jPrichard10 

Paging JohnDThompson yet again 🙄

I know a fella with a nice Trek and I had to ask him if I could take a look at his bike. I assumed it was a 950 from the Cinelli sloping fork crown, Columbus tubing sticker and the aggressive geometry.

When I turned it over, there was just "TREK" cast in the BB shell with no serial number.



Did they not put serial numbers on the 950s (1981ish by other metrics)?

Photos for assistance:

jPrichard10 

More photos if that helps identification.

AdventureManCO 

Looks like a very special bike, and I LOVE the color. Any full shots?

jPrichard10 

I'll have to ask. His build is horrendous. But the frame is something special, that's for sure.

smontanaro 

Never letting you look at any of my bikes!

JohnDThompson 

Looks like a 950 frame. Those Trek-branded Cinelli bottom bracket shells were only in production for a few months, before the Signicast Trek shells with cast-in cable guides under the shell became available.

jPrichard10 

here's the real sad part: someone (not the current owner) sawed off the shift lever bosses 😡

dcsin

from the details shown, I would guess a late 1981/ early 1982 950 or 750 frame The frame seems to have details from both years. Cinelli BB shells were used through the 1981 year then the Trek investment cast shell was used. The other 1982 change was top of BB shell cable guides to below BB cable guides. The repaint probably covered up the serial number. The Steerer tube should be stamp with a Columbus dove for the 950, Reynolds 531 for the 750. I am suspect of the Columbus sticker, due to the repaint and Reynolds 531 decals were very hard to get, Reynolds only supplied one per tubing set and they were unavailable otherwise back in the day.

AdventureManCO 

Curious why you think its a repaint. Looks factory to me, but I dunno?

dcsin

Trek used Dupont Imron paint at this time. They chose their color pallet from the Dupont Fleet catalog, The 750s/ 950s were 3 panel paint (head tube, seat tube, and down tube). Main colors used were White, Silver, and Pewter metallic, Panels were typically dark metallic blue. I have seen the 750s White with jade green metallic and dark red metallic panels from this time. The other item, I have never seen the "Made in USA" bands on a frame that did not have a different colored panels. It could be a OEM custom color or it could be a repaint.

jPrichard10 

I did always think it looked strange. Not as metallic as most of the early Treks, and not having the color wrap for a bike of this era, and that was before I saw the bottom bracket shell

But maybe it could have been custom from Trek? I thought they did that on some orders.

Might see him again on Saturday and maybe he'll let me remove the fork to check for overspray if I ask nice and adjust the headset afterwards.

AdventureManCO 

These are good thoughts. What stood out to me was some curious similarities to the '81 950 I had, and the '79 930 I have now. The flake in the paint looks similar. The thickness of the paint looks similar, and the primer coat undernear, almost a beige/gray, looks similar to the wear patterns on my old Treks. There is some slight rust veining under that paint, which sadly, also looks similar to what I have on my 930! The paint 'looks' old, and while that doesn't guarantee that it wasn't an old respray, the tattered columbus sticker, the bands, the wear...looks pretty authentic to my eyes. The 930 I have is a custom color, and looking at pictures of the bike before I bought it, I went bezerk trying to determine if it was original or not, and down the rabbit hole of custom colors on Treks I went. Apparently very rare, I found a few other example of the light green Dupont Imron, which were a dead ringer for what was on my bike as well. They had standard colors, but for a small upcharge, could do just about any Imron color offered. The question would be if this color could be matched to an Imron color. If so, I'm thinking there is a possibility it could just be the real deal.

AdventureManCO 

Sure looks a lot like Plum Met # 44481 or Dk. Violet Met. # 44493

At least...if these were on Imron chart E08082

madpogue 

Hmm, the paint on the BB shell just doesn't look thick/deep enough to swamp a half-decently struck serial number. You'd think there would be SOME sign.

velomateo

Oh no, Drew is back... so sad.
Cool frame though, definitely worth a restore/repair.

sd5782 

Does that BB shell look a little less than round? Does it look like a flat spot where a serial number may have been?

madpogue 

Based on the first photo, I would say no.

dcsin

The photo with the rear derailleur cable guide one the chain stay, the sleeve is not typical of the 950/750 at the time. Trek used a post style. If it was replaced, it would have been repainted.

madpogue 

^^^^^ Yeah, now that you mention it, a slotted stop like that seems very unusual for an early '80s road bike.

marius.suiram 

If it helps, this is a 1981 Trek 950 frame, that was built in 1983, like a Trek 970.

jPrichard10 

Met up with him today and one thing led to another and the bike followed me home. Given the shifter bosses I probably overpaid and I definitely don't have time for another project, but he could tell I was interested in the frame far more than he was.

Pictures soon, but one interesting note: this has Shimano dropouts. The rear at semi-vertical. Whoever built this up clearly stripped all the components of value except the Campy headset, so I'm guessing that's original. But a weird combo of Shimano dropouts (959 esque) and Campy headset (957esque) is another curiosity here.

Here it is stripped of its ramshackle components:










Confirming once again: no hint of a serial number. No flat spot from a file:

jPrichard10 

And now the fun part of the mystery: is this a repaint?

Headset was a little dry.




Pulled out the fork, and it's confirmed Columbus, and the original paint (or at least someone went to the effort to remove any steerer tube paint stripe and apply this one).




​​​​​​Bottom bracket and seat stay caps definitely confirm this is a Trek of a certain era. But the downtube decals do seem a but thick and papery:





Maybe these aren't the original decals? But what about the old ones? And the newish chainstay housing stop doesn't seem to have been added after the paint.




So conspiracy theory time: This was built as a Trek 959, but not finished for some reason. After sitting around, maybe for many years, someone added the final braze in in the chainstay and got it painted. Never got stamped, maybe never got decals until sometime later. Is my tinfoil hat showing?

Alternatively and probably more likely, the chainstay stop broke off and was sent to Trek for repair a long time later. Chainstay stop was replaced with a new style, and Trek meticulously removed the paint from the steerer tube and repainted it.

nesteel 

The dropouts are likely original; my '81 957 (bought from the second owner, who knew the first) has them, one of which was replaced by trek under warranty.
I'm also betting the color is orignal as the band on the steerer tube is the same. As a data point, mine was repainted by Trek after the dropout replacement, and the "speedy black" doesn't match the aqua green band on my for steerer tube. My suspicion is mine was white with dark aqua panels originally, not white/blue panels like the catalog.

jPrichard10 

I wasn't sure if Trek would sandblast the whole frame (steerer tube and all) before a repaint or not
​​​​​​
I wasn't doubting the dropouts were original, but it does indicate that it was a 959 and not a 957 which (iirc) had Campy dropouts. But the 959 had a Dura Ace headset. Which means either this Campy headset was added later (probably before the dog's breakfast of components that were in it when I got it) or just another hint that this was a strange mish-mash from the beginning.

nesteel 

Dropouts do not indicate whether it was a 957 or a 959. Mine was delivered equipped as a 957 to owner #1 with Shimano UF dropouts. Even the catalog says the frames were to be made with UF dropouts, at least for '81. The UF units were prone to cracking. Looking over the catalogs, Trek went back to Campy dropouts in '82.