasers. New to this class was an early type of ultraphased pulse laser cannon, two of which were mounted in the chin of the primary hull. Although the on-target energy output of this new weapon approached that of early phasers, its power requirement was higher and its range was substantially less. However, subsequent refinements lead to steady improvement and, ultimately, to the development of true phasers in 2202. Although Moskva -class ships were the first to be fitted with phasers in 2204, lasers were still carried by the Moskva class and later classes until the 2220s. Finally, warp capability was supplied by the long-awaited Hiryu mark III drive units.

The first ship of the new class, USS  Moskva (NCC-374), entered service with Starfleet in April 2179. An additional 30 ships (NCC-375 to NCC-404) joined the fleet through 2183. Moskva -class ships gained immediate popularity with officers and crews. First, total laser firepower was increased some 75% over that in the preceding Wasp class. Second, because the ship's mass was more equally distributed along the longitudinal axis than in the Wasp class, Moskva was significantly more maneuverable at both sublight and warp speeds. Finally, the more warp-dynamic design allowed greater cruising and maximum speeds.

The Moskva class had an outstanding safety record. No ships were lost because of mechanical failures. However, an incident occurred aboard USS  Johannesburg in 2186 when a faulty nacelle flow monitor falsely indicated a runaway positive feedback power loop within the plasma flow governor. Believing that a catastrophic warp core explosion was imminent, Chief Engineer Roberta Bocharnikov ordered the warp nacelles and warp bustle to be separated. Although unnecessary, these maneuvers were successful in causing the separated warp core to initiate its automatic shut-down routine. The warp core, nacelles, and the rest of the ship were towed to Starbase 13, where they were successfully re-mated. Despite her supreme embarrassment, Bocharnikov oversaw the reassembly and relaunching of Johannesburg and retained her position as chief engineer.

Although most ships of the Moskva class had left front-line service by 2215, some continued to serve as auxiliaries and training vessels until the 2240s. After retirement from active duty, Moskva -class ships were used as testbeds for many emerging technologies owing to the similarities of their layouts to those of succeeding classes. USS  Moskva was the site of the first successful ship-to-surface transport of a Human being in 2206, and USS  Gato was the first ship to fire photon torpedoes in 2214. In addition, Taurus -class tugs, which entered service in 2182, and Sanford -class repair tenders, which entered service in 2185, were derived from the Moskva class and used the same primary hull and warp drive assembly.

The Moskva -class cruiser USS  Aurora (NCC-377), a participant of the Battle of Eohippus IV, is on display at the Starfleet Museum.

Standard displacement: 67,750 t

Crew complement: 160 (27 officers + 133 crew) Weapons: 8 Type VI laser turrets (8 × 1 mounts), 2 Type VII laser cannons (fixed mounts), 2 missile launchers with 36 Spartak missiles Embarked craft: 4 medium cargo/personnel shuttlecraft, 2 light personnel shuttlecraft, 5 fighter/scouts Warp drive: SSWR-V-A spherical cavity M/AM reactor with 2 Hiryu III nacelles Velocity: wf 4.0, cruise; wf 5.0, supercruise; wf 5.2, maximum Units commissioned: 31

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How G.M. Tricked Millions of Drivers Into Being Spied On (Including Me)

This privacy reporter and her husband bought a Chevrolet Bolt in December. Two risk-profiling companies had been getting detailed data about their driving ever since.

By Kashmir Hill

Kashmir Hill is a technology reporter who has been covering the privacy implications of connected cars, including her own.

Automakers have been selling data about the driving behavior of millions of people to the insurance industry. In the case of General Motors, affected drivers weren’t informed, and the tracking led insurance companies to charge some of them more for premiums. I’m the reporter who broke the story . I recently discovered that I’m among the drivers who was spied on.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

My husband and I bought a G.M.-manufactured 2023 Chevrolet Bolt in December. This month, my husband received his “consumer disclosure files” from LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk, two data brokers that work with the insurance industry and that G.M. had been providing with data. (He requested the files after my article came out in March, heeding the advice I had given to readers.)

My husband’s LexisNexis report had a breakdown of the 203 trips we had taken in the car since January, including the distance, the start and end times, and how often we hard-braked or accelerated rapidly. The Verisk report, which dated back to mid-December and recounted 297 trips, had a high-level summary at the top: 1,890.89 miles driven; 4,251 driving minutes; 170 hard-brake events; 24 rapid accelerations, and, on a positive note, zero speeding events.

I had requested my own LexisNexis file while reporting, but it didn’t have driving data on it. Though both of our names are on the car’s title, the data from our Bolt accrued to my husband alone because the G.M. dealership listed him as the primary owner.

