pine mountain

[GamWard]

If you can - leave the org paint job, these were the era when Marins looked nice - all colour co-ordinated i.e. purble/blue/red spoke nips, bolts,bottle cages & handle bars / ends etc.

Peaople are looking again - fashion / ex racers in their mid life crisis (me) - these sort of bikes will come back again, cant wait for bar ends again, in my day of racing in the mid 90's EVERYONE had them apart from Rob Thackray on his Pace.

 

[hamster]

It's a 1994. I have one owned since new.

I agree with the nervous handling thing. I suspect that the frame was designed for suspension but still got the shorter fork. Swapping to suspension on mine was a revelation (63mm Marzocchi Z3) as it calmed the handling. Since then I have also run it with a 410mm a-c P2 rigid fork and again it was much nicer to ride.

The frame is painted, not nickel-plated.

 

[juice]

Before i found this website two years ago i never thought what i was doing was to restore my bike. It was all about maintaining. I am attracted to things that work in the first place. And of course i should look nice to me.
As long as my Marin Eldridge Grade can do the job of making me smile i am not even tempted to buy an up to date 2012 full suspension downhill monster even if i maybe could loose my life 10 seconds earlier on a modern bike that actually goes faster.
I'm holding on to my bike because it has proven that it is a durable and nearly indestructible companion. So i'm allowing that it may get old with me together in dignity.
This is the best possible explanation i have for retrobike love.

 

[PurleySquire]

Hitting the sweet spot

I feel that certain manufactured products have "sweet spots" i.e. synergistic periods when the quality is at its best.
For electric guitars this is thought to be the 1950s and 60s when there was no compromise on the wood and certain electrical components, alnico magnets, for example, used.
For classic cars, some have suggested the late 60s and early 70s, a period after magnetos, kingpins and grease nipples but before the advent of miles of wiring and unserviceable black boxes.
I like the 90s period of mountain bikes because of their simplicity and robust nature. I never rated cycling till I got a cheap mountain bike from this period and was able to enjoy hundreds of trouble free miles of riding pleasure.
As a youth on my skinny tyred bike I could hardly make it to the end of the road without getting a puncture, the wheels needed constant truing, replacement parts seemed very expensive and only available from your local bike shop. That experience nearly put me off for life.