1991 Marin Sausalito (Hybrid/City bike)

[randomdan]

Well - can't help myself can I? See something interesting on Gumtree, bad photos, turns out to be very near where you work....

So go over to look and I find this. SausageLighter? SoreSaladeato? Soresigh... oh I give up. Anyway it turns out to be a hybrid/City thingymybob from the old days. It's got big skinny wheels, but otherwise it's what I think is pure and classic Marin, Zolatone, hefty tange steel frame, araya rims, Exage. It's cheap. I part company with a couple of banknotes. I get home to research what the hell I've just brought....

The web doesn't seem to be strewn with information on this bike. I found the 90s hybrid thread on MTB chat That could either mean it was vastly unpopular, or they ended up being thrown into skips in vast quantities. Either way, at least I found this snippet from the 1991 Marin catalogue

Sadly, after a long time without love oil or care, this is what mine looks like

There is quite a lot to do....

Just as an aside, I've had something of a dilemma if this shoud be posted in road or mountain, but I just think Marin being "mostly mountain" as a company, plus the tange ATB tubing probably brings it out here!

 

[The History Man]

Checking in for hammerite results.

Nice.

 

[randomdan]

Re:

Yee Haw!

Its a massive improvement, for under a tenner - I'm pleased with the result. What didn't photograph well was the "before" where top tube and chainstays were peppered with loads of tiny rust spots actually giving the impression of a different colour, and making it look really tatty.

I wiped down the whole frame white spirit, then after an hour of masking up and cutting shapes out from alu tape dusted it over with the stonechip. OK, I admit my masking was a bit sloppy in places - but the new paint is very close in colour, only marginally darker/colder. You need to really zoom in to notice.

 

[legrandefromage]

Nice paint finish but...

Maybe, if, budget, etc etc etc etc

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marin-Bear-Va ... xyEoFSVH2T

 

[Minifreak]

Nice project, got to say the hammerite finish is a neat touch.

Just finished a 90's Mountain bike hybrid myself. Looking forward to more updates on your build.

Here's mine, just a general mechanical tidy up but has resulted in a cheap sweet ride

 

[randomdan]

Nice paint finish but...

Maybe, if, budget, etc etc etc etc

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marin-Bear-Va ... xyEoFSVH2T

Hmm.... also from the same seller almost identical to my damaged decals.More than I actually paid for for the bike :shock: but it's tempting to do it right.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marin-Bear-Va ... 1019761154

Here's mine, just a general mechanical tidy up but has resulted in a cheap sweet ride

That looks really smart - nice paint finish there.

 

[Bicycle Addict]

Liking it very much, consider these the original 29ers at least that's what the likes of Trek and Gary Fisher see them as . . . . MTB geometry, brakes etc, they were marketed as do it all town bikes yet they came about at a time when MTB manufacturers were hoping to innovate away from 26 inch although the rims did not hold up too well.
There is a video on Yotube somewhere with Gary talking about this.

 

[randomdan]

Re:

Well - I've now decided to go with a new decal set from Gil_m - although the shortcut of masking off would have been OK - I'm Not quite happy with the scratched up state of the original decals so hopefully it will end up a bit nicer cosmetically.

In other news, the wheels are coming up really well after a mammoth clean up. They seem nice and light but the original tyres are far too shot and dangerous looking for me... I've gone for modern light folding touring tyres after much googling and procrastination. Gumwalls or whitewalls would have been nice, but everything seemed so heavy in comparason to the marin fitted tyre.

I'm not a gram counter by any means, but curious minds always need to know this sort of stuff....

Original marin fit Chen Shin shing tyre, 700x35c weight on my antony worrall thompson scales 440g

Modern Schwalbe marathon supreme,700x35c - 463g on the same scales.

 

[Bicycle Addict]

Have you considered Schwalbe Roadcruisers ? They are a smoother tread similar to the Marathons but lighter, also Schwalde Land Cruisers are the knobbly version and are really nice tyres both of them.

 

[randomdan]

Re:

Yeah man - I agonised for a long time about road/land/delta cruiser - and also the panaracer passella. There were some quite nice looking gumwall/whitewall options that would have matched the original well - unfortunately seemed like it would have added at least +200g per wheel just Seems modern tyres have got a little lardy compared to their old counterparts.

I wasn't putting too much priority on the off-road ability - realistically I don't think I'll be taking this bike anywhere rougher than the canal towpath or light hardpack routes - I've got much better bikes for the local rough tracks!

That said, I did get into the MTB scene due to the fact as a teenager in the late 80s I damaged and destroyed several racer bikes by taking them off road, this will be the first time I've done 700c since about 1988 - lets hope I've become more mechanicaly sympathetic in middle age

I wanted fast rolling, durable and light, so kind arrived at the "supreme" version of the marathon - although I admit that if they'd been a landcuiser supreme or deltacruiser supreme at <500g - would have certainly gone for it just to keep a. bit of tread just in case...