Danbo

Hello all,

I've got a 1984 Trek 420L Mixtie sitting in the garage and I'm wondering what it's worth. We purchased the bike new for my mom in 1984 and she road it two or three times and maybe put a total of 100 miles on it. It has sat in various sheds and garages for the last 34 years. It has accumulated a few scratches during that garage existence, but it has never been crashed (Heck, it was barely ridden). My mom gave it to me to see if my wife wanted to ride it, and that's clearly not going to happen. I know it's a pretty rare bird, but not sure what it's worth. It is all original. I've replaced the rubber bits, brake hoods, tires and tubes as they had all rotted away. I've not seen any of these sell recently, so I don't know what they are worth. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I tried to add pictures, but I need 9 more posts after this one to be able too!

Danbo

Edited original post to comply with forum rules I read after posted. Sheesh. New guy shows up and just starts posting like he owns the place...

8 more for pics...

bargainguy

Welcome to the forum!

If you go to the Intro section and say hello to eight of your new friends in their posts, you'll hit that 10 post minimum.

Once at 10 posts: click on the Reply button at bottom (not the Quick Reply button), click on Manage Attachments, and upload from there.

tmh657

Welcome Danbo. I have only seen one of these and it went through my garage in Oct 2010. It looks like it was made for 1 year in 1 color in 2 sizes. 19 and 21". I had the 21" frame and it had been sitting unused for a good while but was in VGC, just dirty. It cleaned up to like new condition. It sold for $275 and was bought by a young guy for his girlfriend. I have sold 2 other 420's. a 1985 and a 1990. They went for between $250 and $275.

As always what you can get for it depends. Where you live, your photo and marketing skills etc. Also the used bike market is a weeeee bit softer than 8 years ago. Someone with knowledge of the market for this style frame may have more input. It's definitely not something you see very often and kind of unique. If you are near a college town that would help. GLWS and as always YMMV.

Danbo

Thanks, TMH. That's good information. That bike is prettier than the one I have. Hopefully, soon I can get pictures online. Unfortunately, I don't live near anything, so my market will likely have to include shipping charges which really puts a damper on desirability.

Danbo

I know mine is a 19" frame. It has original handlebar tape. We had a handlebar bag on it for my mom, and we took the front reflector off for the bag to fit, but left the bracket in place. The handlebars show signs of wear from the bag rubbing on them. There are several places where the paint has been chipped due to living in sheds and garages with things falling on it. I think I'm close to pictures...

Danbo

Woohoo! 10 posts! By the way, am I still restricted to 5 posts every 24 hours? If so, I need to make them count...

Shrevvy 

tmh657

Good job of cleaning Danbo. Someone will be happy to own it. As you say you don't live near anything so shipping it to a buyer may be your only option. Or list locally and wait. GLWS.

oddjob2

Go to your hobby shop and get a little bottle of Testors to spot the paint chips.

Advertise in Bay Area, Orange County, & Los Angeles CL as well as ebay (pickup only). Put YOSEMITE in the headline. You're so close to Yosemite National Park, someone will swing by while on vacation to pick it up. Ask $325, take a $300 offer. Make sure to say the bike is for a rider under 5'4" and is ready to ride.

While there are 3-4 of us who regularly pick up bikes while on vacation, it is not unheard of by non nut jobs.

Danbo

Good advice. Thanks, everyone. Is there a trick to getting the rust off of the chainring nuts?

oddjob2

wd40 and a brass brush

Danbo

I have both of those. I'm inspired now to make mine as pretty as THM's. I'm going to pull it apart and scrub it nice and shiny and get it ready for its glamour shots. I'm a couple hour drive from the SF Bay area, so once I get it gussied up I'll get it posted there (and maybe Sacramento, as well, as that's a big bike community not too far away). I need to find my chain breaker tool as the chain needs a good soaking to get rid of the accumulated junk on it, and I think I know where my Heliocromatic tool is to get the cassette off. I'll keep you posted on progress.

Danbo

A little bit of WD-40 and some fine steel wool and the rust cleaned up pretty well.

juls

IMO, $300 is a bit of a stretch. Mine had a super custom crank and a simplex sx630 rdr (I think that looks like one) First I did was change the wheelset and rdr. I found it to be a bit heavy. Kept the crank and traded out the rest. Looks better with upright bars. It IS a pretty bike, but not 300 beans pretty. I take it the west coast is more inflated than I thought? Anyway good luck with the sale.

Danbo

Thanks for the input juls. This does have the Simplex SX630 rear derailer. Somewhere along the ways, the badge fell off. These wheels are a bit drab. I put a little effort into cleaning them up, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Today I found a pretty close match in Testors paint following Oddjob's suggestion, so making the ugly white spots go away. I'm not in a huge hurry to sell it. Heck, we've had it for 34 years, so why rush now? I'd just like it out of my garage and on the road where someone else can put it to use.

JudyM

Have enjoyed reading these posts on the Trek 420L. I have one for sale in the Marketplace, if you know anyone who is interested.