Is this a 1989 Marin Muirwoods?

[kingoffootball]

Could well be that the catalogue says 1989 somewhere as it's the publication date, but shows the 1990 range which might not be obvious.

 

[frkl]

Could well be that the catalogue says 1989 somewhere as it's the publication date, but shows the 1990 range which might not be obvious.

Yes, I see what you mean, and it's not unusual that the catalog would come out sometime in the year prior to the model year it was advertising.

I was almost ready to sell the frame set, but after all this thinking about it, I don't think I can. The frame is good but the rest of the bike was in a rough state, and it is probably not worth sourcing replacements for the Exage Country/Trail components that are broken. I do have a complete bike's worth of 1990 and 1991 LX and 400LX parts that would fit well on the bike, I think.

Oh man, this is how another project starts....

 

[JonTom]

Yep, 1989. Bought mine a few years ago in north America. Pic is from the for sale ad - bike was original with the exception of the tyres. Interesting you say the faded decals were green, I always thought they were yellow.

 

[Carbon Lynk]

I have a Marin frame (and a bucket full of parts ) that has been a bit of a puzzle to put a date on, I think because it has a continental Europe paint scheme, perhaps specs too, and so doesn't show up in catalogs I've found or google image searches for 1989 Marin Muirwoods.

Can anyone confirm that it is indeed a 1989?

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Here is what I know: it's obviously a Muirwoods, with white splatter on black base coat, with green decals, now faded. It came with a mix of Exage Trail and Exage Country date stamped stamped Nx, so 1989 on the components.

The Serial number is not entirely readable, but the important bits are there: M90....6. The very helpful 1980s Marin ID thread here decodes this as Marvel 1989....Model 6 (Muirwoods).

Also through Retrobike, I found a French 1990 catalog that seems to confirm that there was a continental paint scheme:

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From the component codes, i had thought mine could be a 1990 with 1989 bits, but this seems to suggest not.

Complicating matters, I have found one other Muirwoods on the interwebs with the same paint but with chainstay mounted U brakes. Mine has cantis.

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/marin-muirwoods-old-school.275986/
The serial number on this guy's frame doesn't quite make sense as posted, but maybe he just didn't see the last part. It suggests a Marvel 1989 bike.

So were there two versions of an alternative version of the Muirwoods manufactured in 1989? Can a Marin expert help me close the book on this ID? Thanks!

I have the very same Marin Muirwoods colorway, purchased as an '89, in Australia. Yours is the only other I have seen!