Retro mountain bikes

No, cranks where probably silver White Industries cranks

Thanks; just googled a bit and that does seem to be right for this vintage Eldridge Grade.

I had actually forgotten that the Marin mtb which i briefly owned in the early 90s was an Eldridge Grade, but it was the matte grey and flouro orange colour scheme. Possibly the model after the one above?

like this:

I believe the coloured ones came first (around 1991, 1992), the sober grey ones were as from 1994 or 1995. Later they switched to coloured ones again.

turns out that WI still make a square taper crankset:

http://www.whiteind.com/sqmtb

little bit over budget though.

The former owner probably sold tve White cranks separately as these go for good money. 😉

this possibly the original thing:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-INDUSTRIES-175L-94-58-BCD-44-32-22T-SQUARE-TAPER-CRANK-ARM-SET-SILVER-/273354179362

yeah, for sure. as above; $150 for a knackered set.

that fits.

would have been 1991 when I bought it from Mosquito Bikes on Essex Road. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!

Back then White Industries was one of the niche brands (cfr. Ringlé, Cook Brothers, Topline,...) but I guess they lost the public they aimed for due to the cooperation with Marin.

would have been 1991 when I bought it

Yep. I was in doubt back in 1991 but went for a Scott Windriver.

Saw this today, looks kinda fun

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I need your expertise on this one, never saw this GT before. I imagined It was not originally a single speed.
Anyone know the model, year ?
It's on sale for 180€. Worth it ?

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I'd be surprised that's a real GT...

Almost done...

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that's exactly my thought, the guy told me he bought the frame and build a single speed.
Rarely saw a GT bike with this shape.

Correct. GT bikes always had (one way or another) the "triple triangle" construction.

yeah, as I'm not an expert I thought It was maybe a city version.. but anyway the triple triangle is what make them unique and gorgeous. :)

I'm trawling ebay etc for 26r rims, found a seller of Sun Ringlé Rhyno Lites who has the rim I'm after, a mental 48h. It's a BMX shop you see. Also has some 36h silver or black. They're the 27.5mm outer version. And some natty polished/ano SE rims too. Anyone interested in sharing combined postage on something from them? Obvs got import duty to consider too :/
Here's their ebay shop
I'm going to swallow the postage on just my two if no-one's interested, just thought I'd throw it out there.

Looks amazing

Thanks!

Thank you for so much info on the Marin; really appreciated.

I have a couple of other questions, as I now quite fancy getting a similar bike for myself.

Was the Eldridge Grade the top of Marin's line up at the time?

And was the silver / grey bike which I have the last one before they started to be specced with rockshox suspension forks?

I kinda want to do a list of 90s 26" rigid steel top end bikes, but that might be quite a big job!

Many thanks.

Top end of Marin were Team Marin, Team Issue and Team Titanium. Some years they had Team Marin in the catalog, other years the Team Issue. Both were mostly made from Tange (Ultimate) Prestige tubing.

I have this strange Prestige fetish, I collect bikes that are made from this particular kind of tubing. 🙌

I believe Marin mounted Manitou, no? They had this "copy" of the Doug Bradbury Manitou full susp bike. Jurgen Beneke raced it on international DH level.

Marin/Manitou FRS

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Thanks; I'd seen a few like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223975511505

And kind of assumed that was how the model progressed.

Alright gang. I've got a rigid 90s mtb to commuter conversion on the go. Wanted to get some views on drivetrain. The dropouts are 130mm spacing and it takes 26" wheels so feels as thought it's either:

1. 3x7 - Find some retro wheels, use as originally intended

2. 1x7 - Retro wheels + narrow-wide chainring + clutched rear mech

3. 1x8/9/10 - I don't think I can go 8/9/10 speed on a retro 130mm OLN hub (correct me if i'm wrong) so would need to get some custom wheels built on a road hub. I suppose cold-setting the dropouts to 135mm might give me more off the shelf options but reluctant to do that

Whaddya reckon?