I started mountain biking when I was about 12... scarily that's 18 years ago.

I did it for a good while, riding a God awful fully rigid Claude Butler Xantos to destruction. All the while lusting after most of the bikes I've seen while quickly looking through this site.

This site is awesome by the way! It all comes gloriously flooding back!

Anyway I did eventually buy a half decent bike. A 1999 Marin B17 with upgraded brakes to Hope C2s. I loved it, but after a few years I got the girfriend/job/wife/mortgage/baby. I also lost a bit of passion after a couple of nasty spills and trips to A and E.

Anyway for nearly 5 years my B17 languished in my Mums shed back at home. My brother-in-law has just got into riding in a huge way... and I am *madly* jealous... so I finally plucked up the courage to see what state it was in.

(I was trying to post a pic, but it won't let me yet!)

It turns out it's not too bad. The frame is fine, cobwebby, but fine. The X-vert T's seem fine.

The Hopes have seized, but I think they're recoverable - there's some rusting on the caliper bolts though.

The wheels seem OK too. Still a weird mix of rims, with a Mavic and a Sunn Mammouth.

The 24-Seven bars have surface rust on them, the stems fine. The gripshift shifters are shot (I never took to rapidfires)... well I snapped the big ring one years ago while riding down a kerb...

My main worry is the crappy Shockworks rear shock, I'm not sure how much I can trust that. I barely trusted it new.

I was researching fixing it up, and found here. I'm hoping I'll be around to get the B17 back in rideable shape. I've certainly got my eye on a few bits. (I could drop some serious cash on the stuff I've seen for sale!)

Anyway there's a long introductory post for you!

look forward to seeing a picture, the blue and white of the 1999 was a good look for the model.

welcome to the site another b17 i have a 1998 in red/white that i've just built

looking forward to some pic's...................

Thanks guys, I'll try and get over 5 posts then put some pics up!

a girlfriend and a wife


yep youve got the bug back! rusty bolts can be changed, new parts can be bought! hope to see it soon i saw a red one this morning with silver rear end *jealous!* before i got another i drive frame i was looking into getting a blue and white one beause they are lovely! i got outbid though. it was the whole thing, blue this white that, very well done and a classy frame to start with
welcome buddy!

i was kind of going for a chronological oreder thing... having a wife is more than enough work for me

Nearly there for the posting of a pic now.

oh sod it... next one will have a pic

This was a couple of minutes after wiping off the cobwebs. I excuse the rubbish iPhone pic, it's the best I had with me.

I carried on the blue theme with a nice blue Crud Catcher and blue DMR V8s.

That looks good to me, get out and give it a good thrashing

whoa yes! thats great that is! now get some white rims

Sorry to jump into this topic but my question seemed relivent on the B17 topic.

I've been getting back into MTBing and bought an old B17 (Red & White) with a shockworks rear shock which I either need to replace or upgrade the spring (keep bottoming it out), has anyone upgraded these if so what with and where from? Is the rear shock mounting on the B17 standard will any other rear shock with the same length and stroke be ok?

Cheers

Dan

I'm probably going to be in the same situation. I did a little bit of research and I've seen that people have swapped their shocks for a couple of other models. Fox, and another one that escapes me at the moment.

Mine seems to have gone a bit solid after it's time in the shed so I'll be looking soon. What is the length and stroke of the shock?

I have started the assembling of pieces for my steed. I won a set of Azonic bars off of ebay for the princely sum of £1.04 (puls £4p+p).

I've got my eye on some classic blue porcipaws to finish it off.

I will desperately need some new shifters too, I've currently got some very broken Gripshit Plasma's that need chucking.

hi mate glad to here you are getting back into the sport,and welcome to the site.be warned retro bike can seriously damage your wallet

so does this mean your keeping the marin now ? i'm in the same boat wiht the rear shock , i just replaced the spring for a 500lb one and it's a little better i do have an air shock but i'll need to buy a pump for it first

Finally got to spend some time with the B17 over the long weekend. Gave her a bit more of a clean, got some air back in the tyres, unseized the brakes, swapped the stem for the original Marin one, swapped the bars for my bargain £5 Azonics...

I also managed to finally rip apart and completely destroy my left shifter.

Now with properly filled tyres I've been able to give the rear shock a bit more of a bounce, and I think it's probably in better nick than I thought. Certainly with a bit of fiddling with the rebound and pre tensioning it seems to get a bit better.

Anyway here's a few pics...

Sill looks good...


Think I'll invest in some blue Porcipaws...


Trying to capture that lovely pearlescent finish...


The (very) busted shifter...


STX RC... I'd like to replace these for some Race Face at some point. In blue. Obviously.


Here's the 24Seven bar stem combo I replaced. That's some seriously solid steel. Massively wide and uncut... would probably survive a nuclear attack... and they weight like it.


I also found the original IRC Mythos XCs that came with her stock. I barely used them because they were a bit narrow. An odd choice by Marin for such a bike really. They are kevlar folding jobbies, I might sell on in the future if anyone is interested.