What year is this trek 850

mxl360 said:

Haven't ridden a bike in a long time. Found this trek 850 18" frame, 26" wheels, 21 speed on craiglist for $70.
Anyone have any idea on the approximate year (if anyone had the same color).
It was said to have no problems.

I reckon early-to-mid-90s.

You can write to TREK (trekbikes.comtrekbikes.comOpen ↗), directly, and find out by giving them the serial number on the bottom bracket OR read the explanation how to "decode" the serial number in Vintage-Trek (vintage-trek.comvintage-trek.comOpen ↗).

alfeng said:

I reckon early-to-mid-90s.

You can write to TREK (trekbikes.comtrekbikes.comOpen ↗), directly, and find out by giving them the serial number on the bottom bracket OR read the explanation how to "decode" the serial number in Vintage-Trek (vintage-trek.comvintage-trek.comOpen ↗).

What are the normal things I should check ..before buying the bike

I had a 830 Singletrack in 1996.

mxl360 said:

Found this trek 850 18" frame, 26" wheels, 21 speed on craiglist for $70.
Anyone have any idea on the approximate year (if anyone had the same color).
It was said to have no problems.

Okay ... I had to look at my TREK's model number since it has been forever-and-a-day (I don't even know/remember where I put the seatpost!?!) since I actually looked at it, and mine is also an 850 Mountain Track (a different color).

It's a good frame -- the "stock" components are good-enough ... heavy & lower end of the Shimano range ... but, if/when they ever wear out, you can replace them with better stuff, or not.

Nothing, except for the seat post clamp, is currently original to my bike ...

A half-dozen (?) years ago, I finally put a suspension fork on the bike MAINLY to experiment with threadless headset installation/etc. before making a similar commitment to some of my ROAD bikes ...

And, all of the other component changes were also a matter of want rather than need -- V-brakes, 8-speed, etc.

Honestly, the only thing you need to do is be certain the bike isn't too big OR too small for you ...

I reckon for that bike, the rider should be between 5'7" & 5'11" at the extremes for riding around-town ... with the "best fit" being for someone 5'8" to 6'0" if you are ever planning on retrofitting it for off-road riding. I'm 5'9" and the frame I have is a ~16" (i.e., whatever is one size smaller than the 18"😉. There is NOTHING hard-and-fast with regard to those height suggestions and the size of the bike/frame, BTW ... just my only concern for you to consider about the bike.

$70 for the bike is a very good/fair price if the condition is as described -- the bike is easily upgraded as much or as little as you want ... or, you can ride it as-is (with periodic servicing, of course, and/or required replacement of worn chains, etc. [nothing lasts forever]) without ever changing anything on it.