Should I attempt an upgrade? (-97 team marin)

[Martinsson]

Thank you!

My wife looks upon this newfound enthusiasm of mine with some mild and well ment scepticism, can't say I blame her, I build loudspeakers, rc boats, and I make music, all of which eats a bit into the cash situation albeit in a non critical way.

My response is that "this old bike thing" could actually translate into health benefits, something that is very much needed for someone approaching fifty and regards running as something reserved for a state of panic such as a housefire or if one accidentally gets to close to a salladbar, or any form of food with the word light in the name.

Let's see how this turns

 

[Tootyred]

Your bike was built to take manitou mach 5 forks. I think they had a whole 60mm travel! So were probably about 410mm rigid equivalent alowing for sag (sure somebody will say exactly to the mm).

Standard rockstars are 395mm....so your 15mm and 1/2 a degree steeper on the head angle....ie not worth worrying about.

If you go for suspension those forks still have service kits available as far as i know.

 

[ishaw]

I'm all for modernising an old bike, it's what I do. I feel the frame is the heart and soul, the rest is what you clothe it in.

Marins of the era wore manitou suspension forks, so if you wanted bounce, you could stick with tradition. Short travel forks are what you'd need, no more than 80mm. I'm not plugging my sale items, but I do have a nice set of sx ti forks I've got for sale.

I'm a big fan of the xtr m95x group. I've got a few bikes kitted in it, it was top of the line I the late 90s and imho at least, the best retro Shimano kit. The biggest challenge though are the chain rings due to the integrated spider/outer ring. New rings aren't cheap (I know as I have had to buy/stash them for my bikes, but they are out there. Other options are to replace the outer ring with a 110 or 104 BCD spider, as this opens up many ring options, allowing you to buy readily available rings, or even a narrow wide. I've had/got spiders from brands such as Hershey racing (the coolest I've seen in 110bcd), middleburn, token or TA specialties. Some coda cranks have the same spider spline as xtr, there were others but I can't recall. Shimano did an OEM 110bcd, and some xt and lx cranks had a removable 104 or 94bcd spider that fits (mat need a bit of filing to clear crank arm iirc).

The bottom bracket is also more of a rarity being octalink v1 spline, and 112.5 or 116 length. Hard to come by cheaply if it needs replacing. If it's an m950, you can rebuild and replace the bearings. If m952, it's sealed but they run for ages usually. Road v1 splined BBS are available, but typically only in 68mm shell width, and 109.5 or 118 length (105, ultegra or Dura ace). Don't be tempted to use a V2 spline, it won't work and you'll ruin the cranks.

Brakes may develop play, but are rebuild able to a point, bearings can be cleaned and regressed, wafer thin shims can be fitted to iall out play.

It's a lovely bike, and with a bit of fettling, you may not need to replace anything to get it putting again.

That said, you could replace the cranks with some nice, modern ht2 style ones, slap on some SRAM X0 1x10 gearing, some carbon rigid forks, stem, bars and post, and shave some weight

 

[Martinsson]

Loads of good info! Thank you! I have some investigating to do, I will look for companies that cater to the retro crowd, if any such exist, I bet there is in the UK, you guys have all the good stuff

 

[Martinsson]

Just taken down from the from the attic, first ime in 6 years...