1993 Marin Team Restoration

This example turned up just a few miles from me so I thought I'd take it on.



I wasn't sure of the spec or condition and since I only caught the auction in the dying minutes so it was too late to ask (or think about whether I should buy it or not). But from the auction pics I could see it had mostly XT, seized Manitou 2s and was mostly original, so I took a punt on it.



I could see it had a little corrosion with the worst, on the top tube, photographed in the ad:



When I collected it the seller said he'd 'had a go at getting it off'. Luckily he'd been gentle and it was slightly better than it looked before. The rest of the frame isn't too bad at all, just a light sprinkling of rust under the lacquer all over.





Cockpit is all in order. Was a Syncros stem factory when a suspension fork was specced? I've seen
others with this combination. I know the bar ends are factory but I think I'm going to have to lose them.



Good old XT. Everything but the chainset, annoyingly.



These were the factory rims, yes? Interestingly it has an American Classic hub laced to the front. The rear is an LX.



I will try to find a more suitable rear wheel I think.



Not keen on the brake booster, that'll have to go.



M737 SPDs. Not sure whether they're staying on this bike or not yet.



Manitous need investigating. I have to admit, the last suspension fork I had was a Rockshox Mag 20, and I swore after that suspension just wasn't for me. Rigid ever since. Now I'm torn between rebuilding these and seeing how I get on or sacking them off and putting a Rockstar fork on it instead.

All in all I'm pretty pleased. I am looking forward to getting it running and seeing how we get on. If I like the way it rides then it will be a keeper.
The plan is to get it looking pretty again so I will strip it down, take the laquer off and bring that nickel plating back up to standard, and then replace the decals. I'll make the rest up as I go along.



First things first, I wanted to know if under all that electrical tape it was the original titanium railed saddle.




Yes I do believe it is! It was going to be in pretty bad condition, I prepared myself for that. But as long as the foam isn't ruined and the saddle is structurally sound then it's salvageable.




The leather is in as-expected condition but the foam is perfect. So once re-covered this saddle can go back on.

Anyone know what seat post these Marins had? I may go aftermarket there anyway, we'll see.

This looks like a fantastic project, I'd imagine a previous owner has changed the stem to Syncros, would have been a Marin Lite model originally.

Can't wait for an update

Thanks!
I'm really not sure what do do with it at the moment. I have a Pepperoni fork that I'm going to try out on it once I've finished the frame, and then I'll figure out how to build it up
It's a slow burner though, recovering from a crash at the moment so I'm limited on what I can do.

Re:

Original s/post will be Marin Lite, like the original stem. Was '95 before they switched to branded with Bonty - complete junk, before you ask. The bonding for the clamp was weak, so the saddle just spun around on the post. Eventually replaced under warranty with... a Marin Lite.

street":3dik47qm said:

Thanks!
I'm really not sure what do do with it at the moment. I have a Pepperoni fork that I'm going to try out on it once I've finished the frame, and then I'll figure out how to build it up
It's a slow burner though, recovering from a crash at the moment so I'm limited on what I can do.

Click to expand...

It needs the Manitou, looks just right with it and you can get new replacement elastomers. I can't believe what you paid for this bike, absolute bargain

Blackcat- sounds like the Bonty post is best avoided then!
Minifreak- yeah I just stuck a max bid in and I was surprised when I won it, but very pleased that I did!
The manitou do look nice I agree. Originally I was looking for a suitable candidate to do a weight weenie number on and and I thought this Marin would be an ideal base with a Pepperoni fork. But I am leaning towards getting it back to original spec instead now and keeping the suspension.

Re:

With the Avanti restoration pretty much complete it's time to give full attention back to the Marin.
I need this bike to be tough and dependable, whilst embodying everything I thought was cool in 1993 (exept with a twist of self-restraint).
With that in mind I will be sticking with the XT/DX groupset but not the catalogue spec list. I think a monochrome colour scheme would be classy, so in addition I may seek some trick components if they are silver or black.
The frame is now stripped bare in preparation for a paint stripper marinade to remove the lacquer, and the saddle is on a pile marked 'things to re-cover in leather'. The components are in a box ready to be worked on. Like so:



I thought I'd start with the cockpit. The stem put up a bit of a fight but came out eventually.



Nothing really wrong with the bars but the fact that the stem covers a bit of the logos doesn't look very good to me. I think I'm going to seek out something else. In 1993 if I had a choice I would have gone for something in that new fangled carbon fibre stuff. It sure would suit the colour scheme and I've never actually had any carbon parts yet so I think that's what I will replace these bars with.





I don't need this bike to be immaculate because I intend to chuck it around quite a bit, but the stem had some signs of corrosion under the paint and we can't have that. I took the paint off everywhere it was starting to lift and feathered the paint out so I can just touch it in. I should be able to flat the new paint down to blend in just fine.



While I do that, here's the old controls and the proposed new ones. The rapid fires worked perfectly but I still love thumshifters now as much as I did in '93 and they are that bit tougher than the STIs. While it would be nice to have XT, these Deore thumbies are here, available and in good order so that's what will be cleaned up and fitted.
Likewise the SS7s. Perfectly fine for this build. I used to run these levers back in the day but with stubby little 'MX' BMX levers installed in the SS7 bodies. I swore by that set up! Maybe I will do that again for old times' sake, or maybe the "with self-restraint" clause will be exercised.

Swore thumbies are much better than the Xt ones.

Xt ones are a nightmare for stripping the thread in the housing, Deore much Simpler design, no issue

Will enjoy watching this... Are you planning to strip the lacquer and polish the frame? What about making the Manitou's rigid?

Xxnick1975- You're quite right about the threads on the XT thumbies. I'd forgotten about that.

ringo":2y6fkxy3 said:

Will enjoy watching this... Are you planning to strip the lacquer and polish the frame? What about making the Manitou's rigid?

Click to expand...

Yes indeed the frame is having the lacquer removed as we speak. It actually isn't that bad but I polished up a section of the top tube and saw that it could be really shiny with some effort, so that's the plan!
Tell me more about this rigid Manitou concept.... Funnily enough I was wondering why rigid legs for these suspension crowns weren't more of a thing because that would be ideal. Maybe I missed a meeting... Who made them?