It is not my goal to provide a step-by-step guide to replacing all of the components of your bike. I don't have the expertise or patience for that. What I want to do is outline my steps to re-build my very outdated bike and the pitfalls that I had to overcome to complete it. Bikes have changed a lot since 1994 - but I am here to tell you that you can have a modern bike and keep your beloved old frame.

     Here were the biggest challenges to rebuilding the 1994 Parkpre Pro 825:

1. Headset - This is the single biggest reason that I didn't start this project years ago. Because the bike was so old,  I assumed that it was a 1", threaded headset. Turns out that it was threaded, but was the more modern standard of 1-1/8". So, I just replaced the headset with a standard 1-1/8th modern headset from my LBS. It is branded with their in-house name so I have no idea who made it. It says "Milwaukee Bicycle Co." so I added a little local flare right away. Here is what I ended up with. 

This was the first thing I did and the only thing that I had done in the shop. 

2. Rigid Fork - The new headset opened up many new options for the bike. So, While I was there, I picked up a Surly 1x1 fork with disk mount that is compensated to replace an 80mm travel suspension fork. The Parkre Pro 825 came with a Manitou 3. It had elastomers and limited travel compared to a modern suspension fork. The Surly 1x1 came in several flavors. I chose the shorter one (80mm) with both v-brake and disk mount options. Although I didn't do measurements of before and after head tube angles, this fork seems to be the perfect replacement. And now I can have disk brakes!!!!! Up front at least.