1997 Marin Mount Vision bare frame build

[sparkybhp]

This has been in the offing a while now. I bought this as a donor bike as it had some really nice parts fitted:

It was an early morning pick up on my way to a job near the seller in London.
Thing is, I had, until recently, a B-17 in the same size which I’d bought on a bit of a whim but found myself strangely taken with it. I was going to sell the frame of the MV on but I then decided to keep it - there’s no play in the linkages and it’s a nice clean example. Other than the familiar lacquer crazing.

I always swear blind I’m not taking on another project where the frame needs polishing, but…
I thought I’d just try and get rid of the lacquer and go carefully around the original decals as they’re in very good condition.

Top tube test patch looking good, here we go then..

 

[sparkybhp]

Soon became obvious that I’d have to separate the front and rear sections of the frame to do it properly.

No dramas here, just stuck some tunes on and got stuck in.

It’s not mirror finish or anything, just an all over strip with fine wire wool and a polish and clean.
I regreased the suspension bushings and re-assembled. Chose some components I like as a starting point and got it to a stage where it’s rolling so not sitting on the floor getting tripped over.
Where I’m at now:

I’ve had the syncros bars and wheels awhile waiting for the right build, the forks are mars elite and crazy light.
The whole bike currently weighs 7.3kg which I think is pretty impressive for a 90’s full suspension, let’s see how it goes from here..

 

[sparkybhp]

Carried on with this one today, I was keen to see how it would end up looking.


Mixed it up a bit with the Conti Gatorskin tyres, I’ve had these a while and thought I’d put them on this for the summer while I’m riding in the dry. The rest of the build went together well, front hub needed a service but other than that all good. Went with a deore lx crankset I had powder coated a while back and 36t n/w chainring. SRAM X0 out back with X-9 shifter. Dia compe v-brakes and Yeti grips.
After I weighed it before I was keen to see how low I could get the weight, came in at 10.1kg which I’m happy with, should make a nimble little bike for bombing around on.