2000 Trek 7000: My 10 year ownership experience

On Friday, January 21, 2000, I bought a brand new 2000 Metal Flake Yellow Trek 7000 from a small bike shop here in San Diego.

Never mind that I was completely broke at the time. I was young, single, and still completely lost in life, so dropping $1000 on something so unnecessary didn’t even get me to bat an eye. YOLO!

What it was like to own and ride a 2000 Trek 7000 from 2000-2010

I don’t even know how many miles I put on this bike. It was probably somewhere around 10,000 considering that was my only bike from 2000 to 2007. I was doing a decent amount of riding back then – both on road and off.

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 at the Embarcadero San Diego

Here’s the full spec sheet of the bike that I purchased:

COLOR	Metal Flake Yellow
SIZE	Medium (18″)
FRAMESET	Alpha ZX Aluminum (3.63 lb)
FORK	Manitou SX suspension, 80mm travel
WHEELS	Bontrager Superstock, machine welded rims: hubs; DT 14G stainless spokes
TIRES	Bontrager Jones AC, folding, 49/54 front and rear
SADDLE	Bontrager FS 2000, Cro-Moly rails
SEATPOST	ICON Onyx
HANDLEBARS	ICON Onyx
STEM	ICON Onyx
HEADSET	Dia-Compe SAS, threadless, alloy
SHIFTERS	Shimano Deore LX
FRONT DERAILLUER	Shimano Deore LX
REAR DERAILLUER	Shimano Deore XT
CRANKSET	ICON Onyx 44/32/22
CASSETTE	Shimano Deore LX 11-32, 9spd
BRAKES	Avid SD10, linear pull w/Shimano Deore LX levers
PEDALS	Bontrager RE-1, clipless

The reason for purchasing this bike was to replace my trusty old 1996 Trek 7000. It was still in perfectly good shape, but I couldn’t resist the lure of something new. At least I was able to sell it to my roommate to offset some of the cost of the new bike.

2000-2001: Jack Bike of all trades

From 2000 until mid 2001, I was living in San Diego. Probably 70% of my riding was on the road and paved trails, and I was alternating between a set of Continental road tires and the stock Bontrager knobbies.

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 side view — A dirty mountain bike stored inside – on the carpet? Bachelor life FTW!

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 — Can you believe this apartment complex never charged me an extra cleaning fee after I moved out? Life was much simpler way back in 2000.

ONYX Series crank on Trek 7000 — I got a new digital camera in December 2000 (Nikon Coolpix 880), and couldn’t resist doing a series of artsy fartsy macro shots of the various components. Here’s a close-up of the ICON Onyx crankset.

2002-2004: Midwestern cycling

In mid 2001, I moved to Michigan. I had far less opportunities to ride a bike out there (especially because of a pesky thing called ‘winter’), but I was able to hit some really nice trails with coworkers from time to time.

Muddy 2000 Yellow Trek 7000 — The aftermath of a muddy trail ride somewhere in southwestern lower Michigan (I forget where exactly). There I go parking it inside on the carpet again!

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 laying on the grass — I absolutely hated the job that I had at the time, but taking my 7000 out for a ride after a long day at work (in the warmer months at least) was therapeutic beyond belief.

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 headset — In the winter months, I was relegated to taking artsy fartsy pics inside (while dreaming of Summer).

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 on the grass in Michigan at sunset — Who am I kidding? I was still taking artsy fartsy pics in the summertime too. And as you can tell from this picture, I never once put the road tires on this bike while in Michigan. The knobby tires never came off.

2004-2010: Back In San Diego

In February 2004, I packed this bike into a box and shipped it off via UPS to San Diego. I made the drive across the country, and it arrived at my new doorstep two days later. It was good to be back in Southern California!

Riding my 2000 Trek 7000 along with the Embarcadero in downtown San Diego — Riding along the Embarcadero in San Diego (an easy task for a mountain bike as capable as the 7000).

I don’t have many pics from the last six years unfortunately. I did ride it a ton though. Two memorable highlights include:

Riding closed off streets around downtown Los Angeles with thousands of other cyclists prior to the running of the 2004 Marathon.
Taking it to Big Bear (twice) in 2004 for some hard-core downhill riding with friends. All I’m gonna say is that the Trek 7000 is a HORRIBLE downhill bike. Basically the worst choice ever.

Riding a 2000 Trek 7000 on the street — I was riding this bike on the street a lot, which necessitated the needed to be constantly swapping out the street tires with the knobby tires. I can’t believe I put up with that back-and-forth bullsh*t for so long.

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 riding along the harbor in San Diego

2000 Yellow Trek 7000 riding in downtown San Diego

By April 2007, I had enough of having only one bike for both trail riding and street riding. Having to constantly swap out tires was annoying enough, but it was the act of having to ride a dirty (squeaky) bike on the street that put me over the edge. I bought a brand new 2007 Specialized Allez Comp road bike to solve that problem. It was glorious.

My Trek 7000 became my dedicated mountain bike. I also used it to ride to the gym every morning, since it was old and ratty enough to be left parked outside without much worry.

I had added two additional bikes to my fleet by 2009 (a 2009 Specialized Rockhopper Comp and a custom built cross bike with a Nashbar frame). I was also engaged by that point, and my fiancé was none too pleased with my collection of bikes hogging up all the space in our small condo.

The 7000 had to go. On the morning of January 31, 2010, I rode it to my local Goodwill donation center. I then ~~walked~~ sulked back home thinking of all the great adventures I had with it over the years. Godspeed, old friend.