BikingViking793 

Hello. I found a vintage Trek road bike that interests me, but I'm not an expert on old Treks. The previous owner of the bike is deceased so the seller doesn't know everything about the bike. The frame has no model number listed on it anywhere. It must be a pretty good bike though as the frame is Reynolds 531 and components are Campagnolo Nuovo Record. It is supposed to ride well and looks to be in good condition. So I'm curious if anyone has a decent idea of the value, year, and model? Would this be a top of the line sorta road bike for Trek? How much of the bike looks original?

Also they say it is a 48cm with a 29" standover. My current vintage road bikes are 21" Schwinn with 31" standover. 31" is my max to stand flat and saddle is about down all the way on these bikes, so I've assumed smaller would be ok. I just don't know how much smaller. I'm about 5', 5". Curious of any opinions of fit for me with this size. I would have guessed more like a 50-52 for me. But I really just need to be able to ride it comfortably. I have a few bikes so it's just the idea of owning a nice old made in Wisconsin Trek. Bike is pretty decent drive away. Thanks.

wrk101

Clearly not all the parts are Campy NR. Those are Shimano bar end shifters for example. An original Campy bike would not come with Shimano shifters. Get the serial number and look it up if you want to know model/year. Vintage Trek site has all the serial numbers listed.


Looks like a parts bin build to me. Black brake calipers would not be on a bike with silver components. Brake levers look like Tetras, but I could be wrong. Trek decal does not look original to bike. Could still be a fine bike.

On size, I have zero to negative standover (very short legs, long torso). Yet my saddles are not slammed. Are you extending your legs in the downstroke while pedaling? I see people who have the saddle too low for riding, but just right for touching the ground. Seat height should be based on feet on pedals, not the ground. I can't reach the ground if I am on the saddle. No problem, I lean the bike over to one side. Problem solved.

Decades of riding motorcycles (where I couldn't reach the ground either) taught me to lean the bike to one side, and only putting one foot down.

BikingViking793 

Sorry, I should have said derailleurs. The headset is also Shimano 600.

wrk101

Pretty much proves its a parts bin bike. How do you know it is Reynolds 531? DT decal does not look right to me.

If I saw a bike like that, unless I could verify it were something special via serial number, I would value it at the RD, FD, and crankset alone.

No model number on the frame often means a repaint, which would explain the decals.

Again, I am not knocking a repaint, or a parts bin bike either. You could argue that almost every one of my bikes are parts bin bikes. Now I do not mix Shimano indexed shifters with Campy friction derailleurs. But that is just me.

I'm going to guess that rear derailleur is ten years older (or more) than that frame.

BikingViking793 

thanks. Think this one isn’t what I’m looking for.

albrt 

I agree this bike has had some work done, but early 80s Treks often did not have model number decals, or had them in inconspicuous locations. My '82 620 has no model number - the way I figured out it was a 620 was because it had all the components listed in the catalog with appropriate date codes. My '83 500 only has a small model number on the drive side chain stay.

That said, I would value this bike purely on how it rides with nothing extra for collectability.