Marin Rocky Ridge 1994

Just picked up this lovely Rocky Ridge loaded with upgrades, but seemingly relegated to schlepping around town duties for 20 years.

More info here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=423440

More to follow soon

Looks very nice! It doesn't look like it needs much work?

Looks better already. Think you got a good deal given the spec on it

What's the plan???

That's an aluminum frame am I right?
What are your further plans with the bike?

OK, so the plan at the moment is to create a bike I can actually ride off road, while keeping it fairly original.

The frame and most of the components seem to be in good nick. The only things that need to be replaced (as far as I can tell at the moment) are the bottom bracket, contact points, tyres and possibly the fork. It works after a fashion, but having looked at the costs of service parts, I think I might swap it for a rigid fork.

The big change is going to be a 1x10 drivetrain, since I'm done with front derailleurs. To keep the XT theme going, I'm planning to use an RD-M786 which came off my modern XC bike. That means the front and rear derailleurs and the XTR shifter / brake lever units will be surplus to requirements. The latter are not in good condition anyway, although they do work.

So, a couple of initial questions! Roughly how much are the parts I don't need likely to be worth? And, do standalone XT levers for canti brakes exist?

Of course before I get to the build I need to work out how to get the frame looking nice and shiny again...

How will the 1x10 drivetrain work? Are you going to change the wheels or just run an 8 speed cassette? Interested to know as it's something I am considering doing.

I’m interested to by the 1x10, I’ve been advised new rear hub...wheel ...

So I’ve never done this before, but I have it on good authority (Spindatt and Monkeyshred!) that Shimano freehubs are the same for 8, 9 and 10-speed, whereas 7-speed freehubs are a bit narrower. Hence you can’t put a 10-speed cassette on a 7-speed hub, but you can put one on an 8-speed. I was specifically looking for an 8-speed bike for this reason, since I love the early Marins but didn’t want to be limited to an 11-32 cassette.

Supposedly you can fit a 10-speed cassette on a 7-speed hub if you leave off one of the sprockets. Spindatt has a video on how to do it.

Frame stripped.

Just done a 1x11 on an old Muirwoods for my brother. Only photo I took! Worked out really well - excuse the number of spacers on the steerer, was a “make it fit me better” measure. In terms of hub body the Shimano 8/9 speed with a free hub body will take up to 11 speed - certainly this one works fine, Coda hubs which I think are Huigi didn’t need a spacer. Chainline just about ok but worth considering.