I became interested in biking a month ago since the weather is getting nicer here in Seattle and I wanted another hobby to keep me occupied on the computer and in real life . I'm a fan of vintage things so I set out on finding a road bike on craigslist for cheap. As I read little tidbits of information here and there from all the different threads on this forum, I started to get an understanding of what makes a good bike. Even though it would probably be best to get a beater, I wanted to splurge a bit and it's always nice to have something of quality, even if you won't use it to its full capabilities.

This Trek popped up on craigslist and I went to see it this Sunday and bought it right away. To my surprise, it was actually owned by Skip Echert, the creator of vintage-trek.com! He was very knowledgeable; I loved looking at his bike collection and hearing all the trivia on bike models and manufacturers.

Anyways, here are some pictures and some questions that I hope to get some help on:








Should I get a new bolt? It looks kind of rounded.



What is this nub here for?




The components seem pretty decent since they're Shimano 105 but I'm sure the other stuff might be average. Skip said that since the parts aren't original, someone must have originally just bought the frame and added their own components. The Phil hubs are pretty good from what I read?

Anyways, my biggest concern right now is the rust; it seems that some people use nail polish or find paint at a hobby store to match it? There is also minor damage to the chainstay that I'll take a picture of later.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or information.

im totally jelly right now

Not a bad bike to start with! When I first got into vintage bikes I lusted after 531 Treks - sadly I've had 3 or 4 pass through my hands now but none have lived up to my expectations. I'm still hopeful and will keep buying them though!

Do something to prevent rust (both inside and out) and you'll have a great bike that will outlast us all.

That is a thing of beauty. Love those 80s Treks.

The "nub" on the driveside seat stay is a chain hanger. You use it to hold the chain when you remove the rear wheel.

The Phil Wood hub is a nice upgrade over the Shimano components.

Nice bike! That's a great way to start with this hobby. My first road bike was a lower level '87 Trek; they are lookers and ride well too.

Beautiful. Research some ways to tend to the rust and to the scratched paint. That cable guide's rust seems to be common on these-- my Treks both have it, and I've seen the rust spread from there on photos.

Looks like it fits you and everything. Keep it tuned up and happy and it will certainly keep you happy! I'm rebuilding my 620 this summer and probably going to put my 520 together with parts from the bin, too.

great score.

i'm going to probably upset a few people, but i'm going to suggest you get the frame blasted and powdercoated. it looks like there's a bit of rust (nothing to worry about structurally) and you live in seattle. i have to assume it is going to see some water. i think the quality of the frame and components make it a worthwhile investment.

You did well grasshopper!! very well!!

Nice, nice, nice!

I have the "little brother" to your 760 (460) and have loved riding it these past 9 seasons. Trek road racers are very light, lively and quick.

Your "60" is up at the top of the Trek food chain

I love my 760. It is my go to bike for speed. I did the whole ergo brifter thing on mine since it was a partial bike when I purchased it.

Yours is a great score, especially with the phil hubs. Were it me, I'd just touch it up and ride it for awhile. Save the ground up blast and repaint/powder coat for the long winter.

Those Trek frames are humble on the body.

Nice bike!

If you have big feet, you had better watch those low-speed turns, nuron.

(It's a pretty aggressive bike, that 760 - But it's a lot of fun for that same reason. )

... and to buy it from Skip...

He was really helpful to me when I got my first "old Trek."

His site has been constantly helpful to me.


Cool bike- great score!

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone!


Haha yeah my first low-speed turn was a surprise. It definitely is aggressive--I'll have to learn about seat and handlebar positioning to get it a little more comfortable.

Yeah, I will sand off some of the rust or maybe use a rust converter then find some matching paint. I love the look of your bike! I'm not really fond of the tan strip on my tires even though it completes the vintage feel but I was looking at some different modern wheels to change it up for when I'm in the mood and was hoping for some advice:

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/bik/2921663772.html
^
I assume the "Shimano 9/10 speed" part is referring to the cassette even though they said it doesn't come with the wheels..

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bik/2921964193.html

Do I need to consider anything major if I were to buy these? Width and whatnot?

