Early Trek 820 frame material
 

I've got a early '80's Trek 820 that I've had since new. I'm thinking of doing a little restoration on it and use it for a commuter. There is a sticker on the seat tube that says the main triangle is made from Tange (sp) chromemoly steel. Does anyone know if the fork and stays are also chromemoly? Thanks

80s is far too vague. There have been so many iterations of the 820 that there isn't enough here to go on. Got a picture? Even the generation of components could be helpful. Is it an "antelope"? How about "mountain track"? Lugged? Welded?

See where I'm going here?

Normally if the sticker says three main tubes are chromoly, that is code for the rest being high ten steel. If the fork has a chromoly sticker on it, then the rest is chromoly.

First 820 came out in 1987, check your serial # and specs on the vintage trek site. Specs changed just about every year, sometimes improved, sometimes for the worse.

Vintage Trek's Year/Color listings for the 820 begin in 1987 and the 1986 catalog only lists 830 and 850 MTBs.

It's likely at least late 80s I reckon.

Ok, I went and took another look last night and the sticker says Tange 5. It does not say main tubes. When I bought the bike the front fork had a sticker on it that said chromemoly, but the fork was replaced by the dealer because it was not straight. The replacement fork looked the same, but it didn't have that sticker on it.
The bike frame is welded, not lugged. It has Exage components with the old Biopace chain rings on it. The rear brake is the U brake mounted underneath the rear stays.
Can't take a picture right now, but hope this information helps a little more.

It's probably an 88. No 820 specs in the 87 catalog and suntour components in 89. Have a look at the specs in the 1988 Trek catalog, I'd bet the stays are high tensile steel. That's probably the best resource you'll find to know what kind of steel your stays are, so your search will probably end here.

what color is it?

You are exactly right sir. I was rummaging through my file cabinet and I found my original owners manual and my receipt for the bike. Purchased new in August 1988. It's solid black with turquois lettering. According to the specs (thanks for the link), that would make it chromoly frame and fork and high tensile stays. I was hoping for chromoly stays as well, but looks like that only came on the higher end bikes. Thanks very much for your help.