I would be interested in the Drysdale number. He did have a "factory" for awhile and I have seen a photo of a line of "Red Devils" outside a shop. Quite a few bikes (thousands) could have been built over the many years.
Joe
At 09:18 AM 1/26/01 -0500, Chris Beyer wrote:
>Hmmmm. If 1k is the breakpoint for "production", how many frames do you
think
>Drysdale, Redcay, or our own R. Sachs have built over the years?
>
>(I know one of the answers, but I'm not tellin' right now)
>
>Chris Beyer
>Bloomfield, NJ
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>KCTOMMY wrote:
>
>> Well, that raises the question of where Trek fits in the grand scale of
>> things. The "good" Treks I've seen seemed to be brazed well and ride well.
>> The paint quality was decent but not great. The lug filing was very good.
>> I am aware of a friend who had a seatstay cap come loose, but it was fixed
>> under warranty. Cosmetically, the old style frames with the block type
>> decals were very attractive to me. To quote Sheldon Brown/Mike Kone,
>> "(o)riginal Columbus or 531 tubed N.R. bikes were really quite nice.
>> Historians will probably treasure these bikes in years to come - or maybe
>> not. Right now they are probably worth around $650 in guideline condition.
>> Reality is that these silver brazed machines could embarrass a lot of
>> Italian iron of the time." Certainly I've had no complaints about my 720
>> except that it had the less attractive "new style" graphics and paint. The
>> paint seems reasonably durable.
>>
>> Are Mark's quality issues isolated and not the general experience? Or do
>> list members have lots of Trek failure tales?
>>
>> Assuming the Trek quality was good, I would ask for opinions on whether
>> Trek's were the best American production (non-custom) lugged frames made.
>> Chicago Schwinn Paramounts and modern Waterfords would be the only thing I
>> would list as competitors. (Did I miss any?) I am limiting the class to
>> production of over 1,000 frames, which would exclude Eisentraut Limiteds or
>> Moulton Fusos. Excellent frames, but not a frame "manufacturer". And if
>> Trek is one of the best in the US, where do they fit in the World?
Ahead of
>> Colnago? I think so. Raleigh? Based on my Pro and International, Treks
>> were better built. Ahead of old Cinelli? No way!. Ahead of Bob Jackson?
>> Well---
>>
>> Any comments out there?
>>
>> PS: If anyone can come up with a key to Trek serial numbers, I'd certainly
>> pay a few bucks for one.
>>
>> Tom Adams in Chilly Kansas City
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Mark A. Perkins <bicyclemark@juno.com>
>> To: <WBINGHAM@imf.org>
>> Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 10:41 AM
>> Subject: Re: [CR]Trek serial numbers
>>
>> > I remember seeing a few of the first Trek road bikes come into the shop
>> > around 1980 I think. They left me with a bad impression, which hasn't
>> > gone away much since then. They had paint that was peeling off, and you
>> > could see that there was no primer underneath. One (or was it two?) in
>> > particular had a bad crack through the seat lug, and their owners were
>> > having trouble getting Trek to fix it. There was nothing about these
>> > bikes for me to be impressed with. In fact, I think I would rather have
>> > a Viscount with the aluminum fork, even today. My impression back then
>> > was that Trek was following a long standing BMA-6 tradition of cutting
>> > back on quality in favor of lower prices. Sure they were lugged frames,
>> > and made from quality materials, and they had decent components, but
>> > quality materials, by themselves, don't make quality bikes. It takes
>> > skilled workers, and from what I saw, Trek didn't have any of those. If
>> > my words seem too harsh, I'm sorry, but that's what I saw. I will say
>> > that Trek seems to have improved over the years, but I still don't want
>> > one yet.
>> >
>> > "Bicycle Mark" Perkins
>> > Visalia, CA
>> >
>> > On Thu, 25 Jan 2001 08:56:15 -0500 "Bingham, Wayne" <WBINGHAM@imf.org>
>> > writes:
>> > > Jeff -
>> > >
>> > > Please keep us (I know there are several Trek fans lurking here besides
>> > me)
>> > > informed on any serial number, dating or model information you're able
>> > to
>> > > come up with. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get anything out of Trek.
>> > They
>> > > only seemed interested in being recognized for their industry "firsts"
>> > that
>> > > had everything to do with aluminum and carbon frame construction and
>> > nothing
>> > > to do with their lugged steel frame origins. As the owner of an '81,
>> > two
>> > > '84s and an '85, I'd really like to gather as much information as I can
>> > on
>> > > the early frames. What is the "Trek historical book" anyway, and if
>> > it's
>> > > historical, why does it only go back to the early '90s when Trek was
>> > > building frames for 15 years prior to that? Anybody know what year was
>> > the
>> > > first for Trek? '76/'77?
>> > >
>> > > Wayne Bingham
>> > >
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: Jeff Archer [mailto:firstflight@abts.net]
>> > > Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 9:36 PM
>> > > To: Classic Rendezvous
>> > > Subject: Re: [CR]Trek serial numbers
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I have been talking to the guy who put together the Trek historical
>> > book.
>> > > The book only goes back to the early 1990's but has complete info down
>> > to
>> > > spoke lengths, bb lengths..... He is supposed to be trying to round up
>> > some
>> > > catalog copies for me. I have emailed him and asked him about the
>> > serial
>> > > number system. If I hear anything positive from him, I will let you
>> > know.
>> > > Jeff Archer
>> > > First Flight Bicycles
>> > > 216 S. Center St.
>> > > Statesville, NC 28677
>> > > 704.878.9683
>> > > firstflight@abts.net
>> > > http://www.firstflightbikes.com
>> > > ----- Original Message -----
>> > > From: "KCTOMMY" <KCTOMMY@email.msn.com>
>> > > To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>> > > Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 7:41 PM
>> > > Subject: [CR]Trek serial numbers
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > >
>> > > > This may have been asked before, but does anyone know how to date
>> > Treks
>> > > >from their serial numbers? Is it possible to deduce any further info
>> > such as
>> > > >model or style from the numbers? Anyone have a contact at Trek that
>> > could
>> > > >elucidate the Trek system?
>> > > >
>> > > > Tom Adams, waiting for snow in Kansas City
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > _______________________________________________
>> > > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> >
>> > ________________________________________________________________
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