Restoring the Marin

[PutAwayWet]

I had some free time today, so I decided to start restoring my first nice mountain bike. I worked all summer to buy it back in 1995 - a Marin Bear Valley SE, complete with Rock Shox Judy XC (80 mm of elastomer bliss) and STX RC components. I rode it for eight years before finally getting a new bike. This Marin was the bike that really made me fall in love with biking, so I figured it should stop hanging on the wall and get back to action.

Here's a photo of the frame as it sat on my floor:

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Lots of surface rust had found its way through the paint in 12 years...

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Tange!

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Man don't cable guides suck to sand around. I was originally just going to sand the visible rust, but there was more hidden under paint than I thought...

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Brass from the brazing :)

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[PutAwayWet]

Check out that head tube

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The bottom of the down tube

15058

I ran out of time (and hand strength) to sand the whole thing, so I stopped after the head, down, and top tubes...

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For primer I used SEM Rust-shield Barrier Prime (http://www.sem.ws/product.php?product_id=154) (from a rattle can ;) )

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The primed tubes

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I got some pretty decent non-rattlecan paint from the auto paint store. It was a mis-tint, so I got it on the cheap. It's a nice dark burgundy. That paint will go on with a real spray gun, as will the clear coat. It took me about 4 hours to do what you see above today... I'm hoping to have the frame done sometime in the next month or two. We'll see what life throws at me, and hopefully that's realistic. :cool:

[rockhound]

Hey PAW,

I saw some MARIN decals on ebay for about $10...it might be worth a look.

Your first "real" bike sounds kind of similar to my first "real" bike...1995, STX and STX-RC. I had a chance to buy it back recently, but the guy wants the same amount I paid for it new (ugraded of course).:rolleyes:

[Spalls]

That's a great way to spend some winter hours, isn't it? Very satisfying - thanks for the pics. I just finished rebuilding my first real bike, a 1973 Atala. I do this about every 8 years or so. I run if on pavement and also have a second wheelset with 'cross tires for rails-to-trails.

[Cyclenaut]

Nice toes (top pic). ;)

[PutAwayWet]

Make sure you keep posting your progress. I love to see old bikes given new life. Are the old components going back on or does it get new accessories?

I still have most of them, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I may buy an ENO Eccentric rear hub and make it a single. The original components are just that - original - and after 8 years they're definitely a bit 'tired'. When I bought the bike, I got a size too big. So I'll probably try to play around with the bar/stem/seatpost combo to try and get a better fit.

I saw some MARIN decals on ebay for about $10...it might be worth a look.
I got some off ebay a few years back. I'm hoping I can find them. Only problem with them is that they're all of the smaller variety, not the large lettering that was on the down tube originally. I'll have to check out ebay some more.

How about that STX RC, huh? Man that stuff took some major abuse from me and still worked well the day I upgraded.

Nice toes (top pic). ;)
Hey, every photographer like to get a little of themselves in each picture, right?

[phlatlander]

How about that STX RC, huh? Man that stuff took some major abuse from me and still worked well the day I upgraded.

My '95 Trek 930's STX RC is still going strong!

Keep up the progress - this is fun. I have a couple street frames that may be getting this treatment if I ever find the time, although I think I'll use my brother's media blaster to avoid carpal tunnel...;)

[mimbresman]

If I ever get back to the USA on a permanent basis, I need to do that to my old Univega.

Cool project PAW.

[PutAwayWet]

My '95 Trek 930's STX RC is still going strong!

Keep up the progress - this is fun. I have a couple street frames that may be getting this treatment if I ever find the time, although I think I'll use my brother's media blaster to avoid carpal tunnel...;)

I was hoping to blast this frame, but I couldn't justify $50 for a bag of bead.

[myron]

I was hoping to blast this frame, but I couldn't justify $50 for a bag of bead.
Think random,your sanding marks may show if you're not carefull.
I got away from sandpaper a while back and my results have been much better since.

No way I would spend $50 for a bag of bead either.

[rockhound]

I was hoping to blast this frame, but I couldn't justify $50 for a bag of bead.

Especially when you can get a disc-compatible Nashbar frame for $45...

[PutAwayWet]

Think random,your sanding marks may show if you're not carefull.
I got away from sandpaper a while back and my results have been much better since.

The primer I used was fairly high-build. That, and it got 3-4 coats. I may have over primed it, but the sanding marks are completely covered.
Especially when you can get a disc-compatible Nashbar frame for $45...Yeah, but you get what you pay for.

[myron]

the sanding marks are completely covered.

