Classic & Vintage - Hey, check out my time capsule!

1981 TREK 614, completely original as it was sold, with less than a week's worth of riding done on it! Original tires and tubes still hold air! These are the photos the seller sent to me. You should see the rubber brake hoods. They're literally oozing down the bars and look like someone held a torch to them. I'll try to post additional photos if anyone wants to see them. There's no black grease anywhere on this bike, it's been hanging in a garage it's whole life.

Cheers, Joe217331217332217333217334217335

Well, maybe a bit of grease on the chainring, but there's not even the tiniest knick from chain-slap. Unreal.
Sorry about the tiny photos, still not sure how to properly post pictures.

cheers, Joe

delicious.

It's stuff like this that make a C&Ver feel alive!

Looking forward to more photos and your ride report!

Here you go.....

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p286/deerslayer1961/trek0.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p286/deerslayer1961/trek1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p286/deerslayer1961/trek2.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p286/deerslayer1961/trek3.jpg

Wow thanks, that looks so much better. You can see the little plastic protective caps are still on the brake bolt ends. As I look at the undamaged paint on the dropouts, It seems that the wheels have never been off this bike.

Cool! Super-clean bike, for sure.

Think "Pewter" for that color. I can only imagine how many gallons of Pewter Imron paint Trek used back then. Nice, neutral color.

I remember taking a nice tour of the Waterloo factory in about 1982. I was a student at UW-Madison at the time, which is not far from there, and I subsequently took a brazing test at Trek. I 'passed,' and they were willing to hire me as a second-shift brazer (with an Engineering degree) for - wait for it - $5 per hour.

"Your possibilities for advancement would be unlimited, though" was what the HR guy told me. Hmmm. At the time, I was working part-time as a wrench for $8 per hour, with an offer to go to $10 per hour full-time if I stayed on at the shop after graduation. I occasionally wonder if I should have taken one or the other of those options (prolly the one for twice as much money, I'm thinkin'). :D

753proguy,
I had forgotten how sparkly the paint was on these bikes. In the sun it's just dazzling.
I worked in a Schwinn dealership back in 77, 78 when I was in college. I was making less than $5 an hour but that was just doing new-bike assembly and minor repairs. That was going-rate summer job wages back then. When I finally scored a union job making $7.25 I felt like a millionaire. I knew several kids who skipped going to college because they thought they had already hit the big time. I think minimum wage was $3 and change back then, and that's what most summer jobs paid.

cheers, Joe