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Hello Lewis, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that Marin, in fact it's a lovely bike. It's well-made and will probably still be going strong when all those modern carbon bikes are just a pile of splinters! The worn chain rings are not an issue, you can remove them with an Allen Key and fit replacements. All you really need to ensure is that the Bolt Centre Diameter and number of teeth (if you want to keep the gearing ratio the same) on the new chain ring(s) matches the old one. Oh and the front brake cable housing is not really too short, the noodle will swivel and it's only going to get longer when the from suspension is under load anyway, so don't worry about it. I do agree that the tyres are probably shot though. Don't know long you have before your challenge, but everything that's "wrong" with your bike is an easy(ish) fix.....provided those forks are not seized and you go about it the right way. Get yourself a GOOD square taper crank extractor/remover tool and a few other "specialist" tools, you'll find you'll need 'em. Spend a few evenings in the company of "RJ The Bike Guy" on You Tube and get spannering! You've got a nice machine there, don't waste money on a new bike!
Experts out there, I need some assistance. As it's stopped raining and it's bank holiday I thought I'd strip and clean the bike so hopefully I could learn a bit more about it. I've successfully replaced the BB - go me!
Now my other plan was to replace the chainrings as they're knackered, however I didn't realise the middle ring was holding the granny on - its a STX FC-MC34. So basically there's no way for me to secure the granny ring, well without sourcing a Pace RC-21 adapter.
Has anyone got any bright ideas on how to solve this situation? Could I run it as a double, but then would I need new shifters and front derailleur? I don't know what to do as I'm new to all this, please help!
Reading that seems like I'm screwed. But I've just purchased some Shimano Deore LX FC-M563 crank arms as I think they've got the correct BCD. Fingers crossed this works or everything will be back on eBay and I'll be looking for a new crankset!