A Good Ending to a Bad Deal - 85 Trek 660
05-22-11, 10:59 AM
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A Good Ending to a Bad Deal - 85 Trek 660
In November 2010, purchased my first vintage bike, a Trek 660,for a tidy sum of $450 from an online vendor in California specializing in 80’s era road bikes. The bike, arrived with parts protruding out of a beat up shipping carton. My wife signed for the package since I was at work.
Inside the box revealed a frame dented on the seat tube and driver side chainstay near the bottom bracket. The frame was scratched up more than usual and was loosely, and I mean loosely packed in sparse amounts of flimsy bubble wrap. The crank arm with the chainrings was loosely affixed to the chainstay with ty-wraps, contributing to the dent in the chainstay and additional scratches to the frame. After a month of working with the vendor and Fedex, found myself holding the bag.
Assembled the bike and rode it, nice ride but after a few miles found several problems. The first and most audible was a steady click-click-click during pedaling. Discovered the chain was so stretched it barely stayed on the large chainring. Next was a pinging noise from the front wheel, and upon closer examination it appeared some of the spokes were very loose. Retired the wheel and pulled out a spare front wheel, a Bontrager Race wheel that used to be on my Trek 2100. Went riding some more.
The next problem was move vexing and nearly a deal breaker whether to keep or trash the bike. Under sprints the bike would pop out of gear, even with the new chain. Replaced the Shimano 600 downtube shifter, bunch of little teeth fell out during disassembly. None of the LBS carried replacements and could not find a used Suntour ratchet shifter locally, a shifter I’ve had nothing but good luck with. Eyeballed the one on the Univega but decided not to cannibalize the bike since it was nearly all original, sans tires and seat and a great ride.
Ordered a new rachet shifter from Velo-Orange (pricey but well made, and it works). To my surprise the shifter did not solve the problem. Examining the rear wheel, noticed when spinning the rear wheel, the axle rotated in an elliptical manner around the skewer rather than a nice circular motion. Removal of the skewer revealed binding but the skewer was true. While loosening cones to service the hub, the axle snapped. Damn axle was bent and probably cracked. Going through Sheldon Brown’s site, a valuable resource and reference on bikes, figured out the axle length to order and purchased one from Harris Cyclery along with a Brooks saddle and seatpost for the Univega, my way of thanking them for maintaining such a great resource on keeping one keep vintage bikes alive and well.
Installed the new axle and no more ghost shifting under power. However, after a week of riding one of the spokes snapped on the rear wheel and barely made it home without the whole wheel coming apart. Had my LBS remove the freewheel, and underneath discovered the cause, apparently at one time all the spokes were bent from the chain falling off the freewheel into the spokes. The bent axle most likely caused the chain to fall off the freewheel , with the chain then jamming between the freewheel and hub. Hate to see what happened to the person who owned the bike before me with the chain having falling off the way it did. At this point the bike could not be ridden until the rear wheel was replaced.
Wanted to see if it could possibly take a 130mm rear hub and used a hub from a trashed Bontrager Race wheel and found it fit without any force. It slid right in. Now we have options….
The bike gods smiled on me and within a few days found a set of wheels off a Specialized Elite owned by a young lady who had recently upgraded her wheels. The rear wheel was dead nuts true, the front a little off but workable. Noted on the front hub, the pressed in bearing race was a bit skewed and it did no spin as smoothly as the rear but it was way better than what came with the bike originally by a long shot. For $40 the wheels were mine. Ordered a SRAM 8 spd freewheel from my LBS. Few days later, put it together and took it out for a spin.
Man, this thing just glides and is so smooth. The wheels are plenty stiff and the ride was somewhat harsh but they didn’t make any weird noises. Shifting with the 6 spd freewheel was good but the 8 spd was even better. The combination of Velo Orange’s shifter, Suntour Surperbe, SRAM’s 8 spd cassette, chain, and Specialized wheels worked well. No trimming during shifting and it snicks into gear both up and down.
The last item replaced were the brakes. The Modolo Equipe’s are the worst brakes ever, could have been the pads, but big time caliper flex. The Dia-Compe’s on the Univega stop way better than these. Replaced them with Tekro’s dual-pivot calipers and found they work well with the stock Shimano 600 aero brake levers. I’ll still need to replace the brake cables with something more modern as well. The rear cable housing was pretty cheap and required greasing the cable a bit to stop it from binding within the brake housing.
OK, spent more at the end but wound up with something safe and fun to ride. It’s my lunch hour bike, for 30 - 45 minutes of flying with abandon. It’s a smidgen small for me for longer rides. Several lessons here:
• Unless you know what you are doing, I’d prefer to see my potential purchases up front. No more used sight unseen online deals for me. Pictures don’t cut it.
