Hi xbikers,
If you search the internet or even this forum for info about the geometry of a 90s MultiTrack, you'll find comparisons to the legendary Trek 520 touring bike. I can see why people compare the two, but from what I can find, they are really not that alike.
I wanted to offer a much closer comparison to a more modern bike — the Surly Straggler. In researching whether or not my '95 MultiTrack 750 would be a good candidate for a drop bar conversion, I found an old Trek technical manual and put the geometry specs into Bike Insights to see what I could compare it to. Lo and behold, my 23" 750 is very very similar to a size 58 Surly Straggler.
All the geometry figures I put into Bike Insights are directly from the Trek technical manual except the top tube angle, which I measured myself using the iPhone level app (I measured between 2-30, so I went with 2.5). Bike Insights fills in the figures left out by Trek based on the provided angles and other measurements, so this could be ever so slightly off if I don't have the top tube angle exactly right.
I can't speak to other sizes — I only compared my 23" 750 to the size 58 Straggler. If anyone has info on a 520 or another bike that matches up even better, I'm all ears, but I hope this comparison to the Straggler helps future bike geometry Googlers.
by Hill_People
9 Comments
[1995 Trek Technical Manual](http://www.vintage-trek.com/Trek-Fisher-Klein-Lemond/1995specmanualTrek.pdf)
Haha, that is incredible. Funny how certain designs are “just a good idea” and come back around more than once. Also possible/likely that the Straggler designers were looking at classic multi-surface geometry and building on what works, though even they might be surprised at how closely they nailed the Multitrack 750.
Good observation.
I think the geometry comparison between multitracks and 520s ended in either 92 or 93. Before then the 520 and 750 had almost identical geometries. I think one just had a slightly longer chain stay.
After that they stopped sharing similarities.
Damn that’s why I fucking hated the reach with drops on my straggler. Shoulda run it with flat bars!
Fwiw the stock 750 is also about 1lb lighter than a Straggler lol.
Edit: it also has an extra 4mm of tire clearance double lol
Very cool post. Come and update us if you go ahead with the drop bar conversion!
New bikes are a scam! 😨
This is fantastic, u/Hill_People ! I’ve heard Crosschecks & Stragglers were similar to 90s hybrids so I tried to do this exact same thing with my lugged ’93 750. For some reason I could never get bikeinsights to show the outline of my 750 on the visual overlay. I also used geometry numbers from an old Trek manual but many of the numbers (stack, reach, etc.) weren’t given and bikeinsights didn’t fill in the blanks for me. Any tips you have for making this work?
I’ll say it over and over, an old touring bike or a hybrid is a way better start than a MTB for almost any bike project where jack of all trades practicality is a design goal