I am in the process of possibly purchasing a 1986 Trek 560 from a local here in my city. I believe the guy merely wants to get rid of it and would love to get a few bucks for it. Would this bike be a solid candidate for a fixed gear conversion? I have not driven out to see it yet but I believe it has horizontal dropouts. I have done a single speed conversion before so I know the routine. Does any one own or have owned one of these bikes and has ever attempted a conversion on it? It would be good to know before making a purchase. HIT ME UP!

here's a 1987:


The dropouts look slightly horizontal, could possibly work. The stock crankset looks good at a glance. You'll have downtube shifter bosses, but that's not a big deal. Could work, may just wanna confirm that there's a little room to move the rear axle around in the dropout when you see it in person, but looks like a good lugged steel frame.

Go here https://www.vintage-trek.com/index.htm for more info. on the 560. That was a very nice bike; if you get it, take care to save all the components you don't use and don't grind anything off the frame.

The Classic and Vintage forum could tell you a lot more.

Yes! Those were high-quality consumer-level sport/race bikes. Nothing precious with probably midlevel components, but ones worth saving around in case you ever get a different bike and want to make that into an 80s road bike again.

I've wanted a Trek of that time period for a while now, but I keep on not having room for one more. Drat.

woah, yeah those arent horizontal at all! ive seen a couple of people that have made it work while trying to find some close up shops of the droupouts. Has anyone tried and converted one of these before? I will have to send messages to these guys but heres what I found.

WTF are you talking about? The dropouts on these bikes are very much horizontal. There is planty of room for wheel adjustment. I've owned a handful of vintage Treks and they are some of the nicest, best riding bikes out there, with build quality, finish, and details rivaling some very much more expensive frames. Deffinetly take it, but if you are going to convert it don't hack anything and save all the original bits. And I'm not just saying that to be grouchy, but vintage Treks have a cult following and are going up in value. The 560 was Double butted Renyolds 531 steel, which was one of the best tubesets made.

here is the bike in a 1986 brochure on vintage-trek.com:

https://vintage-trek.com/images/trek/86TrekCatalog.pdf

If you decide you don't want to convert it, if you were to just get it to clean up and resell you could afford a bikesdirect bike like a kilo tt or something from what I have seen as far as ebay prices.

For comparision, these are the dropouts on a 1988 360 i have been working on, which shares the same rear triangle and dropouts as the 560 you are considering:

oh sweet! yes, that actually looks like something i can work with. the first picture i saw from the first reply looked like it was way more vertical, i figured since of the year, it could go either way. thanks for giving me this info. now i am completely stoked. thanks!

that is a prime conversion candidate. but like the others have said, just don't grind anything off the frame and hold onto the gruppo.

I [heart] old Treks. I bought an '89 660 frameset for building up as a winter commuting/training bike. I've even done some SSCX racing on it. Great, great bike.

so what would be a good price point for one of these?

Well, I just bought it so hopefully I got a good deal!!!! What do you guys think? It totally needs new tires, its scuffed up, dirty and has a few little rust scratches here and there but what can one expect for a setup this old? Other than that it seems ok. I ended up getting it for $90.00. Good, bad, decent, a steal, a rip off, let me know!?

^^ $90 is a really good price for a mid-to-high end vintage Trek

I recently dumpster salvaged and converted an '88 Trek 400, which has similar dropouts to the Trek 360 in the pix above. It took some fiddling about, but with a half-link in the chain I managed to get things set up nicely.
To get more space in those drops, take the dropout adjustment screws out and remove the springs from them.

$90 isan excellent price, good score! that bike is really nice and should clean up great!

I actually converted my Trek 560 Pro Series to a fixed gear. It was actually a really nice ride, and I enjoyed it a lot.


The dropouts gave me little room for adjustment, but I had good chain tension at a 42x16 gear ratio.

However, this is not my current bike because I was experiencing problems with the fork, and now I am riding a Kilo TT.

Very nice tiny bike!

East Hill

lol @ East Hill. ever get that tiny Colnago?

I have probably 20k miles on my 560. Great riding bike - you'll enjoy how it handles.

"Well, I just bought it so hopefully I got a good deal!!!! What do you guys think? It totally needs new tires, its scuffed up, dirty and has a few little rust scratches here and there but what can one expect for a setup this old? Other than that it seems ok. I ended up getting it for $90.00. Good, bad, decent, a steal, a rip off, let me know!?"

Sounds like a very good deal on a really nice bike. Good luck on the conversion.

They make great fixed gear bikes...I love riding mine around.



I had to use a half link to get perfect tension. Also, the drive-side chainstay isn't pressed in, so clearance is tight with a 42mm chainline and a big chainring. I have about 1mm of clearance between my chainstay and 52 tooth chainring. Good luck on the conversion!

Is that a 760?

Nah, it's a 560. 1985 model, as old as me but probably in better shape.

Since this seems to have become a 'show off your vintage trek fixed gear' thread, here's mine.



It's a 1985 600.