Trek 420 - Advice on Upgrading
 

1985 I believe, I'm upgrading to sell, not keep, and make it more attractive in a slow market.

It does have the Helicomatic hub, 5 speed, 126mm spacing. Everything seems original, Weinmann rims, tires in remarkably good shape.

Cheapest seems to get a rear hub and 7 speed freewheel with Shimano A070 7 speed brifters. Keeping the 27" rims, tires and new spokes if needed - I've done this route before..

But I happen to have 1055 Shimano 105 8 speed brifters that I've attempted the "take apart and flush n grease" (got 'em free). The left is great but the right has a little resistance on the big lever, not great but not horrible, well greased.
Further testing is needed mounted on bars. I know this leads to a freehub and cassette that I haven't dealt with yet in working on bikes. A little wary of getting a freehub that may be 9 or 10 speed, like Tiagra 4400 and how a 8 speed cassette is going to work. I believe there's spacers involved behind the largest cog (?). But all this would make a better bike.

Of course looking for a good but reasonable cost route. Please comment with your experience in making a nice bike that someone would like to buy.

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My view is that I really doubt you'd ever make your money back with what you'd be putting into an upgrade. If you're having trouble selling as is, try dropping your price. Would-be-buyers might be interested in making their own decisions about upgrading.

+1. Clean, polish, overhaul. Put on ebay at $300

2x

Full overhaul.

New cables and housing.
New tires(pasela) and bar tape.

Remove everything, clean and degrease all components and frame, then grease bearing points and rebuild the bike.

Adjust and tune so everything works as it should.

$60 for the tires, tape, and cabling.
3-6 total hours of work spread over however many days you need.

Itll be an awesome looking vintage period correct looking bike.
Sell anywhere between $230 and 350 depending on where you are and on which platform its sold.

There definitely would be an upper limit of what it could sell it for if I did the upgrade and spent over $100. I just got it so haven't done anything yet.
I like oddjob2's way to go! Even put it up with the Heliomatic?

Keep the Helicomatic right where it is, explain to the buyer about the smaller bearings and what that means (keep it lubed, duh).

Sell as-is.

This. Make it look good. Make it function well. Spend as little as absolutely necessary to meet that criteria. Price with some negotiating room and put LOTS of good pictures in your ad.

I used to do the full overhaul but stopped. Most buyers did not care about what I did. They were focused on my price and trying to get me to lower it a little bit. I made things easier on myself by making sure everything worked well and the bikes looked good. That way people who have no idea what a bottom bracket is, don't get a glazed look when I would tell them how I scrubbed and cleaned and adjusted to make it function like new.

Great advice, thanks!