Retro mountain bikes

Merlin Malt 1

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Was the price right? No.
Could I resist once I saw it in the flesh? No.
Does Stridsland Journal have a lot to answer for? Yes.

Fun aspects I didn’t realise: stem is one with hidden internal routing, frame has internal routing for rear u-brake.

Less fun: clearance still looks a little tight for 2.3 at the rear. Original gt stem is almost too nice to replace with stumpy stem and higher rise bars.

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OK i'm amassing parts for a rebuild on my Marin,

1 big wavey azonic risers and lock ons
2 new wheels: old bonty rims that are welded and seemed to get good reviews way back when, rear on a stx rear hub that is furked but will hopefully bounce back with new cones and bearings. Sad the rims are slightly pitted and aesthetically not a1,2 or 3 but maybe a4 condition.
3 A FUCKING DROPPER! a gen 1 Lev dropper post from, like 2005, with a little nob lever at the post itself. I hope to practice wheelies on this bike.
4Halo twinrail/something else rail. I went for mismatching because the one with more protuding side nobs was £10 cheaper. Some regrets bc my slightly used rear twin rail has very dull logos while the front has bright ones,
5 Old sugine taper cranks with NW chainring. I am going to regret not polishing these while they are off the bike and clean but I doubt I will get round to it. NW seems pointless on 8spd chain but we'll see. pleased to be moving away from x3 even though I currently am running a standard cassette and I will struggle on hills
6 rapid fire 8spd shifter, to be rid of gripshift, although to be fair it has been faultless, except it is a shifter, in a grip. I would ultimately like to buy walkman's old LX mech off him and run a wide range cassette. Currently I have an altus with a huge weird jockey wheel, works perfectly.
7 Shit old altus-grade cantis and diacompe levers (actually originally specced on the bear valley se) No reason to change from my Deore Vs apart from cantis are cooler.
My vibe is a bit eyehategod, battered and increasingly black. I might paint my silver stem black; I might paint my frame black.

Does anyone know about these Trek OCLV 26ers?
It’s been in a neighbour’s basement for years. It has two small scratches in the paint, otherwise it looks almost unused.
Weighs about 1520gm, seems insanely light to me.

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Get some pictures in a Current Projects thread! Use the forum's hive mind and bountiful part supply to help with the build/aesthetics you're going for. Looking forward to seeing it

lovely frames

They look loads better built up! That black one in particular is great.

I like the fork on the red one, it matches the frame tube size nicely.

I had one back in the mid 90’s super light bike, I remember it being the cheapest of the OCLV range, loved how it rode, it was flexy on the back end but a brake booster helped tighten it up. Ended up snapping the gear hanger think the pro ones came with a replaceable hanger. Overall a really nice frame though.

Did a spring service on this Marin this morning for the lad I sold it too, then took it for a little test ride, nice little bike

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Is there any 21" (ish) retro mountain bikes going for sale? Would need posted as well unless in/near Edinburgh.

This Dave Yates in the classifieds is big and stunning, perhaps he would post
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/385548/#comment16939370

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A bit of handlebar/stem tech question here.
I am thinking about putting some nice and big klunker handlebars on an old MTB. The usual suspects (velo orange, surly etc) are currently quite hard to obtain for me without paying import tax and frankly they are over budget for this build.
There are quite a few readily and cheaply available motorbike handlebars though. They have the looks. Most probably they are quite heavy. They have a clamping diameter of 22.2mm so a BMX stem should work.
What I am worried about is that these motorbike bars expect a different kind of stem which clamps in two spots and that's also where the surface is "roughed" up for more grip in the stem. With a BMX stem I would clamp down on a smooth area. Is that going to work or will it slip with applied weight?

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I think if you roughed up the clamping area you should be kinda/hopefully ok.
Also some bmx stems like wethepeople stc (shark tooth clamping) have ridges in them.

I’d just clamp it on the smooth area, will be fine

It will work, but be aware that they are not built for stiffness like bicycle handlebars, so they will probably flex more (added comfort is nice) and I think @M_V has bent a couple from singlespeed riding.

Have you looked at the Ergotec Riser bar? 70mm rise, 25.4 and 31.8 clamping options, Budget friendly pricing and easy to come by in the EU

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Yes, I know about that one. I saw it on some billo bike builds here in Vienna the other day. The bike in question currently has a modern standard aluminium riser bar. I am just curious about the Klunker Moto look. I just ordered something. In total, I didn't spend much so it's okay if doesn't work out as planned.

so they will probably flex more

That's interesting I was actually afraid that they might be overbuilt and overly stiff.
I might get to it on the weekend and will report back.

