Marin or Not?

Charlieboy28 · Jul 1, 2009

86 Marin Bear Valley

I found these pics of an all original 1986 bear valley recently sold on ebay,

this was very similar to my bike when i got it, same forks, same seat post clamp, same biopace cranks,
does anyone know about the finish to the bikes at this time, i.e was the frame poweder coated bright yellow, and then painted black over the top to provide the decals in relief if thasts the right way of saying it, this might explain why my bike was like it was in that someone had tried to remove the paint, only removed the black layer, then given up and tried to paint it navy blue,
the u brake on my bike is top mounted though, and it had rapid fire thumbies,

any thoughts

WD Pro · Jul 1, 2009

Hhmmmm ... The plot thickens ...

Where's benandemu when you need him - He has a LOT of marin info / old catalouges etc

Just to hi jack a little - if any marin lovers / owners reading this have a set of 1" tange mtb / spinner forks spare (like the ones above on the gloss black bv) let me know

Charlieboy28 · Jul 2, 2009

86 Marin

Another pic of the 86 Marin,
these are the same tyres as came with my bike, with the same orangey/ brown sidewall, might help to date it? this is the exact same crank and rings too
My Stem was the same also and black like the forks, my rims however were silver, and my seat post black with black clamp, this bike has silver with a black clamp. my cassette and rear derailleur were of a lower spec. that looks like lx and the cassette seems to have the red hyperglide c logo thing, mine did not

In relation to my earlier hypothesis, of black being removed to reveal the yellow, I would be more inclined to go with the frame being yellow, with blue decals. The yellow however is the same and what i would describe as yellow with a bluey tinge to it,?
the skewers and set post clamp are exactly the same.
so does anyone know if there was marin produced between 86-90 that was yellow,black forks and stem with blue decals and a top mounted u brake and with forward facing dropouts.

charlieboy

hamster · Jul 2, 2009

I can't add much, except to suggest that you check the rear width. For a bike from 1989 or earlier you would expect 130mm, not 135. Of course a 130 may have been re-spaced but few would be mad enough to narrow it.

My 1990 Palisades has a 26.2 seatpost - and I've had it from new. The ends of the seatstays and chainstays look very similar to my 1990 Palisades, even if the dropout itself is different.

JeRkY · Jul 2, 2009

My experience of marins is much later (94 onwards), but those dropouts dont look right for me. Also on every marin I have owned the dropouts have had "Marin" stamped into it.

Charlieboy28 · Jul 2, 2009

Marin or Not

if it helps i have had the bike for 16 years, and apart from the navy blue overspray the bike was completely original from what i could tell. The frame has not been altered or repaired at anytime
my headset was black not silver like the 86 Marin below,
was there a Marin from around this time that was the negative of the black marin, that is yellow frame with black decals. black headset, seat tube

when you say the width at the rear do you mean the distance between the dropouts?

and is there anyone who has a 86-89 Marin to compare the dropouts too, im still convinced its a Marin, though im biased, WD Pro's Marin does not have Marin on the rear dropouts eithe rand his is from 92, perhaps this is something Marin started to do at a later date??
If not Marin any suggestions of possible makes?
Charlieboy28

hamster · Jul 2, 2009

The 1990 ones certainly don't have Marin engraved on the dropouts. I think it only started around 1993-94 with the cast ones which socketed directly into the end of the stays.

WD Pro · Jul 2, 2009

hamster":qtjluieb said:
I can't add much, except to suggest that you check the rear width. For a bike from 1989 or earlier you would expect 130mm, not 135. Of course a 130 may have been re-spaced but few would be mad enough to narrow it.

My 1990 Palisades has a 26.2 seatpost - and I've had it from new. The ends of the seatstays and chainstays look very similar to my 1990 Palisades, even if the dropout itself is different.

My 1990 BV is spaced at 135 and has these drop outs :

Dad had a 1990 palisades and the frame features / lugs etc were identical to these.

WD

WD Pro · Jul 2, 2009

Maybe its a 1991 Bolinas Ridge - Yellow / black graphics with the same style drop outs as yours ?

Although the above model is a 91 it still had the 1" headtube