Marin Team Titanium, Stumpjumper Comp: obsolete 90’s toss and a Stayer

Having just got hold of a 1996 Marin Team Titanium frame, all I can think about is brutally defiling it with a welder.

The frame is straight, dent-and-crack-free, and the perfect size. But it has long-since lost its decals, and been sprayed yellow then sanded back at some point in its life.

Given this, and the cute price paid, I have zero qualms about getting a disc tab welded on and building it up as a sub-10Kg rigid MTB/lolwagon for day trips and chucking around Epping.

Already picked up a pair of old Hope brakes and CK hubs, trying to work out the correct axle-to-crown length for a lightweight rigid fork (Pace RC31 or Taiwanese titanium).

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Obvious (CNC b2b ano) theme is obvious.

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Dis gon be good

Cool frame, where did you find it?

Supercool frame!

Are you letting go of the BE?

Looking forward to this. Kudos for getting one of @t0-ster 's nw chainrings. What cranks are you planning to use? And what colour are those CK hubs?
p.s. IIRC, these frames were made by Merlin. Might be cool to get some Marlin or Merin Stickers made to confuse people.

hell yeah!

Didn’t know the Marin Ti frames were made by Merlin, thought they were separate entities with coincidentally-similar names? Might get stickers with ‘MORLEY’S’ written in the Merlin font...

I’ve got a Middleburn RS7 crankset coming, with 94BCD spider. The CK hubs are a light lavender sort of colour. Would’ve preferred violet, but I can’t afford to be picky; got a cheap wheelset with them that I’m stripping.

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Nah, gonna keep that one, it’s a great commuter/dadbike, especially with guards & flaps.

@nefarious Got this frame from a Ti collector on another forum.

Great spec! I like the colour, kind of looks like polished titanium, so I guess it's a nice match.
Afaik they were two separate entities. According to this source Merlin built a few frames for Marin in the early days but judging by the look of your dropouts, yours doesn't seem to be one of them.

Woof this is gonna be guuud. Top notch spec, and yes get a disc tab 100p. Stoked to see a chainring on here too ♡

It’s a lovely frame but given the material and age I’d be a bit wary about adding a disc tab - why not go the trick V brakes route and get your purple on? Or a mullet with disc front and V brake rear?

Thanks, means a lot! Your blog has been a big source of inspiration. The purple chainring looks bonkers in real life, the machining marks give it a surreal CGI flavour.

@Big_Ted It’s a risk I’m willing to take. The frame was a bargain, and has lost its original finish so I’m not fussed about keeping it as a museum piece.

Was considering disc front, Magura hydro rim rear, but I already have a 26” bike with Maguras and the Marin just feels destined for a tab.

How about getting disc tabs for the steel frame and swap the wheels?

Sell me some of those stickers please.

Wheels on the steel bike are built with touring rims that are heavy af, this one’s going to get a tab and lightweight everything... Did David Bellamy’s voice inside me say “crabon rimz”?!

Unlaced and cleaned up the hubs. Undecided whether to get crabon 26" rims from Light Bicycle, or something like this: https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/element-rims.htm
...for a third of the price and an insignificant ~40g more per wheel. Terrible logos though, lasered-on and unremovable.

Any suggestions for similar lightweight (sub-400g ideally) ~25mm internal width 26" rims in plain black?

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much excite

Can I get away with a disc tab inside the rear triangle attached at chain and seatstays, which would act as a brace? Would this leave enough material after the IS-mount holes are taken into account?

Or orthodox outboard location and a brace?

I'll probably let Enigma work it out.

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More bits slowly arriving...

Anyone know off the top of their head which length BB spindle I’d need to run this RS7 with triple spider with a single ring in the ‘middle’ position?

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who's going to weld this on?

Hopefully Enigma, otherwise Vernon Barker... Heard the latter's Ti welds are a bit agricultural, but if it comes down to it, I'm not looking to build a museum piece.

Surgical bone graft/lipstick on swine?

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Sweet, neat & discreet

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I had the disc tab done by Patrick at Limit Fabrications.

Fantastic service and result, couldn't be happier. Patrick made custom tabs to fit the caliper within the rear triangle and enable the use of a larger 160mm rotor on the rear, as well as eliminate the need for a brace to be added.

The welds are perfect, and the cost was less than half of what Enigma quoted. Highly recommended titanium craftsman.