1995 Marin Palisades Trail.

[paulmanta]

Hi, New poster here but I have been reading the forums for a while.

I have an old bike habit, and this weeks find at the scrapyard was a complete but shabby Marin Palisades Trail, I originally thought it was an early bike, maybe a 92 but It was hard to tell because it had been painted and the paint around the bottom frame stamping was so thick it was invisible.

I really like old Marins, they remind me of being young and seeing them in the bike shop for sale but utterly unaffordable to me. It was the same with various BMX's that i now own.

Because I like to be a bit creative i like getting almost scrap bikes and doing a restoration so they look like new again. Then I ride them !

Today i stripped the Marin, and had a good look at the frame number after I had removed the excess paint. Here where it gets a bit odd.

The number is M 65 GAC 140

So its a 95 Muir woods frame ? Yet the Palisades Trail stickers are original (the repaint was done by hand and the stickers were masked off, badly but I firmly believe they are factory). I have read a few times of people finding the frame for their Marin was supposed to be a different bike but id never encountered it myself.

Like an idiot I was so keen to start working on it i forgot to take a pic of it complete but I have tons of pics of sections of it for reference as I was taking it apart.

Original paint was a nice light grey, its got a pair of light grey Kenda tyres on it that look like they may be original (utterly perished and not any good) so if they turn out to be original I'll try to replace.

The rest of the resto will be ebay or wanted ad or seeing if my local bike shop has any old stuff lurking in a box.

I love a good project !

 

[paulmanta]

 

[paulmanta]

Its been through my sand blaster and has no dents or serious rust. that's a nice change from normal.

Many parts are utterly shot though, the crank bearings are barely turning, the gearsets are utterly worn out and i cannot actually seem to remove the rear gearset from the hub, its stuck solid and wont budge.

Currently soaking it in oily stuff to try and coax it off, its getting heated up soon if it doesn't start to comply soon.

I found a paint match in one of the hundreds of little books in the local paint shop, its as near as dammit a Mercedes car colour, the Mercedes has a touch more sparkles in it but when i mix it i can reduce the amount i use so it will flatten it off a bit.

Anyone got any new old stock or low use shiny Shimano STX stuff they want to sell ?

 

[marc two tone]

It a palisades alright. The tyres are not original, wod have been black and (maybe) marin lite tyres.

The order for 95 was...

Team.
Pine.
Eldridge.
Bear Valley.
" " SE
Palisades......numero 6.

##Strip it all down to nowt and start again, bottom bracket will probably be in a state.## im a bit late with that comment!

That champagney silver is quite easy to match. You seem to have done alright though with the merc. Some volvo are a good match too.

Keep us updated!

 

[paulmanta]

Bottom bracket looks like its been in the sea.

Absolutely rusted.

Front wheel is true, rear has a very slight wobble, now I have removed the tyres I can clean them up and a mate is able to true up the rear for me, that's a dark art I've never mastered.

Thanks for the tip about the tyres, I was suspicious they were not OE after doing a bunch of reading about the 95, I'll see what I can find that looks as near as possible but I thought the grey tyres didn't actually look bad.

Do you know what colour the handlebars should be? mine are hand painted black and I haven't stripped them yet. I'm hoping just polished, that's nice and easy rather than having to re anodise them.

 

[marc two tone]

I believe the bars were similar to the canti brakes, sort of a bluey green. Marin like to colour code things.
Some may trun up. Or, almost anything silver would look ok.

 

[paulmanta]

I believe the bars were similar to the canti brakes, sort of a bluey green. Marin like to colour code things.
Some may trun up. Or, almost anything silver would look ok.

Thanks, annoyingly there are bits of the brakes that are anodised blue, so I expect I'll find the same blue under the oil paint that looks like it was applied by toothbrush to the bars.

If so then I will have to get the dip tanks going and start anodising stuff again.

Then that will lead on to electroplating other stuff and then i will have a mint bike but 100s of hours in it again.

 

[Tricky1977]

Tyres were probably Marin lite but try here
https://issuu.com/marinbikes.de/docs/marin_bikes_katalog_1995

 

[paulmanta]

Hi,

Thanks for posting that, that's great. and a real blast back down memory lane.

I'm going to go for a set of grey tyres, only because when i found the bike that's what it had on it and they looked good.

Progress has been slow, I'm waiting until I get a suitable saddle and the stickers, once I have those last two things I will get it painted and back together.

A good friend has trued up the rear wheel for me, its bang on now so I'm really happy with it. Worth doing, its an Araya rim, stainless spokes and Shimano hub.

I'll update with more pics as I get on with it.