1990 Marin Eldridge. What To Do?

Marinator

Dirt Disciple
Just taken delivery of a 1990 Marin Eldridge purchased from the most helpful person on EBay. £85 and apart from the rear tyre and the pedals its all original. Question is what to do with it. After a clean up it will look ok. Decals are intact with little damage. So strip it down and clean it or go for a full restoration / conversion. Saddle is shot and I think Rockstar tyres are scarce so it wont be 100% accurate but probably better than losing the Zolatone and making it a SS or street bike. Any views?
 

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Some will say keep it as it came from the factory, but I would whack on some new decent tyres, get a better saddle, old flite or something, and keep it as is. Looks great.

Just make it a rider. If that means single speed do it. Wouldnt respray as the paint is iconic and not replicable.
 
I did my 1990 Pine Mountain as a SS. Tried to replicate the Zolatone, didn't come out too bad. Got the Marin decals wrong tho. I think it needs narrower tyres as it's a bit sluggish on the road at the moment, or maybe that's me. I think some new tyres saddle and pedals for the Eldridge is the right idea.
 

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Agree with the others, get a turbo on it, remove the lock bracket, pump clips, nice pair of tyre and a clean then go. Bet it rides great
 
Looks pretty good from a distance. I have a similar situation with an old zolatone bear valley. If you look closely at the frame there is a lot of patches of light surface rust beneath the zolatone. Yours might be fine though. Don't think it's really a big problem.

Depends what you want really. If you want a pristine museum piece then a full restore is in order. If you just want to enjoy it then just clean it up, grease some stodgy bits and get out there.

Personally, I like a bit of ageing so im leaving mine as is.
 
The marin is a good example for 1990. keep as original as possible, it came with gears so, for me, keep it that way :) if the zolatone is presentable leave alone. only when it is really patchy and rust ridden would i re-do it. it's 22yrs old doing well for atb ;)

tyres. rockstars, pro combo and all that wern't that good. i'm not saying bad but, they were cheng shin with 'marin' stamped on...know what i mean ;).

any amber wall will do the trick if rockstars are a pain to get hold of. the marin lettering was scrubbed off in most cases anyway. if presentation is your goal then, fair enough :cool:

these------------------> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ralson-26-x-1 ... 761wt_1110

similar to pro combo and new.
 
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