Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Rode around some trails. Bike is great, need to play around with tyre pressures though think they were a bit hard. No issues with stem length/reach while riding, feels spot on actually!

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👌

How did you decide on the geometry?

Well I measured my old mtb and compared a few otp offerings online, the pole Taival and the pipedream moxie looked very nice but were either unavailable or very expensive. After a few emails back and forth with tweaks and suggestions from Marino we apparently arrived at almost the exact same geo as the stif squatch (see previous page) and as @pit says, there’s not much difference in geo between the modern HT offerings available atm.

In other news, I bought new baskets for the little shopper/cargo bike. With the old trailer hooked up as well, I’m able to put off taking the recycling out at least 4-5 more days than previously!

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I've also messaged the person selling this locally, hoping to grab it on friday if the stars align...

How is going with the Marino? I'm thinking about getting a fully frame by them somewhere in the future 🤔
Edit: did you get the Somec?

All the nice frames in Sweden are in Little London :/

Whoops sorry, I was away and missed your reply

The marino is performing faultlessly in sharp contrast to myself. I didn't get the somec in the end after a bit of advice in the somec thread about it probably not being a somec...

Loved the Marino build, I had totally missed out on it all along and only realised when I searched Marino in the MTB ride thread as I've been pining for something shorter travel and less heavy duty than my Capra for normal rides... Marino seems even more like a great option after reading this!

Yeah great value if you’re prepared to wait

I might gradually be getting slightly less shit at this. Went out for a few hours with a friend this morning, wet and muddy as expected, finished with a beer for lunch and feel like I’m ready for the weekend!

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The Marino looks amazing and I'm very tempted now, having been to Bike Park Wales on my old and much loved Inbred, to see what might be possible with Marino. Alternatively I could try to improve my skills etc...but where's the shiny new bike in that?!

Where indeed? Go for it!

After a lengthy hiatus I’m back to bike fettling yet again. Got really bored with it and have absurdly enough mostly been riding my bikes instead of changing things around all the time. Anyway I bought this beauty a few weeks ago for the equivalent of £20:

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The idea is to make it a rideable pub bike, mechanically functional but unremarkable and unlikely to get stolen. The seatpost turned out to be well and truly stuck which took me about two weeks to sort. No amount of leverage and penetrating oil helped. Frustrating but also interesting, I’ve never had to dissolve aluminium in sodium hydroxide before.

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Fizzy bubbly

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Finally got it out.

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Satisfied that I would actually be able to use the frame I then chased all threads and used a small honing tool to smooth out the inside of the seattube.

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A 27.2 post would’nt fit but a 27.0 slid right in. I’ve also cleaned and greased the hubs, trued the wheels, cleaned and lubricated the mechs and ordered a bunch of parts which should be arriving in a week or so. Found an old battered flite.

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Sprayed the inside with linseed oil and dabbed some on the rusty bits of the outside as well as where the NaOH ruined the paint. I’ve had good luck with this method stopping any further rusting, and I like seeing the battle scars.

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A good 'forum pub bike' which means obviously functioning better than it has ever done before, with no doubt some quite nice parts here and there. Good work on the seatpost!

Fun project

Yeah that’s the idea - smooth and functional but crappy looking to 99% of people.

Debated tyres back and forth with myself. Went with these schwalbe Billy Bonkers in black, didn't think gum walls would work with the yellow frame.

I managed to strip the pedal threads dismantling the cranks, so I've ordered these cheap m361 replacements. May or may not strip the black paint, probably not.