1995 Marin Team project

Re:

I am intrested to read about the spoked Marin orginally used in the wheel build.

I have a 94 Bear Valley and the rear wheel needs rebuilding - would the same spokes been used on my bike aswell? 'Whelsmith XL 15-17g double butted spokes'

Is there any shop in the UK that sells them?

I've had a quick look and the best info i can find is from the Marin1994 catalogue, link below. This says that they were UPC 15g spokes. This makes me think that they were straight spokes not butted. I tried and struggled to find 15/17g DB spokes in the UK as most are now 14/16g that match up with metric 2.0mm/1.8mm. In the end i needed a total of about 15 new spokes so decided to replace all of them. You may find if you want to replace only a few that your LBS will have them, especially the independents as they often have older parts kicking around. I couldn't find wheelsmith XL in the UK anywhere.
Let me know how it goes.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... e.pdf.html

http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/Bike ... ear+Valley

I will have to go down a full respoke route. Mine are snapping off at the tops of the nipple where the thread stops.

If it is any help I have a Ritchey Rock 440 rim onto a Shimano STX SE hub.

There are no markings that i can see on my spoke. Need to get one out and measure the length.

Nice project and with a lot of passion and work involved! I see this has Tange Ultrastrong sticker but no ribbed tube, maybe it's Ultralight and wrong sticker.
I know it's a topic about Tange Ultimate flavours on Team Marins. What's the weight of the frame?

northy":2w3hbl1a said:

I will have to go down a full respoke route. Mine are snapping off at the tops of the nipple where the thread stops.

If it is any help I have a Ritchey Rock 440 rim onto a Shimano STX SE hub.

There are no markings that i can see on my spoke. Need to get one out and measure the length.

Click to expand...

If you are doing a full re-lace then you have a bit more freedom with the spokes. So long as you get the right length (front, rear drive side, non-drive side) and some decent brass nipples you'll be fine.

CristiRD":3mwwmwb8 said:

Nice project and with a lot of passion and work involved! I see this has Tange Ultrastrong sticker but no ribbed tube, maybe it's Ultralight and wrong sticker.
I know it's a topic about Tange Ultimate flavours on Team Marins. What's the weight of the frame?

Click to expand...

Interesting point. I never thought about the stickers being wrong as they just came with the bike. Looking at the catalogue it is an Ultralight frame and i can't see any ribbing on the downtube. There was some very fine ribbing on the head tube and bottom bracket tube so those might have been ultrastrong. It so happens that I'll be able to salvage the metal ultralight embossed decal but think that the ultrastrong sticker has bitten the dust. Must be fate

As far as I know, Ultrastrong intented use was only for the main tubes, for sure not for bb shell, as it wasn't produced in that diameter and the tube specific butting isn't adapted for that aplication anyway.

Re: Re:

VTFoco2001":8pbwc82i said:

I think you should not worry too much about the rust. Just as long as you do not discover any pitting. It looks quite superficial and can easily be cleaned with e.g. white spirit. There are plenty of holes to drain the frame After cleaning treat the interior of the tubing with some light oil or equivalent.

By the way... I think the seat post is not original. Normally the '95 models have a Titec seatpost installed.

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Managed to find a Titec seatpost in great condition. No updates recently as have been moving house. Hopefully will paint the frame later.

Re:

Good find, getting rare now.

Could be me/ my riding but the ultimate tubing causes seat pins to slip down quite easy, so don't bother greasing it, unless you put into storage or suchlike.

Cheers.

Spray painting

Having chickened out of finally painting the frame for a few weeks i finally bit the bullet. After trying several times to get Halfords to mix me some paint i ordered some from Riolett custom Aerosols. They sell 2k paint in 400ml cans that includes a hardener so more durable than 1k paint that you pick up in most shops.
They matched the paint code (Lexus/Toyota Dorado Gold 587) and the cans arrived less than 24 hours later, great service.
Having primed the bike really nicely i decided not to fine sand it as i wanted to maintain the slight texture that the primer had to create the satin look of the original paint. You select the gloss level at ordering (i went for satin at 30% gloss)
I set up a painting station in my shed with completely inadequate ventilation, instead opting for the deep breath, run in, few sprays, run out of the shed to breathe technique employed by absolutely no professionals. Don't do what i did kids, i am not a role model. A 3M mask no doubt offered me little to no protection.
The riolett aerosols had a vertical fan nozzle which over 2 cans and 4 coats didn't splutter once even when i sprayed right to the end of a can, can't recommend their paint enough. Keeping your can vertical is the best way to avoid spluttering anyway.
One v light tack coat then 3 (ish) heavier wet coats with 25min inbetween as it was a cold day. I paid particular attention to high stress areas including the chain stays, bottom bracket and dropouts.
I then left it in the shed to cure until it got dark (and cold) then transferred it into the house as VOC had reduced and needed the warmth.
Stupidly rested it against a plastic box which scraped 1mm of paint off the top tube.
So that's it! It was a great colour match to the forks which i have decided to leave for the time being as no rust, original decals and i got the bike to ride over winter.
I will leave the bike for as long as i can to cure before assembling/riding it.
Seriously, don't spray 2K paint in an unventilated area, solvent abuse can kill with one hit, stay safe kids.