and yet another Marin Bear Valley

bilko6

Dirt Disciple
Many moons ago I, a committed roadie, thought I’d try what was then the brash young sport of mountain biking. I was in the right location, the Scottish Borders, so all I needed was a bike and I duly purchased a 1993 Marin Bear Valley as, not only was I a roadie but I was also a disciple of “steel is real”. Long before coloured trails, I happily blundered my way over hill, dale and mud.
Many years past and I guess that, like a lot of people, I thought back to those days and wondered what had happened to that first “velo tout terrain”. Enter the Retrobike site: a body of people dedicated to, amongst other things, bringing old bikes back to live useful life’s again.
So, having been bitten by the bug, I purchased a 1993 Marin Bear Valley which was for sale on the Retrobike site and took delivery of a rather tired old girl who had been sitting around gathering dust and which was in human terms, comatose.
Firstly, a full strip down and clean. Then off to get the frame sandblasted and powdercoated. Trying to get the original Zolatone finish was futile so a matt, dark grey was organised. As for the components; most of the original stuff stripped from it was way past its best so, as I had a definite budget, I decided that I would not try to replicate exactly what was on the original. Instead, I imagined what upgrades I would have bought at the time if I had held on to the bike So, trying to keep everything within 1993-1997 period, I got the following:

Brake/Shifters Deore XT M737 (NOS on Retrobike)
Wheels Mavic 221 with Deore XT Hubs and M737 Cassette (eBay)
Chainset STX-RC MC40 (Retrobike)
Front Changer XT M739 (Retrobike)
Rear Changer XT M735 (eBay)
Handlebars originals stripped to the chrome
Stem Tioga T-Bone Avenger (Retrobike)
Tyres Panaracer Fire (new)
Decals Gil (Retrobike)
Saddle & Pedals are post ’97.


The before and after are photographed below and I’m a happy man.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get it covered in mud.
 

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Where about in innerleithen are you mate? Would be good to have a retro buddy from down here...
 
I'm at the bottom of Leithen Rd next door to our local Santa Cruz man.
Went for my first off road ride in 20 years (Walkerburn-fire road-up and over and down to Traquair) Nearly killed me. My excuse is that having taken early retirement, my waistline has expanded to Sumo proportions. This is now the start of hard on and off road training to get back to relative fitness.
 
Cool, I'm beside Waverley place

There's a few down this way who go out, pop into MacRetro and introduce yourself if you havent already
 
Nice Marin. What size frame is it as it looks quite large. I am 6 foot tall and mine was a 17.5 incher (c to c) for racing on back in 1993.
 
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