Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

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lettersquash
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Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by lettersquash »

OK, I admit this is partly just to celebrate/show off my "new" bike! But I am really happy to have found this for £65 from Resurrection Bikes of Harrogate (non-profit community project recycling bikes and supporting charities).
22-0492-Marin-Eldridge-Grade-MTB.jpg
And so, I want to ask for advice on how to improve and maintain it, and the first thing that occurs to me is the tyres are pretty worn, the front virtually bald. I'll be cycling on a range of surfaces, on and off road, but nothing massively technical. The off-road sections I'm thinking of will generally be gravel or earth tracks through woods and on the moors and - since I'm in the UK - they'll get muddy at times. The main use will be cycle camping (wild camping, that is), with four panniers.

I'm absolutely made up - weighed it when I got home and it's about 11.5 kg, the lightest bike I've had without stabilizers, probably! :lol: I also found one of the cables is frayed under the down tube (the nice people at RB are going to replace it for me), so I might look to replacing the others before too long. The teeth don't look particularly worn, but a new chain might be worth investing in too - any suggestions what to get?

Slight play in the front wheel bearing might need a tweak.

Oh, and what are we supposed to lubricate drivechains with these days - they just coat them in grease, but I think I see that's frowned upon these days, especially for off-road?

Cheers
¬~
colin54
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by colin54 »

Happy new bike, an expensive bike when new with good components.
I use Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard tyres for a mix of on and off road on a similar old mountain bike. I've used Schwalbe Land Cruisers which are a bit more knobbly, though still OK on the road, but I found them a bit puncture prone ( glass fragments working through). They do Land Cruiser plus now which may be more puncture resistant, but possibly heavier and a harsher ride (I've not tried them myself).
The Greenguards are available in 26'' (559)x1.75'' (47mm) or 1.5''(40mm), I use the 1.5'' ones but I'll probably use 1.75 next time for a bit more comfort at a lower tyre pressure.
If you do use one of these make sure they are seated squarely on the rim on inflation, there is a rubbing strip by the tyre bead which is there to prevent fretting of it's side wall on the wheel rim edge.
These are available at Spa in Harrogate, they also stock Land Cruiser Plus, I don't see Land Cruisers on their site.
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m14b0s142p3 ... uard-HS420
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m14b0s142p3 ... uard-HS420
For a chain I use these KMC 8 speed chains, (also fine on 7 speed cassette, if that's what you have).
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m8b0s111p27 ... 8-93-Chain
Depending on how worn your existing chain is, you may find a new chain will jump/skip on the existing cassette. In which case you will need a new cassette; or put the old chain back on and run that till it starts to jump. You will likely need to shorten the new chain by a few links to suit your bike's set up.
Method shown here on the Sheldon Brown site has always worked for me.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-a ... html#chain
Plenty of info about chain lubrication on there as well.
Happy Trails !
Nu-Fogey
Jupestar
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by Jupestar »

Nice buy…. Anything which rides for £65 is a bargain.

Tyres - very personal, depends a lot of rider and consideration of rolling Vs punctures trade off. What your likely to need on wet mud is likely to be very different to gravel paths and tarmac. Personally I like GravelKings from Panaracer - but everyone has their own favourites.

Cables - if in doubt change them. A pack for gears and brakes cables won’t set you back much - you’ll need some cable cutters though.

Chain - invest in a chain wear tool first. So you know when/if it’s gone. If it’s long gone and you need to change cassette, chainrings, even jockey wheels. That is worst case, and even with a new transmission teh bike will be a bargain.

Before any wholesale changes.. ride it.. see what you like and what you don’t like and go from there:.
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lettersquash
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by lettersquash »

@colin54 and @Jupestar

Thanks for those great tips and suggestions. I will get used to it for some time first, just tweaking brakes, indexing and that kind of thing, and see how it goes, but change the cables ASAP. Would you normally just thread new inners through (assuming the outers look ok), or replace the whole lot?

Thanks also for reaffirming that it was a good buy / bargain. Ah yes, Sheldon Brown, the biker's bible. So much about cable replacement I don't know where to start!
Jupestar
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by Jupestar »

Hard to tell with the outer, a can look fine on the outside, but rough inners. If everything is working ok, probably alright.

