1995 Team Titanium

[Mikb23]

I have a dilemma and I'm hoping for a little advice. I have just acquired a 1995 Marin Team Titanium which has been a bucket list bike for as long as I can remember. It's certainly been used in its life and is no show bike so here is my quandary.

It doesn't have all it's original kit. Most of it is there but things have been replaced over the years and the original kit is working but shabby. I have 3 options (well 2 really due to budget constraints).

Firstly I can strip/service/replace/rebuild to give myself a survivor condition Team titanium that, to be honest, would probably sit in the shed and collect dust.

Secondly I can treat as a nice titanium frame and put a modern build on it. It would then likely become a regular *almost daily* rider and my primary 26'er.

Thirdly, and most unrealistically, a full restore.

I am aware that it's it not the most rare of the Team Titanium family so I'm not sure if it's worth the full resto treatment. I'm erring towards putting modern kit on it and riding it for what it is - a nice titanium bike.

What do you think?

 

[VTFoco2001]

Re:

This fantastic frame deserves the best retro rebuild as possible!
But as indicated it will be a hard job to find all the parts (especially the brakes...).

 

[Mikb23]

Re:

It's got the original XT brakes on there I think?

 

[Mikb23]

Re:

Maybe not actually. Would they have been centre pulls in 95?

 

[VTFoco2001]

Re:

Originally it should have been fitted with the original Marin brakes. You can check the '95 catalogue on this website. But a nice set of XT or XTR would not be a shame

 

[Mikb23]

Re:

It's got XT BR-M739's in there at the mo - the parallel push ones.

 

[VTFoco2001]

This will help: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/12577-2/1995.pdf

 

[Mikb23]

Re:

No way I could ever get it back to that sort of spec. Think I will build it up with some 90's kit and just ride it. Will probably put some later forks and tyres on though if it's going to be in regular use!

 

[Minifreak]

One pair of those Marin canti's on eBay right now. It's not hard to build a catalogue or close spec bike, just takes a bit of time searching and putting out wanted ads. Check here, eBay and all the retro facebook pages.

 

[Mikb23]

Re:

It's a cost thing for me unfortunately. Sadly I don't have bottomless pockets and I could never do the bike justice. Hence I will probably just treat it as a nice frame and build it into some form of daily rider. Either that or sell it to someone who can do it justice as is too frequently the case.