Marin 1990 Bear Valley Rebuild - FINISHED !!! PAGE 38 !!!

[Neil G]

Not the blingiest bike on RB

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Bling reminds me of sovereign rings, love n' hate tattoos, Burberry clothing, chavved Citreon Saxos...

Quality and engineering when it comes to bikes. It's the Sheldon way.

I think you misunderstood me

What I mean is that it's not a rare or expensive bike in the way as say some Kleins, Merlins Fat Chances etc are. This isn't a bad thing, the attention to detail here is second to none

TBH I'm not a fan of wild colour schemes, anodized parts and some rare bikes as quite a lot are TBH quite overrated and look pretty ugly.

 

[Neil]

Not the blingiest bike on RB

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Bling reminds me of sovereign rings, love n' hate tattoos, Burberry clothing, chavved Citreon Saxos...

Quality and engineering when it comes to bikes. It's the Sheldon way.

I think you misunderstood me

What I mean is that it's not a rare or expensive bike in the way as say some Kleins, Merlins Fat Chances etc are.

Perhaps not rare or expensive BITD, I'll grant you.

But it's quite a rare thing, now, and the attention to detail and quality of both the preparation and the parts, I'd argue makes it quite an expensive and rare bike today

Anyone with sufficient funds, can find an expensive bike - and in many cases, not do much with it. Most MTB'ers, IME, ride middle of the road bikes.

It's got a solid, reasonable spec frame, exquisitely and personally prepared, and a build that is truly awesome. I'd much rather read and admire examples like this, than high-end exotica that most MTB-ers can't relate to.

 

[sinnett177]

I'd much rather read and admire examples like this, than high-end exotica that most MTB-ers can't relate to.

Well said. There are many great bikes, articles and projects on retrobike but this is my favourite thread on the entire site. I like to think my builds are interesting and have good levels of attention to detail, but this build is on another level to anything i've seen on here previously. WD Pro has the patience of a saint and the skills to boot.

 

[mynchiboy]

Just had another look at the thread..again, still totally awesome

What cassette is that btw? looks like small gears, should go like a rocket on the road with those slicks. And some blackwall z-max or similar if you want to venture off road would look rather nice I reckon..

Top work - gerrit into BOTM when you have the opportunity

 

[Neil G]

Not the blingiest bike on RB

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Bling reminds me of sovereign rings, love n' hate tattoos, Burberry clothing, chavved Citreon Saxos...

Quality and engineering when it comes to bikes. It's the Sheldon way.

I think you misunderstood me

What I mean is that it's not a rare or expensive bike in the way as say some Kleins, Merlins Fat Chances etc are.

Perhaps not rare or expensive BITD, I'll grant you.

But it's quite a rare thing, now, and the attention to detail and quality of both the preparation and the parts, I'd argue makes it quite an expensive and rare bike today

Anyone with sufficient funds, can find an expensive bike - and in many cases, not do much with it. Most MTB'ers, IME, ride middle of the road bikes.

It's got a solid, reasonable spec frame, exquisitely and personally prepared, and a build that is truly awesome. I'd much rather read and admire examples like this, than high-end exotica that most MTB-ers can't relate to.

I still think your missing the point, I'm not knocking it.

A friend of mine had the same Bear Valley BITD and it was a nice bike then....still is now and I can see how people can relate to it.

 

[legrandefromage]

for once its 'high end' treatment for a bike that we all had access to at some point. Instead of some VRC exotica that only 3 people could afford then and 2 can afford now.

 

[WD Pro]

Some interesting comments and varied opinions which in my book is good – we would all be building the same otherwise

I always knew the build (and color scheme) wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea and said from the start that its colors would be quite dull / morbid / stealthy in comparison to most retro builds

Other than the change of bars and post (they were black) its color scheme has been the same from when I rode it BITD and very similar to when Marin turned them out. It did come with amber wall tires but I never liked them on the bike and they soon looked dirty / stained from the graphite colored gunk that comes off the brake blocks / rims in wet / muddy weather. It annoyed me that much that I have to confess to coloring them in with permanent marker !

Don’t take the piss just yet, it actually looks quite good, here are some that got done a long (long) time ago on mums orange (poor pictures though as they are off the phone ) :

That was the bike that donated the USE post – now I am tasked with finding it a replacement … :?

What cassette is that btw? looks like small gears, should go like a rocket on the road with those slicks. And some blackwall z-max or similar if you want to venture off road would look rather nice I reckon.

The bike is being set up for ‘road’ so it has been geared as such, the rear is 12-21 and the front is 39-50. I hope that will be OK but time will tell … :? I am aiming to top the 49.5 that I managed when it was in ‘off road’ trim (admitably I favored Hardpacks and ran them at silly psi). I am hopeful that if I can find a big enough hill and enough speed in my legs I will top (for me) the magical 50 … I seem to remember running out of gear last time so if weight is of any help I will have a distinct advantage this time round

According to this I did in excel I will need 141 crank revs per min to do it :

If my formulas are right :? do you think that it is possible ?

About the only work I have done since the last photos (due to fixing my car :evil: ) is polishing the SS chain wheel bolts and assembling the crank & rings :

I did have Ti bolts for this but strangely enough the head diameter of them was to big for the counter bore in the rings ? :?

In keeping with sprit of things I will enter it for BOTM when I (finally ) get it finished but I honestly don’t think it will do well. It will get judged on two pictures which will basically show a black steel Marin on slicks which looks relatively ‘low key’ – if people have read the build thread it may fare better. I think the best analogy would be to the tasty brunette having a quiet drink in the corner of the club who no one notices due to the blonde porn star with her tits hanging out in the middle of the dance floor

I know where my beer goggles would have me looking to … :twisted:

WD

 

[Neil G]

Think it will be a good contender for BOTM

Are you going to take it out in the dry when it's finished?

 

[hoegaardenadds1]

dont think there will be many people who haven't read this thread! 9 pages for a bike thats not even finished! gets my vote... may even set up another account to vote twice

 

[Neil]

In keeping with sprit of things I will enter it for BOTM when I (finally ) get it finished but I honestly don’t think it will do well.

I'd vote for it - and from reading this thread, I suspect several others would, too.

Bike of the year, IMO.