vp's Cogworks: The Marin and Beyond

nice this

new page pic

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made me consider selling the Marin

Good to hear about the Gazelle but don‘t sell the Marin, you‘ll regret it ;)

^^ Cheers!
^ Don't worry, I won't! I really need to sort some mudguards for it though.

As for the Gazelle, here's the frame with some components. Wheels are 9s LX & XT on Mavic rims with narrow Contact Speed tyres. Seller also gave me a set of 26x2.1 Schwalbe off-road tyres, can't remember their name, will check tomorrow.

FD needs to be replaced, rear wheel needs truing, otherwise it works perfectly. Thinking about drop bars, 1x8, with a bar end friction shifter for now, then later on I might get set of microShift Advent maybe... But no real plans, just crude ideas. Gonna buy my first car next month, which means even less money for bikes for a while, so this project might stay unfinished for quite some time.

Headtube is totally bonkers, but the frame is only 55x54 cm, so it should fit me absolutely perfectly. Will clean it up and go for an actual test ride, hopefully tomorrow.

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Wow man looks crazy!

Wow! That's an interesting find!
Looking forward to seeing it built up.
I reckon the drop bars and slicks would suit it quite nicely.

Ta! Ordered a $5 NW chainring from Ali, curious if it'll explode after 100 km or not.

I've done a fair bit of commuting on an Ali nw recently, nothing bad so far.

Damn, that looks really funky (in a good way). I've been using a $7 Deckas NW ring for ~2000km, haven't died yet.

Thanks for your input guys, I'll test it when it arrives. :)
Seems like the frame and fork are slightly out of alignment (it might be just the wheel dishing at the rear). It's quite subtle so I haven't changed my mind about building it up yet...
The rims are quite narrow though, not sure if the 2.1" tyres will even fit, but I'm gonna try anyways sooner or later.

Welp, scrap that, fork is toast haha. I'd still build it up, but the chances of finding a 1" threadless 26" fork, with a long enough steerer, for not a horrible amount of money is rater slim.
Will part it out, have a friend who might take the frame, so it will have a good home. Also, measured it again, a bit more carefully, and it's 1 cm longer in each direction than what I read in the dark 2 days ago. Dang it. Still worth the buy overall.

So after some brainstorming (and counting pennies) I came up with the ultimate plan for the Marin.

So here's the latest pic I have, since then I swapped the stem to 60 mm and put a buttload of spacers beneath, to raise the bars higher.
Now this is still not as comfy as I want it to be. These bars turned out to be great for short distances, but after a while they actually make my wrists hurt, which is a bummer. Tried a lot of variations already.

Hulsroy inspired me to do something like this:

Lowriser, wide-ish bars, with the 100 mm stem I have, and hopefully no spacers. Currently on the hunt, but no luck finding cheapo, second-hand bars for over a month now. Still got some time, I want to start the conversion somewhere around March the soonest.

The crankset & BB will come off the Gazelle frame, and get installed on the Marin as soon as I get a Hollowtech BB tool.

And now for the actually spendy part: gonna need new wheels. Current freehub can only take up to 7s cassettes, and the front hub is getting quite horrible, lbs told me some half a year ago that it's beyond any repair. So either I find something good in the used market, or I get a new set - thinking about Shimano WH-R501 here. These won't fit the 38C Maxxis Overdrives I currently use, which ain't a big problem as I'd actually like to go with something lighter. Thinking about Gravelkings in 700x32C, or maybe Marathon Supremes? No idea yet.

As for the groupset, I might go down the Advent route. 9s is more than enough for me, and a 11-42T cassette should provide more than enough gear range. However, I'll also keep an eye out for second hand 9s groups, because I don't think I will need a clutch. I can use the SLX RD from the Gazelle (it's working perfectly thankfully and has a really strong spring), which means I can save a lot of money here. I'll only need a 9s shifter and a cassette (the chain that came with the Gazelle is basically brand new).

I will also get full-sized V-brakes and new (=old) levers, because the these Tektro minis aren't a perfect match with the current XT STIs.

Lastly, mudguards. I really need mudguards. Hopefully the lockdown's gonna be over soonish and I can finally browse some stores.

Oh, and some joy, the seatpost binder bolt was had to be replaced, but luckily the one on the Gazelle fit the Marin perfectly! One less thing to worry about.

Excuse the rambling.

620 mm wide 30 mm rise handlebar ordered, hopefully it will be comfy enough. Also pulled the trigger on some Hollowtech tools. Should arrive sometime next week, and I'm really excited!

Bars fitted, bike looks a tad less ugly now, although I will definitely remove the the brandings.
Acquired a set of Shimano WH-RS11 wheels from a fellow enthusiast, basically brand new, destickered, looks ace if you ask me. Can take up to 32C tyres, which is good enough.

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I had a set of those bars (or possibly a wider version actually), the branding came off with nail varnish remover extremely easily.

Can take up to 32C tyres

Who says?

The official spec sheet: https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/shimano/WH-RS11-R.html Do you reckon it might be more (or less)? Would love to go wider a bit.

Cheers, hope mine will act the same! :)

Do you reckon it might be more (or less)?

I have used 2.2" tyres on rims only 1mm wider than yours and didn't die.

Ha, good to know! This means I migh try to put the 38C Overdrives on tomorrow...

Work, car and guitar stuff forced me to neglect the build for a while, but tomorrow I really want to install the BB and crankset to the Marin and go on a nice ride with the new setup. They forecast perfect riding weather, fingers crossed.

Put up some fight...

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But it was worth it. BB shell cleaned up perfectly, no visible rust inside anywhere.
After I installed everything and tightened the last screw the mailman arrived with my narrow wide chainring. Installed it right away, so now the bike is officially 1x7 ESGR (Extra Shit Gear Range).
I'm not a guy who can usually notice performance upgrades, but this thing is damn stiff now!

Will order a SunRace 9sp thumbie, cassette and some V-brake levers soon to complete the setup.

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This Koga is so bad, yet so good... I need to get an inline seatpost and a tad shorter stem, because right now I'm extremely stretched out on the saddle. Oh, and the rear wheel tends to slip a bit, no matter how tight I get the QR. Need to convert it to solid axle I guess...
On the bright side it rides damn good, it's responsive, agile and looks rad imho.

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Ordered nearly everything for the Marin 1x9 conversion. Fingers crossed they all arrive next week.
Went with the following:

• SRAM PG-950 11-34T cassette
  
• Shimano CN-HG53 chain
  
• SunRace SLM96 thumbie
  
• SRAM FR-5 brake levers
  
  

Will use the SLX rear derailleur, which means I also had to buy a Ritchey barrel adjuster, so I will actually be able to index the shifting (as the SLX doesn't have one).
Gear range should be more than sufficient with the 36T chainring.

SunRace SLM96 thumbie

I think this comes indexed as standard, but it's possible to take it apart, remove a few tiny bearings which sit in a series of holes to creates the index markers (indices?!) and reassemble it, creating a lovely light action friction shifter.

Lots of small bits though so be careful/take photos as you go, if you want to do that!