You may recall my Trek 830 MTB, circa 1985, which I picked up in our neighborhood last summer:

You may also remember that the frame had cracked at the stem tube, and I had to put the bike away for a while:

I brought the bike over to my CC the other day, and talked to a guy in the welding program. He thought the repair would be too involved for students, and recommended me to a LBS in town wherein resides a framebuilder of some renown. He thought the repair might prove prohibitively expensive, and suggested I check with my local Trek dealer about Trek's lifetime frame replacement warranty. It turns out, too, that my local Trek dealer is the LBS near my house! They were thrilled to see such a classic hardtail, and eager to see what Trek would have to say about the bike, so we'll find out next week when their lead mechanic is in to take a look at it. I'll keep you all posted...

I have a feeling as you are not the original owner, you won't get anything out of Trek

I'm going to let the bike shop guys talk to the company. I figure there's already a relationship there; let 'em work it. If that's a no-go, I'm going to check the welding shop downtown; I got a recommendation from a friend for there, and barring that keep my eyes open for a buildable frame of similar type and dimensions.

I wasn't expecting much either, but...
I got a call today from the service mgr. of my LBS.
https://biketechonline.com/page.cfm?pageId=12&storeId=1
He talked to the Trek people, who offered a new frame. He told them that the components wouldn't swap over, as this bike was around 20 years old. They agreed to replace it with a BRAND-NEW TREK 820!!! How sweet is that? Apparently, the people at Trek didn't press for proof of purchase, and he didn't remind them. The bike should be in town next week. And I still have my 30-year-old Fuji S10-S, so I can hang out here with you fine C&V folks, and keep the Fuji on part-time status. Happy, happy, happy.

Karma would have me strongly recommend wearing a helmet while riding the 820.

Very cool. I'll have to beat on my old Trek hardtail a bit more.

Hope the new one is also lugged steel, but somehow I doubt it(too lazy to look).

Nope, welded.

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...dtail/820/820/


Nice looking bike for an MTB though.

Amazing. Good for Trek. Good for you.

jim

especially since you got a free bike out of the deal you should donate the frame to your local custom frame builder! He then can decide if its worth his time to try and save this beautiful bike.

really, you should take the time to do this!

(i just got the top tube replaced at my local frame builder and it only cost $150... well worth it for the frame)

That would be great, but I don't know if they'll have to send the old one in as exchange for the new. I'll find out. I totally agree; the brake handles, shifters, everything on that bike is sweet as pie. I'd love to see it preserved in some way. I also want that Blackburn rack!

Congrats. Good for you and good for Trek, as another poster said. But if you think about it, it is really just good PR.

ITA, for the shop as well as the company. The shop went to bat for me, and came through; if I wasn't already a loyal customer before, they just wrapped it up! And Trek comes out as good guys, for not much cost to them. Win-win-win

Trek has just moved up a bit in my opinion. Nice move on their part, and excellent P.R.