I hear ya man, remember what I said though......;)

[PutAwayWet]

I will. We'll see how my first attempt at painting anything comes out. So if you don't sand, and don't spend the $$ on bead, what do you strip with? (besides the pole, lights, and loud music)

[PutAwayWet]

Actually, I'm in the process of making a new shop for myself, too. If anyone's interested in seeing pics of that process, click here (http://picasaweb.google.com/RollingBodhisattva/HousePictures). I wish I had taken a few pictures before we started. It was an old half dirt half cement, half covered in wood half in carpet, moldy, musty, just overall plain nasty 1890's basement. Soon, it will be a bike shop worth envying! ;)

We dug all the old concrete out, dug out for drains, and lowered the grade anywhere from 1-8". All by hand of course. One day we hauled out an entire dump truck full (14 yards) of old concrete and dirt. I slept well that night...

[myron]

I will. We'll see how my first attempt at painting anything comes out. So if you don't sand, and don't spend the $$ on bead, what do you strip with? (besides the pole, lights, and loud music)





Papa said to Mama as he
Passed around the blackeyed peas
Well Billy Joe he never had a lick of sense
Pass the biscuits please
I’ve got four more acres
In the lower forty still left to plow
Mama said it was shame about
Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin’ ever comes to no good
Up on Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me Billy Joe
Has jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Tell me brother

Sister let me recollect
How me and Bob and Billie Joe
We put a frog down your back
At the Carroll County picture show
Weren’t you talkin’ to him
After church last Sunday night
I’ll have another piece of apple pie
Lord I know that that I better make
friends with flat white

[rockhound]

Yeah, but you get what you pay for.

You'd be surprised, I was...;)

[myron]

PAW, actually of late I've used an angle grinder with a fine wire wheel on it. It gets in around the welds better and leaves a smoother more random finish,but still enough tooth for the paint to bite.

[PutAwayWet]

PAW, actually of late I've used an angle grinder with a fine wire wheel on it. It gets in around the welds better and leaves a smoother more random finish,but still enough tooth for the paint to bite.

What kind of a wire wheel? Just something I can pick up at the local auto shop?

[phlatlander]

PAW, actually of late I've used an angle grinder with a fine wire wheel on it. It gets in around the welds better and leaves a smoother more random finish,but still enough tooth for the paint to bite.

Also, would that wire wheel work on aluminum, or do you think it'd be too soft? I'm more likely to get something done if I can do it in my own garage...

[myron]

What kind of a wire wheel? Just something I can pick up at the local auto shop?

Yeah, like from Home Depot...nothing special.

[myron]

Also, would that wire wheel work on aluminum, or do you think it'd be too soft? I'm more likely to get something done if I can do it in my own garage...

yikes, I dunno. Maybe you could try a spot and see.

3M makes a plastic bristle wheel for stripping gaskets from aluminium heads.

[PutAwayWet]

So I took your advice, Myron. My f'ing frame is ruined! You @#$!@#$%!!!!

Just kidding. It worked great :) I found that the 100 grit sandpaper was much faster, though. The wire wheel I got was a fine wire wheel (similar to this one (http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/83133.jpg)). It wasn't super aggressive, and actually kind of came apart a little on me as I tried to shove it around cable guides and stuff. I used it in a regular drill. What I ended up doing was hitting most of the tubes with the paper, then getting the harder spots with the wheel. Then I 'polished' the whole thing with the wire wheel before I primed it. The wire wheel really did a great job of taking the roughness out where I had sanded. Phlat, I think a wire wheel like the one I used would work great on aluminum. It wasn't aggressive enough to harm the brass brazing on my frame. Just be smart about how much pressure you apply, and don't let the wheel spin in one place forever and you should be fine. You could always try it on some old handlebars or something first. They're cheap - like $4 or so for the one I got.

Anyway, I forgot my camera today but the bike is all primed now. I'm going to wet sand the primer and give it one more light coat, then wet sand again before painting. I'm hoping to paint in the next couple weeks! For that, I will bring the camera, I promise.

[myron]

Thats a good point about the drill. I bet it would be the ticket for alloy. I tried a drill a while back on steel and also found it to be a bit slow. On a HD angle grinder at 20,000 rpm it strips paint to bare metal at about 1 linear inch per second.

Looking forward to pics....

[myron]

I'm going to wet sand the primer and give it one more light coat, then wet sand again before painting. I'm hoping to paint in the next couple weeks! For that, I will bring the camera, I promise.

