2000 Marin Mount Vision Build

[hawkhill97]

The trusty Mount Vision was treated to a couple of upgrades over the winter - a more modern fork and shock and a nicer wheel set.

Managed to get out for a couple of short rides this week and very pleased with it so far. Fork is better damped and feels more supportive (no top out clang either, which is a welcome change), and the shock is noticably less wallowy too.

I was worried the somewhat longer fork would upset the geometry, but this seems to be unfounded. I did have to move the saddle forward on the rails a bit to keep a good weight balance on steep climbs, but if anything this has made it more comfortable the rest of the time too.

On natural cross country terrain, this bike absolutely rips!

 

[Petesteady]

Hi that's a gorgeous bike!
I've just got a 2000 rift zone frame, I dribbled over them when I was a nipper, now I have one wooooooooo.

I was wondering if you could please help? I have the disc swing arm with the same bracket as you have in a earlier post. I was wondering how you managed to get the rear caliper to line up? I'm so confused by it.

Kind regards, Pete

 

[hawkhill97]

Hi @Petesteady - cheers!

I'm afraid it took me a very long time to get the rear caliper position just right.

I used a flat file to take some of the width off of the IS to post mount adapter (not the one you have pictured, which you don't want to mess with as it's trickier to replace, but the one that would bolt onto that and then attach directly to the brake caliper).

I used a pencil to mark which areas needed recessing, filed a mm or so off these bits to bring the caliper in, fitted it all together and noted how much more the caliper needed to move to align nicely with the rear rotor.

This took several iterations, and needed quite a bit of care to keep the filed surfaces dead flat and parallel.

I was a bit mystified by this, as others on here seem to have been able to get it to work without doing this! Presumably the adapters changed slightly from year to year.

Good luck getting it sorted - I promise it's worth it, they are lovely bikes

 

[Petesteady]

Thank you for your reply and help. Good shout on not altering the marin bracket. Looks like it's going to be a weekend job rather than an evening after work.

Can't wait to get it down some trails.

Been looking at some off centre bearings for the shock, to relax it's geometry a bit. They are only £25, so if it turns out naff I'll chuck the originals back in.
Have you ever used them before?
Thanks again

 

[shedobits]

Fitted some offset bearings on an Orange Sub3 and found them to be a small improvement, they also lowered the BB height but not notisably so.
It's on the To Do list for my Rift Zone so I would be interested in how it works out for you.

 

[Petesteady]

I'll keep you posted, was also going to use a headset angle ajuster like the Cane Creek Angleset ZS44. But they are so expensive. Maybe I could find a used one somewhere. Its minimal again, but could help slack it off a bit.

What's the sub3 like to ride? There a sexy bit of kit

 

[shedobits]

The Sub 3 is a great ride, very light and easy to throw around. I was so pleased with it that I bought a Five on here for bigger days out. TBH I couldn't pick a favourite from the two.

 

[hawkhill97]

I considered offset bushings, but didn't go for them, mainly as I didn't want to slacken the seat tube angle, and I was already pretty happy with the way the bike handled.

I wouldn't mind a slacker head angle at all, but I do find on very steep climbs I need the saddle fairly well forward on the rails or the front end isn't sufficiently weighted and the handling suffers. This is especially true now I'm using the longer fork. So a slacker seat tube wouldn't be ideal.

It's a fairly cheap thing to try though, and messing around with bikes is fun, so I say give it a go and see what you think!

 

[Petesteady]

Good point, I never considered the seat tube angle. Was planning on running some more modern forks too that would be longer than the original. What a noodle scratcher. What width bars are you running? Have a great day

 

[hawkhill97]

I reckon it'd probably work out fine if you used an inline seat post to shift the saddle forward to compensate for the slacker seat tube.

I'm running a nice old school 100mm stem & 580mm bars on my mount vision (it is a retrobike after all), and it feels spot on for arse up head down full beans cross country riding. I find it's less good on trail centre type terrain (ie lots of berms and rollers) though. FWIW that's on a large frame, and I'm 5'9".

Years ago I had a similar frame (shoreline trail) that I had set up with a 70mm stem & 720mm bars - that also handled really well, and definitely made it feel a lot more modern. The more upright position somehow didn't encourage quite the same level of effort on climbs and pedally bits of trail though.

They seem quite versatile bikes, I don't reckon you can go too far wrong with any sensible cockpit choice.

Let's see a pic of yours!