Marin Team Ti 1995 commuter

[AtomicAtom]

Marin Team Ti Picked up recently from GoldenEraMtb. I had an early IF I was using as my commuter but it was a touch small for me and a bit to conspicuous for me to want to leave on the streets of NYC. I've always wanted a Ti commuter and this bike could easily be more than that. It came with an original Marin set up, handle bar, stem, seat post, avid-like cantis. It had a nice wheelset with 217 rims that were a bit out of true. I put on my commuter wheelset of Mavic Crosslands. Dropped the old Marzocchi XC 700 air fork for a set of Vicious forks. I know some of you won't like the tall steerer on these but it makes it a bit more comfortable riding on the street. I put an old Ti bar on and an old flight wth Ti rails on to make it a very comfortable ride. Loving it so far.

I have had some crazy thoughts on adding road wheels and using either the Mavic adapters or the Paul BMX brakes with adjustable height pads to make this a converted odd ball bike. I'll update if this ever gets any steam behind it.

Whaddya think?

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

cool, Atom

you should go for the conversion; I'd be very interested in seeing it, and it works well, I'd probably like to try it on my commuter (if I sell the bonty cx).

Only thing I didn't like about this bike, when I had it, was the stem. Still don't; it has a weird feel, finish, and overall look. Though the Titec Ti stem would look nice on this bike.

 

[BG]

from the stem length, steerer rise and seat height, is this Marin a touch too small for you also?

 

[Neil G]

As above....too many spacers

 

[AtomicAtom]

The top tube is about the right length for me, the seat tube seems as good as previos bikes I've owned. The reason I have so much steerer is because I never committed the fork to any specific bike and bother to cut the steerer. I attribute the 90s short head tube for why it may seem small for me. The way it is rides really nice for me. So frame size be damned, if it rides nice why should it matter (besides the self admitted hideous looks) that I have a longer steerer?

 

[Anthony]

It looks like a nice way to get to work.

The size of the steerer doesn't bother me. Would anybody seriously cut down the steerer, thereby making it less useful for other frames and less comfortable on this frame, just because the spacers are inelegant? [I think I might go for silver spacers though!]

My concern is the length of the stem. I think you should avoid wherever possible using stem length as a means of getting a bike to fit. In this case, you have quite a long fork, which may well be longer than the frame was designed for. So you should really be looking at a shortish stem to counter-balance the effect of the fork on the steering/handling liveliness. I would guess that a stem 20-30mm shorter and with a bit of rise would improve the feel of the bike. Certainly worth trying as an experiment anyway.

 

[BG]

I have a long steerer like that on one of my bikes too - so no offense meant. I just thought the whole bike looked a touch too small - given it's combined with a long post and stem.

If you're comfortable with the riding position then that's all that matters. I wish I had a commuter as nice.

Enjoy.