Finished! New Boingy! 03 Marin Alpine trail Swamp Thing

[doctorstewie]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

Yep, it changes the amount of travel - 4, 5 or 6 inches, and alters the head tube angle and BB height accordingly. . The QR makes it easy to use and I have never heard of one releasing by accident ( the whole area is really strong and the QR axle is about 9mm in dia ) - And in this day and age, anything like that happening would be notorious by now.

All the fungusy mouldy stuff had been wiped off when I got it and it's looking pretty good - just about to start work on it. Oh after I've ordered some cables...

 

[doctorstewie]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

Right then, I have had a bit more of a poke and gave it a going over with Muc - off and a brush, and found the MBUK review - just a quick phonepic of it:

After the poking about I have discovered the following:
No cracks or dings.
The wheels are fine
It needs some new bolts but that's fine.
The fork needs air. But makes a lovely Marzocchi slosh. I reckon it will get an oil change, but the damping is fine.
The rear shock also needs a little air and may need new oil ( I'll have to look into it ) but the rebound damping dial does make a difference although not particularly heavy so I am thinking new oil or a top up.
The rear mech is...er...fecked.
Fronth Mech is fine.
New shifters will be fitted ( I have a pair here )
Dunno about chainset, I may replace it.
Ditto Cassette.
Will fit flatties, new grips and cables ( already ordered)
Need to investigate brakes, starting by re filling/topping up ( thanks to Osella for the tutorial )
Even the tyres are fine ( I thought they'd be knackered but not so. Even the red strip came up after a clean: I thought they were bleached out by the sun )
BB, headset and wheel bearings all seem ok but will be stripped and rebuilt in any case )


So not bad. Here she is after a cursory clean.

I'm frankly astonished so much of it still works - pleased and delighted and I was hoping for this but still more than a bit surprised I have so little to do.

 

[legrandefromage]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

<looks for 'like' button>

 

[doctorstewie]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

Ta

I was taking the bike apart and it occurred to me, looking at the ( fecked ) rear mech that something else was wrong with it.
It's a rapid rise.
Well at least it would have gone in the bin anyway.

 

[doctorstewie]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

Brakes bled and filled. They're good these new fangled things, aren't they? One of the things that means I do a lot of brake maintenance is that I like a good clean feel at the handle ( fnarrr etc) I love the feel at the lever of these, they are really nice. And I don't have to fart around with cables. Nice.
I also stripped down the headset and it's absolutely fine. I just cleaned it and put it back together. :shock:
It's turning out nice, this.

 

[doctorstewie]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

I've had to order one of those Shock Pump things. I'm starting to feel a bit modern.
Not much to report today, except I was messing about with taking it to bits and found the computer in my Big Box O' Manky Bits From the Marin. Assuming it was knackered I'd just chucked it in there, but being in an enquiring frame of mind ( and not being bothered to do any real work ) I bunged a new battery it the head and sender. It works. :shock: :shock: Well played, Cateye.

Oh and there are more dead spiders. An arachnophiliac necrophiliac could have a field day.
I can only assume that the inside of a Shimano cassette looks like a Frank Lloyd-Wright house to something an inch long with a hundred eyes.
Gits.

 

[doctorstewie]

Re: I gotta new boingy thing...

Getting there: it's coming up nice. I need to polish the fork crown, give it a new qr on the post and either replace the front mech or scrub the rust off. Also I'll be taking the travel adjust qr off and stripping off the surface rust with my trusty dremelalike. ( it's not an easy part to find and it just needs a bit of tlc. )
The spiders all appear to have left for better places now.

I have some new parts and some older ones knocking about that will make the whole thing work and look a lot better:
Being replaced are:

Cables ( Obv)
Shifters ( Shimano..er... well they are old but clean and they work )
Chainset (A low end but nice looking modern Shimano )
Rear Mech ( Deore )
Stem (Planet x 50mm )
Grips ( Ritchey )
Tubes ( anything that doesn't have it's own Gravity Well )

Then I'll be stripping the fork and servicing it / replacing the oil ( which is very low ) and doing the same to the Shock.



Now I'm going to strip, service and clean the wheels. I washed the tyres in the washing machine. Not doing that again. :facepalm:
Tubes are Slime Tubes. Ye gods they are heavy

After that I'll go for a ride and see how it compares with the Rifty.

 

[doctorstewie]

It's done!
After scraping off a lot of muck - ( a lot more of which had already been removed for me by the splendid Longbeech of this parish who picked the bike up for me ) and after fiddling about with stuff like oil levels and hydraulic disk brakes, and adding a few new bits I have my most modern ride yet:
Swampy, the Marin. I will be test riding over the weekend - I am off to the Retrobike Peaks ride tomorrow but in the interests of predictability I shall be taking the Rift Zone instead. So, Sunday will bring a short test ride just in case something hydraulic explodes.

All looks good though.

The only thing I am a bit unsure of is the damping level on the rear shock: It's on full but I can't tell whether it's enough, and I can't find a manual for it on t' net so I may end up either taking it to bits and exploring or taking it for a service.

I learned a lot on this build: principally about Disk Brakes, so thanks to everyone who gave me advice on those especially.

Here he is:

As you can see, I fitted a new Shimano chainset ( not keen on Truvativ and it was rusty as all hell ) new cable inners and outers, new rear mech ( to replace the hilarious backwards thing that was fitted) New grips ( I love the Ritchey ones ) there are new bearings in the rear wheel, and a new stem ( the factory fitted one was too long) and I gave it new cheap flatties, to see how I get on with them, and fitted some more modern shifters to replace the ones on the bike which were jnackered.

Surprisingly, considering the state of it when I acquired it there wasn't much that needed doing. The Tyres are fine although a bit sunbleached there are no cracks or anything.

I am delighted with it.

 

[shinobi]

Re:

Thats looking ace Its amazing what these things survive and how well thats cleaned up , Never ridden a full suss Marin , how is it on the climbs and fire roads etc ?

Paul

 

[doctorstewie]

Thanks I haven't ridden this one yet, but as far as the Rift Zone goes ( My other Marin Full Susser ) it climbs like a goat on speed. Great on fire roads and trail centres and everything in between. I imagine this will be even better - adjustable rear travel from 4, 5 or 6 inches and a full 4 inches of travel on the fork. Should be stiffer and the shock and fork should perform better. I am already a fan of Disks and I've only messed aboout with them so far It has a more upright riding position too which will be ideal for the trail centre type riding it's been bought for More info as and when I have it