Trek 660 frame repair - worth it?

[Ranman]

I found a crack in the right rear dropout of my '85 660 (Reynolds 531) above and in front of the rear axle. Also the paint on the top tube is badly blistered around the brake cable guides. What would be a reasonable price for repairing the drop out and top tube and repainting and is this frame worth that price? I haven't seen too many 660s up for sale on ebay so it's hard to determine what the frame is worth. Also can one tube be repainted and the bike look good or is that pushing the limits of color matching?

[brokenrobot]

It'll probably be cheaper to have the whole bike painted... and it's worth it if you're attached to the frame, as the older ones were a high-quality frame.

[sngltrackdufus]

I found a crack in the right rear dropout of my '85 660 (Reynolds 531) above and in front of the rear axle. Also the paint on the top tube is badly blistered around the brake cable guides. What would be a reasonable price for repairing the drop out and top tube and repainting and is this frame worth that price? I haven't seen too many 660s up for sale on ebay so it's hard to determine what the frame is worth. Also can one tube be repainted and the bike look good or is that pushing the limits of color matching?
My advice to you would be , if you wanna play with that particular frame go to a your local sheetmetal shops & shoot the sh1t with some of the welders & get a side job going with him at a fraction of the business rate. He might even do it for a 12pk.
With a little attentiveness & care ,spraypaint in a can produce outstanding results.

[velonomad]

I found a crack in the right rear dropout of my '85 660 (Reynolds 531) above and in front of the rear axle. Also the paint on the top tube is badly blistered around the brake cable guides. What would be a reasonable price for repairing the drop out and top tube and repainting and is this frame worth that price? I haven't seen too many 660s up for sale on ebay so it's hard to determine what the frame is worth. Also can one tube be repainted and the bike look good or is that pushing the limits of color matching?

Piss artist advice aside., You will find prices for repairs vary widely, Because Trek had thier own dropouts . A frame shop will want to replace both to get the rear end properly aligned, This is probaly going to cost you between $75 and $125. Forget matching paint. A decent repaint starts around $150 and goes up from there. Forget market value of the bike, what is the bike worth to you?

There is a number of framebuilders who do framebuilding and repair out your way. 3 that come to mind is : Joe Bringheli in Ohio ( http://www.bringheli.com/ ), Tom Teasdale in Iowa ( http://www.tetcycles.com/index.html )
Mark Stonich in Minnesota( http://www.bikesmithdesign.com/ )