Something else I forgot to mention. You can fog a light coat of cheep flat black over the primer before you wet sand. This is called a guide coat and helps to show low spots and imperfections during sanding. If you paint in a light color,or even a flat light color it won't matter too much. Glossy dark colors can be a problem showing every little sand mark and all. If you rattle can 600 grit works well for primer prep, 320 is the ticket if you use a spray gun with auto paint.

[PutAwayWet]

Thanks for the tips. I couldn't find a non-aggressive wheel that was rated to that many rpms, so I had to use the drill. You definitely want to be careful you don't exceed the rpm recommendations - or you'll be impaled with wire all over :eek: I am going to do the guide coat. I was planning on using 1000 grit, though. Is that too fine? This is my first attempt at this whole painting thing. :)

[rockhound]

You definitely want to be careful you don't exceed the rpm recommendations - or you'll be impaled with wire all over :eek: I am going to do the guide coat.

I thought that was just part of the experience.

My father-in-law has a sand blaster, and I am near some of the purest optical sand in the world, which I can pick up off of the side of the road for free. If only the sand blaster was working consistently.

[dyed]

Just a note about wire and soft materials...
I used a wire brush on a die grinder with good results on my Duke lowers (magnesium). It actually looks good enough that I just shot it clear to keep it from oxidizing.

[rockhound]

Just a note about wire and soft materials...
I used a wire brush on a die grinder with good results on my Duke lowers (magnesium). It actually looks good enough that I just shot it clear to keep it from oxidizing.

hmmmm...anyone heard of a magnesium lower catching on fire? It would be very bright! :D

[phlatlander]

hmmmm...anyone heard of a magnesium lower catching on fire? It would be very bright! :D

...Let it burn
Wanna let it burn, wanna let it burn
Wanna wanna let it bur-urr-urn
I feel insayee-ane...

[tryandgetme]

magnesium has a flash point of approximately 1200 degrees. pretty unlikely your die grinder will set it off. I remember in highschool it took a propane torch and a thin little whisp of it to make it burn, your fork lower will probably dissipate heat too fast to do it.

[rockhound]

magnesium has a flash point of approximately 1200 degrees. pretty unlikely your die grinder will set it off. I remember in highschool it took a propane torch and a thin little whisp of it to make it burn, your fork lower will probably dissipate heat too fast to do it.

If you were to grind off some flecks of magnesium, I bet you could get them to burn pretty hot.

I don't think you want to breathe any particles in either.

[PutAwayWet]

Just to update the link I posted earlier with pics of my new 'bike shop' (basement) (http://picasaweb.google.com/RollingBodhisattva/HousePictures) in progress....

[myron]

Howdy Paw! The 1000grit paper will be a bit fine for good tooth for the paint to bite. The 1000 grit is good for wet sanding paint runs or dirt specs,followed by 2000,and finally rubbing coumpound/polish. Spray can paint can be a bit thin,so be extra carefull if you have to sand out any imperfections.

[PutAwayWet]

Here are some shots of the newly painted frame:

Sanded primer:

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Primed Dropouts:

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After one coat:

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What? I didn't order pink paint!?!!?!?!? After 3 coats:

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Pink???? WTF?!?!? After 5 coats:

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[rockyrider]

Fluorescent colours are so 80's

So what colour of paint did you order?

[PutAwayWet]

Man, when I see that guy at the paint store I'm gonna paint HIM pink...

Finished Dropout:

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Finished dropout in natural light sans flash:

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Hey, maybe that's not so bad....

Finished frame color in natural lighting:

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I guess that's not a bad color. Hey Myron, any guesses on how much that's going to change when I clear coat it? I guess if I was going to do this again I would pick a color that A) I wanted, not a mis-mix that I had them darken; and B) Go darker on the paint color. Like a super deep dark forest green or something. I got silver decals for it (not original, Marin never got back to me). I still need to wet sand the paint and put the decals on, then clear it. I ordered some bargain closeout parts for the frame, so when I get back from Florida in April I'm hoping to build it up ASAP!

There are a few more pics here (http://picasaweb.google.com/RollingBodhisattva/RestoringTheMarin), if your interested...

It's funny how color perception is so incredibly influenced by lighting conditions.

[myron]

Wipe it down with alchohol or something.The way it looks before the solvent dries is how it will look with the clear coat. Deeper,wetter....

[rockhound]

Deeper,wetter....

Stop it Ken!

[PutAwayWet]

So I never did finish the paint job on the frame, and it sat on a pile of tires for a year and a half. Shit. Long story short I decided to start over, but there was no way in hell I was going to re-strip that frame again. I also got to really inspecting my On-One, and realized it needs some new skin as well or the rust was going to take over.

