Who knows their 90s Trek mtbs?
 

Did Trek ever included a 45° stem as a stock original part in their mtbs?

Trek mtbs had their "System Components" 1 or 2 that was decaled on their bars, bar ends, and stems.

The 45° stem does not have any such markings, my experience tells me it was just a bolt on by a PO, or perhaps installed by the LBS at time of original purchase. The photo belongs to a seller that swears this is the original stock stem.

Every time I've seen the Trek original stem, it was long and about 7°.

Here's the bike on page 23:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2...reksmaller.pdf

It is a stem match in construction, just not angle. It certainly could have been the stem the smallest sizes came with, but it also could have been an easy swap Trek encouraged with matching parts.

Yes, the catalog shows the System Components 7° stem that I have seen often.

I was never able to find the 45° stem in any catalogs, thus disputing the seller's claim that it is an original stock part.

I'll tell you one thing, the orientation of that rear skewer definitely isn't stock :rolleyes:

I have that 45' stem and I think it was a stock trek item. I haven’t had many Trek mtb with the threadless headset. I think it came off a lugged 930 model.

I’m guessing it was swapped from the original stem, based on the cable housing being too short.

Kontact pointed out that the stems had the same construction, it's possible they were a LBS installed option for taller riders, as all 26 mtbs were freakishly tiny.

At the moment I'll go with the concencus that the 45° stem is indeed a Trek part, and if not, then a part from the same era that was most likely casted by the same Taiwainese factory.

Thanks for everyone's input.