i am just getting into riding as an adult, the only thing i've had since i was a kid with a huffy has been a bmx that i bought a few years ago when my drivers license got suspended. needless to say, that didn't do well for distance. i'm trying to avoid driving as much as possible right now and more than a little fed up with the nyc subways, so i'm hoping to get into commuting by bike. i got this a week ago after scouring craigslist for like a month, here goes:










frame has some rash but i paid what i was hoping to and i'm really excited about it. i've been out on it almost everyday since i got it and i'm loving it. i'm starting to feel ready to attempt the commute, and then on to longer rides on weekends.

It looks like a great bike and should be a blast to ride!!

If I were you, I might get with an experienced rider and tweak your handle bars and seat height a bit to get the most comfortable ride out of it. (Or maybe they work for you now...they wouldn't for me)

thanks mang!
i actually got a tuneup done when i bought it, i've got the seat all the way down but if i get it much higher my leg is gonna go straight when the pedal is down so i figure i'll keep it there.

when i was looking, i was going by standover height, mine is about 31.5 and on the bike its about 32 so i figured a half inch wouldn't be so bad, it took me almost a month to find a halfway decent ride on nyc CL for less than like 180 so i wanted to grab this when i found it ($100). when the guy at peak did my tuneup he set the handlebars like that and i actually like it, i've found that i ride with my hands on the hoods mostly so it works for me. now that i look at the pic i think the angle of the shot kind of overstates the angle of the bars as well.

i might mess around a little bit more with the fitting, i'm gonna go back and buy a book i saw at B&N that had a pretty detailed guide to fitting, but for now i'm just enjoying riding for the first time in a very long time.

Welcome to C&V. That's a great price for that bike. I have the 83 version with the same 501 frame. I like it, but don't get to ride it too much because I've left it original, and I'm not into friction shifters. Still, when I ride it I really like the ride, smooth. Those 560's are selling for way more than $100. IMHO, you did real well. Glad to see you're enjoy it.

I'd say the bike is a wee bit big for your size (from what you describe), but try it for awhile. Bike fit is key and can cause chronic discomfort if the frame is too large for you.
Having said that, you have a great classic bike that, in a pinch, you could use a trade bait for a frame that fits better.(personally I prefer a commuter that has room for larger tires and fenders... this could be a great candidate for a 650B conversion! :^)

You did incredibly well considering where you live. You should really enjoy that bike, and yes, you will need the nice lock to keep it safe!

East Hill

NICE! I love steel touring frames What I did with mine, rather than move the handlebar angle around, was to replace the original brake levers with Tektro aero levers (a little more efficient ina shorter reach - I have small hands) , and mount them a little further up on the curve of the bars so I can ride on the hoods. I also put on gel-backed bar tape and I love how cushy it is.

I replaced the original saddle on mine with a Bontrager hard-foam one; I'm saving up for a Brooks.

It took me a while to get used to the downtube shifters but now I actually prefer them.

yeah, i'm not gonna pretend to be anything more than a total newcomer, but i started looking into getting a bike last year, got sidetracked, and then this year i spent a good month lurking the board here, watching CL and ebay as well as freecycle and any other sites where a used bike might turn up. i promised myself i'd spend about a hundred bucks, especially after readin all the great $30-40 garage sale finds on here, but quickly realized that in NYC, that just doesn't happen. i came pretty close to spending 180 bucks a couple times, also came close to traveling pretty far (at one point i was scouring all the CL's for ny, nj, and ct, and even boston and philly on a daily basis). two days before i got this one i was going to buy a falcon europa for like 150 but the seller sold it the day before i could pick it up. i was REALLY excited when i found this one and researched the hell out of it here and elsewhere (like i did with just about every bike that got listed on cl through june and part of july).

as far as height, aside from needing to keep the seat fairly low, i feel like the fit is pretty decent. when the pedal is at 6 o clock my knee has a very slight bend, so it fall just short of going completely straight which is what i am told is correct. i might even try raising the seat a bit, since i'm a n00b i might be wrong and have room for a slightly higher seat position.

as for now, enjoying riding almost daily, getting those ride times distances higher each day and i'm hoping to start commuting from rego park to midtown next week. i've found queens, at least my neighborhood, to be quite hill-y so we'll see what the commute brings.

sounds awesome, i was actually thinking i might want to eventually re-wrap with a softer "cushier" tape. i'm pretty comfortable riding the hoods now and finally getting used to the saddle (first couple days riding i'm sure is always a "break in" period).

the avocet gel seat i believe is the only non original part on the bike (although the wheels i'm not sure about at all). all original suntour cyclone group, i've never ridden indexed gears, maybe someday i'll try a bike with them just to see what it's like. i like the idea of keeping everything original, my only plans right now are a new set of tires and some fresh yellow cable housings, possibly the bar tape. little cosmetic stuff, and then possibly a new saddle. i have a friend at work, 56 year old turkish guy who was an avid cyclist in his day and is now a collector of all the bikes he dreamed about as a kid (i'm trying to get him to come ride one of his bikes with me sometime, get back in the saddle), he's helping me get into bikes and i'm helping him get into the internet. last week i helped him learn to use ebay and win an old frejus he's in love with, and he's looking out for a nice yellow saddle for me to match the color theme.

