EARTHQUAKE JAKE RACE BIKES

Dear Retrobike Family-

My brother raced on the NORBA circuit for many years and after each season, he tended to sell or trade his race bikes off. I know it is a long shot, but does anyone out there know of what happened to any of these bikes over the years? Attached is a picture of one of his bikes - 1994 Marin FRS with Rock Shox.

I have been thinking how great it would be to track down some of these bikes and perhaps rebuild them if needed to original if they are no longer being used.

thanks,


Josh

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Can't help with tracking down the bike, but that picture sums up the mid-nineties for me - crazy experimental full sus bikes and frames - I love it, and you don't see many (if any??) of these bikes around (guess some were destryed as prototypes?).
Also - I remember your brother through magazine race articles etc as I'm sure a lot of people on here do, he had a great presence. RIP.

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There's a name and a half from my youth - one of the cool guys from the top period of the sport and a real sad loss. Was there ever a photo taken where he wasn't smiling?

Good luck with the hunt!

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Probably wouldn't find many competing manufacturers willing to 'cross-share' sponsorship nowadays either - whether official or not it's difficult to say from your brothers bike there.

Being a prototype I suspect there was probably a little murky ground - but it was still raced on official race series though presumably?


What I find so interesting and great about the photo is the rear end [obviously].

Marin had the tie-in of sorts whereby they used the Answer / Manitou FS rear.

The fact that here they have so brazenly kept the chainstays as the Mani FS ones, along with the top mount for the pivot / stanchions at the seat tube junction, whilst 'simply' switching out Manitou forks for RS ones is hilarious! Even the brace on the rear 'forks' looks in profile like it could have come from some Manitous, modified with a bit of butch welding in place of the CNC finery…!

Also interesting are the Judys up front, whilst returning to the old Mag series for the rear developments - is that a later Mag crown on the Judy's also? Pre-production Judy forks?


Such a great photo - up there with the Herbold bikes in terms of pure development prototypes.


Brilliant, thanks for sharing, and as the other guys have mentioned - good luck with the hunt it would be great to see that again!



Cheers,
BB.

Thanks everyone for the posts. . . good point on Jake seeming to smile in most every picture.

I have made a few contacts in my search for this bike and it seems that it was sold many many years ago. One contact who worked at Marin in those days shared that the setup of going to Rock Shox from Manitou was very controversial as Marin always had been Manitou. Apparently, Jake worked with Rock Shox and Marin designers to make the whole process come together. I do remember the brace on the rear fork as having heavy welds and being massive in size. It wasn't a Manitou brace but I did find another picture where AC had made a brace for the rear end of another bike of Jake's.

Thanks guys for the comments. If nothing else, it is fun to look back at those days. Not sure how many pros today would ride that bike in a world cup or norba race. . . If I can find it and build it up. . . I will give it a go. Albeit a little slower than perhaps Jake had gone.

Try putting something in the wanted sections too. You'll be surprised how hard others work if they think they may have a sale

posting now. . . thanks!

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BoyBurning":2u0nljwv said:

Also interesting are the Judys up front, whilst returning to the old Mag series for the rear developments - is that a later Mag crown on the Judy's also? Pre-production Judy forks?
BB.

Click to expand...

Rockshox Diabolo, forerunner to the Judy and changed name because Jamis owned the Diabolo trademark....

Only 1 British rider had a pair of these but they ended up back with RS
Can you guess who!

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boxxer":2yx1tgjm said:

Rockshox Diabolo, forerunner to the Judy and changed name because Jamis owned the Diabolo trademark....

Click to expand...

That, and they never would have been able to advertise them in MBA with that name.

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Like the Evil chain guide which became e13 as folk got upset in the Bible Belt!