Marin Eldridge Grade 1995

[hoppy58]

I recently bought this bike for £30..frame is great albeit it was pretty grubby and had a lot of heli-tape and it’s residual gunge on it! The previous owner was a lady, who had fitted a terrys lady saddle, high rise stem with a quill-ahead converter. XT v brakes had been retro fitted with travel agents.

The drive train is LX with White Industries crank. The Rear lx shifter had ceased working so a grip shift had been added alongside it as the brake lever and rapid fire shifter are combined!

Pics of frame stripped and cleaned and the cranks....more to follow.

 

[Dossa]

Re:

Great stuff, look forward to updates

I’m hoping my next one will be a 95 or 96 Eldridge/PM but in a 17.5” frame size!

Ace frame..

 

[Cheshire1980]

Tidy
30 smackers a steal

 

[hoppy58]

Re:Marin Eldridge grade 1995 - more pics

Few more pics...more or less finished for now. I have some before pics on my laptop which I’ll upload later!

Lots of the bits were ok. I had to take apart and clean out the rear shifter to get it working properly. The original cantis had gone and were replaced with XT v brakes and ‘travel agents’ which looked a mess and didn’t work that well...I managed to selll them for £30, which paid for new tektro cr720, which look and work brilliantly. Tyres are 2 inch Schwalbe land cruisers which look ok and work really well on tarmac and gravel. I fitted new wheel bearings and got my lbs to sort a rear wheel wobble, which resulted in 2 spokes snapping as the spokes were seized in the nipples...so I can expect some future maintenance there!! Pedals were the ones which came with the bike and are period for its age.

It’s lovely and light despite the hefty tyres!

 

[hoppy58]

Costs to date:

Purchase price. £30
2 Schwalbe land cruiser tyres £20
New gear and brake cable sets £8
F and R Wheel bearings £3
Tektro CR720 cantis £32
KMC 8 speed Chain £6
LBS labour - true rear wheel + 2 new spokes plus check/adjust front and rear wheel bearings..£25

Total..£124

Less sale of XT V brakes and travel agents ..£30

Grand total...£94.00

Seat and stem old ones from parts box

Quite chuffed with this as I was trying to build a tidy useable bike for less than a hundred quid!

 

[Paul R]

very nice these nice and light too

 

[jimo746]

Re:

Looks great for under £100, some nice parts on it too.
Always nice to turn a bargain bike around into something more usable.

 

[hoppy58]

Re:

It’s so mucky around here that I have fitted mudguards.. 20 mile Christmas card ride just done in filthy conditions! ‘Damp proof course’ mudflaps kept everything clean !

 

[Paul R]

Nice happy with it?

 

[hoppy58]

Re:

Thanks, very happy! it rides really well and everything works as it should. I also have a 95 Hawk Hill with a butted cromo frame, yet the Eldridge’s frame is so much nicer. It feels much lighter and livelier. Both frames are 15.5” which is perfect for my size(5’ 7 1/2 “) so are really comfortable as a result...sometimes you find a bike fit which is just right- and so it is with 15.5 Marins and me!