1999 Marin Bear Valley refurb

Just picked this up via an ad on Gumtree:

It’s not all that special I know, but it hit all the points on my project requirements list: Cheap, Local & Correct size(!)
Plans are to go through it front to back and get it rideable once more, should make a nice steel hardtail for the trails once it’s done.

Sometimes it doesn’t have to be special but serve to a pourpose. Clean, oil, some new cables grips a saddle and perhaps chain and casette and that is all to have fun. The fork if you have one could be other point to improve but I would go cheap.
I have done a cheap project with a Massi Toro and it is not pretty, and doesn’t have to be pretty as it is a mud bike and I love it Mud is very fun if you have the right bike.

That front tubes … unecesary shape that no many likes. And they continue with the aluminium ones and that hydroformed tubes. And the sales dropped

I don’t know any thing about Marin today, but many brands has desapeared like Orange and in USA Kona, and GT. Even Rocky Mountain (and this is very bad news … very bad ) has problems and is trying to recover … at least they didn’t disappear but that is a significan company today and has lot of cool stuff. Marin? I don’t know

I agree with what you say, they don’t all have to be super flash/collectable bikes. Sometimes the cheap/functional bikes surprise you and you grow to love them.
I jumped right in with this one and other than a slightly stubborn seatpost it came apart fine. It was then a deep clean and reassemble as parts were cleaned and serviced. I fitted a replacement Ritchey Logic headset which I had as the original was a bit notchy. The wheel hubs were serviced and the cranks stripped and cleaned, cassette cleaned up too.

I then tried a different stem and these Ritchey Kyote bars which I bought for something else but didn’t end up using. I think they suit the bike and have changed the direction of the build from a straight refurb to a more gravel bike type of build. The Conti tyres suit the new direction perfectly and the rest of the parts will be a similar theme.
Funny how these things take shape, I’m looking forward to finishing this one over Easter and trying it out.

Great clean up! I had a 1999 Muirwoods for a few years. Perfectly capable XC trail bike and I had lots of great rides on it….

Nice one, the fork match the frame and that group set despite is not pretty, works quite fine (I had it many years ago and was amazing durable) and you got the nice brakes, not the ones that match group set that was a bit ... oversized and ugly compared with the previous one more stylised.

That was the type of bicycle that we ride in the 00s and today works fine for routes.

I had a couple more hours to spare and so I cracked on with this build. The chain was a proper HG one and after a soak in wd40 it cleaned up well (like everything else really) there is very little wear on it so it went back on. I found some suitable derailleurs in my spares which are similarly basic but functional - the theme for this build I suppose!
The vee brakes were copies of M600 and unfortunately one had a pin missing so it wouldn’t locate in the hole of the brake post. Again, I had a set of M600 in my spares and they went on - just waiting for new pads.
I managed to reuse most cable inners and outers just replaced a couple which were not perfect - needed a new rear mech cable as not long enough due to the bars are wider.
I had the grips, saddle and pedals in my spares.


I managed a quick test ride (carefully without brakes) to set the saddle height and test the gears. It seems a nice riding position and the finished bike is fairly light considering the pretty basic spec. The forks were cleaned up and the paint touched up - they seem to work fine too. Once the brake pads arrive I’ll get out for a longer test and report back, I think for the money and effort this will be a decent steel hardtail and I do like the look of it how it’s turned out.

Nice. How do you find the Continental Tyres ?

widowmaker said:

Nice. How do you find the Continental Tyres ?

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I’ll keep you posted, I sorted some brake pads this afternoon so I’m going for a proper ride tomorrow morning all being well.

Nice save What handlebars are you using?

Guinessisgoodforyou said:

Nice save What handlebars are you using?

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Thanks, the bars are Ritchey Kyote bars, I bought them for my wife’s Fire Mountain thinking they’d be more up+back swept. They suit this bike to a tee though.

I did a 15 mile loop, one of my regular rides which is a 50/50 mix of road/lanes and a bit of single track.
The bike is responsive and pretty quick too, I have the tyres set to 50 psi and the forks wound up as hard as they will go.
The tyres I would say are excellent on road and packed/damp soil but some of the byways round here are graded with fine stone chippings and over the loose stuff they are a bit skittish. Not that you’d expect grip on that stuff with anything short of a proper knobbly tyre with perhaps less pressure in them.
Overall you can’t fault them really and I’ll take the benefits on the fast rolling parts over the slightly loose feel on gravel.
It’s a nice bike overall and does fill a gap in my ‘fleet’, I will definitely use it more over the summer for faster rides on those days where a quick burn up after work is needed. I’m also looking forward to trying some knobbly tyres on it when the weather does turn and seeing how it goes in the mud.
Good little project this one, inexpensive but dependable and fun without worrying about the scuffs and scars it’ll pick up (it already has a few from its first lease of life).