Retro full sus...what would you get??

Gruff":1ioqvoht said:

This MUST be fate Wook

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=250977

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I know mate! I'm in talks at the mo!

mtbdave":1gq46603 said:

Those marins do look good but I think that Doug would like to be able to use it!
You just look at those and small cracks appear.

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I do love the look of the old FRS but they do seem to fail left, right and centre!! But will keep an eye out for one! Any clues as to where the Ti one was last seen??

I mean you could get a FRS or Manitou FS, if you're not worried about having a bike which functions efficiently. I wouldn't stray from the horst link bikes or a limited selection of single pivot bikes if you want something that actually works well.

This was the ti one - absolutely mahoosive though

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1774930

I currently have a 94 Manitou FS and a 97 Heckler in the garage

The heckler is going to be an enduro bike and the Manitou is already cracked so I don't have to worry about it cracking anytime soon

Thankfully I know a tame welder who's going to sort the manitou and he's sympathetic so it won't be that bad...

Rocky Mountain Speed (1996)



I'd also vote for the GT RTS1 (lovely bike!), Yeti, Trek 9000/9200/9500, and Kona Sex One/Two

Took my Mt vision for a blast on the quantocks today, it was brilliant. I pushed it really hard and it just soaked up everything, a very different ride to the RTS, the Marin has probably double the travel and a much stiffer swingarm.

Not that I'm recommending one, but did all the Marins crack, even the steel ones like that Pine FRS?

I love my Tazmon, my regular ride for 16 years, but in your position I'd go for a Mount Vision.

daugs":em8og9vy said:

going back to OP and Wookie's apparent love of Marins, I am surprised the Marin FSR with Manitou shocks has not come up which would have appealed back when I got my Eldridge Grade in '92, or has the aluminium cracking issues on these rendered them obsolete, with a pic blatantly stolen from another thread on dream bikes.........

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The marins were not the same coke can thin tubing as the manitou frames and hence tended to crack less

I have a rear end which was removed from the rest of the main frame and you would be amazed how thin the tubing is and not really surprising they all crack

depending on how tall you are i would say cannondale super v.
im a big fan of them, they work well (better with a modern shock) and with a bit of tinkering you can get head angle etc set to suit your riding style.. the headshock headtube makes it posible to fit all sorts of fork old and new.

they are light.. and i have not seen many broken ones.. infact i think the last broken one i saw was years ago and that was because the swingarm had been cut away alot to clear a chain device.

a downside i do find is anything under a medium is quite short top tube length wise so you have to be carefull about the combination of shock length and how it effects bottom bracket hight.

with a jekyll swingarm you can play around with different shock length and make it ride like a moden bike but it still looks like an original super v...