boy"O"boy's 1992 Marin Pine Mountain / Browning suspension
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Nice, first saw one back in the day when camping in st ives cornwall, we cycled over to penzance and it was hung in the window - pride of place, shop was closed and it was throwing it down but I will allways think of it as a dream bike
heres my browning test unit, purpose built fillet brazed frame for the fork, presumably for a trade show.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=348943
Nice, first saw one back in the day when camping in st ives cornwall, we cycled over to penzance and it was hung in the window - pride of place, shop was closed and it was throwing it down but I will allways think of it as a dream bike
heres my browning test unit, purpose built fillet brazed frame for the fork, presumably for a trade show.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=348943
Re: Re:
Cheers!
Yeah, I agree - some a success, some fade off into obscurity. I liken it the the Cannondale Headshox - Same sort of raised front end geometry with the shock in the headtube, only making use of a threaded 1 1/4" headset. Kind of an evolution of this.
Cheers! Will be super bright Fluorescent Orange and Satin black when it get repainted. I like a project!
The other Pine Mountain I've seen in the flesh had a Prestige sticker on it, but the weight of mine doesn't feel anywhere near as light as the Ridgeback. Would love to know more but there's very little information about the 1992 production model. As you suggest though Ed - why would you make 2 separate tubesets for a limited production model unless they were hand made? - Which I'm thinking they were not?
Thanks Mark. I'll try my best! - Thanks for adding the link too. I was trying to work out if it was a F/S post? - Looks great regardless
Cheers
boy"O"boy
MR OX":ieaezz52 said:
Cheers!
Yeah, I agree - some a success, some fade off into obscurity. I liken it the the Cannondale Headshox - Same sort of raised front end geometry with the shock in the headtube, only making use of a threaded 1 1/4" headset. Kind of an evolution of this. cherrybomb":ieaezz52 said:That's funky.
I love the colours & the fork is ace. What a fantastic project.
Cheers!
Will be super bright Fluorescent Orange and Satin black when it get repainted. I like a project!brocklanders023":ieaezz52 said:
The other Pine Mountain I've seen in the flesh had a Prestige sticker on it, but the weight of mine doesn't feel anywhere near as light as the Ridgeback. Would love to know more but there's very little information about the 1992 production model. As you suggest though Ed - why would you make 2 separate tubesets for a limited production model unless they were hand made? - Which I'm thinking they were not?
mkone":ieaezz52 said:Love it and im sure you will get it looking even nicer
Have you seen this thread? bottom post is the owner of the team version
viewtopic.php?t=218695
Mark
Thanks Mark. I'll try my best! - Thanks for adding the link too. I was trying to work out if it was a F/S post? - Looks great regardless
mkone":ieaezz52 said:
Cheers
boy"O"boy
Re:
That's a great looking bike! Just read through the build thread.... What a great project. Any more history about which frame builder built it? - The Marin Prototype in the scan below mentions it's a (British) built one.
Think I saw the Pine mountain version BITD in get Pedallin' Colchester. I think it was the only one they were able to get in and it sold pretty fast. Never saw the Team Version until google.
The 1992 brochure only shows a small picture of the fork set up and not the complete bike.
Does anyone have any more brochure information?
Here's some scan's I've taken from MBUK Jan 1991 of the prototype. I've still got to go through my old MBUK's / MBi's to see if there's anything else out there.
Enjoy.
boy"O"boy
retrobikeguy":pdlf1tju said:Nice, first saw one back in the day when camping in st ives cornwall, we cycled over to penzance and it was hung in the window - pride of place, shop was closed and it was throwing it down but I will allways think of it as a dream bike
heres my browning test unit, purpose built fillet brazed frame for the fork, presumably for a trade show.
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=348943
That's a great looking bike! Just read through the build thread.... What a great project. Any more history about which frame builder built it? - The Marin Prototype in the scan below mentions it's a (British) built one.
