I finally bought a trek 170 frame I've had my eye on lately, but the frame is the not so desirable (to me anyway) trek purple with quite a bit of small surface rust spots and paint bubbling. I can't decide whether to repaint (professionally) , or , to keep the original paint. I know the 170 is pretty rare and not sure if I would kill the resale value by repainting. While I'm not planning on reselling anytime soon, what are your thoughts? While I have been looking for a 170 for a while, I'm not sure about the collectability, as you rarely hear or see them. I'm afraid I would regret it down the road.

I wouldn't touch this bike; the paint job is in good shape and easily touched up. You will damage the value of the bike if you do.

If you can't stand the color, sell it and find a bike you like.

Nice bike. That's one of the earliest 170s, with the re-worked Ishiwata SCM fork crown and Tange Champion short-point lugs. We didn't make very many of those.

It's not that I really can't stand the color, it's just I wished it was another color. However, I am a believer that collectable bikes shouldn't be repainted unless the frame is compromised. The small areas of paint bubbling and rust around the exterior of the bottom bracket can be satisfactory cured and touched uped. I guess I should try one of the frame restoration outfits and see if they would do touch up and not repaint. I've never been good with matching nail polish. Thanks for the info John, it's good to get that kind of info from the original source.

How did you find this?

There is a collector / bike shop owner here who had this for years. Believe it or not, he has another one without the fork...in better condition.

The 170 is the stuff fables are made of. But you probably knew that. Nice snag!

If you can't past the color, I certainly can.

For real.

More than anything, I'm looking forward to building it up and riding it..regardless of color. Searching for that donor super record bike...may take a while.

Please take any purchase or selling inquiries to Private Messages.

I'm guessing this gal is on a 170. Cool pic of a pro racer on a Trek....

Betsy Davis, maybe?

Yeah- that's around "grail" bike status- in that it's a very rare bike, and the reason they're not so talked about is there actual rarity.

IMO it would be foolish to repaint because of preference.

I started to scrape some of the paint bubbles off and came across quite a bit of surface rust. There are no holes and only slight surface rust in the inner tubes. I really don't know if I can savage the original finish? I'm afraid there might be rust under other areas of the paint. Do any of you know if any of the reputable restorations outfits could do a "conservation" touch up...or more than likely a complete refinish? If a complete re finish is necessary, I'll most likely try to replicate the color and decals. I think this frame might be worth it. Any thoughts?

Not to hijack this thread but is this Cindy Olivarri? She rode for 7-11 but slipped off the scene in 1984.

I wish I could recall the website the photo was taken from.

ETA: that does appear to be Cindy Olivarri. Articles tell of her being banned from the '84 Olympic Team for doping and steroids.

After alot of consideration and taking the advice of you guys, I decided to give the frame a slow, thoughtful rust removal treatment and match the paint the best I can and touch up the spots. The longer I have the frame the more it grows on me. It is a piece of 80s Trek history and I know I would regret a repaint...in addition to killing any collector value. This frame was raced hard, as it was meant to be. It would be a shame to erase that history. I'll repost when I'm done with the build!

IMO a great decision. Keep it forever.

I think only around 246 170's were built.

Good call. At least with this route nothing is irreversible. If you take off the original paint, that's irreversible.

Agreed! Plus, my small collection of super record parts I have so far are far from perfect...sometimes repainted frames with old parts look a little off.

It looks like that's a good candidate for the often talked about Oxalic Acid bath to get rid of the rust and then protect the metal. If it's a problem to match that color- I would think a clear would be appropriate for this bike. This is a really, really special bike- and much like the pink 770s, that color is a "badge" in and of itself.

Best wishes!

Even more important than new paint is the need to ID that particular bike by the logos on the forks and with the Reynolds decals. I'm guessing the circa '85 "170" on the chainstay protector was later? That too would be another important identifier.

My '77 Colnago Super has it's own paint blemishes but no way am I going to repaint. And Ernesto wasted not one extra trigger pull on these frames what with the thin topcoat. There is racing heritage attached to the "look what I found" personna of these classic racers.

There is a 170 frame set up as a fixie on the bay right now. Buy it now for $1,700. It's a red color and too small for me. Are these frames really worth that much?