Classic & Vintage - Quality of Mid to late 90's Treks?

I'm looking for advice / opinions about the quality of 1996-1999 steal framed bikes?.

How much are they worth, what should I look out for, stuff like that. Maybe compared to early 80's Trek bikes.

Thanks

Think the 470 was that time frame and one of the last steel road bikes other than the 520 touring.. Double butted, tig welded cromo, and nothing special. There is a 320 steel road in the '99 catalogue. Double butted,tig welded cromo,bottom of the line.

(disclaimer: all of my expirience with mid to late '90s Treks is with the mountain bike line) this is just my opinion, but:

crap. especially compared to the early '80s (or even early '90s) bikes. unless i needed a cheap beater, i wouldn't buy one. when they stopped making lugged frames in the USA and started making welded frames overseas, the quality went downhill. i bought a 1990 Trek 930 Singletrack in 1990. still have it. in 1995, a customer brought one of the new welded bikes in for a tune-up. same model as mine. and i was not impressed. the welds were ugly, the components seemed cheaper, and the bike just wasn't as nice.

i don't know what the "break point" is for quality, but current production Trek bikes are pretty nice and well-made. even the ones made in the Far East. but those mid-90s bikes were not pretty.

^^^ ....too funny!! I have 2 welded 930s and both say handbuilt in the USA. :rolleyes:

i was told at the time by my dealer was that the frames were made overseas and the bikes were built up in the US. so i don't know what the truth was/is, or exactly when frame production moved overseas. but i'm still not impressed with the quality of those era bikes. especially when compared to the bikes from the early '80s, like the OP asked.

Thanks for the good info guys.