G.M.’s spokeswoman had told me that this data collection happened only to people who turned on OnStar, its connected services plan, and enrolled in Smart Driver, a gamified program that offers feedback and digital badges for good driving, either at the time of purchase or via their vehicle’s mobile app.

That wasn’t us — and I had checked to be sure. In mid-January, again while reporting, I had connected our car to the MyChevrolet app to see if we were enrolled in Smart Driver. The app said we weren’t, and thus we had no access to any information about how we drove.

But in April, when we found out our driving had been tracked, my husband signed into a browser-based version of his account page, on GM.com, which said our car was enrolled in “OnStar Smart Driver+.” G.M. says this discrepancy between the app and the website was the result of “a bug” that affected a “small population” of customers. That group got the worst possible version of Smart Driver: We couldn’t get insights into our driving, but insurance companies could.

Many G.M. owners have reached out with similar accounts since my article appeared. Jenn Archer of Illinois bought a Chevy Trailblazer in April 2022. She didn’t subscribe to OnStar and had never heard of Smart Driver, but last month discovered that LexisNexis had her driving data.

“I was furious,” she said. In the last two years, her insurance rate has increased by 50 percent.

In 10 federal lawsuits filed in the last month, drivers from across the country say they did not knowingly sign up for Smart Driver but recently learned that G.M. had provided their driving data to LexisNexis. According to one of the complaints, a Florida owner of a 2019 Cadillac CTS-V who drove it around a racetrack for events saw his insurance premium nearly double, an increase of more than $5,000 per year.

At no point had these drivers been explicitly informed that this would happen, not even in the fine print, they said. New reporting reveals the cause: a misleading screen that these people would have briefly seen when they bought their cars — if their salesperson showed it to them.

“G.M. established the Smart Driver program to promote safer driving for the benefit of customers who choose to participate,” said a company spokeswoman, Brandee Barker. “Based on customer feedback, we’ve decided to discontinue the Smart Driver product across all G.M. vehicles and unenroll all customers. This process will begin over the next few months.”

Last month, G.M. stopped sharing data with LexisNexis and Verisk — giving up annual revenue in the low millions, an employee familiar with the contracts said. The company also hired a new chief trust and privacy officer.

“Customer trust is a priority for us, and we are showing that in our actions,” Ms. Barker said.

How It Happened to Me

According to G.M., our car was enrolled in Smart Driver when we bought it at a Chevrolet dealership in New York, during the flurry of document-signing that accompanies the purchase of a new vehicle. That this happened to me, the rare consumer who reads privacy policies and is constantly on the lookout for creepy data collection, demonstrates what little hope there was for the typical car buyer.

To find out how it happened, I called our dealership, a franchise of General Motors, and talked to the salesman who had sold us the car. He confirmed that he had enrolled us for OnStar, noting that his pay is docked if he fails to do so. He said that was a mandate from G.M., which sends the dealership a report card each month tracking the percentage of sign-ups.

G.M. doesn’t just want dealers selling cars; it wants them selling connected cars.

Our Bolt automatically came with eight years of Connected Access, a feature we didn’t know about until recently. It allows G.M. to send software updates to our car but also to collect data from it — actions consented to during OnStar enrollment.

Our salesman described the enrollment as a three-stage process that he does every day. He selects yes to enroll a customer in OnStar, then yes for the customer to receive text messages and then no to an insurance product that G.M. offers and that monitors how you drive your car. (This sounds similar to Smart Driver, but it is different.)

He does this so often, he said, that it has become automatic — yes, yes, no — and that he always chooses no for the last one because that monitoring would be a nuisance for customers.

Ms. Barker, the G.M. spokeswoman, said that dealers are not permitted to sign customers up and that the customer must be the one to accept the terms. At my request, she provided the series of screens that dealers are instructed to show customers during the enrollment for OnStar and Smart Driver. There is a message at the top of each screen: “The customer must personally review and accept (or decline) the terms below. This action is legally binding and cannot be done by dealer personnel.”

The flow of screens was almost exactly as my salesman described, except for the second one about receiving messages, which he said he always hits “yes” on. That screen wasn’t just about accepting messages from G.M.; it also opted us into OnStar Smart Driver.

It’s a screen that my husband and I do not recall seeing — presumably because our salesman filled it out for us as part of his standard procedure.

The Forgettable Screen That Enrolled Millions

I drove to the dealership — in my Bolt, appropriately — to ask about this, and a more senior salesman said they always have the customers accept the terms themselves.

Maybe our salesman misspoke on the phone and my husband and I have forgotten a moment during our car purchase when we were asked to tap “yes” on this screen. I can’t say with certainty.

