I hope to be getting a TREK 1200, from a family member, it's an older model, probably 15+ years, not completely sure however. Anyways, it's in awesome condition and I want to put a flip flop hub with a track/freewheel or just solely a track in the back, but as I have been learning, some newer bikes have vertical drop outs that may make this impossible or not desirable. I dont have a way of looking at this bike at the moment, so I was wondering if anyone knew if a bike like this would work or am I better off getting an older 70's road bike for this purpose?

my schwinn is a 91ish, with horizontal dropouts. My Bianchi from the same period is vertical. I don't know treks that well, but look on ebay; usually there are a ton of pictures.

If the bike has vertical dropouts you can get an ENO hub. As you can see in the pic, Enos are designed so that the actual axle is offset slightly from the line that goes between the two axle nuts. Meaning the line between the two nuts becomes a pivot that the axle can revolve around to regulate chain tension. ENOs work great but at $150 or so they are expensive compared to the cheaper track hubs out there, and you might just want to start with a bike with horizontal dropouts.

Figure out what your dropouts look like first and it seems like all of your other questions would be answered. IMO if the bike is in awesome condition as you say, why not keep it as is and ride it the way it was built?

Absolutely....If it doesnt work to convert it, I wont bother. There are plenty of great bikes here in Chicago that are for sale with horizontal drop outs that I can easily swap. Thanks for the info

I have an ’86 1200 and it is vertical.