Marine Eldridge Grade -93?

[keckepro]

Hello!

Just bought this one for 800 SEK (About 50£).

This one was a wet dream for me when I was around 10 years old, but I never got one.

I have seen many nice Marin projects here so I hope that this is the right forum to get help from.

What I want to do whit this one in the future is to unmount everything, repaint it and get some new stickers and the put everything together again, but with upgraded mechanics. Is it possible that you can help me in the right direction of what I should have? Gears / V-brakes et.c.
Or maybe it's better trying to refurnish the things I have?

But for now I only want to ride it a couple of weeks (I have not owned a bicycle for overs ten years. This is fun! )

It needs some service (brakes et.c.), but I also have a bigger issue. The rear-gear does not seem to work so good when i push or pull the gearknob nothing happens... then all of a sudden it changes gear and then back again and stays on the second smallest gear.
Anyone knows what this could be? If it's a quickiefix I can try to do it now, otherwise it just has to wait until I will mount the whole bike down.

Must say that I have got plenty of inspiration while looking at this site!
My idea from the beginning was to just buy and use one, but now I want it shiny and nice, like yours.

 

[keckepro]

 

[keckepro]

Well. The problem with the gears is fixed. Opened the gear shifter and took a look. everything was a big thick grease. Cleaned everything up with degreaser and then oiled it with som lubricant i normally use for my flyfishing reels. Works like a charm now.

There is a litte spring that pull back a tap that select each gear. This spring and tap was not working at all. It has stuck in all the grease.

Any suggestions on what I should change from the original parts during the rebuild? Thanks

 

[gerryattrick]

Welcome keckepro. I bought the same bike as you 6 months ago (picture below) with the intention of completely rebuilding/painting it but I've also enjoyed riding it so much that I'm reluctant to start the renovation. After more than 20 years of not riding I’m now doing three 20+ mile rides a week so I will probably leave it as a winter project.
There’s a 93 Marin catalogue in the Galleries section which gives you all the original parts details. I’ve used that to help me find the right gears and chainset – Deore DX & LX - and will be fitting them on the rebuild. If yours has got the Deore XT then that’s a step up on the original spec.
There’s a guy on retrobike - Gil_M who does a good line in original style decals, and I know he has Marin decals.
Good luck with the rebuild, but be careful, it's addictive.

 

[keckepro]

Thanks for the info!

A couple of things I wonder about is
Is it possible to add more gears to the backwheel or should I stick to 7 when looking for parts?
Must the rear-derraileur be of the same kind as the freewheel? (Like they are made for eachother)

 

[gerryattrick]

As I understand it there is some limited ability to change number of gears but it's not that straightforward and it will depend on the size of the freehub. It could be possible to move up to an 8 speed, but you need to make sure that the derailleur has enough adjustment. You're probably best starting off another thread specifically about changing cassettes/derailleurs in the Retro MTB Chat forum as you'll get more people to give you better advice than I can.

Given that you've got a good rear derailleur I'd keep it. Does the cycling you do really need 24 gears. Every change costs money and the bike soon turns into a money pit, without too much improvement in performance.

 

[keckepro]

You are totally correct.

This is now the plan .

Break everything down into bits and pieces and clean everything, soaking it in degreaser and then grease/oil everything up again.

Repaint the frame.

Soo keep the original pieces as much as possible and then buy only what I must buy.

Shoppinglist so far
Gear shifters (the ones I have now are old and the springs are weak, new ones are so cheap that I do not think it's necessary to buy spare parts)

Brake pads

Wire for both break-pads and gears. (Is it enough to buy theese shimano kits they have on ebay?) Or is everything individual fitting, ie must I buy Deore cables?

Handles

Handlebars (or maybe repaint the ones I have.) We'll see

Pedals

Some nice looking tires

New chain (Looks quite old and rusty. Any Idea of which chain I shall look for?)

Oil and grease (anyy suggestions will be appreciated)

And of course. TOOLS
Have most of it, but I do not have anything for just bikes.
Need
What do I need? I know I need some kind of special tool for the dismount of the cassete and also another one for the dismount of the bottom bracket

Then at last I need some new nipples and screws et.c that looks a little bit nicer than the old rusty ones I have now.

 

[gerryattrick]

A lot of work ahead for you.
There's no need for particular cables as mostly they're a standard fit. There are some nice black teflon coated cables (brake and gear) around, a little bit more expensive but not too expensive on ebay. They don't rust and look better I think.

I think you've probably got the original Marin Lite handlebars and stem. Why not try stripping the stem and just polishing them both with something like autosol. It would look good at no cost and keep some of the original good quality features.

It's worth having some specific tools if you're going to get involved in this sort of thing, but complete sets start from around £36. As you've already got general tools I would think as a minimum you need to buy a cassette remover & chainwhip, bottom bracket remover, chain splitter, crank remover and a cone wrench.

There's good advice on maintenance/repairs of bikes on Park Tools web site and on the Sheldon Brown website.

 

[keckepro]

Yes it is.

Therefore I changed my plans a little.

I will take everything down to bits and pieces and then clean and regrease/oil everything. I will not repaint it, but I will take the stickers off and get some new ones. Hope this will help to get a cleaner look. This is because I want to use the bike as soon as possible. And it will be used quite alot. Therefore I will only do a complete maintenance to it. But the truth is that I think this is so much fun that it is not impossible that I get a second retro and then do a complete rework

I couldnt wait so today I went to the hardware store and bought some tools. Then I stripped the whole bike down from parts.

I keep the bottom bracket and the fork/handlebars and stem on and clean them up as good as I can. I see some rust from the headnut so I think that if I dismount that I will not get it together again. And it's working good so I just keep it the way it is. Here's the first batch of parts that I have degreased (soaked in degrease and then washed).

The rest I have to take tomorrow because now I have been on it for almost 6 hours.

I have one little thing that I am concerned about. When I took of the freewheel the 2 smallest cogs was loose. Is this normal or have I broken it? Thanks

 

[gerryattrick]

You're OK, the two small rings are loose and held on by the lock-ring. Also I wouldn't worry too much about the rust on the stem head nut as that is quite normal for a bike that age and should loosen without too much of a problem.