Hello Tom -
Yours is a good question. I have not quite sorted out the early 412 bikes. The first mention in the brochures (that I have) is 1980 but I have one other report of a 412 with a Feb 78 build date, SN M4B8C67. I may be missing a brochure, or Trek added them to the line-up without including them in their brochures. I will make a revision to the vintage-trek timeline.
I am 95% confident this is a three-tube double butted chrome-moly Ishiwata, probably with high tensile Ishiwata fork and stays. I can't read the 022 frame sticker, but the color of the sticker seems different from the all chrome-moly Ishiwata stickers I have seen.
Dale mentioned the head tube thingie in a later post:
"I can't remember which year, etc., even though I was probably working as the rep for trek in the Southeast at about that time frame.....but that one is a second tier frame as it has the one piece NIKKO head lug (note I didn't says lugs, plural.) Those were a hydra formed one piece thingie.... but there is no head tube at all, just top & down tubes plugged into this big pseudo-lug thing, kinda amazing actually! Some inexpensive Euro bikes have used similar fake lugs but not as nicely executed as these..."
I have a Model 1981 MOdel 613 that has such a head tube/lug thing. Looking into the head tube, one can see two HUGE holes where the top and down tubes attach. They seem to be the size of the ID of the connecting tubes. It is cleanly done; very smooth in the inside and I can't tell the difference from the outside. However, as was mentioned in a post on another forum, one has to wonder about the strength of this thingie in a big frame.
QUESTION: Does anyone know if the 412 and 612-613-614 bikes/frames were subcontracted out? Or were they made in the main Wisconsin plant? Or - for that matter - were any of the 1976 - 88 road frames contracted out? One visitor to the site was told his 1979 Trek 930 was made in Carlsbad CA.
cheers,
Skip Echert Renton, WA (rain) Vintage-Trek.com
At 09:27 PM 7/28/02 +0000, you wrote:
>Need to borrow some brains from the CR list. What is the following Trek?
>
>http://ebay.com/<blah>
>
>
>According to the seller, who doesn't claim to be an expert, he was told
>the bike is a '78 model 412. However, according to Skip Echert's Trek
>site (the catalog sections), the 412 didn't debut until about 1980 or
>'81. The difference is fairly important, as all the old Trek bikes were
>double butted quality tubing throughout, either Reynolds or Ishwata, while
>the later entry level models like the 412 had double butted main triangles
>and hi tensile forks and stays.
>
>The only distinguishing marks I can see that might help are the central
>front points on the head tube lugs, that I don't recall seeing on the
>later Trek frames. Were these points only seen on the very early Treks?
>If so, then this bike is probably not a 412, but likely a '78 and high
>quality tubing throughout. There doesn't appear to be any tubing stickers
>on the fork. Did all early, full tube set Treks have fork stickers? Any
>other cues that might reveal the actual lineage of this bike? Time on the
>auction is running out, and I don't know if I have time to get the seller
>to answer any other questions. Thanks
>
>Tom Adams, Kansas City