LOVING cycling, and getting my fiance involved as well.

Nice deal on that bike, especially for NYC!

It reminds me that I need to get pics of my recently purchased 1985 560 up...

I bought mine locally for $50 to flip, but after seeing it in person, and realizing that I may want something for the fast rides once I lose about 100 pounds, I am thinking of holding on to it. I suspected I might when I saw it, but I talked myself into increasing the stable by convincing myself it was for flipping.

I've got the 460 (I believe same geometry, slightly cheaper tubing) and absolutely adore it. You're going to find you have a real nice ride.

I have an '85 Trek 600, it looks like the difference is between that and the 460 is 1" longer chain stays on the 600. This is a great little bike, my 2006 Trek 1000 usually sits while I ride the 600. Of course the fact that it has been upgraded with all Campagnolo components helps. Love those Ergo brifters!

so i just "discovered" something else non orginal, the wheels. front wheel is a mavic, rear is a super champion. as far as i know these came with rigida wheels so both are replacements.

being a total noob, i don't notice any difference in not having a matched set but that adds something to my list of stuff to save up for and do to it.

arethey 700c wheels, or 27"?

The 560 is NOT a touring bike frame, it's a mid level racing frame. Did you notice the tight frame geometry and the lack of eyelits on the rear stays and forks? And having own the next level up version of this frame, the 660, I know from where I speaketh.

$100? In NYC? Good lord you got a steal. People around here (Wisconsin) seem to think anything Trek (because they are "Made in Wisconsin" ... ...) and anything Reynolds is automatically $400+. I have an 86 and think it's great.

+1. *60 was racing in the Trek 80's frame naming taxonomy. If you have a (road) frame that ends in 60, it is either for road racing or posing as road racer. *20 was for touring. *00 was general road bike. Others become a little more obscure, but, again, *60 was real clearly racing intent.

700c

There was also a 12 series in that 80's era which was a sport frame-a geometry in between a touring and a racing frame. There were other series in that era too but not sure how they figured into all of this mumbo jumbo.

Also the higher the beginning number the better the frame, Trek made a cheap 360 for what purpose I don't know, then the next level up was a 460, then the 560, then the 660 (mine) and finally the top of line 760. I purchased the 660 after the bike shop in Covina CA convinced me that the 760 was too light and would flex more due to the lighter steel tubing and in turn would wear out faster especially riding in the mountains as I did...after years of experience later I'm not sure if that advice was very accurate; but after over 150,000 miles (not a missprint) I have not regretted the purchase of the 660.

Didn't notice the eyelets in the photo, but the overall geometry of it (head tube, chainstay length) looks quite similar to my '85 bike, which is definitely a tourer, albeit not a Trek. Maybe I am being fooled by the difference between 80s steel geometry in general and modern racing bikes.

The geometry is a lot different from a racing bike to a touring bike and even a sport frame. My 660 is so tight that I have to deflate the rear tire completly then smash the tire against the seat tube to get the wheel off; I also use to own a 412 (and a TX900 but that's a different unrelated model), the 412 you could remove the rear wheel without even deflating the tire, and the fork rake was a tad longer; and if you compared a 20 series to the 12 series you noticed you had even more laid out geometry both in the rear and the fork rake.

Nice find, and good price!! Puzzling how my 83 came with aero brakes, and the 85 didn't? Mine came with black matrix rims and Maillard Helicomatic hubs. It now sports Campy rims with I believe 105 hubs(I may be mistaken on the hubs), Sakae modolo bars, and indexed 105 with bar end shifters. It's one of my top five "nice" bikes, and love the ride!,,,,BD

Rims in the pic were a matrix/Shimano combo that ended up on the R600.

Interesting. Do you happen to know of any links where I could see pictures of the different geometries? Because I don't think I am visualizing this very well.

(I am assuming that the angles between the tubes abd stays are important, but so are the actual lengths; so that a small rider would find a frame proportionally more ralaxed than a larger person on the same frame?)

Here's the best I could do in short notice.

First the 620: https://www.vintage-trek.com/Trek_galleryKR.htm Notice in this pic the space for the fender and that there is a full fender attached with space left over!

Now the 660: https://www.vintage-trek.com/Trek_galleryMJ.htm Notice in this pic the lack of space for a fender.

Bring up a seperate brower for each and split screen the images and you can really see the difference.

And a good example of extremely laid back geometry? The Nishiki Century I recently built up. It also has pretty long stays. This bike is super steady, and easily holds a line without even thinking about it.,,,,BD