Think I saw the Pine mountain version BITD in get Pedallin' Colchester. I think it was the only one they were able to get in and it sold pretty fast. Never saw the Team Version until google.
The 1992 brochure only shows a small picture of the fork set up and not the complete bike.
Does anyone have any more brochure information?
Here's some scan's I've taken from MBUK Jan 1991 of the prototype. I've still got to go through my old MBUK's / MBi's to see if there's anything else out there.
Enjoy.
boy"O"boy
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Stick Legs
Gold Trader
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Brilliant. Like these.
rrrroberts
Dirt Disciple
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I bought one of these brand new in late 1991, but it was a 1992 model. Orange and black but the black zolatone style paint was barely textured and came off easily. Full DX with RM17s. It did have a Tange Prestige sticker but the frame weighed around 5 lbs in a 17.5" - hardly a lightweight. Headset was a steel YST unit. I think the stem was fillet brazed and painted gloss black and the paint fell off the fillets early on. As for the frame builder I have read that the run of around 100 that were made were built by Chas Roberts, but I only read that in the last couple of years somewhere on here. I don't recall whether my frame was fillet brazed but I don't think it was. My forks seized up after less than a year, and were returned for a warranty repair. When they came back the shop demanded fifty quid which I didn't think was fair and left them there. I fitted a pair of Suspenders with a Pro Stop bought from a DHer called Elwyn Roberts and eventually added a 1.25" Manitou 1, repainted it and sold it in 1994 to a guy in Bournemouth for about 400 pounds. Back then it was great because it had suspension adjusted geometry, which apart from a Fisher Mt Tam was incredibly rare. I doubt I have a picture either.
I bought one of these brand new in late 1991, but it was a 1992 model. Orange and black but the black zolatone style paint was barely textured and came off easily. Full DX with RM17s. It did have a Tange Prestige sticker but the frame weighed around 5 lbs in a 17.5" - hardly a lightweight. Headset was a steel YST unit. I think the stem was fillet brazed and painted gloss black and the paint fell off the fillets early on. As for the frame builder I have read that the run of around 100 that were made were built by Chas Roberts, but I only read that in the last couple of years somewhere on here. I don't recall whether my frame was fillet brazed but I don't think it was. My forks seized up after less than a year, and were returned for a warranty repair. When they came back the shop demanded fifty quid which I didn't think was fair and left them there. I fitted a pair of Suspenders with a Pro Stop bought from a DHer called Elwyn Roberts and eventually added a 1.25" Manitou 1, repainted it and sold it in 1994 to a guy in Bournemouth for about 400 pounds. Back then it was great because it had suspension adjusted geometry, which apart from a Fisher Mt Tam was incredibly rare. I doubt I have a picture either.
Hotwheels.
Old School Grand Master
Cool bike and props for removing the US flag sticker as it was the wrong orientation for that side of the frame.
Hi All.
Not much progress on this as of late. I began to strip the paint at the same time as the "O" - got sidetracked with non-bike related projects, then picked up momentum to finish the "O", bought a dynatech in the meantime, then changed focus into getting a Cannondale project finished in readiness for summer holidays. (Hence the Headshok comparison pic!)
Still in the research stage on this one at the moment. You know you're onto something pretty rare when you put 'Browning Suspension Fork' into the search engine and most of the pics that come up are your own!
Thanks Stick Legs. It will look good again, even if it's not at the top of the project to do list yet!
Thanks for adding to the thread. Great to hear other owners stories. Some useful info there too. Interested to find out more about the Chas Roberts link - That would make it a truely 'British' Marin with the Browning Fork up front and it's engineer links to Concorde.
If as you say, it's possibly from a run of just 100, it would make sense that the Pine Mountain and Team variants use the same Tange Prestige frame construction - especially with the suspension adjusted geometry. The frame number seems more like a 'low volume' serial number rather than mass produced. M91060050 (On the seat tube)
Any Marin experts able to shed some light on this? Is it the same as the normal Pine Mountain serial numbers?
