FINDING THE TREK 1000

For some reason, I had chosen to drive my truck one Saturday, rather than ride the Yard Sale Loop I had planned out the day before.  After having looked over the offerings at a Yard Sale included in the plan, a second and unadvertised sale came into view.  It turned out, that host number two had seen the activity around his neighbour's house and decided to capitalize on a bit of free advertising.  This sort of thing happens all the time in my area.

Actually, the hastily put together Yard Sale was less than impressive, offering mostly the kind of stuff that people get a their weddings and later wonder what they are going to do with them.  Seeing nothing that interested me, I asked as I always do, if the host had any old "Ten Speed" style bicycles for sale.  He said yes and invited me to follow him.  Trust me when I tell you that this happens quite often.  People in my area see old road bikes as almost valueless.  Good for me and, I might add, god for many of you too.

He and I made the short journey to a partially completed and somewhat run down looking garage.   The unpainted man-door was hanging part way open on a single hinge, while a piece of tattered mill tarp served as the car door.  The interior of the garage was unlit and jammed full of stuff.  An old rocking chair struggled to hold a couple of boxes, overflowing with stuffed animals.  A lawn mower and assorted garden tools.  A six foot aluminum step ladder, and a host of other items, that one might typically find in a disorganized garage.  A garage that had turned into an "I'll put it away better later" storage space.

Some caution was required to negotiate the jumble of junk, but the effort proved worthwhile.  Hanging precariously on a single nail was, what looked to be, a very nice road bicycle.  Though the dusty bicycle was wrapped in a cloak of poorly lit gloom, offered by the single grime coated window, it was obvious that the bike was a Trek and an aluminum one at that.  The model 1000, was also easy to view in the gloom.  I was in complete and utter bicycle acquisition mode by the time the Yard Sale host and I returned to the sunlight, with the Trek in tow.

I have owned and ridden a few aluminum framed mounts.  I can honestly say, that I am not fond of the ride quality offered.  The aluminum frame sets are just too stiff for my tastes.  Additionally, I am unimpressed with thick looking tubes.  However,  I must admit that Trek workmanship is very good.  Welds are smooth, blending one tube nicely into another.  Stays become one with their drops, without a single bump or grinding mark.  The people who build these frames do nice work.  Compare the workmanship and finish of a Trek to something like this Maxim.

With the bicycle out in the open, I was all but stunned at the incredible condition of this gorgeous old, mid level road bicycle.

The big ring, on the crank, was almost free of chain marks and showed no wear.  Even small ring was in near mint condition.  Clues like this, allow me to guesstimate about a bicycle's history, of use.  In the case of the Trek 1000, there was almost no use.  I wish that I had taken the time to ask the seller who had purchased the bicycle new, why it was so clean and apparently unused.  But I didn't ask, satisfied to hand over a twenty dollar bill and throw the 1000 into the back of the pick-up before continuing on with bike hunting day.

NEXT - BUILDING THE TREK 1000