A note about Trek road bike model numbers: in general, higher model numbers mean higher original prices. This is especially true of models within a particular year.
1993+ RETAIL PRICES FOR TREKS
Suggested retail prices for Treks from 1993 to current are included in the specifications at BikePedia.com . These are listed under "Sugg Retail" for each bike. This database is a great resource.
The Trek Bike Archives , covering 2003 and newer Treks, also contains suggested retail prices.
LISTING OF TREK RETAIL PRICES BY MODEL AND YEAR
Visitors to this site have submitted the following pricing information for various Trek models at the time they were new. The prices are a combination of list prices and selling prices. (If you have any pricing on Trek steel road bike models, please send it along so it can be added here.)
WHAT IS MY USED TREK WORTH? (If "PRICELESS!" is not sufficiently accurate for you.)
eBay.com is the best practical guide. It can tell you what similar bikes recently sold for on eBay. Try search/ advanced search/ check "completed items only". This way, you get the final prices paid. Search for words like "Trek road" with words to exclude "aluminum carbon". You also can search more specifically, such as for "Trek 400". You might need to try for a few weeks to find a bike similar to yours, if it is not a common model.
To compare a local sale to an eBay sale, you should add the cost of shipping to the eBay price. A low value bike can be hard to sell on eBay for top dollar if the bike is to be shipped, as that can add $50 or more to the price.
Craigslist.org can provide some information about current prices. However, these are asking prices, not the actual price for which the bike was sold. One can search by region on the Craigslist.org site. One can search for an item on Craigslist overall (not just by region). Use a search engine (Google or Yahoo etc.) and include "Craigslist" as the first keyword. Follow this by what you are looking for. For example "Craigslist Trek 760".
A very rough measure of current selling price is to multiply the original selling price by a percentage. See the price information above for prices of many Treks when new. For bikes 1976 to about 1983, one can use a range of 40% to 70% for a bike. For bikes from about 1984 to 1990, one can use 33% to 50% of the original selling price. This is for bikes with good to excellent paint and in good to excellent overall condition. Condition is very important. A bike in mint condition will sell well above these ranges, perhaps at or above the original price when new. A bike in poor condition, especially one with significant rust inside and out, has little value.
The percentage for selling frames is higher than for bikes because the frames are less outdated than old components. For frames 1976 to 1983, one can use a range of 40% to 100%. For frames from about 1984 to 1990, one can use 33% to 80% of the original selling price. This is for frames in good to excellent overall condition.
The bike values above are useful only if the potential buyer is a person who appreciates a vintage lightweight or specifically, a vintage Trek. A vintage road bike offered at a garage sale might never be sold, even for a ridiculously low price, because it is unlikely the right buyer will come along. See Selling Suggestions for help in finding the right buyer.
Value can vary by season . Road bikes typically sell for more money and more quickly in the Spring and early Summer. An exception is for local sales in regions that don't have cold or rainy Fall and Winter seasons. Another exception is high end collector bikes, which tend to be season independent.
SMALL VINTAGE LIGHTWEIGHT BIKES SELL FOR LESS?
Smaller vintage road frames/bikes often do not sell for as much as a larger version of the same frame. This is true of the 21 (54cm) size and especially the 19 (48cm) frames. Nineteen inch frames/bikes can sell at a discount of up to 40% over their larger brethren. The lesser value is easily demonstrated; for example, by looking at eBay selling prices. (An exception to this general rule is for classic French and Italian bikes, which are highly valued by [older] Japanese collectors.)
Why would this be? Certainly Trek sold bikes of these sizes to willing buyers in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s at the same price as for larger bikes. There must have been the right number of smaller men, women and kids to buy them. Are Americans that much bigger now? A recent scientific study says no. Certainly most kids, as they grow up and need larger bikes, will pass through these size ranges.
I believe older bikes are bought and kept by people interested in fixing or working on them. These owners need a bit of expertise to get the bikes properly back on the road or keep them on the road (or even just to keep them in a collection). It also takes effort and knowledge to locate replacement parts. New riders tend to buy new bikes and only slowly (if at all) learn how to repair them. For parents to buy a used bike for their (smaller) children, requires that the parents be bike savvy, which eliminates lots of potential small bike users. Bike repair and maintenance generally do not interest women (there are major exceptions to this rule), who are a major fraction of people who would use the smaller bikes.
Even if a person wanted to have a shop maintain their classic Nuovo Record, Super Record, or SunTour Superbe-equipped bike, the shops with that knowledge are rare and the parts cannot be bought from their typical suppliers.
The good news, for those of us built close to the ground, is that we can buy vintage lightweight bikes at favorable prices.
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