Trek 800 Single Track.......Bad?
 

Why is said bike of somewhat lesser quality?

I´ve just dumbster-dived myself to a beat up specimen, had to get rid of everything except the frame, I think it got hid by a car.

But looks awesome now!

I could be mistaken, but 830's were straight gauge cromo main tubes. Forks and rear triangle were high tensile steel. 800 may be all hi-ten or the same as the 830—I'm not sure. Nice bike though. My 830 took nearly ten years of thrashing.

My old 1993 or 94 820 was steel but looking at those tubes, I'm not so sure that 800 isn't newer and made from aluminum, either way get it built up and it should make for a fine tourer.

My girlfriend has one just like yours. The components that come on it aren't great but everything works. I tuned it up and it hasn't had any issues in the last 300 miles or so she's put on it.

We're planning on a short camping tour (150 miles or so) in the spring. I'm not worried about it after I switch out the cheap rapid rise rd.

The frame is steel and I don't know if it's butted or not, but it is heavy.

Yup, touring is the idea.

And it is steel, tried the old magnet trick.
It saids Cro-Moly on the frame, but who knows?

What is Hign Tensile steel?
What does butted mean?

High ten steel = heavy junk.

The frame material on the 800 varied by year. Mine is cromoly, which is much better than high ten steel.

Butted tubes allow for more weight reduction. I believe Sheldon Brown's site has an article on it.

All that being said, Treks are all good bikes. The 800 is just the bottom end of their rigid mountain bikes.

On parts, keep everything you can. Some of those minor parts can cost you a lot of money if you have to replace them. And you will need some of them to verify sizing.

What happened to the seat post?

This my now departed 1988 Trek 830. All stock, except for the bars and saddle. When it finally snapped a dropout last year, it had so many trouble-free miles on it that I can't even begin to guess when I lost count. This 830 had triple butted cro-moly tubes and a cro-moly touring type fork. I don't know about the stays material, but it weighed about 29lbs with the Brooks B-67. So, figure about 28 with a stock saddle. I'm thinking that means the stays were probably butted as well or the bike would be heavier. Someone in the know please correct me here, if need be.

It had Deore components that are supposed to be only midgrade, but I still use Deore today on other old school bikes like this. The stuff is bombproof, and that's what makes a reliable tourer. It had 17inch chain stays (same as my Trek 520 tour bike) so my size 13 shoes never touched the bags. Double eyeltes front and rear, plus room for a third bottle position makes for a great conversion. This bike was supremely comfortable on the longest rides I have ever clocked - out to 100 miles.

I've been looking for an XL old school frame this good ever since...

High-Tensile steel is the next step up from plain old gas pipe. Chinese crap sold in Wal-Mart is usually gas pipe. It doesn't mean the bike made from Hi-Tenit is junk. Good bikes have been constructed of Hi-Ten tubes, they're just heavier, similar to the old scholl English 3-speeds - which were well made machines.

Butted means that the tubes are thinned from the inside, using a couple different processes, leaving the outside the same thickness along the entire length. Butted tubes are thicker near the welds, thinner as you move away from the welds. This is easy do with higher quality Cro-Mo tubes because they are stiffer, yet have a springiness that yields a better ride - not so dead or thud-like. It does make a difference.

From Bikepedia:

Trek 800:

1993 - Tange straight gauge chrome-moly
1994 - Chromoly seat tube / hi-tensile steel
1995 - Chromoly seat tube / hi-tensile steel
1996 - Hi-tensile steel
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:

1995 - Chromoly seat tube / hi-tensile steel
1996 - Hi-tensile steel
1997 - Hi-tensile steel
1998 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
1999 - Chromoly seat tube/hi-tensile steel
2000 - Hi-tensile steel

Going by the colour I would guess it's a "Mellow Gold" 1999 800 Sport, with a hi-ten frame except for the chro-mo seat tube.

http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...3218&Type=bike

In theory, the chro-mo seat tube should absorb a bit of road shock.

Seatpost is still intact, had to take it of to untangle the seat. The seat was wrapped seriously around it, dont want to know what happened to the bikes former owner....