Oldsledz

This bike is at a thrift store near my work, I don't see a model number or name on it . Can anyone tell me what it is and what it is worth?

bargainguy

I'm guessing 1981 but without a serial number or better pictures, can't tell which one:

https://www.vintage-trek.com/images/trek/Trek81a.pdf

If you can inspect it, you can pull the SN from the bottom bracket (assuming it's not covered by a cable guide). You can also get a better idea of the parts than what we can see in the provided pix.

FYI - centerpull brakes on the thrift store bike were probably swapped in at some point. Trek ran sidepulls in '81 if that is the correct year.

bikemig 

Looks like a 600 series trek with a 531 main frame. Those are good brakes even though side pulls were spec'd on those bikes. The parts are good.

What is thrift store asking for the bike? Is it your size or are you buying it to flip?

juvela

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front mech is Shimano Titlist so there is miscegenation in the gear ensemble

it is also slightly earlier than most of the other fittings

headset appears to be Tange MA60 (economy)


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CliffordK

Also look for the serial number near the bottom of the seat tube (which tells a lot about the bike).

They aren't worth a lot. Perhaps $300 cleaned up and ready to ride.

Oldsledz

I will stop and look for a serial number, I didn't find one today . I didn't check the bottom of the seat tube , someone scraped some paint off the bottom bracket , I didn't see a number there but the lighting was not vary good. The want 125.00 for the bike. I probably will pass on the bike. I have too many already so I probably just ride it a while and flip it if I did buy it.

CliffordK

$125 isn't unreasonable for that bike.

The Japanese Treks put the serial number on the seat tube.

Lots of good info here:

Vintage Trek Bicycle Frame Serial Numbers, bike

Around here, most of the thrift stores have a sale schedule. "color-code". The store will tell you when the codes are changed, and a little deduction will tell you what they are changed to. Sometimes one wins, sometimes not when waiting.

sd5782 

No Trek expert here, but an interested observer as I have an 82 and an 83. I don’t recall ever seeing the Trek name panel so high up on the seat tube as this one. Also, the tubing decal should be on the seat tube also and near the top on the ones I’ve seen that I can recall. As for the 531 sticker, does that jive with no rear axle dropout adjusters? I believe the 531 bikes are a bit higher up the line and would have adjusters. The rear dropouts look similar to my 412 from 1982. The 82 has brazed on top tube cable guides though. My guess is a pre 82 vintage 400 series bike with different decals put on it. As others have said, serial number will tell all. I really like my 412.

Sedgemop 

I thought the same when I saw the photo. Not only is the panel high, but its orientation seems to be off, also. Looks to be turned to the right a little. A little fishy, I think.

himespau 

Thank goodness I'm not the only one. I had just figured it was due to my ignorance that it looked fake somehow. Doesn't look like a repaint and it has the Trek seatstay endcaps though.

VegasTriker

Did you pick it up to see what it weighed? That is the very first thing I do to judge the value of an old bike. Lighter generally means better components as well as the frame.

If it is a true Reynolds 531 double butted tube frame it should be light. This would be a real find for someone looking for a road bike but having only the budget of an entry level bike. My vintage Motobecane Le Champion with the same frame weighed 21 pounds. Cleaned up and with a few replacement parts for the old rubber it would still be well below the $500 entry level bike price. The 27" tires are harder to find but everything else shouldn't.

maddog34

Trek was a small young company in the late 70's.. and early 80's.. Many times they would run out of Decals and ship them later. My bike is non-decaled... it is a 1982 930 custom build that came as a bare frame/fork with zero parts.

the frame pictured has no top tube cable housing guides.. my '82 does have them... are the cables routed through factory braze-on guides at the bottom bracket, or are they run through a clamped on guide bracket?my '82 has the brazed on ones... is the head badge riveted on, or glued on? riveted designates a 1981 or earlier...

Value is all related to condition... it NEEDS brake adjustment and likely other things.. how are the tires? any age cracking of the rubber? the Brake Pads look like Kool stops.. that is a good thing! Bar tape ok? Cable housings not cracked or bent? How's the chain? rusty? stuck links? worn out?

Bad condition, it's worth $125... Great shape, ready to ride, and the paint is near perfect? worth $350.... Is Every last detail rebuilt, new, and/or spotless? maybe $500. If you're in Europe, It's worth 50% more, at least!.... go figure... and Colnagos are far cheaper in Europe... they know about that brand and it's habit of farming out frame builds to old drunks in tiny shops all across Italy, then painting them while tripping on the designer drug of the month.......... just kidding about the drugs...

Post it to this bunch on FB.. they can tell you EXACTLY what you're looking at, i'd venture... great people on that page, btw... they LOVE old Road Treks.. so do i.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/120288977723

bikemig 

Decals can be replaced; seatstay caps cannot. Bike prices are soft. $125 is more than I'd want to pay for this bike and I like vintage Treks.

