riverdrifter

Hi! Here's another possibility for me. This is bike is about a 2 hour drive from me.






Looks kind of rough? Seller says the top tube is about 21". I'm 5'8" with a 30" inseam. Thanks!

madpogue 

Hard to tell from the photos, but it doesn't look that rough. Is that a Blackburn SS rack?

Might be a tad small for you.

Just noticed the clip-on tri-bars. Might get a few bucks flipping those.

riverdrifter

Thanks! What kind of price range would you put it at?

madpogue 

"How long is a piece of string?" Price/values vary widely based on geography, condition, preparation, history, etc. There's a guy in Milwaukee, often posts to the Madison CL with Treks of this vintage. He cleans and preps them VERY well, knows what he's selling, posts informative ads with good photos, and would probably ask $275-325 for this model of bike - example https://madison.craigslist.org/bik/d...919718797.html . Well worth it, given the seller's reputation. Then again, I've seen similar Treks, from people just clearing out their garages/barns, for $100 or less - example https://madison.craigslist.org/bik/d...902549780.html .

Elsewhere in the country, it could go higher or lower. Where you are, there's probably not much to compare to. Then again, there's probably little local interest in such bikes. My W@G is that this bike falls closer to the latter of the above-mentioned two ends of the spectrum. Idunno, look it over carefully, see what he thinks of $100. Again, a W@G.

riverdrifter

Touring bikes are very hard to find where I live. The few I see are asking premium
prices. This seller wants $375 / negotiable. I offered $200 and got no response. I'm not going to drive 2 hours if he won't come down quite a bit.

madpogue 

That ^^^^^^ ad is an analog to the first example in my previous post. Further illustrates how the value lies, in great part, in how well the bike is presented. Agreed, it's overpriced; $300-400 is more in the ball park. The Nebraska bike may be worth as much, or close to it. But not as advertised. $200 is a wise offer for the bike, as it's listed.

sdn40

The seller is nuts. Period. If I were you and the pickings are really that slim in your area, it's time to hit the auction site. Maybe find a frame and go from there. That's a $80 bike that sits for 9 months by me. At $375 you'd be in it for close to $500 before it's even fit to ride. That's insane.
I picked this up for $125 on Facebook and there are many of them to be had.

riverdrifter

Seller accepted $200. I'm going to pick it up (providing it fits, and checks out okay) tomorrow.

sdn40

Before you go, make a list with some prices so you know what you're getting yourself into. If it were me it would go something like this:
Tires
Tubes
Brake housing and cables
Shifter housing and cables
Seat
Bar tape
Chain
Brake levers and or hoods
Brake pads
Get those prices and add it to the $200, assuming you do the work yourself. Double or triple it if you have to have someone else do it. The only reason I bring it up is because I followed your other thread as well and I think you may be desperate due to lack of options.

sdn40

I gotta say. If that's the market in Nebraska, I'm gonna rent a semi - go on a spending spree here, and drive out there to make $10,000 tax free

riverdrifter

That won't work because there is no one to buy the bikes. No one is selling or buying, or riding, from what I see.

Hobbiano 

I think 200 is a fair deal, provided it doesn't have any serious rust issues.
I'm also 5-8 with a 30" inseam and that bike would fit me perfect. That is a 21" frame (seat tube c/t and the top tubes a bit longer).
One thing to keep in mind, many Treks of that era came with Maillard Helicomatic (coffee grinder) hubs. The front may last for a while but the rear usually self destructs pretty quickly.
So you may want to just use them up while keeping an eye out for a nice pair of wheels. If you want to check them, pop them off and see how smooth (or not) the axle turns with your fingers. Might be a negotiating point.

riverdrifter

Thanks that's good to know about the hubs!

madpogue 

^^^^ It specs with a Helicomatic (only applies to the rear), and a Huret DuoPar rear mech. AFAIK opinions vary about both, but they're both somewhat "odd ducks"; not exactly household words down at the modern LBS. Definitely negotiating points.

The crank should be a Shimano 600 with half-step gearing. The Sugino is a downgrade, but you might like the "normal" triple better.

The Golden Boy 

IMO- the 85 is a more desirable bike- it's a unique frame- to that year and very similar to the corresponding, top of the line Trek 720. I would expect an 85 to go for more money. The one in the CL ad is nearly completely stock- and cleaned up very nicely. I don't see why it wouldn't go for $550 or more. They were regularly going for more a few years ago.

