Cheap Marin with interesting brakes

Bear valley (SE?) maybe?Cheap ride for someone.Marin put their own brakes on for the '95 range,Marin Ovation I think.Don't know if they carried it on for '96.
 
I can definitely make out bear valley se. Which is worth £50 imho. And yes that sounds familiar about the brakes. Still, not something you see every day...
 
Worth a bit of a drive for £50 I'd say.Always liked the darkness of the Bear valleys in contrast to all the other much brighter models.For £50 it wouldn't matter if it needed a few components replacing.Bargain for someone in my opinion.
 
Yeah, standard Marin cantilever brakes, still pretty cool even if I find them a pain to set up.
Bear Valley is seriously underrated if you ask me, friend used to have one and I rode it several times, it rode great, I think the lairy paint jobs attract the attention but the BV is arguably a better ride .
 
Never rode one bought they looked to be higher up the range than they were,loved the earlier matte finish ones,maybe 93/94 ish.Out of interest,any other notes on the brakes?Performance etc?Always wondered.Definitely looked cool if a bit chunky.
 
Yeah, in my experience they are fiddly to set up and not the best performers. They’re far from terrible, but I found more “normal” looking cantis actually worked better for me.
But they do look pretty trick, and look right at home on a Marin.
 
Having a 1995 BV SE since 1995 (my old man's) the Marin brakes are shite, really shite arse to set up and still shite.
Dump them and get some simple Shimano ones.

The Avid lever on there (I can't zoom in on mobile) will be good, should be SD2's

Pretty sure the 95 isn't as dark as that.

The one for sale is a 1996 by the way.
 
It is a 1996, same as mine. I found the brakes to be pretty good, but I've got Koolstop blocks on it. Maybe that makes a difference.
I was thinking of moving mine on but if it's only worth £50 I may as well keep it. 😞
 
More than one opinion on the brakes then,good to hear.Would've thought a reasonable example would be worth £150 nowadays?
 
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