1998 Marin DH FRS

I love the two threads i've read of yours so far mate, but can you please stop posting pics of such awesome work...makes me wanna give up on mine already, lol!!!

This is looking great! Your choice of build brings this frame bang up to date
I like your attention to the small details eg the rear mech hanger, and whilst I think the cable ties look fine in the drilled out cable stops, what's going on with the cables that run past the rear shock?? Is there a better way they could be routed?

The cables are set up the 'Marin' factory way. The shorter travel frames runtime he cables under the rear shock, but the longer travel ones run above the shock. They almost touch the shock when stationary, but when you sit on the bike and apply sag, the cables lift and flex about in the void above. It may seem odd, but it actually works quite effectively, and they've never touched anything other than each other! On certain models, Marin incorporated a little rubber hoop under the top tube, which allowed you to run the cables above the shock, and through the guide hoop. The hoop was held in place with a push-fit stud into a proper factory made braze-on hole.

Anyway, I got a chance to test the bike out on the Evening of the Summer Soltice up in Gisburn forest. The bike has a brother called a Wildcat Trail, and it came along too; very similar bikes, just different gear ratios and the WT uses 2.4 Mountain Kings.





Although the weather was pretty dry and warm, it had been raining heavy over the last week, so the trails were still punctuated with deep puddles everywhere.
This bike is a few pounds heavier than the Mount Vision Pro I built recently, but the extra travel and grip on this makes the journey much easier. It accommodates far more terrain and mistakes than the MVpro ever could. Also, the BB is quite high, so it manages to climb over all the quarry rocks with ease - something that some bikes struggle with, as their BB is so low. Overall, the bike was all I'd hoped for. However, the saddle decided to de-leather itself towards the last sections, and I had to protect it from irreparable damage, so I stopped and walked back to the car park. A shame really, as I had to miss a couple of my favourite sections and I was really keen to see how it would compare on Strava.



I think I'll change the tyres to something a little bigger than the Verticals, and I still need to build the wheels up I want, as these are borrowed from another bike.

I fixed the saddle when I got home!

Wildcat Trail on the 'bay at the moment with that...

Hi, I’m rebuilding an original Wildcat Trail frame - looks pretty much identical to those posted here. Could anyone help me with the model of front derailleur to use?
Thanks

34.9mm Clamp if it’s the earlier model. The last year used a narrower seat post.
It must be a bottom pull, top swing.

Great bike!
I love the old single pivot Marin’s! Here is my last project my wildcat trail viewtopic.php?f=21&t=386378&start=10
I am currently working on a 97 mount vision which I’ll post up soon

This looks bloody great! How have I missed this before!?!

Only one thing in otherwise great build, you should have drilled those hose guides so that the brake hose goes through them, I am sure it would not take much longer than what it took to drill those holes for zipties.

How much did it end up weighting?

I guess drilling them for the zip ties means it can go back to running cable stops. With my Chameleon it wasn't possible to get a drill into the stops so I just a combination of a narrow round file and a chisel. The aluminium is so soft that I could just push the chisel through it and then use the file for the shape. Worked well.

I can't remember the weight now, but it was very light. I ran this as my main MTB for over 2 years, and went everywhere with me.
Gradually though, I yearned for more. I bought another frame and then toyed with the idea of 140mm forks and 27.5 wheels. I even tried it (Pace rc41 forks, and the rear already takes a 27.5 because of the longer swing arm), but the whole project wasn't to be. I sold pretty much most things from the bike seen here, except the forks, frame and shock (which I had serviced whilst it was apart). I stopped wasting my time trying to upgrade it anymore and realised that it was far more cost effective to simply buy the 2018 Marin B-17, which I duly did. It's a much more capable bike than the old one would ever have been, and quite frankly there’s no surprise in that.

The fact I haven't sold the old one suggests there's a plan for it in the back of my mind though...