vintagerando 

Hi, all. I just picked this up this afternoon. I paid $50. Well, I am darn happy. Its the right size and condition. Started to work on it. Needs tires, cables, brake pads, so far. Sakae cranks, Shimano 600 front derailuer, Shimano (?) rear derailleur, Dia-compe brakes and levers. I want to get it up and running, than consider a few upgrades. Decent purchase?

oddjob2

Nice below FMV purchase. Plan on cleaning and regreasing hub, bb, headset bearings. Replace cable housings as well. Enjoy!

Clang

Yes, you got a good deal. As always, ride as-is for a while before going crazy with upgrades. OK, maybe ditch the turkey levers right away.

TugaDude

I always laugh when folks say to ditch the turkey levers. While I understand the sentiment, it doesn't make sense to "always" remove them. Brakes are about more than stopping. While most of my bikes don't have secondary levers, I find that on the ones that do, they are helpful for slowing the bike. So if you have times when you just want to slow the bike, they are helpful. For hard stops, especially panic stops, I agree they are worthless.

IthaDan 

You already bought it and are admittedly happy, why even ask about the deal? I mean really, you paid $50, the most you could have OVERPAID is…. $50.

bikemig 

I picked up a trek 400 for $75 and was happy as a clam. I don't think you overpaid by $50, .

The bike doesn't really need any "upgrades." As with any old bike, you will need to overhaul all the bearings as well as replace the consumables.

Pemetic2006

I paid $300 for my Trek and will likely keep it forever, at least I hope to.
So that is a great buy in my opinion.

vintagerando 

Bikes come and go from my garage for different reasons...this Trek will be staying for long time. Funny thing about bikes, one man's treasure is another man's trash...I stopped at my LBS. I wanted to get some tires, brake pads to get this TRek 420 rolling. The fella at the shop shrugged at the bike and said "there were milliions of these made". He had a low regard for this bike. For me, its a score. Right size, right paint, right condition...I am into touring bikes, right style. Funny two can look at a bike and see totally different machine.

oddjob2

^ If everyone didn't have differing viewpoints, we'd only need vanilla ice cream, white house paint, and whole milk.

IcySmooth52

If I were in the OP's position, I'd clean the bike and convert it to a single speed. Then sell it on Craigslist to a hipster for a huge profit when I can prove to him the name is original.

ramzilla

I got one of these Trek 420's for free a few years ago. It had a Maillard Helicomatic free hub on it that was trashed. After considering all my options I rebuilt the drive train with 2 new wheels, tubes & tires, freewheel, chain, RD & FD. Probably sank about $250 of parts into it. It's one of the best rides I own. A little heavy, but a very solid comfortable touring bike.