Another problem was that I've been violating B=n+1 all summer - at least since the Gunnar when down with the fatal crack. Now the On-One is down while I wait for crank parts, leaving me at B=0 which everyone knows is unacceptable. The only 'good' (gotta see the bright side somewhere) thing is my knee's too f'ed up to ride anyway, so I have some time to get stuff back in good shape while my knee's healing.

I took both the Marin and On-One frames down to a local powdercoater this morning. For single stage coating on the two frames and one fork, including blasting of each, it came to $225. I went with a textured charcoal for the On-One:
25092
and a textured white for the Marin, which they didn't have a picture of but is the same finish as the charcoal, but in a dull white. I stayed away from the gloss finishes to save money and help hide the numerous 'imperfections and battle scars' on the frames.

I was soooooo tempted to go with this:
25090
but for a bike I'm only riding until I can afford a new hand-built frame, I couldn't justify the extra $65... That sure would have fit with the tank-like nature of the On-One, though :)

Getting these frames back up and running again gives me infinitely more options than I have now ;) and actually equates to B=n+2 :)

I'll post some pics when I get the frames back in a week or two...

[rockhound]

Whatever happened to the Gunnar?

It hasn't appeared on my doorstep yet...

[PutAwayWet]

Whatever happened to the Gunnar?

It hasn't appeared on my doorstep yet...

I got in contact with Gunnar and they said it was the same price to replace the tube as for a new replacement frame (half off retail - not a bad deal). My last email to them asked about tougher frame options so that I wouldn't end up breaking another one (like maybe a Ruffian style or something), and they never got back to me. I can't afford to replace it right now anyway, so I'll just get back in touch with them when I finally get some funds again. For now, the parts on it are going to end up on the Marin I think...

As far as what I'm going to do with the frame itself? Not sure if I have to send it in to Gunnar to get the replacement discount or not. Until I find out, it'll hang in the basement. What a sad existence for such an awesome frame :(

[rockhound]

Where are the built up pics?

[PutAwayWet]

coming.... (soon I hope :) )

[PutAwayWet]

Well, I realized my attempt at a home paint job sucked nutz, so I got the frame powder coated - a silver-white texture. Looks pretty cool, and the texture hides the imperfections (read: dents) in the old frame. Here are some pics of the 'finished' project (when is any project really finished?):

On the stand:

26341

After the first ride:

26342

26343

26344

26345

I ended up putting the Inbred fork on, because the A-C hight of my Vicious rigid fork was over an inch too long and I didn't want to risk damage to the Vicious fork by running it too stretched out on rough, rocky trails. The Inbred fork is about 9 mm too short, and on my first ride with it I was reminded a couple times of that, once almost high-speed endoing in an area with no soft landings :eek: The rest of the parts came off the broken Gunnar and On-One frames; the ENO rear wheel, cranks, seat/seatpost from the Gunnar; the pedals, front wheel, fork, stem and bars from the On-One.

[PutAwayWet]

The best part: It survived it's maiden voyage, a 27 mile rumble through Bear Brook State Park :D :D :D (yes that's my ass in the first picture)

[phlatlander]

Well, I realized my attempt at a home paint job sucked nutz, so I got the frame powder coated - a silver-white texture. Looks pretty cool, and the texture hides the imperfections (read: dents) in the old frame. Here are some pics of the 'finished' project (when is any project really finished?):

On the stand:

26341

After the first ride:

26342

26343

26344

26345

I ended up putting the Inbred fork on, because the A-C hight of my Vicious rigid fork was over an inch too long and I didn't want to risk damage to the Vicious fork by running it too stretched out on rough, rocky trails. The Inbred fork is about 9 mm too short, and on my first ride with it I was reminded a couple times of that, once almost high-speed endoing in an area with no soft landings :eek: The rest of the parts came off the broken Gunnar and On-One frames; the ENO rear wheel, cranks, seat/seatpost from the Gunnar; the pedals, front wheel, fork, stem and bars from the On-One.

Looks great! Love the finishes of the frame+fork together. Get you a 29er wheel up front to level the ride back out. ;) :cool:

[PutAwayWet]

Looks great! Love the finishes of the frame+fork together. Get you a 29er wheel up front to level the ride back out. ;) :cool:

That's not a bad idea at all...

[rockyrider]

That's not a bad idea at all......or a Cane Creek S-3 +5mm headset with the taller lower bearing race... then it would only be 4mm too short.