Marin or Not?

[Charlieboy28]

Marin or Not

I have looked at the 91 Catalogue I agee the drop outs do the look the same, however it does not explain why it came equipped with a big dirty u brake, and Araya VP 20's which came on the 91 Palisades trail , and pedals with straps and toe cage if it is a commuter bike, im also not happy that my bike may be a commuter bike if im honest,lol
The forks and stem were also originally black and still had the sticker intact on them that can be seen in the 86 marin bear valley pics.
It would also appear that the Custom Marin investment dropouts which they are keen to make much of were a change for that year and a selling point which would suggest that perhaps the year before they were different, the drive train was also all shimano and not suntour,
Well at least we seem to be heading in the right direction with it being accepted as a Marin.
The Tyres were also 100% definitely the same Marin Pro Combo that can be seen on the 86 Marin

oh well,lol, now can someone please find an 88 Marin with dropouts like mine that is not a commuter bike please.

 

[damian]

My experience of marins is much later (94 onwards), but those dropouts dont look right for me. Also on every marin I have owned the dropouts have had "Marin" stamped into it.

Agreed, I've got two (early 90s) and they have.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Frame serial number ?

 

[beavis]

Maybe its a muirwoods or even made for the American market. The serial number would tell all...(maybe!)

 

[Charlieboy28]

spacing

right the distance between the two rear dropouts is 132mm which doesnt really help, the back wheel has always been a pain to out back on and involves quite a bit of prising the rear stays apart to ge the wheel to drop in,
At he suggestion that my bike was a commuter bike i immediatley removed the powder coat from the bottom bracket, the number is very badly impressed into the metal and its indistinct, some improvemnts have been made in its readability after i gave it a quick clean,
will give it a good clean tonight and see what i can make out.

 

[Benandemu]

It is a pre 1990 and all things are consistant with a Marin.

The frame slopes on the top tube, because it is a smaller size.

The seat clamp area is Marin.

The brake bridge appears compact because of the frames size.

Early Marins were made in several factories which would use different dropouts, depending on what the factory was speccing at the time. They look similar to Giant dropouts from 1988. Marin wasn't the same company as today. Back then it was in its infancy and the deals it would do woth the Japanese frame builders would have been a little looser than the 1990's.

Small size pre 90 Marin frames always used a U-brake so that the heels of the rider would not catch the protruding cantis of early brakes. This was true of all their models including the Titanium frames.

Strip it down, cross check the frame number and restore her back to glory when you know what model it is. That spray job really doesn't do it any favours!

Keep in mind that there were a variety of home and foreign spray jobs available for their entire line up. Different fashions sold in different countries at the time. For instance, whilst the yanks were crazy for bold colours, we were more attracted to the subtle Greys and Blacks. Germany got some wild splatter neon finishes that never saw these shores.

 

[Charlieboy28]

Thank You Thank You

Woo hoo, I no longer have to go and establish my own retro commuter bike site,

Thanks Benandemu

will post what i can of the seriel number tomorrow, but i warn ya i think the frame stamper was having a bit of an off day when he did my bike..

Charlieboy28

 

[Charlieboy28]

Its a Marin,its official and not a ladies Shopper.

Right from what i can make out the serial number is
H9160008_


the underscore is intentional as that is all that can be seen of the last digit, so if it is a number it is a 2, it actually looks like a back to front 2, not upside down but that the diagonal is going the opposite way, which doesnt make sense there also seems to be some trace of a curve at the top .
H91600082 or H9160008Z, or some other letter that has a flat bottom

The middle 0 also looks like a walking stick shape only 2 thirds of the letter have been impressed in the metal, and the last 0 the stamper had a few goes at, would appear to have been done very much by hand as the 0's in particular are not straight, now if it does turn out to be a commuter bike can you break it to me gently please.
Charlieboy28

 

[FluffyChicken]

H9160008x

Taking dating model for early 90's
H= factory
9 = bag 'o' shit model
1 = 1991
60 = who cares
0 possibly a C or D = 17" or 19" centre to centre
88x = who cares.


Take it with a pinch of salt.

 

[Charlieboy28]

Not having it, lol

Im not having that,

the bike is pre 1990 is my belief, and the frame is 15.5, the spec with marin combo pro tyres, spinner forks, u brake, Araya VP 20 would suggest also that it is not a bag o shite model,

anyone else have an opinion,

the number runs across the length of the bottom bracket also and not vertically,

Im not expecting the bike to be team issue or anything, but it isnt 9th in the line up either,lol
pinch of salt, i could take it with a big bag of tranquilisers,

will wait for Benandemu