Older than it looks?

Spotted a bike described as “SR custom” on CL a couple months ago. The NDS photo clearly showed a 700-level Trek, but the barn is full and it is smaller than I ride, so I let it be. Looked again and it was still listed last weekend, so I looked a little closer.




Pewter without a contrasting head tube, so early 80’s. Oil clip on the LF hubs, so likely Shimano 600. Sakae, SunTour, Dia Compe G sidepull brakes, so I’m thinking a 715 from 1980 or 81. Looks like low mileage, so I decided to make a rescue purchase.

The bike was kept at the out-of-state owner’s parents’ house, so it was not ridden very much. It still had the original Specialized Touring tires. Aside from a few poorly-matched touch-ups, the paint is in good condition. Components are a good match for the 1980 brochure, but the serial number is not:


The serial number translates to a 22.5” 710 frame built in April 1977. The 1977 brochures only show the TXnnn models. Don't know when the 710 first appeared.
The 710 shows up in the 1978.5 brochure at Vintage-trek.com but the component line-ups offered are different than what I have.
The components line up (with a few deviations) with the 1980 brochure and the headbadge is glued-on, not screwed.

I know these were sold as framesets, but the component selection is so close to the 1980 catalog that I doubt anyone would build it up that way on their own. And a 1977 frame would have a screwed-on headbadge if it sat on a dealer's shelf.

So it looks like the frame sat around at Trek a few years before being outfitted and badged, likely in 1980.