one of my marins has got to go, mmm but maybe get a Kona

I built my new dean project for a quick test ride (and despite some chain suck), I loved it, and with the pacific single speed getting lots of use around the village, I've realised my preference in dimensions and measured everything. What's clear is that even dropping a frame size in the marin doesn't resolve everything, and with the dean and pacific, that 3 marins is just too much so one has to go. I just prefer the riding positions achieved on the dean and pacific to the marins :shock:

Emotionally the 92 Eldridge is hard to part with given had it from new and emotional ties. The other two were had second hand off here, the pine frame is quite rusty and needs stripping and painting, the 91 eldridge basically the same frame as the pine is in better nick but need to do the forks. Both are built into bikes, but I assume in terms of realising cash it would be better to sell as bits.......so what do people think - head vs heart ?

oh and the last thing, as I have well and truly caught the retrobike disease was wondering about Kona's or an Orange and did think maybe could ditch a marin frame and swap onto a Kona for something different ? what would the Kona or Orange equivalent of the Eldridge or Pine be, ie DX type equipment with a bit of XT thrown in from the early 90s or maybe earlier, is there an iconic frame of that era that would be worth me looking out for ?

Same thing but different.

Over the last eighteen months I have been on a blitz of buying and building up British hand made steel frames and have just got to the point where I have too many bikes. I don't do garage queens, everything I own gets ridden from time to time, but I like every bike I have and am quite attached to a couple of them, so I have compromised. I have boxed up and stored one bike in kit form, and sold another frameset, which sold in hours.

If you are going to sell, then in bits seems to suit more people and raises more money, but I always think it's a bit of a shame to break up an original bike, despite doing it once or twice myself.

Regarding Kona or Orange, look up the archives. I did this very exercise when looking to build a bike for my daughter, and was surprised at the weight of some of the Kona frames. I ended up with an Orange C16R, which is a really good little bike, we also have a P7 that my son was doing sub one hour laps on (rigid) at Mayhem this year.

As an alternative, why not see if you can find a hand made frame, Yates Diabolo's pop up from time to time at not too much money.

Best of luck deciding, it's a toughie that's for sure.

thanks, I have been giving the archives a bit of a trawl, (even the yeti et al previously and ruled out) they're extensive which is great (and well done to the folk who took the effort), checking out Kona, my initial reaction was the Explosif, the early stuff from 1990 ish seems to be mainly suntour, which I am clueless about when it comes to MTB, the 1992 seems to be DX/XT, but the thing is to get past the marketing to the actual frames, for example I know with the Marins, that for a number of models it was basically the same frame, eg Bear Valley SE, Eldridge Grade and Pine Mountain were all exactly the same frame bar the paint, I didn't want to preempt responses but rereading my openning post it could look like I was just being lazy, which is not the case

A good British hand made frame would be nice...........mmm................

Sold my 1994 17.5" Pine Mtn and replaced it with a 1994 18" Lava Dome frame after I had concluded that I had bought the wrong size bike 17 years earlier! I did a complete transplant of all the bits. I have never regretted switching. The Kona is as light and way more chuckable. The Marin always felt more nervous and yet also not as nimble.

Kona orange Marin generalised , meh

Buy Summat better , s-bike a,stars pace Saracen fisher Cannondale yaddayaddayadda

...ah yes, but if you have a Kona-itch you just have to scratch it!

I suggest keeping your '92 Eldridge owned from new and sell off the others. Selling something you're attached to may end in regret.

And W_a_S is right. Do it. You know you want to. :twisted:

mikee":202agy0g said:

Kona orange Marin generalised , meh

Buy Summat better , s-bike a,stars pace Saracen fisher Cannondale yaddayaddayadda

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but not sure the "Retrobike bank" is open; really would like sale of a marin to fund the new frame ("ish") hence the generalised approach where has the fan base, unless my sums are wrong, although judging by some ads, Konas seem to cost a bit more than Marins ? is that the Project 2 forks pushing the prices up ?

when I look at orange and marins the top tube looks to horizontal/high. i like the sloping top tube of the konas. if you need to scratch that itch look out for a cheep cinder cone to try, if you like it then join the queue for a kili or explosif. an 18" will be harder to find and go for a little more

lumos2000":2ju18ndq said:

................if you need to scratch that itch look out for a cheep cinder cone to try,...............

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interesting photos ? is this the normal way to sell a Kona ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kona-Cinder-C ... 4175441308