1997 Marin Hawk Hill restomod - not one for the purists!

[hawkhill97]

You have a great front door riding area

I am very lucky, live just South of Bristol and have loads of good mixed terrain riding, with the Mendip Hills within riding distance if I'm making a big day out of it plus Forest of Dean, Cwmcarn, Bike Park Wales all within an easy drive.

 

[hawkhill97]

Went out for a more testing loop recently, taking in the toughest bits of local riding available to me.

Started with a pretty brutal climb right from the front door on the back lanes, but was rewarded with some lovely flowy gravel style singletrack along the ridge.



Dropping down off the hill, the trail is often basically a river - this is the only time I've ridden it and found at least the top section to be bone dry. The photo below doesn't really capture it, but there are some really pretty steep sections, with pretty chunky rocks. Riding this descent is the only time I've found the fixed seat post a bit limiting. It's difficult to carry enough speed to blast through the rocks when you can't get low over the bike without the saddle pushing you up and over the bars, so you're left hanging as far off the back as possible, cringing down the steep bits, and having to pick a very careful line to stop from stalling or having the front wheel turn at low speed.



I did end up tripod-ing down one of the steeper sections, but I'm going to count it as a win for getting down without stopping!

After a road crossing and a really challenging short punchy little off-road climb, it's back into gravelly cruise mode, with some lovely views to enjoy along the way.

 

[hawkhill97]

Following the trail eventually leads to one of the local woods, where a number of "proper" MTB trails have been built by the locals.



I didn't ride any of the groomed bermy jumpy sections, but there is a really fun line that runs down the valley bottom - very rooty and rocky, but not particularly steep, so you can keep off the brakes most of the time and use a bit of speed to hop some of the worst bits.



The high seat post was no bother here (it only becomes an issue on really quite steep sections), but the short travel of the fork made it a little harder to keep the speed up through the rougher bits. I'm really enjoying this lowered Tora - it feels closer to riding a rigid fork than a plush 120mm jobby, and really fits this current build, keeping a lot of the original charm and character of the rigid forks... However I'm under no illusions as to the fact that it's still doing a fair bit of work, as I'm 100% sure I'd have been a bit slower and a lot sorer on a rigid fork.

A bridleway climb back up to the top leads onto a track that runs around the edge of a quarry. From here there's a load of tiny back lanes and linking dirt tracks that run around the back of Bristol airport. It's so quiet and pretty that most of the time you completely forget this, until a plane comes blasting in overhead a few hundred metres above your head!




Plenty more steep and rocky bits, both up and down around here. The fixed seat height means I'm not running my saddle quite at full road-bike pedalling height, which I was expecting to be a problem on the tougher climbs around here (there's a couple of max effort sections that have always been hit-and-miss as to whether I can clear them). My feeling was that maybe my knees were slightly less happy than they would have been with the seat 10mm-20mm higher, but I managed to clear all of the tricky sections around here, which doesn't happen that often (probably helped by the fact that it was bone dry).

Heading back to Bristol on the back lanes, another stiff climb got me a good view of the city before bombing back home down the hill.

 

[hawkhill97]

Compared to the drop bar MTB it's replacing, it's pretty much a wash between the dropper post and U-Turn fork on the drop bar bike, and the fixed post and short travel fork on the flat bar bike.

They're both more or less equally capable off-road - I'm much more confident slinging this bike around in the corners than I am on drop bars, but do have to be a good bit more careful on steep, slow techy bits of trail, as noted above.

Funnily enough, I imagine I'm faster on the "gravel style" bits of trail on the flat bar bike, but a bit faster on the "MTB style" trails on the drop bar one, simply due to being able to wind the fork travel out to 130mm and straight line through stuff.

On the roads and back lanes, there's not much to choose between the two in terms of performance, but in terms of feel & character, I prefer flat bars with bar ends these days, and would have no problems taking this bike on a 50+ mile winter road ride when the trails get too bogging to enjoy.

So...

"Gravel bikes are basically just 90s MTBS" ???