• A used bike can kill you, if the bike don’t feel right while riding, stop and assess. Be prepared when dealing with a well-used bike. Life on well -worn parts is finite, with expiration dates sooner than expected. If possible, get something a bit more cherry to save you some nasty surprise and expense later down the road.
• If possible, turn a bad thing into a good thing and move on. Nearly gave up on it, having set a spending limit on restoration on the bike. Will try brifters on this in the future.
• Take the fork off the frame and inspect it well for any signs of damage. Learned this from working with the Mercian and did this early on with the Trek 660.
• If the package comes damaged and you have to sign to take delivery of it, refuse delivery and make sure the delivery company note it came that way. Fedex should have never allowed shipment the way it was boxed.
• Vendor claims on his website he puts work into his bikes – this was a flat out lie. Putting new handlebar tape to make it look pretty don’t cut it. Don’t trust pretty pictures. It’s amazing what one can do with Photoshop.
• Never take a person’s word unless it comes with recommendation from those you personally know.
Enclosed are before and after pics:
Before:
Original as received, both wheels shot and retired.
After:
Inside the box revealed a frame dented on the seat tube and driver side chainstay near the bottom bracket. The frame was scratched up more than usual and was loosely, and I mean loosely packed in sparse amounts of flimsy bubble wrap. The crank arm with the chainrings was loosely affixed to the chainstay with ty-wraps, contributing to the dent in the chainstay and additional scratches to the frame. After a month of working with the vendor and Fedex, found myself holding the bag.
Assembled the bike and rode it, nice ride but after a few miles found several problems. The first and most audible was a steady click-click-click during pedaling. Discovered the chain was so stretched it barely stayed on the large chainring. Next was a pinging noise from the front wheel, and upon closer examination it appeared some of the spokes were very loose. Retired the wheel and pulled out a spare front wheel, a Bontrager Race wheel that used to be on my Trek 2100. Went riding some more.
The next problem was move vexing and nearly a deal breaker whether to keep or trash the bike. Under sprints the bike would pop out of gear, even with the new chain. Replaced the Shimano 600 downtube shifter, bunch of little teeth fell out during disassembly. None of the LBS carried replacements and could not find a used Suntour ratchet shifter locally, a shifter I’ve had nothing but good luck with. Eyeballed the one on the Univega but decided not to cannibalize the bike since it was nearly all original, sans tires and seat and a great ride.
Ordered a new rachet shifter from Velo-Orange (pricey but well made, and it works). To my surprise the shifter did not solve the problem. Examining the rear wheel, noticed when spinning the rear wheel, the axle rotated in an elliptical manner around the skewer rather than a nice circular motion. Removal of the skewer revealed binding but the skewer was true. While loosening cones to service the hub, the axle snapped. Damn axle was bent and probably cracked. Going through Sheldon Brown’s site, a valuable resource and reference on bikes, figured out the axle length to order and purchased one from Harris Cyclery along with a Brooks saddle and seatpost for the Univega, my way of thanking them for maintaining such a great resource on keeping one keep vintage bikes alive and well.
Installed the new axle and no more ghost shifting under power. However, after a week of riding one of the spokes snapped on the rear wheel and barely made it home without the whole wheel coming apart. Had my LBS remove the freewheel, and underneath discovered the cause, apparently at one time all the spokes were bent from the chain falling off the freewheel into the spokes. The bent axle most likely caused the chain to fall off the freewheel , with the chain then jamming between the freewheel and hub. Hate to see what happened to the person who owned the bike before me with the chain having falling off the way it did. At this point the bike could not be ridden until the rear wheel was replaced.
Wanted to see if it could possibly take a 130mm rear hub and used a hub from a trashed Bontrager Race wheel and found it fit without any force. It slid right in. Now we have options….
The bike gods smiled on me and within a few days found a set of wheels off a Specialized Elite owned by a young lady who had recently upgraded her wheels. The rear wheel was dead nuts true, the front a little off but workable. Noted on the front hub, the pressed in bearing race was a bit skewed and it did no spin as smoothly as the rear but it was way better than what came with the bike originally by a long shot. For $40 the wheels were mine. Ordered a SRAM 8 spd freewheel from my LBS. Few days later, put it together and took it out for a spin.
Man, this thing just glides and is so smooth. The wheels are plenty stiff and the ride was somewhat harsh but they didn’t make any weird noises. Shifting with the 6 spd freewheel was good but the 8 spd was even better. The combination of Velo Orange’s shifter, Suntour Surperbe, SRAM’s 8 spd cassette, chain, and Specialized wheels worked well. No trimming during shifting and it snicks into gear both up and down.
