mr,grumpy 

Before you lies the Mighty Trek 820. Weighing in at an earth crushing 795 pounds she is equipped with cutting edge technology from the series of bikes that proceeds the series of bikes of which she WAS the bottom-of-the-line. I say “was” because she is the ONLY member of her series to survive into the current catalog. Capable of poorly filling every possible roll in the bicycle ing universe and doing it all so poorly that it would make a week willed person cry, this is the KLR650 of the bicycling world. Sharp eyed viewers will note that his particular example had been fitted with weight shaving front forks and is now utterly “aero”.

This particular one has lived out in the yard 24/7/365 like a Christmas puppy from 4 Christmases ago. She’s lied in the mud for days, been buried in snow, naked in the sun and ridden like a rented mule by every neighborhood kid that my boy hung out with. It’s hauled him and his big sister in their baby seats and trailer. It’s been on road, off road, on the trials and on the track. It spent some time dressed up French: le pourter style. It was there when my son learned to ride his own bike and witnessed his first trip around the parking lot without training wheels. It’s hauled groceries and delivered the mail.
It’s old
Its slow
It’s heavy
and
It’s CLEAN!

Yesiree, today she got brought into the house and after a half hour with a rag, a can of WD40 and some left over KLR chain lube, she’s (almost) as good as new. I might let her stay in. She’s done a good job for a long fine. It might be time to let her curl up by the fire. She’s been a very good girl.

mr,grumpy 

Y’all ain’t beholding it’s glory and that makes me sad.

Edward1066

I'd love to behold it's full glory, if there was a pic of the entire bike... Oh, and the exposed crown race on the fork says something ain't right in mudville...
Just sayin.

Velo Mule

These Trek 800 series bikes a great all arounders. I have an 800 that is a commuter, that I don't commute on nowadays. And a 800 at work as a utility and get around bike.

I agree that something is up with the headset.

Anyway mr,grumpy , take a couple of steps back and let us see it in it's full glory.

mr,grumpy 

Dang. Now i gotta look into it. It's always been like that. Works fine and is perfectly tight. It never looked right to me though, but i figured it was "supposed to be like that" since it worked just fine.

mr,grumpy 

Velo Mule

Those Trek 800 bikes are built sturdy. They make great utility bikes. Yours is set up nicely with rack, panniers, U-lock holder, front removable basket, fenders, double kickstand. Are you commuting on it?

I am guessing that there are two crown races on your fork. One on top of the other. That is probably why there is no problem with the headset, You said that it moved fine.

Which handlebars do you have on the bike now? Which do you prefer? I have kept my flat bars, but when I was commuting or riding an hour or more, my hands hurt, even with gloves.

At some point you had a Brooks B-72 on there. Are you still using that saddle?

mr,grumpy 

Thank you for the advice and complements.

At one point I had her set up with the Brooks seat and North Road style bars and it was NOT the revolution in comfort and utility that i was led to believe that it would be. It was actually more comfortable for me stock, so it got switched back. Right now the bars have a little higher bend to them than stock so I'm a little more "upright" but they are still considered to be regular MTB handlebars.

The BEST thing, by far, that I added to her, from a utility stand point any way, was the double kickstand. Game changer getting babies in and out of the baby seat and groceries on and off the bike. It doubles as a sort of portable work stand for making adjustments or repairs.

The U-lock holder has been abandoned and I just carry it in one of the bags now. It was swinging out and hitting my leg all the time. I'm sure that there were other solutions but most of the time I'm locking her up some place I ahve a bag or basket with me anyway. I don't get to commute on it, or any bike, as my job is thirty miles away straight down the highway. I've looked at it every way possible, and it just can't be done.

What are YOU riding? What's YOUR go-to errand bike?

Ferrouscious 

If you haven't done so, you should replace the chain. Chainrings look like they have some wear, but not yet enough to necessitate replacement. Get on that chain swap before you curtail the life of this... utiliser.

Edward1066

Ahhhh yes, looks like a well loved, highly versatile bike! Kudos to you Sir!

LesterOfPuppets

Looks like there might be two crown races on there, or maybe the wrong crown race, or maybe just lower headset stacked all wrong. That's a replacement fork, as they came with an RST suspension fork.

It's a 2006 model, BTW.

mr,grumpy 

Yea, the RST filled up with water and had to go. What's on there RN probably ain't right but it ain't broke either. Can't say the same about after I try to "fix it" though.

Velo Mule

Is that extra crown race a bike hack or a bodge? The Trek originally had a suspension fork on it. When switching this bike to a rigid fork the geometry of the bike changed because the new fork is shorter (or I would think the rigid fork is shorter). Raising the new fork by the thickness of the crown race would at least be moving the geometry closer to what was originally designed. So, that might be good.

That is unless Trek actually designed this frame with a rigid fork then with a new model year, just added a suspension fork without changing the geometry. They wouldn't do that, would they? They are too smart and too big for that, right?

notthe1freeman

I love it! Tbh its amazing what just about any bike can do utility wise if properly motivated... Here is my 90s specialized hard rock ultra...

Ugly and durable
here is a pic of my horrible bar setup

mr,grumpy 

The fork is "suspension corrected" so designed to replace a suspension forl. I honestly don't know why that race looking thing is there. I just took the old one out and put the new one in but it was years ago and I don't remember EXACTLY what I did. It's worked a treat ever since so I never had any thought o taking it apart to investigate further. At this point I'm sticking with the "if it aint broke don't fix it" train of thought.

mr,grumpy 

These things really are the bee's knees aren't they? I like the front rack thing that you've got going on there..The custom seat cover is pretty mint too!

Velo Mule

Nice Hard Rock set up. I like the handle bars with the added hand positions. I also like the seat cover. I had the same style when I was leaving my bike at the train station when commuting to NYC.

Here is one of my Trek 800 bikes. It recently got an upgrade from a cardboard box on the rear rack to a wooden box.



It also has a lock that cost 10% the cost of the bike and a bottom bracket Sanyo generator.

mr,grumpy 

very classy

notthe1freeman

i ride 365 in CDA Idaho/Spokane Washington area...so a lot of wet. Under that high dollar seat cover is a WTB Speed V saddle...quite comfortable and affordable to boot. The basket is some wald model I got second hand with no hardware. I used 5/16" industrial zip ties and its bar mount to secure it. The front rack is actually an Avenir 700c rear rack with a reflector mount bent to marry to the fork crown. The wald basket had tabs underneath for mounting legs to the fork (I assume) but instead I hung front deflectors on them. I have reflective tape on my bike in a few spots, as well as rear reflectors both on my saddlebags and seat post. My bike may not be beautiful but it is functional like no other and is my pride and joy. Thanks for the kind remarks.