The Gen 1 (Original SC) or Gen 2 models have rim brakes. You probably don't want to go as far back as the Gen 1, though nice examples of these show up from time to time. The issue with both for you is that they utilize proprietary stems for fine tuning fit. The Gen1 stems are pretty much impossible to find at the extreme ends of the fit ranges and it appears the same availability issue has been occurring with the Gen 2 stems. I'd recommend getting your size picked and taking a look at what stem you'll need to hit your fit coordinates.

The Gen 1 model had frame (US carbon and overseas carbon) and cockpit (proprietary and standard stems) variations that made for a number of options. The Gen 2 SC models were reduced to where I think all the frames were the same (produced overseas) and the only difference was in the components. The other limitation on Gen 2 is that Trek went from two post aero extensions to a mono-post. Again, lots of proprietary parts required. The mono-extensions were limited to what Trek offered. This was improved later with a mono-extension adapter that allowed the use of any aftermarket 22.2mm extension. These mono-adapters can be very hard to come by. I did see one advertised here in the classifieds the other day.

The Project 1 models you have seen were the base bike with customization such as paint scheme and components. Otherwise there is really no difference from the standard models.

I think that's the basics. I had two SC Gen 1's in the house and am very familiar with wrenching on them. No experience with Gen 2 other that what I've seen with friends or online. Not a huge number of differences. The brake adjustment and cabling can be annoying. There is also a speedfin cover for the rear brake that gets a lot of complaints. I'm sure others can chime in with more Gen 2 firsthand experience.

thank you for the detailed reply

so after gen 2 they were no longer available with rim brakes ?

and what year did gen 2 start ?

Gen 2 came out in fall 2013 as a 2014 model. I think I may have been one of the very few (if not the only) age groupers that rode one at IMFL that year.

The Gen 3 is disc brake only.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

There have been 3 generations of SC - going from memory on the Gen 1 to Gen 2 crossover

Gen 1 2010-2013 Rim Brake - two post aerobar extensions - proprietary stem
Gen 2 2014-2021 Rim Brake - mono-post aerobar extensions - proprietary stem
Gen 3 2022- Disc Brake - two post aerobar extensions - stem is integral to basebar

Do you always have the latest and greatest bike GMAN? 😜

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Let food be thy medicine...

That’s how I roll 😁

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Not completely true. 2014 - 2017 gen 2 models had a 9 series (produced in the USA) and a 7 series (overseas). The 9 series had 600 oclv level carbon where the 7 series had 500 oclv carbon. In 2018, they went to just the 500 oclv level carbon (7 series) frame. They stopped selling the 9 series bike at that time. There were some other benefits on the 9 series like a carbon seat post, carbon fd hanger, and it was lighter. But up close, most people had no idea the difference.

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I would try to find a 2018 or newer speed concept. You could get older than that but I would be concerned with wear and tear especially on the bb. The bb is bb90 on the sc and has known issues with creaking and the carbon wearing enough that the bearings just fall out without needing a tool to extract them. There’s a fix from trek but it’s not widely known and will depend on how good your local trek dealer and mechanics are. I don’t know if we will ever find out how good of the fix is in the long run since most people upgraded from the gen 2 to the gen 3.

I say all of this having owned 5 speed concepts (1 gen 1, 3 gen 2’s, and I have the latest gen 3).

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Thanks. I couldn’t remember transition to overseas.

The BB on the Gen 1 and Gen 2 SC was total garbage. I wasn’t a prodigious outdoor rider and I went through two or three BBs a year. Contrast that with the PF30 on my Dimond that’s five years old or the BB on my Canyon that’s three years old that still work perfectly fine.

The Gen 1 probably set the standard for the modern tri bikes but there’s a reason they came out with the Gen 2 so quickly.
- The BB was total shit but not corrected with the Gen 2 initially.
- The draft box was horribly engineered with that stupid wedge attachment. Corrected with the Gen 2.
- The seat post clamp setup was god awful. If you tightened to spec, as in literally the torque printed on the frame next to the bolt, it cracked the seat post. I was on my fourth seat post when I sold my Gen 1 SC. I cracked one, bike shop cracked two. Corrected with the Gen 2.
- The aerobars/cockpit were way over engineered and had half a pound of unnecessary hardware (god bless the TriRig SC clamp).
- The placement of the Di2 battery was boneheadedly idiotic. Corrected with Gen 2.
- The brakes were a motherfucker to adjust. Much better with the Gen 2.