What I can say is that, regardless of who pushed the consent button, this screen about enrolling in notifications and Smart Driver doesn’t say anything about risk-profiling or insurance companies. It doesn’t even hint at the possibility that anyone but G.M. and the driver gets the data collected about how and where the vehicle is operated, which it says will be used to “improve your ownership experience” and help with “driving improvement.”

I showed the screen, used to enroll millions of people in Smart Driver, to a series of information design experts.

“What you showed me does not at all disclose clearly how G.M. or OnStar benefits from the use and sale of your info,” said Jen King, an information privacy expert at Stanford University. “Including it during the purchase process appears to be a conscious decision to get high conversion rates.”

Harry Brignull, author of “Deceptive Patterns: Exposing the Tricks Tech Companies Use to Control You,” said: “In these sorts of agreements, they need to be very clear about the true function of it. Otherwise, users won’t understand what it is they’re opting into.”

Ms. Barker said G.M.’s terms and privacy statement allowed the company to share information with “third parties” — legalese that people agree to on the first screen the salesman was instructed to show us. That wouldn’t seem, however, to meet G.M.’s own bar for such sensitive information.

A decade ago, G.M. and other major automakers made a commitment to the Federal Trade Commission to provide “clear, meaningful and prominent” notice about the collection of driver behavior information, including why it is collected and “the types of entities with which the information may be shared.”

Moreover, this innocuous-sounding data-collection program appears alongside a request to send important-seeming notifications about, among other things, “issues with your car’s key operating systems.” To get them, you have to accept the other.

Kate Aishton, a lawyer who advises companies on data and privacy practices, deemed the process poorly designed for obtaining actual user consent, particularly since it takes place in a high-pressure sales environment. She was sympathetic to salespeople who were given an incentive to sign G.M. customers up for this without realizing the consequences.

“Their job is to sell cars. It’s not to understand the details of privacy products,” she said. “Passing the buck on to that blind person, if there hasn’t been a really specific education on it, would be pretty unfair.”

Smart Driver 2.0

A former G.M. employee who worked on the company’s data engineering team said he was not surprised that drivers did not understand what data was being collected from their cars and where it was going.

G.M., he said, gets data from all of its internet-connected cars. Some of that data collection benefits drivers, such as monitoring of vehicle health. For example, if a particular model has a transmission issue, he said, G.M. can see from vehicle data which specific cars are experiencing the problem and send their owners a targeted recall.

In recent years, he said, G.M. began analyzing other driving behavior besides speeding, braking and acceleration. An internal G.M. document from 2021, which was reviewed by The New York Times and which said more than eight million vehicles were “opted in” to Smart Driver at that time, described a new version of the program called “Smart Driver 2.0.” This version tracked hard cornering, forward collision alerts, lane-departure warnings and seatbelt reminders; these metrics were being used to price policies for drivers using G.M.’s own insurance plan, then called OnStar Insurance, but don’t seem to have been shared with LexisNexis and Verisk.

Still, these in-vehicle alerts, intended to help people drive more safely, became a measuring stick for how risky they were as drivers.

A new car, like mine, has hundreds of sensors, the former employee said, so even just a 15-minute trip creates millions of data points, including GPS location — all of which is broadcast in near real time to G.M. He expressed concerns about the insurance industry’s use of this data because it lacked context about the situation that might have led a driver to slam on the brakes or swerve out of a lane.

Turning It Off

Asked how consumers can turn off G.M.’s digital access to their cars, a spokeswoman said customers could “disable all data collection” by contacting an OnStar adviser through the blue button in their vehicle or by calling the OnStar customer service line .

Some drivers have said on online forums that they don’t trust G.M. to stop remotely tracking their cars, and instead offer D.I.Y. advice for opening up the car’s electrical guts to remove the OnStar module.

Andrea Amico , founder of Privacy4Cars, a company that makes a tool to erase personal data from vehicle infotainment systems, said a line needed to be drawn between technical data from a vehicle — like that used to trigger recall notices — and personal data about drivers, such as how and where they drive, which should belong to them, not the automaker.

Beyond privacy issues, Mr. Amico pointed out that the driver behavior reports that LexisNexis and Verisk were creating were inaccurate — tracking my driving, for example, on my husband’s report.

“The fact that they cannot reconcile who gave consent and whose data it is,” he said, “is very problematic .”

Read by Kashmir Hill

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Kitty Bennett and Jack Begg contributed research.

Kashmir Hill writes about technology and how it is changing people’s everyday lives with a particular focus on privacy. She has been covering technology for more than a decade. More about Kashmir Hill