No - 90s MTBs are better

 

[Retrorockit]

Just a couple options.
Works makes a +/- 1* angled 1 1/8" headset that you can tune the geometry some.
I went 1x11. Shimano SS cage Zee M640 FR with an 11-40t cassette. SRAM shifters work with 11s Shimano. NX gripshift is a nice option.
There are some nice 26" tire options in Gravel racing. Schwalbe Billy Bonkers hits the same weight point as Rene HERSE Extralights. Works well with the smaller 26" wheels. A nice equalizer vs. heavier 29" stuff. Look at RH tire tech articles. 26" isn't dead.
Gravel and adventure riders run drop bars for hand position options. But Solfiane Sehili, possibly the best of them all, runs flat bars with Ergon grips, Aero bars, and bar ends......
He's riding across Eurasia right now form Portudal to Vladivostock. You can track him here.
https://followmychallenge.com/live/sofiane-eurasia/?lat=48.028083&lng=58.199391&z=4.84&b=0&p=0

 

[hawkhill97]

Interesting thoughts!

I'm pretty happy with the head angle as it is, I think, and it's nice to have the bike retain it's 90s character. If I could change anything about the bike, it would be to add about 10mm-20mm to the top tube, but that in turn would probably affect all sorts of other things I haven't thought of. As it is, it's already pretty much spot on for my local bridleways and lanes. I'm lucky enough to have a nice hardtail (souped up 2010 GT Avalanche, set up a bit more modern), which is perfect for "proper" blue/red/black trail riding.

I have to say I'm a huge fan of 3x9 (or even 3x transmissions - more range than 1x11 (which I definitely make use of in my riding), similar jumps between gears, and much cheaper to replace bits as they wear out. Plus to my eyes, a shiny triple crank set looks ace on a 90s/2000s bike.

Tyres are a really tricky one. I'm actually running Schwalbe Marathon GT 365s on this bike. They're really heavy and definitely detract from the nice "zippy" feeling you get with lighter tyres, but unfortunately my local lanes have a lot of hedge trimming going on, and sadly a lot of fly tipping and broken glass. When I moved here, I was puncturing all the time, which is why I got the boat anchor tyres, and I haven't had a flat since in five years, despite not being careful where I ride.

I'll bet the bike would feel amazing with some nice light tyres... Unfortunately swapping out the rear wheel is a bit of a faff with the disc brake conversion (it's quite tricky to get the wheel axle located properly in the drop out), otherwise a second wheelset would be a good option.

 

[Retrorockit]

My flat problem is steel wires from blown out truck tires. Invisible, and they spread for miles. Multiple punctures, and repeats from wires stuck in the flat prevention layers. Sealant in the tubes fixes those, and I can get away with lighter tires. I stop and remove broken glass form my route. It's embarrassing to ride around it on the way into town, and then hit it on the way back at night. A flat tire in the rain at night teaches this.

 

[shedobits]

Just a couple options.
Works makes a +/- 1* angled 1 1/8" headset that you can tune the geometry some.
I went 1x11. Shimano SS cage Zee M640 FR with an 11-40t cassette. SRAM shifters work with 11s Shimano. NX gripshift is a nice option.
There are some nice 26" tire options in Gravel racing. Schwalbe Billy Bonkers hits the same weight point as Rene HERSE Extralights. Works well with the smaller 26" wheels. A nice equalizer vs. heavier 29" stuff. Look at RH tire tech articles. 26" isn't dead.
Gravel and adventure riders run drop bars for hand position options. But Solfiane Sehili, possibly the best of them all, runs flat bars with Ergon grips, Aero bars, and bar ends......
He's riding across Eurasia right now form Portudal to Vladivostock. You can track him here.
https://followmychallenge.com/live/sofiane-eurasia/?lat=48.028083&lng=58.199391&z=4.84&b=0&p=0

I'd be very interested in learning more re the slack set headset, such as contact details please.

 

[Retrorockit]

Works Components. They're in the UK, and others don't make the vintage 1 1/8 size.
https://workscomponents.com/en-us/collections/angle-headsets
Turned one way it adds angle, turned the other it subtracts. I have one on my bike, and another in my parts bin.
My already twitchy XC bike went over the edge when I installed a riser stem for street riding. I would turn and it didn't want to come back to straight. 1* slack fixed it. I guess the only return it ever had was my weight leaning forward on the flat bars.
It turns out that they also make a 1.5* in 1 1/8
https://workscomponents.com/en-us/c...zs44-angle-headset-to-suit-1-1-8-steerer-tube