Couple of Marins: Team Issue & Team Titanium

[nporternz]

Re: Re:

Spanky - oh drat - most people look under the BB on these frames and there will no number there. Four BIG number on the drive side rear dropout. I sent my number to Litespeed last year with a 20 dollar fee and they came back within the hour with all the details of the frame.
Mine’s a 15.5 inch 1990 and I brought it around 1992 from a team member. I wasn’t sure whether it was 1989 or 1990 and it was really useful to get confirmation from LS.

not quite sure why they couldnt see the massive 4 numbers stamped in the droput!! I havent got the bike yet but seller sent more photos - serial number looks like 2831

 

[2manyoranges]

Re:

Right - my frame is Litespeed 15.5 and is 2921 - def 1990 since that was verified by Litespeed. So yours is about 100 before - and has the same two hole dropout as mine. So again Litespeed and may be 1989 or perhaps 1990. Worth stumping up the 25 dollars to get provenance I would say. Here’s what I received back from Litespeed:

Hello Tim,

We looked up the information we have on file for the serial number you provided and show that Litespeed to be:

1990 Marin MTB frame size 15.5" build in July 1990.

Not sure if you are looking into buying a used Litespeed but keep in mind that second hand Litespeeds do not come with any warranty. If you are in the market for a new Litespeed frame or bike, you may want to have a quick look at our frames/bikes on sale, these come with our Lifetime warranty covering manufacturing defects

I suspect yours is an early 1990 but could be 1989. If 1989 is it EXTREMELY rare. Very few made, and most went to the race team, according to Duncan McCann.

I think you have really scored with that bike. Give it a good check for cracks, but this year the frames had an excellent record for resilience. Make sure that the seat post is the right diameter so that the seat collar is never over-tightened. Carefully remove the BB and replace with one which has loads and loads of copper-based anti-seize on it.

The forks look VERY interesting. The frames, when build into complete bikes, came with curved blades. It would be worth looking for ID marks on the forks.

 

[nporternz]

Re: Re:

Right - my frame is Litespeed 15.5 and is 2921 - def 1990 since that was verified by Litespeed. So yours is about 100 before - and has the same two hole dropout as mine. So again Litespeed and may be 1989 or perhaps 1990. Worth stumping up the 25 dollars to get provenance I would say. Here’s what I received back from Litespeed:

Hello Tim,

We looked up the information we have on file for the serial number you provided and show that Litespeed to be:

1990 Marin MTB frame size 15.5" build in July 1990.

Not sure if you are looking into buying a used Litespeed but keep in mind that second hand Litespeeds do not come with any warranty. If you are in the market for a new Litespeed frame or bike, you may want to have a quick look at our frames/bikes on sale, these come with our Lifetime warranty covering manufacturing defects

I suspect yours is an early 1990 but could be 1989. If 1989 is it EXTREMELY rare. Very few made, and most went to the race team, according to Duncan McCann.

I think you have really scored with that bike. Give it a good check for cracks, but this year the frames had an excellent record for resilience. Make sure that the seat post is the right diameter so that the seat collar is never over-tightened. Carefully remove the BB and replace with one which has loads and loads of copper-based anti-seize on it.

The forks look VERY interesting. The frames, when build into complete bikes, came with curved blades. It would be worth looking for ID marks on the forks.

Ill definitely hit up litespeed when I recieve the bike! It looks like it has the ti stem too. Forks look like P2 ones to me with some marin logos put on, but we will see. Wheels have specialized decals on. thanks for all the advice!!

 

[nporternz]

Re: Re:

Right - my frame is Litespeed 15.5 and is 2921 - def 1990 since that was verified by Litespeed. So yours is about 100 before - and has the same two hole dropout as mine. So again Litespeed and may be 1989 or perhaps 1990. Worth stumping up the 25 dollars to get provenance I would say. Here’s what I received back from Litespeed:

Hello Tim,

We looked up the information we have on file for the serial number you provided and show that Litespeed to be:

1990 Marin MTB frame size 15.5" build in July 1990.

Not sure if you are looking into buying a used Litespeed but keep in mind that second hand Litespeeds do not come with any warranty. If you are in the market for a new Litespeed frame or bike, you may want to have a quick look at our frames/bikes on sale, these come with our Lifetime warranty covering manufacturing defects

I suspect yours is an early 1990 but could be 1989. If 1989 is it EXTREMELY rare. Very few made, and most went to the race team, according to Duncan McCann.

I think you have really scored with that bike. Give it a good check for cracks, but this year the frames had an excellent record for resilience. Make sure that the seat post is the right diameter so that the seat collar is never over-tightened. Carefully remove the BB and replace with one which has loads and loads of copper-based anti-seize on it.

The forks look VERY interesting. The frames, when build into complete bikes, came with curved blades. It would be worth looking for ID marks on the forks.

its definitely a 1-inch headtube - frame is pretty nice condition and only needs a clean - its a titanium stem and project 2 forks. Some of the parts are garbage but some may be salvageable - will start a build thread shortly....

 

[2manyoranges]

Re:

yep my later serial number frame is a 1inch too. Interesting that the frame had project 2s in it, labeled Marin - someone knew what they were doing there....