Classic & Vintage - Did I blow it, not buy this bike?

Saw a Trek 520 (1984+/-) with, looks to be, original Suntour Cylone Mk II drivetrain and Sake Crank. It was the one with cantis on it. Look to have been left outside as there was lots of sun damage but little rust, if any. A good wax would have brought it back. He wanted $125 and said he would take $100. Tires and chain were shot. Wheel needed serious truing.

-GG-

Buying as a rider or to resell?

Very good price for a rider, IMO.

good question, thought about making it a CX bike or a tourer/commuter. Probably resell it after fixing it up a bit, though.

-GG-

If it was an '84 with the original wheel set, then you'd probably have had to dump the Maillard Helicomatic rear hub anyways.

Looks like you would have had a nice bike to keep, but you would never have made any money off of it as a fixer-upper.

It would make a great winter bike. Plenty of clearance for fenders and winter tires. A riding buddy has one, and he just put Nokians on for the winter. Yep, studded tires. I use 'em too. I bought some the other day on Craigslist used, and they look like new for dirt cheap. Truing up the wheels is a half hour of your time, that doesn't cost anything. If I keep that bike, I'd re-cable everything, and throw on some Kool-Stops while I'm at it. A new KMC chain is less than $20, actually less than $15. A little fresh bar tape is dirt cheap and freshens everything up in the cockpit. And frankly a little wax wouldn't hurt a thing, but I wouldn't sweat this one so much. If this is a snow bike though, wax the daylights out of it. It will help with rust. Oh yeah, does it fit ok?

Yes, you blew it unfortunately. You will probably end up finding an even better deal later, so don't worry about it. For $100 or $125, plenty of room to rehab and still make a great flipper out of it. Nothing on your "needs fixed" list sounds difficult or costly. I would run back and try to pick it up!!!

My best flips this year have been touring bikes (nine of them, three were Treks), and I paid over your price above for each one of them.

Two similar Trek 520s just sold on ebay for $450 plus shipping. (That price level sounds way over the top to me, I certainly have not gotten that kind of pricing out of them). One was a fully rehabbed 1984. The other one was pretty dirty and had True Temper tubing (a step down). But it also had barcons and indexed shifting.

Any of the good vintage steel touring bikes have pretty good value, including the Trek 520. Polishing compound works wonders on faded paint. The cantis are a big plus, the 1983 came with side pull calipers. The 1984 came in a color called "taupe", it almost looks like cammo color to me. Needs some contrast to show it off.

The bike had a pretty decent frame, Reynolds 501 main tubes doubled butted, Tange 2001 mangalloy stays and fork.


+1 Contrasting bar tape can really make a bike pop.

This is the 1984 I had earlier this year. Too big for me, so it moved on to another home.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2520/3856629648_317c91f2f5.jpg