Oh, no, I bought a Trek ! (Ugliest bike ever?)

drystonepaul":2bcetuuy said:

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.

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

poweredbypies":2bcetuuy said:

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

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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.

hirosawa":2bcetuuy said:

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

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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.

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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.

Trek 800:

1997 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
1998 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
1999 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
2000 - Chromoly, butted


Tek 800 Sport:

1997 - Hi-tensile steel
1998 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
1999 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
2000 - Hi-tensile steel

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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?

hirosawa":3mk5sv1w said:

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?

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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:

Beginning in about 1994, an 8 character alphanumeric code was used for some bikes. It begins with G and another letter (e.g. GQ, GV, GS and GZ). These are followed either by: 6 numerals, or a number a letter followed by four numerals. The first numeral in the SN may be the year of serialization.

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So: GT8X3833, serialized in 1998.

Whoa, thanks for that info. :shock:
I'll get it moved to the appropriate section then.

Still having trouble grasping that it's such a modern bike. It looks and feels older. And then there's the old-fashioned wheel nuts. Must have been a really entry-level model then.
Then again, anything in Hi-Tensile steel must be entry level.

At least now I don't have to feel guilty about what I'm going to do to this bike ...

Thanks again, Hirosawa. That's some ace detective work.

Over here it would have retailed at about £200-250 I think, I could check in an old MBUK if you're that interested!

hirosawa":1udlwqjz said:

Internet to the rescue, from Vintage Trek:

Beginning in about 1994, an 8 character alphanumeric code was used for some bikes. It begins with G and another letter (e.g. GQ, GV, GS and GZ). These are followed either by: 6 numerals, or a number a letter followed by four numerals. The first numeral in the SN may be the year of serialization.

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So: GT8X3833, serialized in 1998.

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Despite the serial number, I think it might be 2001+. Prior to that, the 800 series had the gear cables running down the down tube rather than along the top tube. Though I can't find the colour scheme in a catalogue to back that up.

Still having trouble grasping that it's such a modern bike. It looks and feels older. And then there's the old-fashioned wheel nuts. Must have been a really entry-level model then.
Then again, anything in Hi-Tensile steel must be entry level.

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I think the 800 series was designed to have a older-style, less aggressive geometry too, as opposed to the 900 series which had a more modern geometry (in the 90s).

Should be Cro-Moly main frame and hi-tensile rear.

I was out shopping today when I realised I hadn't taken outdoor pictures of the Trek yet.
So I pulled over at my favourite spot and took some photos.

The weather was a bit ... well ... grey really. To top it off, I only had my old phone with me, so the quality of the pics isn't that good.





As you can see, I did some modifications since I bought it.

- The right shifter pod is now held together with duct tape. Inconspicuous and elegant.
- I also put some duct tape under the grips, so they don't fall off the handlebar anymore.
- I put some duct tape on the front fender to change its shape. This has greatly reduced front-end lift at high speeds.
- The left grip was showing some cracks, so I fixed that with electrical tape.
- The rear end received a mech protector. This really lowered the center of gravity.
- Oh, and one of the cable stops on the top tube had a minor crack in it as well. Seeing as welding it would ruin the paintwork, I decided to fix it with ... yes, you guessed it ... duct tape.

I love duct tape. And my Trek.
It may have started out as a joke, but the more I ride it, the more I like it.
It's a good cruising bike, it can carry a lot of stuff when I go shopping and I can park it in the city center without having to worry about bike thieves.
The handling isn't bad either when I'm not carrying heavy things, and it'll do endos all day long. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the actual stopping distance from 20MPH (or higher) is shorter than anything my Copperhead can achieve with its massive floating discs and tricked-out brakes.

My only complaint is the weight distribution. It's really tail-heavy and if you load a six-pack of 1.5L cola bottles in each bag (40-ish lbs total), it actually becomes scary to ride.
I might track down an MT-50 front end after all and put it on the Trek. The added weight will make it accelerate slower, but it'll improve the handling.