Or maybe the "vintage" touring bike market has crashed (as evidenced by that beautiful 720 going for next to nothing in the classifieds)

madpogue 

The market may be crashing in some places, booming in others. The above wasn't meant to be a direct comparison, just an analog as stated. I could have picked any ad from the Milwaukee seller. It was meant to illustrate the difference between slapping an ad together from a bad photo or two of a shed queen on the one hand, and producing a well-scripted well-shot listing of a clean well-prepared bike on the other. The difference between the underlying bikes may be minimal, but the latter will, and should, fetch two to three times the former. The original subject bike of this thread could easily have fetched the $375 the seller was asking -- IF it had been checked, tuned up, cleaned up and and advertised like the Milwaukee or Winchester ads above. But as presented (hey look what I found, think I'll throw it up on CL), the $200 offered by the OP is the absolute maximum the seller should expect. So end of the day, it's a square deal; the seller is getting as much as he deserves, and the buyer could boost the value of his purchase handsomely with some sweat equity.

The Golden Boy 

I don’t think that’s a downgrade at all. Maybe lateral- the AT was probably the very best 110/70 triple.

The Golden Boy 

That’s interesting I guess it goes to how much either small or large regional differences are (the Greenbay isn’t far away- and I used to check CL for Oshkosh and Appleton), OR it has to do with how much the “vintage” bike hobby has changed in the past 5-10 years. If I could have gotten a clean $80 84 Trek 620, I’d have been tripping over myself to get up to the Greenbay.

bikemig 

That has not been my experience with rear helicomatic wheels and the experience of other users have been all over the map with these hubs,

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...matic-hub.html

They do require a special tool (probably not hard to find cheap) and replacements are not easy to find at this point. I'd eventually swap the wheels out (or at least the rear) as well. That said I think $200 is a decent price for this bike.

bikemig 

The OP should run the serial number to be certain of the year but the catalogs are online. If this is an 1984, it will have a helicomatic wheels (assuming that these are original wheels), huret duopar derailleurs, and reynolds 531 CS tubing (reynolds double butted main frame and chrome moly fork and stays). All in all that is a very nice tubing set with good components but some will likely have to be switched out.

Note that if changing out the wheel set as per post 21, you may want to stay with 27 inch wheels. Good tires are still available from Continental, Schwalbe, and Panaracer. You can make 700c work on a vintage touring bike with cantilevers but it is not a no brainer swap as some cantis can't drop down and new cantis don't tend to work on vintage bikes because the posts are narrower.

If sticking with 27 inch, these wheels with Sun CR 18 rims would be a fine and cost effective choice:

https://www.velomine.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=739

I'd get the bike up and running properly before sinking any money into replacing parts.

riverdrifter

That is a nice looking wheelset for a great price!

riverdrifter

I plan to clean this up, re-grease, etc, and ride it as is until any issues develop. I'm not doing any cross country tours. I'm just looking for a nice bike that can handle some gravel and rough roads for local, weekend touring.

bikemig 

I always figure when buying an old bike that I need to factor in the cost of new consumables which nearly always includes new tires.

New wheels are a big expense but if this is a daily rider, then it is a worthwhile expense. Plus with a new 27 inch wheelset, you can run a shimano 7 speed freewheel on the back, eke out an extra gear, and improve your shifting as the modern tooth profiles on freewheels are very good.

Biggest hassle of riding in NE are those dang goat's heads so maybe tire liners make sense or get a pair of schwalbe marathon 27 inch tires,

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...rathon-27-tire

madpogue 

I bought the bottle opener / lockring tool, just because I happened to be up at Yellow Jersey for something else. And we've since become a three-Helicomatic family. But I did my first lock ring removal with a channel-lock pliers. GENTLE pressure on the ring; it's soft and can be ovalized easily. But it takes very little pressure, because the lock ring is low torque. Don't have the specs handy, but it's much lower torque than either a Shimano-esque cassette lock ring or a conventional spin-on freewheel. So I'd recommend getting the lock ring tool, just because it's cool to have. But in a pinch, or if the OP just wants to get busy repacking the hub, _prudent_ use of a channel lock will work.

Hobbiano 

That does look like an '84. The '83 has a darker color head tube panel and the Trek logo on a panel sticker on the seat tube. The '85 is blue with a rr derailleur cable routed inside the chain stay.

I have a couple sets of those wheels. They are very nice. But they did require a bit of truing and tensioning before use. Worth it though. And sealed cartridge bearings. The only thing I don't like is the huge quick release levers.