Okay, here's the story :

Every once in a while, the city will collect abandoned or illegally parked bicycles. First they attach a warning to the handlebars, telling the owners to remove the bike within 30 days. If it's not removed by then, they'll cut the lock and confiscate it.
After a few months, the bikes can be picked up by some trusted organizations and legally brought back into circulation.

I'm training at a non-profit shop that gets a bunch of those bikes every few months, fixes them up and then sells them cheap. It provides education for the students and gives less fortunate people the chance to own a good bike without paying lots of money for it.
This morning me and the shop owner were walking around in the attic to grab a few bikes, and suddenly I spotted this little gem buried between a bunch of other bikes.
I told him I wanted it for myself, stripped it down and fixed it up with some old (but good) second-hand parts we had in the warehouse. Here's the result :



Seeing as I wanted a shopping bike I could park in the city without worrying, I wanted it to look as bad as possible.

Don't let the looks fool you, this bike has had a thorough service and runs as good as a new one.
In fact I did the 8 mile trip home in 23 minutes without even trying hard, which means I averaged 20+ MPH. That includes 1.5 miles of city traffic and a few red lights.
So it's no slouch, this thing.

To make it less attractive, I put on 2 different pedals and 2 different levers for the brakes and shifters. I could have gone for matching pairs, but didn't want to do that.
To top it off, I added the rack and saddle bags to make it even worse, and those have the added benefit of making this an ideal shopping bike as well.





Despite the looks, it's a hoot to ride. Yes, it corners just as badly as any other american-designed bike I ever tried, but on the plus side it wheelies like a madman and rolling stoppies aren't a problem either.
The rear brake is a bit spongy due to the combination of the canti brake lever and the V-brakes, but the front is just perfect.

Initially my Copperhead and my 503 didn't want to have anything to do with this ugly Yank Tank, but eventually they agreed to let him stay in their room.






I can read, so I know it's a trek 800. However I'm not sure about the year. Anyone have any idea?

And laugh with it all you want, I actually like it like this. I might even enter it in BotM. If the activator can score a podium spot, this one can win.

Truely vile, I applaued you good work. All its missing is a really bad rattle can paint job. Im trying to make a non desirable bike for work/shop rides, perhaps we need a shonky old bike thread.

Rattle can paintjob? Actually I'm considering taking the front end apart again and blowtorching it.

God that does look hideous. All it needs now is some randomly applied duck tape, some broken wheel reflectors and a Kelloggs spokey.

I've been sick on my keyboard.

Date wise, the head badge puts it between 1997 and 2002. No disc mounts puts it at the earlier end.

Just thought I have one of those disgusting rear mech protector if you want to add some more disgustingness to it.

Wow, great bike you've done well, but i must agree, it is a hoot to ride, i had one for a short time and it was a blast, although it was stripped out as a Single Speed ride

Jussa that one looks worth stealing tho, so its a fail.

Agreed, it was very nice, ok how can i redeem myself???? Well just for old times sake, here is my Craptivator prior to joining slimming world and being sold to a collector

Thanks Paul, with this bike I really take that as a compliment. It means I succeeded in what I tried to achieve.


Some of the bikes we get aren't worth saving, so we strip those down for parts. Pretty sure I can find an old protector somewhere in our warehouse.
however the saddlebags would obscure most of the view on the protector, so IMO it would only add unnecessary weight. Right now it's a precision instrument of speed and aerodynamics.


Thanks for that info. By the looks of the mounting holes on the dropouts and the lack of quick release, I thought it was built somewhere in the early 90's. But then again I'm not a Trek expert by any means.
If it turns out to be 1998 or later, I guess it'll have to have this topic moved to the right section. But we're not there yet, could still be a 1997 bike.

If it helps out determining the age, there's a lot of stuff stamped on the BB.
Drive side : 00000567R on line 1 and WTU on line 2
Non-drive side : TRT-0415 on line 1 and GT8X 3833 on line 2.

The left grip is a bit too loose to my liking, so I'm planning on grabbing a roll of electrical tape and taping in the handlebar until it has the right thickness. I'm still seriously considering blowtorching the forks and front part of the frame.
Maybe I'll even replace the rear tyre with a 26" example from a normal bicycle, or convert the headset to run a Honda MT-5 front end and put a 24" rim at the back.
The latter mod would push the weight from the current 39.2 lbs (17.8kg) to somewhere firmly in the 50lbs or even the 60lbs region, but who cares?

Oh, and for the record : Jussa ... I am one of those people who love the Activators. Can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about the styling that I really like.

-----

EDIT : right, I'm trying to narrow it down a bit. Found a list of the years they were manufactured, and kept Hirosawa's comment about the badges in mind. Here's what's left of the Trek 800 lineup.




According to the decals, mine is an 800 singletrack with a Chromoly main frame. However it's so heavy that I think it's actually one of the Hi-ten frames with a CroMo seat tube.
It has the correct colour for a 1997 or 1998 model, but those all had red decals instead of the black ones on mine and were either labelled "800" or "800 sport", not "800 singletrack". I can't find another one like it using a google image search.

My instant thought was 1998 or 1999, but it could be earlier, I'm pretty sure those garish colours were symptomatic of the era, although I'm not sure about the differences between 800, 800 sport and 800 singletrack.

A lot of Trek serial numbers start WTU with 8 or 9 numbers and letters after it, so I'd guess (not saying for sure here) the serial is WTUGT8X3833, if 'WTU' and 'GT8X 3833' line up on the BB shell. Year of manufacture = 1998?

They're nowhere near eachother. they're on opposite ends of the BB really. WTU is below the 00000567R part, so the serial is either 00000567R WTU or TBT GT8X3833.

Internet to the rescue, from Vintage Trek:



So: GT8X3833, serialized in 1998.