1993 Marin Bear Valley SE

Tracked down this bike last night on the interwebz, sent the guy an email with my phone number and this morning he woke me up with a call to tell me I could pick it up tonight. So I made the trip to collect the bike, an hour by train there and an hour back, but I think it was definitely worth it.
The ad said the bike was hardly used, but then every ad says that so the condition of the bike is still always a surprise. The paint is pretty much unscratched, only some of the decals have some damage.. Might want to replace those some time. I had all kinds of wild plans for the bike (geared hub, disc brake in the front) but the bike is in such good (and original- even the tyres are still original and hardly worn) condition, I'm not sure about those things now.
Anyway here's a picture (wrong side I know), I'll make some nicer ones when I take it out for a ride!

Great bike, great price...i am very jealous! :evil: :shock:
When you look at my Marin you see i'm definately not the one to keep things original but this Bear Valley looks like it was just meant to be like it is.
So i kindly advice you to test if the front breaks are working and if so leave the disk break and all crazy ideas in the closet.
It's not really me who said that.
Retrobike made me do it.

The front wheel is on back to front

bvse

That was my first Mountain Bike!

Great bike. Did many miles on it. I put some Rock Shox Mag 21 on her, and she was sweet.

Can't believe you got her for £20!!! :shock:

Looks almost box fresh

What are the cranks? From memory the bear valley was quite high up (could be wrong?) but those look like exage or somesuch?

A friend of mine had this bike back in '93. It was pretty much full Deore LX from memory, not sure what those cranks are though, I think it was one below the Nail Trail and the SE was a better equiped version of the std Bear Valley, and better looking

Well done you lucky bar steward!

I took it out for a little ride today and I really had a blast. I'm used to riding roadbikes so I have to get used to some things (straight handlebars, the sound of the knobbly tyres and the lack of speed- although it was quite relaxing just cruising along for a bit). The brakes work perfectly and the shifting is spot on, still perfectly indexed after 17 years.

The Bear Valley SE is indeed a better version of the Bear Valley, placed directly below the Nail Trail. (I'm really just quoting the catalogue here, I have no knowledge of Marins or in fact any MTB whatsoever ) My bike has a mix of Exage and Deore LX: the hubs, brakes and cranks are Exage and the brake levers and everything in the shifting department is Deore LX. I wonder why though, as the catalogue doesn't seem to mention Exage parts for the Bear Valley SE anywhere.

I took some pictures for those interested

se

My SE was 92/93, and was full Exage. Looked exactly like yours.

Still got the brake/shifter pods and rear mech somewhere.

Pigeon, where it say Deore ES in the catalouge it means Exage ES (M520 series)

The Nail Trial is the same level as your bike, it's just the Aluminium equivalent.

There are quite a few bikes above the BearValley SE though
In steel range next up is
Eldridge Grade
Pine Mountain
Team Marin
Team Issue


It's a lovely example though and has one of the better paint jobs imho.