Reporting back:
I bought this handlebar and combined it with this Salt BMX stem and after a few shorter rides in the forest and jumping some roots and stuff I can't fault it.
The width is great out of the box. Weight is okayish (at least for klunky bars that size). Doesn't feel overly stiff or too flexy. Both stem and bars seem quite sturdy so I had no worries tightening up those stem bolts. No slipping or turning of the bars yet.

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Looks great - love how the bars are listed on Amazon as being for a Simson S50
sent me down a rabbit hole looking at pictures of really awful GDR-Endurobikes

Any tips on getting a u-brake set up? I think I need extra hands.

Still to do: swap on maxxis dth from Kona, find some wider bars with sweep for non excessive monies, find the chain I had the other day then put down and lost.

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Any interest here from Marin owners or anyone who wants / would have use for them? Pair of what i believe are the original Marin Quake’s 2.0 tyres. Really good condition for age and original Marin flat bar. Both came off a 1995 Marin Bear Valley. Free with proof of £10 forum donation. Live south east London, work tower bridge. Collection only but can meet up within reason.

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I started the rebuild of my marin and I thought i would take some pics. If the build was going to have ‘vibe’ it would be ‘cockroach’ and there’d be a pile of scratchy anodised and faded shot-peened black aluminium next to an image of one on the mood board. But of course this fact, and the fact i’m not crust-funded to express my individuality, means there isn’t a mood board and everything is the product of fate/mistake. My mood is negative creep and i’m stoned, although this last bit is not true anymore.
Behold how banged up the frame is, the dropouts were redone after i snapped the old ones a couple of years ago and I did a bare minimum rattle can paint patch over the weld where you can see the burned and discoloured old paint poking through: lustrous!
The other expense toward longevity that looks shit and is back firing is the CK headset which is prematurely stiff and which i can’t now undo, even with a 12” wrench (black) on the top nut. Regard it now in its regalia of unsightly knarlded edges! To think a forumite offered me money that would pay for actual utilities at the point I deludedly thought removal would go anything like the way it’s designed. I’m going to delight Seabass, who originally fitted it, with this conundrum when I get time off from the clasp of existential panic that is my work life.
My one curiosity is the neo-retro first iteration dropper i took a punt on on ebay. I am really looking forward to riding with this! (oof that un sarcastic exclamation point feels wrong) Other parts feature in one of the photos, not featured are some azonic world risers and a syncros stem. regarding photos, i’m sorry about the pump that is in the way of the lines of the frame, although this bike, and perhaps my entire life, would be different had i the foresight to take it off before photographing. Some of the other things that have gone wrong that I can actually point to are the hideous free cantis that fit with so much slop even I wondered about standards and the rear wheel rebuilt with a halfords own brand rear axle and cones that needs a couple of 2.5 spacers to fit the frame, at least as far as i can tell. If anyone has some decent cantis to donate, like altus, please be in touch Anyway…

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Progress-digress. Seabass were so great, it took two people to prise the fused headset threads apart. Then i took it home and mis-diagnosed and came up with a new problem before I had reminded myself of the instructions and properly cleaned and regreased. Then it went back together properly. Now it looks rough but feels smooth, embodying the whole idea of the build. Getting this done allowed me to offer up my new stem for my, and your, admiration, so sick. I’m unhappy with the bars, I need a sugar daddy to buy me the easton carbon dh bars on ebay, so sick, bet they go for +£30: urgh. Next thing to do is space out the rear wheel, repaint the brake levers, and clean the cantis.

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I did not repaint the brake levers. predictably i left them with peeling corroded patina. Not really patina. Anyway not being a tart meant I had more time to bolt more stuff together: It looks like this now. Erotic late sun glare shot. I really like it. I was going to go with a half used 10spd chain, because I had it and i liked the idea it would hug the chainring better than 8spd. Then i wondered if it was one of those uni-directional ones and started scrubbing up an old 9spd one donated kindly by el_presidente. Who is actually the president, of being nice town. Luckily I had a 9 magic link so this should all be ok. OH man spacing out the axle was a faff. The washers i got were to big for the cassette lock ring to go over so i ended up filing out some smaller ones. i also ordered 60 quids worth of bbs, three in total in the process of getting one to work. If anyone needs a 115mm axle bb come to me.

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a friend's dad passed and he had this nice ti marin
some nice xtr bits, cook bros cranks, ibis ti (i think) stem, middleburn chainrings, flite etc

he's now looking to sell it on, any idea what would be a fair price?
have more pics if needed

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