vp's Cogworks: The Marin and Beyond

That's a nice dumpster marin

The Austrian paradox is most of bike theft is bikes like this. People steal them to ride home then leave them unlocked for the next drunk to find… or throw them in the river

Let's hope this one will be spared! I don't plan on leaving it outside overnight anyways :P

Progress! About a bucketful of grime already gone, but still a lot to clean up.
Fork and frame are slightly bent, the wheels sit off-center but it's still relatively safely rideable. Pretty much every bearing should be repacked at some point. Derailleur hanger is bent about 15° inwards, luckily I have a tool to fix that.
Proper rat.

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If you're looking for a bigger front rack, I'm selling mine (bag too)

Many thanks for the offer! I think this one will suffice for now.
Rad Merckx by the way!

Derailleur hanger is now straight. Installed a 14T cassette sprocket and popped the chain on. It's a somewhat functional bike now.
Baskets should arrive early next week, rear brake is on its way as well.
It's surprisingly light as it stands, but the rear rack and two baskets should give it some weight.
Crankset will be changed eventually, likely the saddle too.

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Long overdue pics of this one.

Got that itch though. That SSCX itch, that whispers:
"What if I ditched the mudguards, then slapped on some drop bars and knobby tires?"

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That's a nice looking marin,i would put a wide flat bar on it and ditch the guards,maybe a few c.x,tracklocross related stickers.

Well, I do have a 700mm riser lying around... Might as well!

Hawk Hill's done for now, I decided on not changing the crankset just yet. 32-14 gearing is quite perfect for the purpose. Might get a bit bigger basket later on. And the rear rack I had was toast so I need to buy one at some point.
I could probably shorten the cables as well...

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Well, not knobby, but wide tires nonetheless. And wide bars. Initial impressions: comfy! And looks quite cool too.
It's technically just a less capable mountain bike at this point (=gravel bike, fite me).

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such a clean build.
is that a brake lever with an integrated bell?

Thanks, and yes! AliExpress special. I'm about to change them though because these 4-finger models are way too long for my taste.

I realized in the afternoon that I've never made proper pics of this one...

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And some more. This paint job is impossible to capture properly...

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Very important kickstand update for the Hawk Hill, this middle-mounted one is much more stable and doesn't look as crappy. New BB is in the post which means I can swap cranks soon, I'll use the Deore LX ones that came with the Eldridge. Also thinking about sourcing a set of cheap mudguards.
And I need to level that rear rack a bit.

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Easy peasy.
I'll try ditching the tensioner and go magic gear, fingers crossed it works out, need to wait a few weeks for the new sprocket to arrive though.

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Aaaaand magic gear. Will get a new chain eventually because this one quite worn. And I should really clean up that seatpost a bit.

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