Early 90's Marin for road duties - weight question

[widowmaker]

Hi,

Am looking to use a mid 90's Palisades for some road duties while my main road bike is having some work done.

I know there have been threads about MTB's on slicks but I looking for anyone who has built a Marin on slicks and converted it to be fast on the road and what sort of weight are their builds (and pics would be awesome) ??

I have a 95 Palisades Frame and Forks, 26" LX/Mavic 8 speed wheels, a set of un-used Schwalbe Citi-jet tyres, avid v brakes, LX shifters. I do have some spare drops but prefer flat bars.

Just wanted to build something comparable to Hybrid bikes like the Sirrus/Giant Escape/FX 2 at a fraction of the cost.

 

[brocklanders023]

Bloody hell mate, forgot all about the Palisades! Tbh you are probably better off with a later frame as my 90 is a bit of a lump. From memory by the mid 90’s even the lower models in the Marin range were pretty light so should be a good base. My Clockwork on slicks wasn’t a million miles away from my gravel bike so you should be able to build something decent and around mid 20lbs easy enough.

If you still need a rear rack you can have one of mine for postage.

 

[widowmaker]

I had also forgotten

In a moment of weakness I looked at entry/mid range Hybrids but at around £6/£700 and around 10.5/11kgs just cant bring myself to buy one especially when a retro mtb can be built easily.

And there's something nice about sticking 2 fingers up to new bikes !

 

[Tsundere]

I had also forgotten

In a moment of weakness I looked at entry/mid range Hybrids but at around £6/£700 and around 10.5/11kgs just cant bring myself to buy one especially when a retro mtb can be build easily.

And there's something nice about sticking 2 fingers up to new bikes !

Most new entry level hybrids are aluminium, which is not a bad material for a bike, but steel as they say is real and you won't get better bang for your buck than finding a nice rigid steel 90's mtb. I have been commuting on a variety of steel beasts and each one has been more enjoyable, comfortable and reliable than the two hybrids I foolishly owned, also the components, assuming you get a mid-top tier group set in good condition, are far more robust and durable than their modern counterparts.

Marins are great in the role of commuter bike, as Brocklander says the higher up the tree you can go the better, there are some great Marins on ebay right now for reasonable money, the trick is finding the right one for you at the right price. Good luck

 

[brocklanders023]

For defo and it’ll certainly be lighter. My old Marin Four Corners was going on for 30lbs and that was originally £2000 so the modern stuff, especially sub £1000 won’t be anything special compared to a well spec‘d retro. Be interested to see what you come up with.

 

[widowmaker]

Luckily I already have a 94/95 Palisades Frame and Forks that I was going to build into a tourer I will be using.

Will be using V brakes, they are simple - like me.

I was thinking of using mostly LX spec or similar, just unsure if I should go 2x8 or 3x8

 

[Fourbikes]

I did exactly what you're thinking about doing with a 95 Pine Mountain and it weighs around 9.7 kg. I took off the granny ring and run it as a 2x8. The gearing of course will depend on you and the terrain you will be riding in. I live in a flat area and use only the large ring (42) and the smaller cogs on the rear. It's certainly fast, only a minute or so slower over 20 miles than my steel road bikes of similar age.

 

[widowmaker]

Thanks Fourbikes that pretty much what I was looking to build, I may be picking your brain in the coming weeks

One question what tyres are you using ?

9.7 kgs is much lighter than the hybrids I was looking at too!

 

[Fourbikes]

Thanks Fourbikes that pretty much what I was looking to build, I may be picking your brain in the coming weeks

One question what tyres are you using ?

They're Vredstein Slicks 1.3. I don't know whether you can still get them but you can get something similar. They weigh about 400 grams each and you can pump them up to 90 psi.

I've also got an Orange in similar guise using the City Jet tyres which weighs around 10.5 kg. It's almost as fast I'd say and more comfortable on the fatter tyres.

 

[widowmaker]

Thanks