'91 Team Marin restoration (slow)

JoniMarin

Marin Fan
The early 90s Team Marin (and also Pine Mountain, to be fair) were always a dream of mine - I loved the colours, the clean lines & overall design. Back in those days Marins were not a common sight in Sherwood forest in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire where I grew up - it was more Apollos and Carreras from the local Halfords 😱. I did work experience in a local bike shop who mostly sold GTs and then saved up, eventually getting a GT Panthera AL. But I dreamed of Marins.

When I found a '91 Team Marin for sale for £75 a few months back, I couldn't say no - especially as it was in my size. It's in a pretty poor state and had been subjected to some criminal alterations over the years (!) - so I just had to rescue it. There are a lot of original parts missing and a stuck seatpost & stem 😩 - but the Zolatone seems surprisingly well preserved. I'm hoping it will be just about the right level of project for me to take on as this will be pretty much my first re-build project. I'm thinking to go for a restoration but not fully period-correct, to make it a little more contemporary (eg short stem & a few other tweaks) - taking inspiration from this lovely build by @Bearvalley90...

This build will be very slow as I'm in east London and the Marin is in my family's shed in north Devon (close to where it was found) but now I've shared this I feel like I will have even more incentive to head to Devon and work on it :) Here's the bike as I found it:

IMG_0419.webp
 
Last edited:
Flying visit to see my family - only had about 1hr spare (and no tools) but just about managed a bit of a teardown...

The criminally out of place adjustable stem I found on the Marin is 1-inch with a shim that I couldn't manage to get out. May have to try hitting it from below... any ideas?

Team Marin - headset.webp
 
Zolatone is not too bad considering the condition of the rest of the bike. The forks and handlebars are super scratched and faded. I plan to gently restore the Zolatone but I'm considering new paint elsewhere - I can then get the spare Marin roller stem I have sprayed at the same time (bike did not come with original stem). I'm still looking for a short Marin roller stem to suit this build (90 - 110mm) if anyone has one?

Team Marin - handlbars.webp
Team Marin - forks 2.webp
 
Does anyone have experience of using Spray.bike rattle cans? It would be a much cheaper option if I can get the finish right. Never tried before so quite hesitant (plus I also get very little time to work on this bike as it's far from where I live - so maybe getting a pro job is the better option!) @Bearvalley90 did you consider spraying yourself? I love the finish on yours so I'm tempted to copy you and go to Argos...

Team Marin - forks.webp
 
Also, seat post is well and truly stuck. I managed to rotate the (saddle) clamp when trying to turn it. Had to abandon it for another attempt next time I'm in Devon. And next time I'll try and bring some proper tools and get heavy on it...

Team Marin - Seatpost.webp
 
Flying visit to see my family - only had about 1hr spare (and no tools) but just about managed a bit of a teardown...

The criminally out of place adjustable stem I found on the Marin is 1-inch with a shim that I couldn't manage to get out. May have to try hitting it from below... any ideas?

View attachment 943311
Spray plenty of WD40/GT85 into the steerer and let it soak for a bit. Then tighten the bolt until you can see it coming through the bottom of the shim, then put a bit of wood over the bolt head and give it a few whacks with a hammer, it should break it lose. Then flip the bike over and use a long screwdriver or a small diameter bar and reverse the process and knock it back up the steerer tube and out the top.
 
So are you saying the post rotates but won’t come up?
Only the clamp at the top / for the saddle rotates - the post will not budge.
I was thinking i might need to drill a hole through it just below the saddle clamp so I can get a long bolt or something through it and try and rotate it like that? For now I have sprayed the hell out of it with Plusgas and left it...
 
Back
Top