Drop bar 26er 90s Marin

I've got this. Rescued it from the tip, it served me well as a commuter and child seat lugger for a bit but I've got a long bike for kiddie duty now so I returned it to original spec. It's beautifully complete so I'll keep everything in a box but it's just not tempting me to jump on and take it for a spin.

I'm gonna do that hipster drop bar tourer thing that I don't need, but they look like a lot of fun.

DMR Super Motos

This bar, lever and shifter

These brakes:

So, yeah I reckon it'll look OK. It'll need an ahead adapter, and I'll stick some sort of front rack on. I'd love to stick a dynamo on it but funds don't really allow right now.

The are brilliant tyres, use to run them on my old norco, also maxxis holy roller are a good shout.

Looks like nobody has those DMR supermotos in stock. Schwalbe supermotos are no longer made in 26" and NOS on ebay are about £50 a piece.

I want something lightweight with a folding bead and a tread that rolls fast on tarmac but can handle a dry bridleway. I reckon the Panaracer Comet Hardpack might be the one. I've seen them for £40 a pair.

Hi, are you looking for the Midge Bars and Tektro levers?

I have a spare set surplus to requirements....

I've got an a-head adapter and 1-1 1/8 shim going spare if you need them?

Thanks both, just too late I'm afraid, I had a spending splurge yesterday afternoon. a-head adapter bought from e-bay, tektro levers from Wiggle and Midge bars from on-one. It's a shame, I actually costed out the whole thing and edited the shopping list to meet a budget - these second hand parts would probably have meant I wouldn't have had to sacrifice latex tubes and nice cables.

Went for these Panaracer Comet Hardpack tyres in the end. Kind of wish I'd gone for something in 2.5" for a bit more visual oomph. I was worried about chainstay room but there's plenty. I cable tied a pump I found in my parts box to the seat tube just to fill that clearance between seat-tube and tyre a bit - it's the thing that bothers me with 90s mtbs, those long chainstays look a bit gawky to me.

Stem and front rack are here, awaiting the arrival of the cockpit parts and the v-brakes then it's time to go for a burn on some bridleways. Took the long bike (unladen) across the fields at the weekend, it was fecken lush.

So much fun. Those bars are all they're cracked up to be.

Bar end friction shifters can GTFO, i'll look out for some NOS 7 speed thumbies i think. This bike is going to get a lot of use this summer i reckon.

tires look massive, let us see a decent drive side pic!

These things should only be viewed from the rear three-quarters.

See?

Looks mad fun tbh. Good job on this.

Fitted this Carradice saddle bag

But wasn't that keen on the potential for it to sag onto the tyre.

I fitted the cheapo ebay rack which was originally destined for the front until I snapped a bracket trying to bend it round the v-brake cable. Turns out there was enough length left to fit it to the boss under the seatstay bridge. Result, those carradice racks are well expensive, this cost £8 delivered.

Nice use of a bad situation with that rack. I opted for the slightly more expensive rack from sjs, which is a little more aesthetic in my opinion. But same function.

Nice marin by the way ;)
Did you use a quill to ahead adapter? I feel like you could clean up the headset/ steerer/ stem clamp area in some way. Maybe by using some spacers (even though you dont need them), or a tall stack stem like this one from Rosebikes. It could make the section of steerer above the head tube one consistant thickness instead of thick-thin-thick.

Maybe just me being picky, but looks cool!

Cheers. Yeah I'm using a quill-ahead adapter, I see what you mean about how it looks but this cockpit arrangement looks a dogs dinner whatever you do with it, unless you put it in a photo-friendly slammed position which is awful to ride on a lumpy trail. ^That stem would be great, but wouldn't function any better and this bike is one ugly duckling so I'll leave it be.

I'm loving the minimal saddle to bar drop, it feels so chilled out on smooth tarmac sections between the trails.

Well put, and makes sense. Function over form, theres gotta be room for that as well :)

Here's why all these drop bar mtbs have such aesthetically challenging spacer stacks - the drops are shallow but still fairly significant, particularly when you align them with your natural wrist angle. I've finished up with the drops about the same height as the elbow pads on my TT bike. That was set up using frickin laser beams, the MTB was set up by bombing round some tracks, adjust, repeat. I guess i'm pretty set in my ways with regard to comfort.