Franken-Marin...finished

[Tootyred]

"I reeeeeally neeeeeed a new daaaaaaily driiiiiiver".... if those words came out of my mouth one more time, whilst having my teeth rattled out of my head on the hardpacked trails of my home environs.....i was going to scream.

Dont get me wrong, my old easton tubed maxlight with its exotic forks has dome me proud, for very little cash, over the last 4 years, but its not a exactly restful ride.

I know the debate will rage over the merits of aluminium vs steel; and im certainly not complaining about durability ( taken all i can chuck at it) or weight (9.4 kg all in), but its not a " gentlemans steed" by any measure.....more a "cheap floosie".

So what an i swapping to for? Well, I've been on the search here and other places for a BIG (22" ish) tange prestige or 853 frame for about 2 years, but with no luck.

Then i saw nic was selling his everso slightly strange marin frame. Why strange? Well, it had some rather ironious decals and had done the rounds a bit... Its also possibly a bit confused....is it a team marin? Is it a Pine mountain? Is it actually prestige or is it just a decal? What's going on with the cable stops and the mounts and the colour..?..! You get the picture.

Finally, its too small for me......at 19" c to c

So, what did i do....i bought it. Why not?

This what turned up.

 

[Tootyred]

First off, i want to apologise to anybody of a sensitive nature or anybody with a compulsive syndrome that leads them to do catalogue builds.......in fact if thats you, step away now.

So, after some head scratching and elbow grease all became much clearer......physically and metaphysically.

Physically, the application of t-cut paint restorer and a few coats of wax polish did wonders. The powder coat is so good i thought it was wet painted to start with!

Metaphysically, after talking to a few mates and looking few a few notes all became clear. The frame number makes it a 92 team marin, but marin is frankly tricky due to their rather weird decisions over number practices ( there's another whole thread just there).

However, its got no mounts, like team issue, BUT, down tube stops like a pine mountain.

The colour kinda gave the game away to a degree; somebodys painted 92 team to look like a first edition 91 monostay team issue.

That also explains the missing mounts......ground off.

But those down tube stops and where's the rifled tube? Simple, its not a European territory bike, for some reason other regions got down tube not head tube stops on their teams and it seems were almost a year behind on tubeset changes!

Finally, just as a double check, I weighed it.....its exactly 48 g lighter than my other team marin, which makes sense as its a size down, plus it has the tell tale bulge butted tubes.

What does all this show.....well its very easy to get confused and be careful when buying! Its not aways that simple and with the prices as they are....i would hate to see somebody buy a team only to find its actually a rebadged Eldridge!

So here it is after a bit of elbow grease.

 

[nporternz]

Going to look good. Finally glad it gets built!

 

[Peachy!]

What’s next then?

 

[pw_pw_la]

Count me in for this!

Also, I'm glad to discover the bulge is not a defect but part of the design.

I had been wondering with regards to my Team Issue!

Can't wait to see what direction you'll take... especially because it won't be catalog, or even close to!

 

[fearfactoryüberalles]

Looks like I've succesfully unleashed some terrible confusion on the retrobiker society, I'm afraid. Let me set the record straight: so the frame was mine, I've bought it as a bare 1992 Pine Mountain frame - with shabby OEM orange/black paint. I got it powdercoated this lovely cherry red and had the eyelets removed professionally - to make it look a bit fancier. Although it's quite light, I've put the Prestige decal on it only due to the bulged seattube-as they're always present on other Prestige frames.

Funny, because the OEM sticker was a common blue on black Tange double butted lettered one - a factory tubeset (leftover) special, maybe? Anyway, don't bother, it's a rather nice example, as you stated the powdercoat is second to none, so just enjoy it and happy biking to you!
Cheers,
Endre

 

[Tootyred]

Thanks Endre, yes, i was aware it was yours i had sight of your posts on it some years ago. Looks like you did a nice build on it. Nic also told me it came from your direction.

But, i don't see why this should be confusing. The frames just not standard anymore and the past confusion over it kinda highlights the problems.

The frame number is M22JA... under that lovely powder, which makes it a 92 team marin frame. What exactly marin decided to do with it....ie badge it up as a pine mountain as you suggest, is somewhat irrelevant now due to the changes its gone through!

Also the weight and the tubing shows it undoublably a prestige frame.....which was used on the team marin and the team issue.....ive never seen any real evidence of a " intentional" prestige pine mountain, but im happy to be proved wrong! None of the catalogues show one in the specs. But, there is evidence of several specials based around pine mountains with fork changes etc. My personal theory.....and it is just that...a theory....is that the more solid cro-mo frame made a better, stronger test bed for such things as thier browning suspension forks etc.

As for the cable stop issue......theres lots of examples of other territories bikes with this arrangement on teams. See below as just one.

I quite agree with you that these things can get very confusing for people, and as i said marin realy were not helping the issues at the time, with alternating specs and seemingly swapping out frames......rolling out tube sets at different times etc......its why i highlight these things as i dont want people to be disappointed.....it dont always run in your favour and its not like people are asking pennies for them any more!

Anyway, i new this would stir the pot.......but as i said there's a whole other thread just there!

The upshot is, its a really nice frame, with some really great powder and im excited to see where it goes.

 

[nporternz]

the 1991/2 pine mountain with the browning fork was also a prestige tubeset......

 

[marc two tone]

Marin, it seems nowadays, didn't make it easy, if this bike had a shabby orange/black colour, then it's been put out as a pine mountain but basically produced intended for team, initially.
For reasons that may not ever be known..."just spray it black trev, we need to get out shift quota complete" c.1991/2.

Some artistic license I suppose. With the super light tange tubing it's a 'team mountain'.

 

[Tootyred]

What’s next then?

Quite.

Well, the only reason ive put it on here is due to a massive change of heart. My original intention was to take the kit off the maxlight (9x1 raceface prodigy, XT m772 ish kit, m737 hubs on mavic 222 rims, easton bars, xt 780 v brakes etc etc) and do a straight transplant.

My plan to " get away with" the small 19" c to c frame was to put a pair of (425mm a to c) salsa cromoto in it to make up the missing 30mm on the headtube. The 465mm exotics on the maxlight may have been overkill even here.

In fact i actually got the forks, chainset, rear mech and rohloff chain device on, with the wheels in, before i started to sleep bad at nights!

A week passed of me walking into the workshop going " hummmph", turning the light out and walking away. Not a good sign.

So i changed my mind. So whilst its not going to be exactly correct, its more correct! But hey, nothing about this bike seems correct.....hence the theme!

Here's a picture of some wrongness. Even the rims are the wrong colour! Just wrong.