Marin or Not?

Hi.

Im in the process or breathing a bit of life into a tired old bike that i always believed to be a 92 Marin Bear Valley, however after browsing this forum i find that my frame does not match that of a bonafide 92 bear valley on here, there are many many similarities, however the drop outs face forward, and the rear brake cable routing and brake bridge is vastly different from the 92 Marin also, can anyone offer an opinion on this, or even better a definitive answer, is my bike an earlier marin , possibley 88-89, or is it not even a Marin at all, someone i think should be aware of Marin making such big changes to the frame such as changing cable routing and drop outs, etc.

The forks arent original by the way, the only things that are are the araya vp 20 front wheel and the frame

Thanks Charlie Boy28

Marin or not

Sorry having problems posting pics here, will try again.

Hi Charlie,

I can't get to my work emails from here but it might be an idea to post your findings up to the questions (seat post dia etc) and the pics you have.

Good luck with the detective work

WD

Oops, we must be typing at the same time

can you make out the serial number under the bb housing?

Marin or Not

Hi another pic, sorry having a few problems posting,

the serial number is covered at this point in time in thick powder coat also so cant access it, it does have the over size down tube, the thickened seatpost tube towards the top it came with a shimano U brake, marin comp tyres, and a Marin Seat, Vinyl "comfy" Seat with Marin written on it, when i got the bike it had been badly sprayed, and when i stripped it the paint underneath was a very bright flourescent yellow, forks were gloss black curved tange jobbies, both Wheel VP 20, Araya

will add anything else i can think of,
help is greatly appreciated

Charlie Boy

Marin or Not more info

Took this from an email i sent to WD Pro, but saves me retyping

let me know if you need a different view to confirm identity,
right the headtube is 1 inch, or at least it definitely takes a 1 inch headset,
from memory the forks were a gloss black and had an orange and white shield like thing , i think, which im sure said tange or something like that, the forks have been replaced though after the steerer threaded many years ago, the stem was also black
when i removed the blue top coat the frame was a bright floursecent yellow, very thick and a bigger to remove it may have had a grey top coat, but i also seem to think it had some sort of black or dark blue splash effect,
the drive train may have been exage or dx, it had a big silver u brake, biopace rings, tyres had marin comp written on them, erm what else, front cantilevers had some sort of plastic coat on it, and the brakes from memory had a sort of plastic sleeve.
the rear drops outs face forward too. i know from 91 catalogue that the dropouts and headtube diameter were different from my bike, so my frame may be earlier if i can think of anything else i will let you know.
for some reason too i think the thumbies were grey with blue. the seat also had marin on it, and was not the race variety,was vinyl covered and quite soft i think. oh the pedals were a beartrap type with a grey plastic cage, and it didnt have bar ends.
hope this help

Marin or Not

Here is WD Pros response to my email, saves me trying to explain thing

Hi,

I have had a good look at the pictures and I really cant be sure ... There are things to me that shout marin and other things that don't ?

For :

Wavy profile at the top of the seat tube - identical to mine
Seat post clamp mounts - identical to mine
'Square' ends on the seat and chain stay ends where they are brazed to the drop outs - identical to mine

Against :

Brake bridge design
Brake bridge position
Defo not 91 - as it has thin stays / head tube etc
Defo not 90 - dropouts / top tube looks more sloping than mine / No U brakes on the 90 range
89 maybe ? - still not sure as I thought 90 was the first year for the over sized down tube and yours looks to have that ?

Questions :

Can you get the serial number of it ? there is info on the forum that may help (although I don't trust it fully)
What diameter seat is it (should be stamped or engraved on) - I believe early Marins were all 26.4 - I know mine and other on the forum are.
Marins of that era were sold / measured 'centre to centre' in 15.5", 17.5", 19.5" etc - What measurement does your give ?
Marins of that era had 'bulge' butted seat tubes - they got fatter externally towards the top (can just about be seen on attached photos about half way between the underside of the top tube and the top of the Tange sticker) - I don't remember any other manufactures doing this at the time so I think this would be a good indicator ?
Confirm the down tube is oversize.

Let us know what the answers are to the above.

Cheers,

And my recent response to WD

Sorry WD, you might not have got this yet

Hi
turning into a bit of a mystery i think,
I'm 99.9 % sure it is a Marin, as i said there were a number of parts wtih Marin written on Tyres and seat that i can remember for sure, also when i got the bike the LBS guy started going on about the welds? and how he could tell it was marin just from this, it was him who said it was either a bear valley or another marin bike, for some reason i held onto the Bear Valley name and forgot the other possibility, he also said the frames for the majority of the range were the same and that it was the componantry that varied from bike to bike, Dont know how true this is however, The seat tube does indeed get slightly thicker for about the last three inches of the tube, i had never noticed that before,though had never looked, the powder coat there is also damaged afher the original seatpost had to be forceably removed by a shit bike shop ( even i know that you cant remove an aluminium tube this way due to it expanding quicker than steel) and the seat tube was heated and the paint scorched, The seat post that is in there at the moment says it is 26.2 however and not 26.4, would corrosion and the passage of time narrow the seat tube,? i also know that the frame was treated internally with some anti rust stuff when i last had it powder coated, dont know if that coats the tubes and reduces size though??.
alas the serial number is under a thick coat of powder coat at the moment, but when i come to strip the bike for the respray, and remove the braze on things if im brave enough, i will have a look.

not sure about where you mean to take the measurements from , centre to centre? i was again told that frame was a 15.5 inch frame,

top tube is appox 20 inch, downtube which is indeed oversize is approx 22, and the seatpost tube is approx 14.5.

other than the differences at the rear of the bike, my cable routings, their placement,type and shape etc are all exactly like your frame. as are bottle mounts holes and other little details.

would it be worth asking anyone in the forum that may have an old marin, I think somebody must be aware of such a major change as the dropouts being radically changed and the rear brake cable routing, if indeed the bike is a marin at all.
not that it matters she will always be a marin bear valley to me even if i find she is really an early Hawk MTB.

The drop outs

Sorry posted these elsewhere