Otto Rax

YES I DID A SEARCH AND I FOUND NOTHING WORTHWHILE ON HERE OR GOOGLE OR ASK
that being said...

I work for REI and we sell Marins, so I couldnt resist when I found this old Marin mountain bike today at the local thriftery. It is lime green, with black speckled paint, matching stem and bars -- pretty slick rick. Full deore components, purple sovos front hub. Can anyone tell me anything about old Marins, what year they started, maybe a place to find photos or info on the net?

g-funk

Marin has always been a higher quality boutique brand of bikes, they were called Marin because they are based there but most of the bikes were made in taiwan. in the mid 90's they were extremely light and had a good name in XC racing and DH with Marla Streb riding for them and a few XC guys who were world cup winners. Their steel bikes were always very nice. Most of the early bikes were designed by Joe Murray and the higher level bikes had a joe murray signature sticker. what model is yours? they have kept the same names for the most part and the ranking in the line should be similar. palisades trail and bobcat trail being on the low end and Nail trail, Indian Fire Trail, and Pine Mountain being near the high end. I've owned a few Marin's even a Bobcat trail with a similar paint job to yours in the mid 80's with bull moose handle bars. better get some pics up though or you will get snubbed pretty hard.

pastorbobnlnh 

I found this Marin Muir Woods at the dump this summer. It's grey cromolly accented in purple "Marin" bits here and there. Checkout the purplish/blue tires.

Gonzoso

Crap, that was my first nice bike! I had it stolen from my house. I bought it used for cheap but insurance covered replacement value and that and a few dollars from mowing lawns got me a 2001 Marin Bobcat Trail that I still have today! I loved that bike, I beat the tar out of it!

mandrake

I believe all of their bike names where based on actual places/trails from Marin Co.

auchencrow

This is my c. '95 Pine Mountain -
It is my winter ride, but I sort of baby it - a really light weight MTB and very pleasant to ride. - And unlike my road bikes with Shimano SIS, the indexed shifting sort of works!

It has a rock-shox fork - I have not had it fade on me even in sub-zero weather (yet).
- I don't think it is original, but I do recall reading somewhere that they were available that way. I have some new alloy pedals on it now (it came with clipless) , and it will have studded tires this season.

... If I ever happen across an older Marin road bike for a decent price, I'll be on it.



PS - Headbadge and handlebars say "San Rafael, Calif." - I have seen later ones that said Made in Taiwan.

auchencrow

Otto - Pictures please !

curbtender

https://broadbandsports.com/node/34549

cyclotoine

Today they seem to be pretty generic, but I liked them a lot in the 1990s. My brother had a polished aluminum nail trail with STX/STX-rc and blue anno parts. Not sure when they broke into the road market but their early road bikes were contract built by true craftsman in Italy (bilatto) out of columbus tubing, there are some nice steel ones out there but hard to find.

juls

How do their road bikes measure up? A tange 900 (low end?) is o my local cl for $230 or so......worth it? (It is a faded rainbow type paint job)

juls

Ooops $250-mountain bikes better?

cyclotoine

fork looks bent out, tange 900 lugged frames are pretty common, unless the condition was excellent $250 is not worth it.

juls

Thanks-the fork does look strange, now that you mention it.

RobbieTunes

The Muir Woods is a very versatile bike, suitable for commuting, path rides, and even off-road, an excellent value if you find one. I've seen two Marin road bikes, the steel Verona, with Columbus tubing, 3x9 105 on Mavic rims; and a 7005 aluminum Portofino with a great fork and a wide-ranging fit due to the sloping top tube. I've seen a few different Portofinos, but only one or two Verona's. I took advantage of a big drop in the Euro a while back, built this Portofino with 3x9 Mirage, Khamsin wheels.

ish

Some of the old Marin catalogs can be found here: https://www.mtb-kataloge.de/

The old Marins ran the gamut from crap to excellent. The good models have Deore / Deore DX or higher. From what I have seen, the Eldridge Grade seems to be where the decent models start.

The Marin Rockstar forks are supposed to be pretty good rigid forks.

Otto Rax

Haha, this thread is almost three years old

auchencrow

And we STILL haven't seen a picture of your Spatter paint lime green Thrift Store Marin.

doggy

I have 2 marin road bikes.

https://imgur.com/InIcp.jpg
Bike is called "marin limited edition".This is the bike pictured in the original ad. (full shimano 105 7 speed.)

https://imgur.com/lr0ql.jpg
Here it is after i put some STI's on it.

I then changed the drive train to 9 speed campy veloce (a switch that i am happy to have made)

https://imgur.com/576qi.jpg
And finally, a 2001 Marin Verona. Full campagnolo mirage, veloce shifters. Stiff frame (or at least stiffer than the previous marin)

Heres a pic of my bedroom, and of the green marin with the campy.

dsp

Rather late reply but thanks so much for the link to the Marin catalogs.

I have been searching for about 14yrs to find out the model of my Marin. I exchanged for it 2nd hand at a local bike shop & have been asking at dealers ever since to no avail. I am certain that I have found it is a 1993 Nail Trail.

When I got it it had all Deore LX components with Marin lite tyres & Aluminium Alloy frame. & the Rockstar forks which where great up till I bent them in a wipeout 5yrs ago.

Still have the bike now, sentimental & in use.

mxsnow

I have a virtually new Indian Fire Trail,I have owned it since it was new in 1995 and it has seen maybe 30 miles of use and it is all stock except for the seat.I was looking to change but after reading some of these posts I might have to keep it and just get another bike to get dirty!

Connguy1956

My first post, glad to be here.

I purchased a 1990 Marin Muirwoods off of CL the other day. It is in remarkably good condition considering the vintage.it has the “Rasta” color scheme which is a bit loud for my taste....but it’s growing on me.

I wish that it had disc brakes and was a 29er like my GT Peace bike fixie.

pastorbobnlnh 

Welcome to Bike Forums Classic & Vintage.

You've resurrected an old classic post from almost 15 years ago. Wow how time flies!

If it had disc brakes it would be hard pressed to be either "Classic" or "Vintage" (there are exceptions but those are heavy and ineffective).

Keep posting so you reach your 10 posts and can include pictures.

thumpism 

My Marin Palisades Trail found discarded at the curb last year and converted to drops.


I repped for a company that sold Marins in the '90s and I think it was the Eldridge Grade that had the splatter paint.

ehallerm@gmail.

Can anyone tell me the effective top tube length of the 13" Marin Muirwoods from 2005 or 2006? There's one posted, that I might be interested in, but don't wanna drive out if TT is too long for my short bod. Thanks

Cycle Tourist

Bought on cl for$100. It's faded and we'll used but I like it.