The last item replaced were the brakes. The Modolo Equipe’s are the worst brakes ever, could have been the pads, but big time caliper flex. The Dia-Compe’s on the Univega stop way better than these. Replaced them with Tekro’s dual-pivot calipers and found they work well with the stock Shimano 600 aero brake levers. I’ll still need to replace the brake cables with something more modern as well. The rear cable housing was pretty cheap and required greasing the cable a bit to stop it from binding within the brake housing.
OK, spent more at the end but wound up with something safe and fun to ride. It’s my lunch hour bike, for 30 - 45 minutes of flying with abandon. It’s a smidgen small for me for longer rides. Several lessons here:
• Unless you know what you are doing, I’d prefer to see my potential purchases up front. No more used sight unseen online deals for me. Pictures don’t cut it.
• A used bike can kill you, if the bike don’t feel right while riding, stop and assess. Be prepared when dealing with a well-used bike. Life on well -worn parts is finite, with expiration dates sooner than expected. If possible, get something a bit more cherry to save you some nasty surprise and expense later down the road.
• If possible, turn a bad thing into a good thing and move on. Nearly gave up on it, having set a spending limit on restoration on the bike. Will try brifters on this in the future.
• Take the fork off the frame and inspect it well for any signs of damage. Learned this from working with the Mercian and did this early on with the Trek 660.
• If the package comes damaged and you have to sign to take delivery of it, refuse delivery and make sure the delivery company note it came that way. Fedex should have never allowed shipment the way it was boxed.
• Vendor claims on his website he puts work into his bikes – this was a flat out lie. Putting new handlebar tape to make it look pretty don’t cut it. Don’t trust pretty pictures. It’s amazing what one can do with Photoshop.
• Never take a person’s word unless it comes with recommendation from those you personally know.
Enclosed are before and after pics:
Before:
Original as received, both wheels shot and retired.
After:
05-22-11, 11:15 AM
#2
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Despite all the grief Trekday2100, I am sure the end product was worth it. A Trek 660 is one heckuva nice ride!
(All of your admonitions about buying over the internet are well taken. It's a risky biz, but you can mitigate it as you said.)
(All of your admonitions about buying over the internet are well taken. It's a risky biz, but you can mitigate it as you said.)
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05-22-11, 03:12 PM
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I love a happy ending.. 
Glad you got it all worked out.
It looks like your saddle is pretty far forward on the rails? It could just be a camera perspective thing.
Glad you got it all worked out.
It looks like your saddle is pretty far forward on the rails? It could just be a camera perspective thing.
05-22-11, 04:18 PM
#6
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Oh yes......very nice!! 
05-22-11, 04:35 PM
#7
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Auchencrow, the end product was worth it. The bike is plenty stiff and responsive and been riding it almost daily. Many good lessons were learned overall and obtained some great ideas from this and the Mechanics forum. The next bike, a Univega was a local purchase. That was a great find and used as a commuter for work daily. Despite the dent's (very visible in person), a crease on the seat tube and the one on the chainstay, they only detract on the value but not the ride.
RelyT, good observation on the brake release, I had accidentally put on new brake cables without realizing the release was open it until it was too late. The cable was already crimped down pretty good and would had to replace the cable. Live and learn. Worked on the bike in the evenings and it was probably not a great idea when tired from a long day at work. However, my determination to make good on this bike pushed me late into the evenings.
Jeepr, yes the seat is way forward. Recovering from a back injury from years ago. Thanks to my wife for having me perform some contortionist stretching exercises that are extremely painful (at least for me), I've gradually been able to ride more tucked in over time. The cranks also a bit short for me, 170 mm and rather have a 175 mm. This will change when the next evolution is to fit brifters on it. In the meantime it's a good ride for me.
RelyT, good observation on the brake release, I had accidentally put on new brake cables without realizing the release was open it until it was too late. The cable was already crimped down pretty good and would had to replace the cable. Live and learn. Worked on the bike in the evenings and it was probably not a great idea when tired from a long day at work. However, my determination to make good on this bike pushed me late into the evenings.
Jeepr, yes the seat is way forward. Recovering from a back injury from years ago. Thanks to my wife for having me perform some contortionist stretching exercises that are extremely painful (at least for me), I've gradually been able to ride more tucked in over time. The cranks also a bit short for me, 170 mm and rather have a 175 mm. This will change when the next evolution is to fit brifters on it. In the meantime it's a good ride for me.
