Marin Wolf Ridge 1998

PurleySquire

Retrobike Rider
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I bought this bike a couple of weeks ago as a frame only and it will hopefully become my next skibike once I have located a few crucial parts. This will then free up my Marin East Peak for trail duties.

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Nice looking frame. Always liked the marin fs designs, looks like you do too! What's the plans for the build?
 
Next skibike

I have become a bit of a Marin fanboy only because I know they work well and at the moment are relatively cheap and plentiful. The two most important components I will be looking for are some cross country type forks and the rear shock.

As briefly mentioned this will be used as a basis for a skibike. You can put monster downhill forks on a skibike but unless you are planning to do a lot of acrobatics it is overkill. The skis tend to smooth out the ride in a way that wheels cannot and you really don't need more than a few inches of travel.

Weight will also be a significant factor, you have to lift the bike over turnstiles on a slick surface and carry the bike on and off chairlifts almost everywhere, so keeping the weight to around 10kg saves a huge amount of energy.

I have used Manitou Spyder elastomer shocks very succesfully, there doesn't seem to be any issues with the cold.

I found the early Fox air rear shock worked brilliantly on the East Peak and I see no reason not to fit another, assuming I can find one in pristine condition. Running it at 200psi seems to give the correct amount of sag and allows you to kick the back end out on turns predictably. Again this is a lightweight combo.

Some of the bigger French resorts can be a bit pedantic over DIY skibikes and don't allow you the same access rights as factory built bikes. For this reason I will be disguising this project to look like a "proper" skibike and not "artisinal". To this end it won't carry the Marin stickers and all the parts will be in skibiker black or polished alluminium. Even the skis may have to be disguissed.

This winter I should be doing some marketing and research work for the French skibike manufacturer Firem and will be testing their latest designs and benchmarking the results against my own humble ride.

This picture was from my last Firem sortie to L'Espace Killy in March this year.

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Finished!

I have been quietly gathering parts for an improved version 2.0 of my skibike since June of 2011. On Sunday in a flurry of diy skibike constructional fervour all the disparate elements finally came together.

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Update

It has seen plenty of use in 2012, mostly around the ski stations of France plus a short expedition into Switzerland. It all worked as expected and I have few complaints, it took a lot of abuse and nothing significant broke.

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shedobits

shedobits, I only took 2 out of circulation! They pop up on eBay off season for around £50 for a frame or £200 for a complete bike.
That's "a great bang for the buck", I supose they are unfashionable now, because of the lack of an anti-bob Horst type link and that at the back you are limited to a 165mm shock.
They do make very good skibikes though, the lightness is a huge advantage for using chairlifts etc. And yes it is a hoot when the snow is soft or slushy.

Here is a recent vid. spot the Marin!
http://youtu.be/87qlj9tpnM8
 
Great Vid, I had been thinking about making a retro mod XC race bike from an old Mt Vision or East Peak for some while now but this looks great fun and Granada is less than 3 hours drive away for me. Hrm thinking.
 
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