Hi all,
Last month I took the plunge and spent a whole load of money on a new carbon frame Cube Reaction GTC Race in a bid to rejuvinate my cycling and get me back out on the trails, which I had forsaken quite some time ago.
While I was waiting for the new bike to arrive I dusted down my old 1990 Marin Pine Mountain and rediscovered what a great bike it was and still is. Over the last 22 years, it has carried me coast to coast across Scotland, throughout the West Highlands, through parts of Snowdonia, The Brecons and The Black Mountains, along stretches of the Southwest Coast Path, The Ridgeway and parts of the South Downs Way, along with countless Sundays in the North Downs around Leith/Holmbury/Pitch Hills.
But that was years ago, and for too long the bike has been sitting at the back of the garage going rusty and being generally neglected, whilst I piled on the pounds.
In many ways thanks to Sherlylock's Pine Mountain Rescue thread, here on RetroBike, I am now inspired to commence my own restoration and attempt to return my Pine Mountain to its original beauty. And this weekend I got down to it.
First step, take some pictures of how she looked before the work commenced:
In the space of around 45mins, I reduced her to this:
A good friend, who is a professional paint sprayer and competative road cyclist wil be handling the respray and is tasked with the dubious job of trying to recreate the light grey Zolatone 2000 finish and the fluorescant orange for the forks. He called me this morning to say he's making progress.
This weekend I set to cleaning up some of the old components, with a lot of MucOff degreaser, and increasingly fine grades of wet-n-dry (600 - 2500)
The rear cassette was first on my list, and generous use of the wire brush made a huge difference. I may still keep working on this, but I'm on the lookout for a NOS replacement if one comes up anywhere.
The chainrings were a bigger challenge, as they break down into 30 separate individual components, and when I missed five slender washers glued to one of the rings, only to hear one go flying when I started wirebrushing, there was 10 mins of dread, as I scoured the floor of my shed to find it!!!
Quick release skewers are pretty easy to get on eBay, and I will be watching for good condition ones to come up, but I thought it would be interesting to see what I could do with my old rusty ones with a needle file and some wet-n-dry...
That's as far I got this weekend, although I also did a bit of shopping on eBay, too. So apologies to anyone who I may have outbid, but these new parts are now on their way to me...
Original Marin saddle circa 1990 from an Eldridge Grade.
NOS 1 1/8" Deore DX oversize headset. Expensive outlay, especially as my original headset is still in fine working order, but I figured this would be a nice touch.
Replacement front mech, as somewhere in the last 22 years, I replaced the original with an Exage 400!
Also picked up a new pair of handlebar grips a couple of weeks ago to match the originals and also a pair of Deore XT brakes/shifters from Cooie here on RetroBike. Plus I have a set of decals on their way from gil_m.
Next update should be by the weekend.
Cheers!
Lee.
Last month I took the plunge and spent a whole load of money on a new carbon frame Cube Reaction GTC Race in a bid to rejuvinate my cycling and get me back out on the trails, which I had forsaken quite some time ago.
While I was waiting for the new bike to arrive I dusted down my old 1990 Marin Pine Mountain and rediscovered what a great bike it was and still is. Over the last 22 years, it has carried me coast to coast across Scotland, throughout the West Highlands, through parts of Snowdonia, The Brecons and The Black Mountains, along stretches of the Southwest Coast Path, The Ridgeway and parts of the South Downs Way, along with countless Sundays in the North Downs around Leith/Holmbury/Pitch Hills.
But that was years ago, and for too long the bike has been sitting at the back of the garage going rusty and being generally neglected, whilst I piled on the pounds.
In many ways thanks to Sherlylock's Pine Mountain Rescue thread, here on RetroBike, I am now inspired to commence my own restoration and attempt to return my Pine Mountain to its original beauty. And this weekend I got down to it.
First step, take some pictures of how she looked before the work commenced:
In the space of around 45mins, I reduced her to this:
A good friend, who is a professional paint sprayer and competative road cyclist wil be handling the respray and is tasked with the dubious job of trying to recreate the light grey Zolatone 2000 finish and the fluorescant orange for the forks. He called me this morning to say he's making progress.
This weekend I set to cleaning up some of the old components, with a lot of MucOff degreaser, and increasingly fine grades of wet-n-dry (600 - 2500)
The rear cassette was first on my list, and generous use of the wire brush made a huge difference. I may still keep working on this, but I'm on the lookout for a NOS replacement if one comes up anywhere.
The chainrings were a bigger challenge, as they break down into 30 separate individual components, and when I missed five slender washers glued to one of the rings, only to hear one go flying when I started wirebrushing, there was 10 mins of dread, as I scoured the floor of my shed to find it!!!
Quick release skewers are pretty easy to get on eBay, and I will be watching for good condition ones to come up, but I thought it would be interesting to see what I could do with my old rusty ones with a needle file and some wet-n-dry...
That's as far I got this weekend, although I also did a bit of shopping on eBay, too. So apologies to anyone who I may have outbid, but these new parts are now on their way to me...
Original Marin saddle circa 1990 from an Eldridge Grade.
NOS 1 1/8" Deore DX oversize headset. Expensive outlay, especially as my original headset is still in fine working order, but I figured this would be a nice touch.
Replacement front mech, as somewhere in the last 22 years, I replaced the original with an Exage 400!
Also picked up a new pair of handlebar grips a couple of weeks ago to match the originals and also a pair of Deore XT brakes/shifters from Cooie here on RetroBike. Plus I have a set of decals on their way from gil_m.
Next update should be by the weekend.
Cheers!
Lee.