It's a relief to hear you say that it's structurally-sound; funds are a bit low after this purchase so I will hold off on major work like that for a couple seasons if I decide to do it

You did find a great vintage bicycle. It doesn't have the original components on it but that can be taken care of later if you want. The rust problem is, well a problem. You need to address as soon as your financially able to do so, and to take care of it the best way would be to strip the paint and have the rust removed then repaint it the same color of course. Aftermarket decals are available for that bike and cost around $35 for the complete kit. There are bicycle paint places around you could send it to but they'll start at around $250, sometime though a local bike shop may know of a good local painter that may do it for around $150, or if you know how to do that sort of thing yourself then save even more money.

You may be thinking why go through a complete repaint? first because the bike is more then worth it, that alone would merit a new paint job; and second you need to get that rust completely removed and you can't do that with a treatment then touch up paint, it will look bad afterwards; and the cable guide might, note I said might, need to be rebrazed which will burn the paint. Stripping it down will also allow the painter to look at other brazeons to make sure their ok.

Do not have it powdercoated because powdercoat goes on thicker then regular paint and will reduce the look of the lugs because the thickness of the paint will reduce the detail of the cut of the lugs so that they look very minor instead of sharp.

By the way, I own a 84 660 that I bought new in California back in 84 and it's been a great bike for over 150,000 miles and has no rust anywhere not even on the cable guides. I knew several people over the years that had various 80's era models of Trek bikes and none of them had rust on the guides, so I'm not so sure about the commonality of rust being found on the guides of those bikes.

But I would worry about the rust and repaint as soon as possible, then later, if you want to restore it more fully, see a Trek catalog on the Vintage Trek site and get a list of the original parts and try to find them on E-bay over time. Like I said, this bike is worth the repaint. I couldn't find any 760's on E-bay today but a 560, two steps down from yours is at $329 with 4 and half days left; I did see one of yours in good shape with original components go for $1100 about a year ago.

I second taking care of that rust ASAP. Especially in a damp area like Seattle. I would recommend you look into something like an acid dip that would take care of any potential rust inside the tubes as well. You never know what could be going on in there where moisture has less of a chance to dry out. Looks like a really nice bike, though. Definitely a nice way to start. Well done.

760...nice. Very, very rarely see those on craigslist down here in Portland. I'll go with the people saying to pick away all the bubbly paint, scrape away and arrest the rust underneath, then touch it up with decently matching paint. A perfect color match wouldn't be essential to me, but building up the paint thickness enough so it was smooth with surrounding paint would be.

My ride is an 83 560, Reynolds 501. Took fairly good care of it, storing it inside the house, but years of riding in all kinds of weather brought some rust. Less extensive than on yours. Carefully picking it away is what I did. A little sanding. It's going to take some time to do this with as much rust as you have, but the intact original paint may be worth keeping on. Paint on mine is Imron, which people consistently speak highly of. Really good new paint jobs equal to the original of this bike cost a lot of money.

Nice trek ! Just ride the crap out of it.

Nice Trek! I had a 84 Trek 520 I loved that bike just a tad small for me though so I sold it

+1 on getting the rust fixed, I have an '83 760, just painted it last year, still a terrific bike. Before and after pix are here

I would hesitate to get new wheels for it until you do some more research on compatibility. It appears that the wheelset you currently have is for a 7 speed freewheel (it appears it's a 7 speed shimano 13-28 freewheel on there now), and the wheels you're looking into are for cassettes. When you upgrade the wheels, you might want to add brifters and go all out on upgrading it to 8 or 9 speed. Until you get to know it by riding it, you really won't be able to tell if it's worth the investment (the frame probably is, but how it fits you is important to get comfortable with before spending money on upgrading it).

I repainted my '84 770 last year. I too had a rust issue around the cable guides but that was because the previous owner
used it on a trainer for a few years. I didn't have much problem deciding to repaint as he also started to strip the paint
when he sold it.
Great riding bike (same frame as the 760 only difference were components), fast but not twitchy. I've always thought those
old treks were way undervalued and gave the italian frames a run for their money.
Really cool that you bought from Skip, couldn't think of a nicer guy to buy from, or one knowledgeable about steel treks.

Marty

I would not recommend changing that bike over to a cassette system from the original freewheel. The cost for the components would be expensive, plus you have to spread the stays and if that's done incorrectly you can crack the frame. A 7 speed freewheel is more then enough gears, geez I use to race cat 3 and raced in mountains and never had anything more then a 6 speed cluster (12 speeds total). I still at age 58 don't have more then 14 speeds except on the main touring bike which has 18 and my mountain bikes that have 24.