1990 Marin Pine Mountain (Rescue!)

Next addition to the rat-bike......a pair of XT PD-M735 (cartridge bearing) pedals. Been on the look-out for these for a while and these came up at the right price, with toe-straps (cheers Alex!). Overall they're in great shape - nice and smooth bearings, not hugely worn just some cosmetic scuffing.

I did a bit of cosmetic tarting up - lightly filed down any major scuffing - masked off the majority of the pedal and just resprayed the end faces and then touched in the logos with white paint.

Was watching a pair of these on eBay over the weekend (out of interest) which were nearly NOS, but still scratched so not perfect - ended up selling for £55......! :shock:

Alongside my newly acquired/rebuilt Bear Valley SE I took a couple of other bikes to Wales for my stag weekend for a couple of mates to ride....it must've looked like a Marin owners club outing, with a Palisades trail and a BVSE alongside the Pine Mountain! In fact, at the hostel that we stayed at in Caernarfon a couple of other bikes turned up with some other guests and one of those was a Marin Eldridge (the other a Kona Cindercone). If my mate Jon had collected his recently acquired Muirwoods before the weekend we would've nearly had the set.......

My mate Rob had the pleasure of the Pine Mountain - it was nice to actually put some knobblies on it and ride it off road (I've used it solely as a commuter since resurrecting it from the grave). We had a ride out from Caernarfon to Talysarn, a mix of trails/cycleways and road riding, to go and visit an old disused quarry (a good opportunity to take a few pics too....)

Now realising exactly how much I like this bike.......just need to find a nice pair of amberwall knobblies for it now! Any suggestions on what might suit? (Presumably the original Marin Rockstars are getting hard to find....?)

New addition to the PM - a set of XT cantis (M732) to replace the deore dx standard kit. Just to be a tart I now need a pair of the XT brake blocks to match those shown (the pads on the rear are the newer XT cartridge style)

Pretty much full XT now, apart from the hubs.....

I want an old Marin now.

superstu":3dm3d1zi said:

I want an old Marin now.

Click to expand...

Haha...as of tonight she's looking a little sorry for herself......just stripped the chain/chainrings/bottom bracket and cassette off as all are looking/feeling/acting a bit tired (chain stretched way past it's best, middle chainring looking like sharks teeth etc).

Will be rebuilt next week - a few parts on order....pics to follow.

Still my favourite in the fleet though.......

Have a 97 rockhopper to finish but zolatone Marin is on my radar, if only I had space! Looking forward to your freshen up!

Sherlylock,

How do you get the chrome parts looking so bright?



This thread has me drawing up similar plans for my 1990 Pine Mountain, now.



Cheers,

Lee.

I've been completely inspired by this thread - I'm amazed by the transformation from knocked up parts to near-nos-ness :shock:

I'm currently on a never-ending dream bike build but once that is complete, I will be turning my hand to restoration. Marvellous man, just marvellous!

Donnie

dongward":2fq46sv4 said:

I've been completely inspired by this thread - I'm amazed by the transformation from knocked up parts to near-nos-ness :shock:

I'm currently on a never-ending dream bike build but once that is complete, I will be turning my hand to restoration. Marvellous man, just marvellous!

Donnie

Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind comments dude......I get a lot of enjoyment out of restoration.....taking something which is neglected/worn out/scruffy and turning it back into something usable again.

I'm currently helping a friend (who's recently got into cycling) strip down a Zolatone Pine Mountain just like this. Initially he was quite disheartened when he collected it (as it was really unloved/scruffy) but now we've stripped it down and started cleaning everything I think he's feeling better about his purchase. It's amazing what a bit of time and elbow grease can achieve.

With regards to the polishing - essentially I just use progressively finer grades of wet and dry paper and GT85 as a lubricant (even a needle file in the case of the dérailleur to take out the really deep scuffs).

I only use the roughest paper I can get away with to remove the scratches in the surface - i.e. don't just start with really rough paper as you'll spend ages trying to get out the deeper scratches that you create with the rough paper.

For reference - the dérailleur was cleaned up using a needle file, 320grit paper, 200grit, 800grit, 1400grit, 2000grit, then autosol polish.

I also rotate the direction that I move the paper across the surface with each change of paper type (so if initial cleanup is with 320g is an up/down movement, then the next 200g paper is a left/right movement etc, etc - so that you always "cross" the scratches that you created with the previous paper)

Hope some of that waffle helps...!

The work you are doing on this bike is fantastic. This is true restoration! What the rest of us are doing cannot compare to this.

Really, really great!! I am truly impressed and humbled by your skills.