I've been on the lookout for an early lugged Trek mountain bike and found this 1984 830. Here's an almost as-found pic



The original Mountech RD was on its last legs so I swapped it for a VGT-Luxe. Part of the Mountech is headed south to hopefully fix another BF member's crusty Suntour derailleur.



These tiny levers are not stock and need to go along with the foam grips.



It needs new tires and something is making a horrible rattle in the rear hub/freewheel. The headset appears to have been serviced somewhat recently but it's probably going to need a full teardown.

Very, very nice find. I have a '93 Trek 950 which I think is the last year of the lugged Trek MTBs. I'd love to find one from the 80s like this.

Post pics of the 950 here!

I picked this up locally last year:

Old bike shenanigans #1

The rear wheel was barely bolted on. There are remants of what used to be a washer between the nut and the dropout.



Old bike shenanigans #2

Bent rear axle. Hopefully the hub survived. I don't have an Atom freewheel remover yet to pull the thing apart. Considering fitting a spare set of wheels for now.

The Brooks works well with that green paint

You should be able to pull the axle from amidst the freewheel. Just remove the locknut from the LH side, etc...

High quality chromoly replacements are available from WheelMFG, which should help with the bending aspect.

I have an early 90's 950, as well. Great ride quality on those frames.

An atom freewheel tool should be here in a few days. It's less hassle to spend the ~$7 for the tool and clean up the whole mess at once.

Here it is with new Tange grips and Suntour XC levers. The correct levers are DC but I prefer the feel of these old XC Power levers. If anyone has an extra set laying around to trade or sell send me a PM

Nice bike!! My 1984 830 has gold lettering on the downtube instead of the white lettering. This is truly a first generation mountain bike and it's geometry is quite different than most other MTB's of the time. This thing is closer to a modern Surly Long Haul Trucker than it is to an early Stumpjumper.

Super sweet bike! Great call on getting rid of the Mountech!

The 84 Stumpjumper came with M700 brake levers- IMO those would go PERFECTLY on there- and retain that "eclectic mix" of components that used to come on bikes before Shimano's group concept got forced on the industry.

Those 1983/1984 Trek MTBs are so much better than later years. I’ve got a 1984 850, I’ll probably let it go as it just doesn’t fit.

Nice find!

Brooks B17 and a set of temporary old Arayas with some odd red-clay colored Ritchey tires. Still undecided between gumwall and black tires for this bike. I like the look of the black tires on corwin1968s 830.

I'm not a big fan of tan sidewalls but I have to admit, they look good on this style bike.

I have those fenders on my commuter with Continental T&C semi slick 2.1's. Rides nicely.

This machine is awesome! Congrat for the owner!

All right, I’m starting this old thread back up…



This is my 1984 Trek 830 in (yeah, I know), “Berry.” As usual, it’s lugged 501 Reynolds steel. I wanted to get an old MTB for a long time after reading on a couple of well known blogs sensationalizing them. I can’t seem to get into the newer bikes made now.

It must’ve been a heck of a time there at Trek during the early 80’s. No Wheel & Sprocket or Erik’s yet. Just Schwinn and Raleigh dealerships.



I am convinced these early Trek MTB’s were made by Torch Wizards.



Got this from the trusty “Vintage Trek” website. Hopefully, this chart will help you on your vintage build journey, as it’s helping me.