tmh657

I am e mailing this lady on CL and she says she has a Trek 650. The info she gives is almost good for a wacky ad but I am holding out hope for something worthy to buy.
I gave her my phone number but she hasn't called me yet. Was there a 650 steel frame in the '80's? Vintage Trek website lists a lot of 6xx bikes but no 650.

Here is some of the info from her e mail.

It is long and tall, has 27" wheels by 1/4". Has curve under handle bars and the leather leane on it bar for when you get tired of the handle bars. You would take this bike on the plane with you if you were going to be in a race. A friend of mine that fixes bikes said that he does 35 mph on his ten speed, and his bike could not match the speed of this bike.

A friend of mine told me to keep the racing bike chained coz "they will come right over the back fence after it."

It has a speedometer which I put away someplace safe, and I have not found it yet. I put the speedometer away coz I was expecting someone to try to steal it.

The racing bike has brand new inner tubes, but my bike pump does not work on European inner tubes.

abarth

That is funny. I never heard of a Trek 650.

melonbar123

She could have read it wrong; maybe a 640 (6** series with 27in wheels) or a 560 (misstyped)? Sounds like a road bike with tri-bars. A 6** series is pretty high up there and a 5** isn't bad either. Good luck.

EjustE

That 27 x 1 1/4 almost makes it a 620, which would be easily misread as a "650". The 620 is an excellent touring bike. 560s did not come with 27 inch rims

Road Fan

See if she can find the serial number on the bottom of the BB shell, and get her to send it to you. Then look it up on www.vintage-trek.com. Check all the details you know against the appropriate pages in the online catalogs and spec sheets. You should be able to narrow down what it is. It almost always works.

tmh657

Thanks for the info guys. I don't think I will get any more details from her so I will just go and look at it. The last e mail said, "I am leaving the library soon. You sound outgoing, when is your birthday?". Eeeeeeeeeeeeek.
She also said I can have her 2 Auto bikes for free. From what I have read I do NOT want any Auto bikes.

It's only 1/2 hour away. I will see how it goes tomorrow. Maybe I should take my wife with me.

RobbieTunes

560 was 2nd up from the bottom of that series of 5 levels, and had 700c Helicomatics.

You may want to take Mace.

fahrrad streber

This is one of the funniest things I've read in a while!

"You sound outgoing, when is your birthday?" LOL!!

EjustE

well, the OP is in SoCal after all, and there are lot's of astrology nuts over there... just saying

cudak888 

Perhaps a 600?

-Kurt

cudak888 

Take brakes off. Take derailers off. Take rear wheels off. Discard. Fit coaster brake rear wheels. Resell to cover your costs on the Trek.

-Kurt

tmh657

It's a '84 560. The wheels have been replaced, Ritchey hubs w/ Mavic CXP 21 rims and a 9 speed cassette. No Helicomatic, yipppeeeee. Has original Suntour Cyclone derailleurs and shifters. I think it will shift all 9 speeds with a little adjustment, so far all but the biggest cog.

Has a Cinelli stem and bars which might be Criteriums looking at how fast they bend away from the stem. At least it just has Tri bar ad ons to remove easily. Still has the Stronglight headset and original Dia Compe calipers and levers.

No dents in the frame and no rust. The seat post goes up and wheels are actually true. The thing is just really dirty but it does ride nice. I have had other Reynolds 501 frames so I would expect that.

The lady wasn't quite as strange as her e mail. She did say, "you are taller than I thought you would be". She had empty beer cans attached to the backyard gate for security. I didn't even look at the Auto bikes as they had tall grass growing around them.
I suppose she didn't respond to any other takers since she does e mail from the library every 3 days or so and I was persistent.

Definitely worth the short trip and the $50 price tag. Here it is before any cleaning at all. I will have to post some after pictures.

nickkoto

Nice find. What's that signature decal on the top tube?

cb400bill

IIRC it says "500 Series".

tmh657

That is correct.

abarth

Hack of a deal you got. Those racing series Trek have great geometry. Very entertaining and great handling. I hope you enjoy yours. Was she hot?

melonbar123

I was actually curious whether your bike turned out to be a 560 or not. Lucky guess I suppose.

Bikedued

Nice find! Maybe she was trying to guess your sign by your personality?,,,,BD

randyjawa 

Talk about timing. I do not spend all that much time actually hunting for vintage bicycles these days. That said, I did go hunting yesterday and found: one Bianchi, one Peugeot Challenger, one Peugeot UO8 and one really clean Norco Magnum SL. Four bikes in three or four hours of hunting and that is the four that I am keeping. Total take for Saturday and the day before comes in at roughly two dozen bicycles.

Upon arriving home after my morning of bicycle hunting, guess what was sitting in the back yard waiting for me? A Trek 850, in good condition and sporting upgrades. I am not really interested in keeping a mountain, bike but this one just might spend the summer with me at my cottage on Loon Lake.

I will be offering the vintage bikes lined up against the fence to new homes. The rest I will donate to Bicycles for Humanity. Our next shipment to Africa (the fifth) will be on its way soon, thanks to this last little haul.

Hunting_R_2010_20_March_21.jpg Hunting_R_2010_20_March_8.jpg Hunting_R_2010_20_March_19.jpg

Sadly, I do not have enough room to store five more bicycles at this time. Every Spring the bicycles pour into The Old Shed.