Marin Stinson 1991

PurleySquire

Retrobike Rider
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I saw this frame, forks and sundry parts on eBay for £10 last summer and put in a bid, expecting to be outbid, but the auction closed and I was the winner. It was for collection only, from the Portsmouth area, which is a bit over an hour from home on a good run. I had some other business to conduct in the area, so made arrangements to head down a few days later.
It was much as the seller had described it; the bright "Kawasaki" green frame was oily and scratched everywhere, the forks poorly sprayed in a bright yellow finish that had cracked.
The brakes, cranks, chain wheel and deraillieur were all present, but in a sorry looking state.

When I arrived home I though I would test fit a couple of 26" wheels to give it a quick ride down the street. Unfortunately the brake pads lined up with the tyre and not the wheel rim, odd I thought, "Marin make mountain bikes not road bikes".
A quick internet search found me on this site and a download of the catalogues stored in the archive revealed that these early Stinson models were hybrid "comfort" city bikes with 700c wheels and 35 section tyres.
I took a break for a couple of days to think over what to do next. Eventually I decided to build it up, as it could prove itself a role as a fast commuter bike.


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Wheels and Forks

Over the winter months I checked eBay periodically to see what I could source, there were not too many hybrid wheelsets available though. I wanted something economical and period looking with bright spokes that would take wider tyres and a Shimano cassette.
This spring I found some wheels listed by the "Wolly Hat Shop" on a "Buy It Now" basis, they were old stock, were compatible with a 7 or 8 speed cassette, had quick release skewers, plain alloy rims and silver spokes. Perfect for my use and hopefully not blingy enough to attract London's bike magpies whilst it is parked on the street.
The wheels were delivered promptly and very well packed, 5 star service from the Wolly Hat Shop. I then sourced a pair of Schwalbe Marathon tyres for around £15 each delivered, these are the best tyres for London commuting, they shrug off the broken glass that fills most of the cycle lanes and since using them I have only experienced a puncture the once. On that occasion I was probably running them at too low a pressure and something like a hawthorn got the better of them.

I cleaned up forks with wet and dry paper, for the most part down to bare metal then sprayed them up in Silk Black finish CPC Farnell Trade Spray which comes in 500ml rattle cans. This cheap, but time consuming job improved their appearance no end and makes for quick and easy running repairs, later. I didn't mask off the brake boses but cleaned them up with 600 grit wet and dry after the paint had cured.

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What's the tire clearance like? You might be able to fit some 1.9 inch 29er tires on there and make it off-road capable.
 
Tyre clearance

The thought occured to me too and I made some measurements a while back, it seems that 28" is the maximum diameter overall size before fouling the frame. There was just enough room to fit the 35 section tyres without having to deflate them, which made me wonder if I'll be able to squeeze mudguards on later.
There is more to follow on the story shortly.
 
The frame gets an (almost) free respray

As mentioned earlier, the frame was scratched, stone chipped and had the odd rust spot lurking under the paint for good measure. I sanded down the worst of the damage as local repairs and used progressively finer grades to feather edge into good paint. I then primed and sanded down the repairs to blend them in.

I had some 25 year old white cellulose paint sitting on the shelf in an old jam jar slowly solidifying, I added the little amount of dark green I had available and got this odd mint green colour. Not anything like the original colour but it does the job and it is growing on me. I did most of the spraying over a weekend then cut back and polished the paintwork later the following week.
I left the original stickers and decals in place thinking that it would be easy to cut back to reveal them. This has turned out to be trickier than I thought on a tubular surface, so will probably get some repros and place them on top.

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Taking shape nicely....oh no a bent seat pin

I attached forks, stem and handlebars; taking my time and enjoying the warm feeling of it.

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I started fitting the seat pin but found it to be very stiff, on closer inspection there was quite a bow in the bottom section.
As it was far longer than would ever be needed, I cut out the bent section reducing it to about half the original length and it fitted very smoothly. The seat pin must be made of a very high tensile grade of steel, I have some nice quality hacksaw blades and it lost half of its teeth making the cut.

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Cool thread! I'm following with great interest and looking forward to updates.

Cheers,

Adam
 
Saddle up

There was an Apollo saddle fitted prior to the rebuild, it had a few splits and tears but with reasonable foam underneath.

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I knocked up a new cover utililising some nicely patinated leather I had saved from a flood damaged IKEA sofa. Not up to Brooks standards, but good enough for commuting and leaving out in the rain.

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