The Gen 2 wasn’t without issue. The monobars were not great. Perfectly fine adjustability and easy to work on but mine came loose all the time. The shark fin maybe had some aero benefits but it was in a vulnerable spot and my guess got broken a lot.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Interesting comments on the BB. I had my Gen 1 from new and never had an issue - probably put 50k+ kms on it (between road and trainer), and can't remember ever replacing it. Sadly the derailleur hanger snapped a couple of months ago and so I'm searching for a replacement, and looking at Gen 2. Didn't have an issue with the draft box either, but was always scared to death to touch the seat post for the exact reasons you described.

For the BB you mention Gen 2 was not corrected initially. Can you give more info on what/when you would see corrections, or what was needed to be done as a fix?

Gen 2 is the sweet spot for cost. If you can live with rim brakes Gen 2 is just as fast (if not faster) than Gen 3 and a lot cheaper.

Wheels Manufacturing makes Gen 1 SC derailleur hangers. Looking there reminded me that this hanger changed in 2012 so be careful with the year you input. My wife first had a 2011 and had to get a crash replacement 2012 because the hanger didn’t snap clean off in a crash and totaled the frame. I think the 2012+ hanger was less beefy.

The Gen1 and Gen2 had BB90 bottom brackets. Not really even a BB, just formed cups in the frame to take sealed bearings with direct (hand) press-in. I didn’t have issues with mine either. But I regularly pulled ours apart for regreasing and replaced the bearings as needed. The mixed results could be from different environments and uses. Perhaps some manusfacturing tolerance differences too.

From my experiences with PF30 and similar BB’s since then I would probably ignore Trek’s recommendations and use bearing retainer fluid during bearing installs. This would help make sure the carbon cups didn’t deteriorate from flex or a rough bearing spinning in the seat. Trek’s fix was a slightly larger OD bearing to take up the slack in the bearing cups. If this failed the frame could go back to Trek for repair. I had a coworker that had to do this for a Boone frame which likely saw much worse riding conditions than an SC. The Gen3 has gone to T47 screw in BB along with the rest of Trek’s line.

Unfortunately, when the hanger came off it took a small piece of the frame at the same time. The local store would only do a 20% discount on a future purchase as they deemed it crash replacement even though I didn't crash. Something went wrong while climbing (still not sure what) and the derailleur bent which in turn snapped the hanger and carbon.

Thanks for the extra info on the BB.

Picked up a gen 1 9 series frame for next to nothing a few months ago.

My lbs has a box full of gen1 hangers. There are two types and they have both. Gave me a couple for free.

Echo the comments on brakes. Hard to believe that engineers could come up with such poor adjustability.

Cockpit looks cool but I'm on the edge of abandoning it and just going with the stem stub and trad cockpit. Doesn't seem to be worth the work.

No bb problems yet but this has been ridden hard and bearings slid in way too easy- may go with some retaining compound.

Sorry. Sounds similar to what happened with my wife’s SC. There is an aluminum casting molded into the seat/chainstay area for the RD hanger. When the hanger takes a piece of it out during failure the frame is written off. I’m sure a carbon repair shop could use one from another frame and repair it. But at that point it’s probably easier to just get another frame.

Did you get the frame from your LBS or a private seller? I would love to have another Gen 1 SC (mine was destroyed by getting hit by a car).

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

From a guy on Craigslist. He bought it used from mybikeshop, as far as I can figure. He's a big guy and been on the podium at nationals with the frame, I think. Didn't ask too many questions as the price was too good (frameset and cockpit). I understand why he was selling as the bike needed to be completely serviced and rebuilt. Normally just a couple of hours work but probably several times more for this design with complicated routing and proprietary and worn parts. spent a few evenings on it already and lots more to be done.