Marin Pine Mountain 1990(?)

Hi,

I am new to the forum but have often browsed the pages and found an amazing amount of knowledge and information to be had.

I would ask then that somebody may be kind enough to share their wisdom as to why my, what I believe to be a 1990, Marin Pine Mountain has a U brake on the rear seat stays?

Sorry about the poor phone camera images, I will upload some better ones when I get chance.

Judging by the paintwork - light grey zolatone, and the groupset - full DX this should surely be a 1990 but all examples I can find have cantis front and rear. The only U brake equipped frames seem to be earlier. Could this be an example of using up old frame stock or is this a common set up and I haven't dug deep enough?

Also the saddle seems to be earlier than other 1990 models I have seen (it's a sort of thick lycra clad affair). Apart from the tyres (period specialized) I reckon it is full factory spec even down to brake pads, apart from a few rust spots and storage marks it is in pretty good nick. I don't think it's done more than a couple of hundred miles as it seems mechanically spotless.

I reckon I'll give it a polish, strip the sadly seized LH shifter and keep her original.

Not bad for a charity shop find!

Anyway, any information on the brake config gratefully received.

Thanks in advance!!!

Re:

Hi,

It seems like a genuine enough 1990 to me. It's kitted out right and has the patina of a bike 'that' old so, unlikely to be a re-badged something else.

This odd-ball thing is found in early 90's marins, quite often. where i can envisage how..."boss, we have 46 frames left over from last production, shall we put them through as this years?"

Taiwanese frames without a serial number of coat of paint could be anything else!
Possibly a mistake, experiment, or quite deliberate to see if u-brakes are still called for. who knows?
Either way you have a good nick pine mountain with a freak u-brake. Can only be a good thing!

cheers.

Re:

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. When I got it it had panniers and mudguards on so I reckons it's only had occasional commuter use over the past 24 years!

I quite like the u brake, it works a treat, although I think it has been snapped/ modified at some point.

The bearings are really dry so I reckon a full strip down and polish is on the cards. I read somewhere that fishing float paint makes a good touch up solution for the forks. Does anybody know a specific brand that works best? Also is there a source of o rings for the quick release nuts? All three have perished.

Thanks again!

Re:

Ooh, that's a nice one!

Could it be an '89 bike? The Zolatone looks light enough (but that could be the camera flash).

The o-rings you're after can be found on Ebay - for both wheeel and seat quick release.

When you're done with the rebuild let's see that orange in daylight.

Re:

Brilliant, cheers on the o rings. Weather permitting I'm going to make a start on stripping down today. I'm eager to try and get the shifters running smoothly.

I had a quick polish of the front wheel and it's come up lovely. Hopefully the rest will follow suit! I'll post some more pics along the way. Apart from a few chips the forks are pretty bright, I don't think it's seen the outside of a shed in a few years.

Re:

Right then,

Stripped down the front end and found out why the bearings sounded so nasty - a cracked crown race! The rest of the DX headset, including bearings, looks to be in good condition so hopefully I can source a new part to suit. I forgot how huge the bearings are!

The steerer tube is stamped 1989 which would maybe back up the 'old stock new colour scheme' theory for the u brake.

Wheels are perfect, The nut end of the front skewer is rusty and the clamp end of the rear is too. I reckon I can swap them over to one perfect front skewer and just source a replacement rear. The Kalloy seat clamp is quite nasty so I might replace the whole thing if it doesn't clean up too well.

Good news is both shifters are ungunked and running beautifully. The orange on the steerer is indistinguishable from the legs so there is little to no fade!

Original chainrings, freewheel and pads are spot on so they can be reused, rear mech has a couple of scratches which will probably polish out but the front is a little rusty.

Quite a few of the bolt heads have surface rust inside, I will try and clean them out and replace where required.

All in all I reckon this should be an easy rebuild. I will post pics this evening.

Re:

Have a look for a product called CLR (Calcium Lime Rust). I don't know if it's available in the UK, but it'll take the rust off bolts, mech, axles ... you name it. It's safe to use on plastic and rubber too.

I have some rusty bolts soaking overnight at the moment. The rust is replaced with a black coating, which will wipe off to reveal the new shiny new surface underneath.

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I know that the smallest size (15"?) 90's had a U brake as my mate had a Palisades with one bitd. Yours looks bigger though.

Defo a 90 paint job as 89's were gloss grey with colour matched and slighty different decals. Another pal built up a 1989 Palisades the other year but that had rear canti's. :?

Re:

Thanks for the info, I will see if I can track some down CLR or equivalent. It sounds like good stuff! I have used a bit of tin foil so far and they have come up ok, I also had a few spare bolts in my spares box. I have swapped the rear mech pulley bolts for some stainless ones off a knackered Exage 400 LX mech.

I think my frame is larger than a 15", not measured it yet though.

I have tried to check the serial number using some advice on this site but where there should be letters I just have 0's! I will dig a bit deeper into this one.

It's been a while since I have done a full strip down, I had forgotten the joys of a chainset in the finger when removing the pedals! I think I will strip, clean, change the parts that need it then put back together. The decals are a bit tatty but there is no point sourcing new ones without respraying the frame first and the current paintwork isn't bad enough to warrant the pain of recreating the zolatone!

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Hmm, checked further in on the frame number situation. The number starts M91 which apparently should make it a 91 frame? I think? If anybody knows different that would be great. Surely this would mean it would have to have the darker colour scheme and definitely wouldn't have the u brake bosses as it would be a newer frame, and two years older than the forks...