Kabuki12

I just had a Tri Series given to me. Full Shimano 600 mech but dirty and a bit of rust. Going to clean it up and use for a loaner bike. I’ll like Trek bikes but would offer $80 for that one. Vintage steel is not a hot market right now , especially one that needs cleaning up and tuning/ consumables.

AlexIg

That paint job looks remarkable for the age.

nesteel 

Welcome to DuPont Imron. Great very durable product. Terrible environmental nightmare.

Oldsledz

I stopped and looked at the bike again today and got the serial number. It looks like N3F3A37. Looking at the serial number guide that was posted the 2nd 3 don't seem right , so I am still not sure what the bike is

Sedgemop 

Does look like a 600 series even with the decal weirdness. From Vintage Trek:

Serial numbers beginning with M or N (41X and 61X bikes or frames) seem to have a different meaning for what normally is the year digit. The year digit is the fourth character in the number. In the 50 M and N serial numbers that have been sent in by owners, the year numbers go from 0 through 9. The remaining part of the serial numbers seem normal.

According to the brochures, Trek did not make 41X and 61X bikes or frames during 76, 77, 78, and 79 and also not in 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, or 89. These serial numbers apparently do not follow the year convention used for other Trek models. It is likely these frames, SNs beginning with M or N (Models 41x and 61X), were contracted out or were made in a separate Trek facility, and were given the old serial number form so as not to interfere with the sequential numbers being assigned by Trek in their main shop, which began in late 1980.

This variation to the SN system may have been done to extend the numbering system. By using the fourth character as an extension of the last three, the serial numbers could be extended from 2600 possible combinations to 26,000 for a given month.

For M and N leading serial numbers, if the TREK letters on the seattube have no colorwrap behind, the bike is from 1980 or perhaps 1981. If it has a colorwrap, the bike is probably from 1982.

bargainguy

One possible explanation for the panel decal sitting so high on the seat tube:

A few years ago, I got three sets of early 80's Trek panel decals in a group buy, and they were originals, not reproductions. I asked about them here, not knowing what to charge and where they came from.

Someone on this forum said that during repairs, bicycle shops would regularly mangle the seat tube panel decal if they didn't clamp the bike properly in the stand. As a result, stores had to stock panel decals to replace ones they had destroyed. Not sure if they were ever offered to the general public. Might explain the odd non-centered placement.

wrk101

In the "good old days" I would find Treks like this one at thrift stores for $10.... Thrift store prices are up sharply, while market values are down.

I haven't bought a bike at a thrift store in a long time. Saw a mixte recently, nothing special, $125. If I put 4 to.6 hours into it, and $75 to $100 in consumables, I might get $150 for it. I have better ways to lose time and money.

In the cycle of neglect, bikes go from ignored to curbed or donated. Inspect carefully, watch out for stuck parts.

For Trek, I'd call that paint job below average, with notable failures. Typically Trek paint is outstanding.

brewerkz 

I flip bikes to pay for my hobby. I general, these are a dime a dozen in my area and dont sell well, especially with friction components. In the condition its in, I wouldn't buy it to flip. If I wanted to ride it $50 tops.

DixonDuke

​​​​​​125 for that bike at a thrift store is too much to spend I think. A vintage bike at a thrift store should be no more than 50, remember its a thrift store and people go there to find gems at a great bargain. In my area that bike might fetch 150 considering it has fresh rubber and a few updates, but that thrift store obviously knows what they got and they're trying to get every dime they can out of it. Seems greedy to me but then again maybe 98% their revenue benefits orphaned quadriplegic blind burn victim children with autism and terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I mean in that case then give the damn thrift store the 125 but otherwise I'd chew them down if possible, and if not possible then let them be known they greedy AF!! Lofl

base2 

I suppose it would depend on what kind of thrift store. It is remarkably easy to dump $100 of mechanic time & $100 in fresh rubber & consumables into a $50 bike. Yet, some Co-Ops do this & sell reconditioned "$50 bikes" (your words) for $250 or more several times a day, every day they are open. The result is a brand new bike of low theft value that is reliable for daily service many years to come.

If it's in a pawn shop or Goodwill, & hasn't seen a mechanic since 1983, then that's a different story altogether. Locally, the bike pictured would sell in as-is condition for $100 within 15 minutes of being rolled out to the Value Village sales floor.

Those Panaracers are $35 each. That's $70 of value you are forgetting to take into account.

I sold an identical frameset alone for $40 to a fixie guy. He even let me keep the groupset. Then he bought a used flip-flop wheelset for another $50. Then there is the rest of the things needed to make it a bike. Crankset, chain, handlebar, brakes...Complete? I have no idea what the guys total was. But it was way more that the $50 you suggest the OP's bike is worth. Heck, even bargain basement Origin8 bartape is $20