WTB: 1983 Trek 520 or 500 Fork in Pewter Grey

[gratefuled]

Last week I picked up a 1983 Trek 520 frame because I've always wanted to build one up. Got it for $40, but it didn't include the original fork.

Can anyone help me out? It'd be a 1" threaded headset, 27" wheel, with a rake of about 55 mm, in pewter grey. Not sure of the original bolt hole to dropout length, but it'd be in the vicinity of 14.5".

Please message me directly if you have one, or anything that'd similar. Thanks!

[jrswenberger]

That frame looks great!  I sold my 1985 520 not that long ago. If you have any local framebuilders, I'd recommend having a custom fork built. They aren't much more expensive than anything off the shelf and you can have any geometry you'd like.

Enjoy the ride,
Jay

[gratefuled]

Thanks!

Part of the problem is that there doesn't seem to be any information out there about the geometry of the original fork. Not even the tech support at Trek knows. The best thing I've been able to do is find the specs on rake and steerer tube length, and to gauge the approximate crown-to-tire clearance from some good pictures of the sidepull brake model mounted on a bike owned by somebody else. This is the pre-canti boss fork, btw.

There's this one guy who's offering what looks like this fork on eBay, but he wants $130 for it. I can get the whole bike with vintage parts for $300, so $130's a non-starter.

A fork for a vintage 500 would work.

[Pmoaa]

Bam! Here's mine

[canalligators]

As for a made to order fork, I wouldn’t be as concerned about matching the original, as getting a fork with the desired handling.  Go for a particular trail distance.