elroberto

my commuter bike got stolen so i'm scouring kijiji for my next ride. looking at older mountain bikes. so far these are what caught my eye; the eldridge (tange steel, deore LX,) is going for $100, indian fire trail (easton ultralight aluminum, deore XT) for 350 and KHS(true temper steel, deore LX/DX) for 190. I may be able to chip away at the price but wanna see what everyone thinks. this is in CAD so expect a higher price generally.

elroberto

katsup

If the Marin has a rigid fork, go for that one. It is almost half the cost of the next cheapest and the difference between LX and DX is minimal.

This is assuming all are rideable and in similar condition.

zukahn1 

If all is good I would with the Eldridge also nice hard frame rigid fork with moderate standard geometry which should be nice a nice commuter, That can take a rack or fenders if you want. Also at the price you will have some money to spare to get it nicely setup as a commuter.

elroberto

alrighty i picked up the eldridge grade today and the lady let me have it for 80. its pretty dirty and missing some of the original components it seems. i'll show pictures when I hit my 10 posts

DMC707

Good bike. I have an Eldridge. Wonderfully light Tange Prestige frame set. I’d pick it over the alloy framed bike all things being equal

zukahn1 

Nice to know wasn't sure if this one would still have the Prestige frame and Tange Prestige rigid fork they changed to much cheaper stuff on mid level along with nearly every maker around this time frame. The last of the mid level hard frames with good tubing are great. I have a couple I have picked up dirt cheap that I use a couple are actually trash

Took this one back to the thrift store Fairplay were it came, just to heavy. But it looked good.

A slightly heavy but nice frame curb found built with junk parts a short haul transport bike/ For the clunker challenge


A soft font but very nice bike and trash save even with coponent's
curb finds.

DMC707

Youve found some very nice thrift store and dumpster finds ! Could it be your location? PEople who live in paradise and are riding the latest and greatest just dispose of pretty nice 26" rigs?


I got a "Pro deal" to ride Marin mountain bikes in the mid 90's through a semi local to me shop and got what was supposed to be 2 MArin Team's --- when it came time to pick them up, - only one was a Team and the other was this Eldridge --- They were close in spec, with chief difference being the Eldridge was LX componentry vs the higher end stuff, ---- so i just thought, - "That rear derailleuer is not going to last 10 rides before being ripped off by a tree root anyway, and the only other changes were it had rack mounts and house brand bars, post and seat -- which would be swapped anyway so i loaded 'em up

There are other differences -- the Eldridge top tube is 22.5" while the Team's is 23.5" in a 17" size. The Team's cable guides were on the headtube instead of the downtube as it was thought back then that you used the shortest housing run possible for best shifting/braking performance

So the Team was a no compromise, no holds barred racing machine while the Eldridge is a little softer around the edges , but both were Prestige tubing. My Team came with a Flite saddle, latex inner tubes, and Answer Taperlight handlebars and as a result was 2 pounds lighter, -- but we're talking 22.5 lbs vs 24.5 pounds so neither one was heavy

I still have the Team frameset also, but now that its coming time for me to build up a bike to ride gravel with my Kansas buddies, -- the Eldridge is getting the nod. Those frames are nice enough that if my gravel experiment works out, im having that top tube dent repaired and some disc tabs welded on at the same time

zukahn1 

I really like the thumbies LX & DX shifters with easy on the bar friction over ride some over the nicest shifters I have even put these on drop bars for a couple builds.

elroberto

great looking bike. the one I got seems to have almost no original parts and most the decals are peeling unfortunately. very light and nimble handling. definitely will modify some things over the winter

elroberto

will post shortly...

elroberto

DMC707

Those were actually an "upgrade" by me years ago --- there was a hidden 8th click (or would that be 7th click? IDK) that allowed these to be used with 8 speed and still index. I hated Rapidfire at the time and still preferred either thumbshifters or GripShift in that time frame

DMC707

Nice ! Thanks for posting the pic ! - Bike just needs some TLC and cleanup is all

I think it may be more original than it appears to you at first

You'll note my example above has thumb shifters, while yours has Grip Shift ---- either one would be an era appropriate upgrade over that generation Rapidfire --- as the LX version was fragile . and since the brake levers were integrated with the shifter pods, a swap to Gripshift would have necessitated new brake levers --

But your brakes and derailleurs look to be LX --- thats not the stock crankset, but back then the stock crank may very well be the White Industries crankset like mine has --- ITs on the list for replacement from me because it has squeaked almost since day one, so im guessing the original owner may have had a similar experience and swapped it out

It looks l

elroberto

I got another one... This one was listed for free so I traveled 3 hours by bus and train after work. I'll be home at midnight haha. 1993 Indian fire trail I believe

elroberto

I was literally gonna buy a 99' IFT a couple weeks ago for 350 (if not for you guys). The Marin gods have blessed me

elroberto

My justification is that I was looking for cheap bikes I could use for spare parts for the Eldridge grade. I prefer the feel and astetic of rapid shifters vs the grip shifters. Missed out on a cheap Rocky mountain hammer race but can't complain.

t2p

a frame built with Tange Prestige tubing will typically have the Tange Prestige frame emblem

t2p

the bike in this picture appears to have a Manitou (2 ?) fork that requires service

good chance new elastomers are needed ; the elastomers could have deteriorated ('melted')
.

elroberto

Okay good to know. I don't have any experience with suspension systems and will have to watch some YouTube videos before I attempt to service it. This bike needs a lot of work, it was free for a reason lol. The shifters are sketchy as well.

DMC707

Great score !

As T2p said , might want to source some elastomers for that fork, -- but it looks too clean to be a parts bike -- i really like steel myself , but that aluminum will polish up to look like chrome and the MAnitou will be a good fit if you can get it bouncing up and down again

zukahn1 

The Manitou is pretty stiff short travel fork so you can likely just adjust to max stiffeness and effectively run it as a hard fork.