General Cycling Discussion - 1986(?) Trek 620

knowing i wanted a touring bike to complement my mountain bike, my wife bought a 1986(?) Trek 620, supposedly in mint w/ only 20 miles ridden, for $200 on Ebay.

Any knowledge of/opinions about this bike?

Also, I'm 5'6" with short legs. Is this frame too small? here's the stuff from the Ebay listing:

This bike is brand new with less than twenty miles on it. Although it is an older bike(1986) it is Trek at its roots best. Handmade, lugged, Reynolds 531 tubing...this bike can easily be converted to a top quality competitive cyclocross bike. Features are Normandy hubs, Deore crankset, canti brakes, Huret Crane deraileurs and shifters, Stronglight headset, Blackburn rear rack, Kirtland rear rack top touring pack, Zefal HP frame pump, Cat Eye computer (verifies low mileage). The frame specs are 47 c.m. seat tube, 52 c.m. top tube, and 45.5 c.m. chainstays. This is a very nice quality bike that was simply never ridden, just hung in our garage.

BTW - I put a question mark after the year 1986 because there is no 620 in the 1986 Trek catalog on vintage-trek.com. I believe this bike is actually an '85...perhaps the seller bought it in '86.

mark
t

Not clear what sort of touring you plan but upgrading this bike would be expensive unless you stumbled into some good 8spd stuff. It is probably 6spd, with screw on freewheel. It will need a thorough disassembly, clean and lube down to the smallest bits (every nut and bolt unscrewed, parts disassembled and cleaned ( with the exception of the freewheel which is cleanable by running thin solvent through the innards and then oiling with real oil, not paraffin stuff or the pawls might stick). It would be fine as is after cleaning and perhaps tire/tube change because of age. Size should be close if it is a slant top tube. Steve

I'd say that a 47cm frame is too small. This bike was built for somebody around 5' tall.

I would agree that the bike would be too small for someone your size, but the 620 was a upper mid range touring bike with a very good and durable tube set. It appears that the derailleurs are original as is the headset which is bullet proof, but the rest of the stuff I'm not sure about. The Normandy hubs where very well made touring hubs. The problem is the size issue, but it is a nice bike though.

Trappermark,

What kind of decals?
Where is the model designation?
You can send the serial number to
Vintage Trek and Skip can give you some
info on the bike.

Marty

Here is what caught my eye, "Cat Eye computer (verifies low mileage)." :confused: :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by zman92atl
Here is what caught my eye, "Cat Eye computer (verifies low mileage)." :confused: :confused: :confused:

yeah...don't worry about that; we're not going to rely on a detachable computer to "verify" mileage. we figured that this bike was worth a shot...the picture shows it in very good condition and the seller had excellent Ebay reviews. at $200, we can always spruce it a bit and resell it if it doesn't fit me.

mark
t