First Aluminum Trek
 

Trek made its first aluminum bike in 1985. The bike sold as the Trek 2000 with Dura Ace components and red white and blue fade paint, and sold as the Trek 1500 with Shimano 600 components and a blue and white fade paint. I bought one of the 1500 series and put it in the basement, preferring to ride another bike and save that first aluminum Trek. Hard to believe but its still there. I took it out the other day and there it is, looks just like new. Zero miles. Even has the original tires. Is this bike worth anything today? I assume its just another $10 garage bike unless somebody is a Trek freak.

are you wanting to sell it?

Yes, I would like to sell it.

I have an '87 1500, all yelow with blue decals. Came with a mix of Sante and 600 components. Its in excellent condition but updated it with 9sp 105 stuff and a triple crank. Im curious what they're worth as well.

I am not an expert on the matter, but I'd guess $100-$200 based on eBay. It depends alot on the size of the bike and the whim of the market. I see alot of Treks up for auction, but they tend to be newer models.

If you don't mind my asking, where are you located?

I'm in a suburb of Atlanta. Thanks for the info.

I have one of those as well, an '85 2000, originally "Ecru" (off-white with Maroon colored Concor saddle) 56 cm still in service. At one point I found some hairline cracks in the paint around the BB, so I sent it to Trek to investigate (lifetime warranty and they arent kidding!). They stripped the paint, found no problems, re-bonded the brake bridge that looked suspicious, repainted and sent it back to my LBS. No charge. I still have all the original all-dura ace components. Even the wheels are still in good shape, and this is after 5 years of racing, and many more as a training/ century bike. Except as it was originally intended, can't really do anything with it- not as a fixed gear, or updated with STI (well maybe as a 7sp only). So it's now my travel bike. The old Dura-Ace is gorgeous.

I have two 2000's. One I bought in '85, and over the years have completely messed up. It has Ultegra 9 with a triple now, look 285 forks and rolf wheels. I use it when the weather gets nasty and I don't want to risk a steel bike getting wet. It was my full service race steed for several years. I bought a frame and fork on eBay last year for the princely sum of $41 ($15 shipping), and with the parts that I pulled off of the original, built it back to the original 6 speed dura ace. I couldn't find the original seat, but the place that I bought the first one is still in business and they had one laying around. Oddly, I like the Ultegra 9 a little better than the dura ace 6...

BTW, I too had the cracks and checked it out with Trek - turns out that the glue they use in the joints is more flexible than the Imron that they put on the outside...

and whilst I'm dithering; I've pulled apart several in the last four or five years and found more than one with cracks in the steerer tube - especially if the bike's been in a crash, the aluminum steerer is prone to failure. I don't think that the crack would lead to complete failure (they are usually vertical cracks) but I just don't like to think about cracks in my steerer tube.

Sounds like an awesome ride!

I just got an '85 Trek 2000, with the original Dura Ace components...it's been a really fun ride the past couple weeks.

I've seen a lot of people tracking down old aluminum and composite Treks recently; a friend of mine just bought a 2300 on ebay and my 2000 came from craigslist. I see them being sold at good prices fairly frequently.

I just picked up a Trek 7000 aluminum for free. A gift from my Brother inlaw. I was told its about 10 years old. Im presently repacking it with grease. Still shifts ok.It is black with white spiderwebs effect throughout its cool. Any info on this Trek.

Checking an alloy steerer after a fall is good advice, Alloy steerer problems persist...including some off topic Trek's of today....Trek did mention that after a crash a bike should be gone over, but in a race that cannot always be an option.

Of useful info, be sure to remove the crown race and inspect under that, with a crack check dye would be best. I like Alloy over carbon, but prefer steel to the others.

If a used frame/bike assume it has taken a fall. No matter what the honest seller states.

What size is it?

I've got a 62cm Al Trek frame hanging in my garage. In terms of fit issues, I'm fairly certain that 62cm was the largest frame Trek made in that series, as the frames were really road racing in their orientation.

This is a 1995 1220, made with Easton Program Al tubes and using (I believe) Trek's internally lugged bonded frame construction, which made for a much prettier frame than current TIGed AL does.

http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/Dirt.../trek-1220.jpg

A couple of comments about the frame....

First, as already mentioned, I think these are the prettiest AL frames I've seen (with the exception of the old French Alans). They are much, much cleaner looking at the joints than most modern tigged frames, imo.

Second, I think the mid 90s saw some of the steeper seat tube angles. IIRC, the 1220 and similar bikes had a 73.5 deg SA, which I think was inspired by Tri and TT type bikes. Certainly not the shallower SAs that seem to be more common today. Definitely these bikes were fast responsive race bike geometries.

Third, one of my beefs on bikes like this is that they limit tire size. This frame would take nothing fatter than a 25mm tire.

Lastly, I never felt like this bike buzzed as some have complained about AL frames. I know the tubes are no where near as fat as C-Dale tubes, so I wonder if that keeps them more comfortable?


[Edited -- Sorry for the faux pas. Mea Cupla.]

this is getting dangerously close to For Sale thread which is
drifting dangerously towards TRASH.

marty

As I was reading, I was wondering about that... :)

Although the information about the bonding and cracking paint is interesting.

which is what kept the thread from being moved.
Worst case all the for sale posts get deleted leaving only bonding and paint.

15 years later and I find this thread through a google search. I've had the Trek 2000 with Shimano Dura Ace in the garage over the past years. Ride it a little. Bring it to the bike shop to get a little work done. I noticed the part about cracking paint. I have some cracking paint. Is this something that Trek will possibly take care of? I love the bike. It's a classic and still a tough ride with the gearing that's on there. And not surprisingly getting tougher every year as I age. But I love the bike. Would like to take care of the cracking paint if possible. For free would make it even more attractive.

If you are the original owner of the bike yes, I think Trek would cover it.