vp's Cogworks: The Marin and Beyond

One for my flatmate, bought ridiculously cheap, and no stuck parts thankfully. Currently 3x1 speed, need to buy some cables...

1 Attachment

Looks to me like a 1992 Prologue. This was the entry level road bike Koga Miyata offered that year. Still a quality bike with FM-1 tubes. It came with a Exage 500EX groupset. Both the forks and 1056 stuff are definitely added later.

I have the same frame in almost NOS condition. Waiting to be build-up some day.

Thanks for the input, it is indeed a 1992, checked the catalogs myself. If you happen to build it up, please make a project thread, I'd follow with interest. :)

Last tinkering for the year, rear derailleur of my mate's Rockhopper is now fully functional. Brakes are proper shit, but that's a project for January...

1 Attachment

Update: tools and workstand have arrived, will set it all up tomorrow. Gonna put together my video equipment too, and will start shooting tinkering footage.
There's one thing I couldn't resist to try tonight though...

It was the first time ever that I completely removed a bottom bracket. Little victories... One step closer to having a rideable Koga-Miyata.
Tomorrow I'll overhaul the headset, and then it's time for building it up!

Congrats on the little victory. Are you planning to upload your footage to youtube or instagram? Would be interested to hear about your set-up :)

Got a website a few days ago: https://vpcogworks.com/
I'm planning on putting the blog-style articles here, and videos to YouTube. Don't expect anything fancy, got a Canon G9X as a camera, and my studio lamps couldn't fit during moving, so natural light only. But it's still better than handheld phone footage haha.

clever logo!

This is going to be the new Radavist, I can see it now

^^
Cheers, will probably change the font in the future, it's a 10 minute mockup so far. :)

^
Haha, hopefully not!

Overhauled the headset today. Never actually seen a pin bearing headset with my own eyes before. No actual pics of the process as it was extremely grimy. Now it's nice and clean.
Oh, btw my workstand has arrived, so I can finally tinker without destroying my lower back.

2 Attachments

@vp1337 Slightly off topic but what is the tire clearance like on the MArin? would it fit something larger then a 42c?

No worries, not off topic at all. I'd say it might take a 47, but you have to forget about mud clearance then.

Thanks, I found a similar bike locally. Been wanting a steel frame option versus my Alu "Gravel" build. Seems this may make a real nice loop bar gravel casual option

Good luck with it! Steel Marins are really something else. Seriously, this is my only bike I haven't even considered selling yet, and I change bikes more than I change clothes...

Just hit the order button, gonna get a ton of parts for the Koga-Miyata tomorrow.
Needed new bearings for the front hub, as it had incorrect sized ones for some reason... No wonder it felt scratchy as hell. Ordered some for the rear hub as well, just in case...

I'm gonna go with an Ahead adapter temporarily, because the 25.4 compact drops from Decathlon are out of stock everywhere (just my luck, they were in stock a few days ago). Cockpit looks mean as hell though.

With a bit of luck I can ride it at the weekend.

The website‘s looking good! I thought about doing something similar as a way to teach myself some ‘media skills‘. I‘ll be following with interest :)

Cheers! I have a new post in the makings, will release it soon. :) I'll try to document the Koga as much as possible too, but I doubt a lot of video content will happen, with such weather and no proper lighting it's not easy.

Need to install brake pads, cables and tape, then it's ready to go.
Front hub's soon to be toast, chain is worn beyond 1.0, pretty sure the frame and fork are slightly out of alignment and the whole thing's a tad too small for me.
Perfect.

1 Attachment

Done for now. 39-13, pretty hard gearing, I'm used to riding slow nowadays haha. Handling is as twitchy as expected from such angles. Oh, and I ordered one set of brake pads instead of two, so it's quite lethal now.
The Concor saddle is surprisingly comfy.

1 Attachment

Ordered some Decathlon 25.4 compact drops, brake pads to the front and a new chain. Should arrive next week.

Koga's 9.8 kg as it is, which ain't bad. Never been much of a weight weenie, but it's nice to finally have something under 10 kilos.

Could cut some 10 cm off the seatpost for extra weight savings... I expect it should lose a few grams after ditching the Ahead adapter too.

I bought a WH-R560 bladed spoke front wheel for dirt cheap last week, it's pretty light. Catch: it's ridiculously painted over with Hammerite or something, need to clean it up properly before using.

Stuff arrived sooner than expected. This stem is looong and the riding position is super aggressive, so basically just what I was looking for.
Need to tighten the chain a bit. Currently waiting for "proper" chainring bolts from AliExpress, as these ones are bodged up. Will get an inline post when I find a good deal, but for now it's quite done and I like it a lot.

3 Attachments

Stuff arrived sooner than expected. This stem is looong and the riding position is super aggressive, so basically just what I was looking for. Braking power is pretty good.
Need to tighten the chain a bit. Currently waiting for "proper" chainring bolts from AliExpress, as these ones are bodged up. Will get an inline post when I find a good deal, but for now it's quite done and I like it a lot.
Proper pics soon.

3 Attachments

All I could find was a brick wall...

4 Attachments

I now own a quite special Gazelle MTB with some bling-for-me parts. Pics tomorrow. It made me consider selling the Marin, that level of goodness we're talking about...