My guess is -
M = Marin
91 = 1991
06 = Jun
0050 = 50th made
I've added some pics of the Browning shock out of the frame. Someone was asking about dis-assembly. I think reading the sticker, i'd be very hesitant to start taking the actual shock apart. The steerer is 1 1/4" threaded lower down. The top section is not threaded but grooved to grip the 1 1/4" ahead stem. 2 setting and 'lockout' adjuster remains part of the shock assembly.
I've added a pic next to a Cannondale Headshok fork as a comparison - like a evolution of the browning fork in a way (and probably a nightmare to dis-assemble too!)
Didn't have to do much! - It was already stickered with the flag on just one side! - someone must have known what they were doing at the time!
Cheers.
boy"O"boy
Not much progress on this as of late. I began to strip the paint at the same time as the "O" - got sidetracked with non-bike related projects, then picked up momentum to finish the "O", bought a dynatech in the meantime, then changed focus into getting a Cannondale project finished in readiness for summer holidays. (Hence the Headshok comparison pic!)
Still in the research stage on this one at the moment. You know you're onto something pretty rare when you put 'Browning Suspension Fork' into the search engine and most of the pics that come up are your own!
Stick Legs":4940dahu said:Brilliant. Like these.
Thanks Stick Legs. It will look good again, even if it's not at the top of the project to do list yet!
rrrroberts":4940dahu said:
Thanks for adding to the thread. Great to hear other owners stories. Some useful info there too. Interested to find out more about the Chas Roberts link - That would make it a truely 'British' Marin with the Browning Fork up front and it's engineer links to Concorde.
If as you say, it's possibly from a run of just 100, it would make sense that the Pine Mountain and Team variants use the same Tange Prestige frame construction - especially with the suspension adjusted geometry. The frame number seems more like a 'low volume' serial number rather than mass produced. M91060050 (On the seat tube)
Any Marin experts able to shed some light on this? Is it the same as the normal Pine Mountain serial numbers?
My guess is -
M = Marin
91 = 1991
06 = Jun
0050 = 50th made
I've added some pics of the Browning shock out of the frame. Someone was asking about dis-assembly. I think reading the sticker, i'd be very hesitant to start taking the actual shock apart. The steerer is 1 1/4" threaded lower down. The top section is not threaded but grooved to grip the 1 1/4" ahead stem. 2 setting and 'lockout' adjuster remains part of the shock assembly.
I've added a pic next to a Cannondale Headshok fork as a comparison - like a evolution of the browning fork in a way (and probably a nightmare to dis-assemble too!)
Hotwheels.":4940dahu said:Cool bike and props for removing the US flag sticker as it was the wrong orientation for that side of the frame.
Didn't have to do much! - It was already stickered with the flag on just one side! - someone must have known what they were doing at the time!
Cheers.
boy"O"boy
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Interesting these... the magazine scan close up of the headtube I could convince myself is fillet-brazed, which could be Roberts, and the write up mentions a British prototype. Also, see the cable guide position is right on the headtube on the prototype. The others in here seem TIG’ed and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a TIG’d Roberts (someone will correct me).
So perhaps an initial one/few brazed in UK to prove the concept, perhaps as the fork was this side of the Atlantic, then a Marin ‘mass-produced’ copy for production, though in relatively small numbers for Marin.
Just guess work and very cool whatever.
Interesting these... the magazine scan close up of the headtube I could convince myself is fillet-brazed, which could be Roberts, and the write up mentions a British prototype. Also, see the cable guide position is right on the headtube on the prototype. The others in here seem TIG’ed and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a TIG’d Roberts (someone will correct me).
So perhaps an initial one/few brazed in UK to prove the concept, perhaps as the fork was this side of the Atlantic, then a Marin ‘mass-produced’ copy for production, though in relatively small numbers for Marin.
Just guess work and very cool whatever.
