afreudianslips

A couple years ago I came across a 1984 Trek 720 on Craigslist. Turns out it was being sold by the widow of the original owner, who told me that her husband bought it new, but hardly rode it because it was too big for him. I've had it a couple of years, and am thinking about selling it - it's really too nice for me to ride as anytihng other than an occasional neighborhood cruiser, and I'm not much of a collector. My question is, what's it worth? I have seen 1984 720s sell for as much as $1000 on ebay, but none as nice or complete as this. Paint is in great shape except for a small spot on the rear dropouts where the original owner touched it up. Tires, tape and hoods are not original, but everything else is as far as I can tell. All the stuff that would typically get lost is here and in great shape - original brooks saddle, both the front and rear blue jim blackburn racks that came with it, and the original manual. New here, I'll throw some pics up as soon as I get to 10 posts.

AngryFrankie

Pics are pretty important, but sounds like no mistaking that you're describing a nearly perfect and complete 720. I'll assume it's not really small or really large. 520s are one of the strongest cult following bikes, and the 4,6, and 7...20s were I think made for just 2 years. The 720 is the nicest of them all. If it's a nearly perfect 720 with the blackburn racks, a nice brooks, and original literature, $1000 is not unrealistic. I honestly don't know if the market for such is strong or weak at the moment, but generally speaking...
Within a 2 week period, I stumbled onto a perfect 520, and 2 very nice 620s this summer. That's super unusual. They are very hard to catch.

rccardr 

Yep, really nice pones seem to be holding their value in the $700-950 range.
Also note that a handful of the higher listed price ones were sold at 'best offer' which could easily be 20% off the listing.
Those are eBay prices, however, which means packing, shipping and 14% in fees to eBay and PayPal, so a net of maybe $600-$815.
Not likely that you would get those prices on CL or BF.

bikemig 

This is good (and realistic) info on pricing. Netting $600 TO $800 is a strong price for a 720. The OP's bike might float to the higher end of the valuation (depending on condition) with the blue racks. The '84 is the only year the 720 came with Reynolds 531 ST main triangle.

madpogue 

Photo assist:
https://bikeforums.net/g/album/18988040



Original blue Jim Blackburn racks are a major plus. Looks like even the bottle cages are original. Deore RD is a replacement. Brake cables appear to be reversed.

rccardr 

That’s awful darn nice looking.

shelbyfv

Someone will be happy to give that a new home!

afreudianslips

Thanks everyone for chiming in. I haven't been able to reply because I bumped up on the post limit on new accounts (5 in 24 hrs!). This is a 22.5" frame, so probably in the sweet spot for sizing. I hadn't caught the derailleur replacement, thanks for that and the photo assist madpogue. What I'm gathering is that although this is a great bike, it's maybe not particularly collectible. If it's only worth somewhere in the $600 to $1000 range, I think it makes sense to me to keep it as a fair weather rider.

nesteel 

That's still pretty decent pricing territory. What were you expecting? They are plenty collectible, and sought after, but they're not valued the same as a Cinelli or De Rosa. If you were anticipating $1500+, thats simply not realistic.

SurferRosa

Mount better tires and htfu!

afreudianslips

I didn't come with a lot of expectations on value, I'm trying to figure out 2 things here. First, what does the price curve look like on these? Looking at ebay sold listings, it would appear that there's something of a linear relationship between condition/originality and price, but there aren't any really good examples I found. My intuition is that bike prices should behave somewhat like classic car prices, where something that ticks all the boxes for a collector in terms of originality, condition, and desirable options might fetch multiples of what a mid range example would go for. So, is that the case on a 720? Sounds like probably not. The second question is, if the price curve does get steep as these get nicer, is mine good enough to be on the steep part of the curve?

If I were getting opinions of $2000+, I'd know I have something that's collectible where condition is very important to the value. I'd probably look to sell it to a collector. As it is, it sounds like folks think the market pays a little more for a very nice example, but not a lot more, certainly not 2 or 3x. Heck, a brand new 520 goes for $1679, we're not even close to that. Based on what I'm hearing, I think I'll listen to SurferRosa, put some good tires on it and ride it.

cb400bill

That's the best answer. All reports are that these are great riding touring bikes.

nesteel 

You need to take your entire price scale and drag it down a bit. In shabby condition, these go for $300 or so. In your condition, closer to $800. That is 2.6x to go from "rider quality" to "very nice".
You're simply overestimating the market/bike values in general for vintage steel.

afreudianslips

Makes sense to me. I love the bike, have to say that they seem like a tremendous value for what you get. Thanks everyone for your input!

nesteel 

They are great bikes. If it were mine, I'd keep it.

polymorphself 

Keep that bike. It’s quite rare and one of the three holy grails of touring bikes (Trek 720, Specialized Expedition and Miyata 1000). I’d put it anywhere between $600 and $800 being a fair deal for yours, which as far as vintage bicycles go is actually a whole lot of money. It’s gotta be something extremely rare or fancifully Italian to fetch much more. But make no mistake you’ve got more or less the nicest lugged steel frame money can buy equipped with nice high end components that represents the peak of both trek and touring bikes in the 1980’s. The modern equivalent of quality would cost a LOT more.

If you do sell then I’d try and sell it here in the C&V sales section to keep it with someone who will really appreciate it and care for it.

Also, for what it’s worth, that’s an 85. Exact same as the 84 just a different decal and I think another small difference that I’m not recalling at the moment. 85 was the last year they were made.

shelbyfv

There are some C&V bikes that folks would pay big money for but they are generally custom frames by long dead builders. That's a nice bike but still mass market. Nobody is going to buy it for wall art. It will be a rider for whomever ends up with it and for that many would be just as happy to get a beat one, powder coat and add modern components. With cars, any fat old guy with enough money can buy a 65 GTO and enjoy it. Since it takes some effort to ride bikes, you have a much more limited pool of seniors.

Cycle Tourist

Nice. I came across a pair of these sold by a son after his parents had passed. The his and hers bikes had flat bars installed at the purchase. I bought the two for $150, converted them to drop bars and bar ends and got $800 for the small one and $650 for the tall boy. That was pre covid-19 but I don't think that affects touring bike pricing much. They're a little too flexible for me but I'd say clean, lube and ride is the correct answer. If $1000 doesn't meet your expectations then keep it. Turns out they aren't making these anymore and the value will increase over time.