But equally, there is so little off them on that bike it’s not a big outlay just to redo them to be sure. Again you need cable cutters.
rareposter
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by rareposter »

lettersquash wrote: 19 Jun 2022, 9:42pm Would you normally just thread new inners through (assuming the outers look ok), or replace the whole lot?
I'd replace the whole lot. If I'm doing a refurb, especially on something that old, I'd strip the entire thing right down to bare frame and rebuild, cleaning everything as I go. There's little point in half-fixing something; if you're changing the inners, do the outers at the same time.

That chainset looks shot to pieces which doesn't bode well for the rest of the drivetrain - although I'm willing to bet if it's all worn together it might actually work OK. You'll only get problems if you try to replace one part of it at which point the mix of old and new will start to complain bitterly!

Change the grips as well - God only knows what sweaty minging hands and gloves have been all over those!
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lettersquash
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by lettersquash »

Jupestar wrote: 19 Jun 2022, 9:51pm Hard to tell with the outer, a can look fine on the outside, but rough inners. If everything is working ok, probably alright.
I'll see what they do with the one that's frayed, the rear derailleur.
But equally, there is so little off them on that bike it’s not a big outlay just to redo them to be sure. Again you need cable cutters.
There's always some blumin' thing. :roll:
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lettersquash
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by lettersquash »

rareposter wrote: 19 Jun 2022, 9:53pm
lettersquash wrote: 19 Jun 2022, 9:42pm Would you normally just thread new inners through (assuming the outers look ok), or replace the whole lot?
I'd replace the whole lot. If I'm doing a refurb, especially on something that old, I'd strip the entire thing right down to bare frame and rebuild, cleaning everything as I go. There's little point in half-fixing something; if you're changing the inners, do the outers at the same time.
OK. Maybe. I suppose it's a trade-off between replacing something and getting on the trail. I'm certainly not going to strip it down and rebuild it - I don't have the skills or tools or time - but a cable outer might be worth it...once I buy cable cutters.
That chainset looks shot to pieces which doesn't bode well for the rest of the drivetrain - although I'm willing to bet if it's all worn together it might actually work OK. You'll only get problems if you try to replace one part of it at which point the mix of old and new will start to complain bitterly!
Yes, I'd forgotten that. Could be expensive if/when it comes. I don't think it's as "shot" as it looks in the photo. I'm no expert, but I checked the teeth of the chainrings and cassette for that asymmetric wear, and they looked good. All the gears changed cleanly on my short test run. But I've not had much time to inspect it thoroughly.
Change the grips as well - God only knows what sweaty minging hands and gloves have been all over those!
Hehe, yeah, they're a mess. I'll have at those in no time.
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squeaker
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by squeaker »

If it ain't broke, don't fix it would be my approach. But, tyres would be worth spending some money on, given the effect they have on ride feel, let alone grip, also check the chain for wear, for the reasons mentioned above (and the likely consequences if it does need replacing).
Nice bike!
"42"
hamster
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by hamster »

Those White Industries cranks go for decent money. You have made a good buy.

Definitely buy new cables and outers, if for no other reason you may forever end up debugging iffy shifting and weaker braking.
New chainring sets can be had from Spa Cycles (94mm pcd) and the inner ring being steel rarely wears out.
rareposter
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by rareposter »

hamster wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 12:44pm Those White Industries cranks go for decent money. You have made a good buy.
I think they're Shimano cranks from about 1994 - sometime around the move away from Exage and into the SLX / LX split. They might be the OE White Industries copies that Marin did (under licence) for a while.
Should say what they are on the inside of the crank.
cycle tramp
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by cycle tramp »

Oh nice....
...I like the cantilever brakes on this one - I think 351Colin uses the same model - lots of adjustability..
..I also like the front mudguard- it's not standard and I reckon the mudguard blade, the mount and the stays have been sympathetically worked to produce strong final product. If your keeping the front mudguard on, it might be worth fitting a mudflap (to protect any new transmission buts you buy) and swapping out the rusty nut and bolt (at the bottom of the mudguard) for a stainless bolt and ny-loc nut...
..I think you might have a couple of rust zits on the headtube wear the cables have rubbed off the paint (all the best bikes have these :-) ). Sometime when it's sunny, wash then degrease that area, get some rust killer, put it on. After it's dry, just cover that area with some grey metal primer, then either top coat it with grey or silver paint. Once dry pop on some protective tape or some surf stickers...

(Any bike properly used will have scuffs, scratches and touch up paint jobs - they're like physical memories :-) )
Last edited by cycle tramp on 20 Jun 2022, 9:32pm, edited 1 time in total.
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hamster
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by hamster »

rareposter wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 1:09pm
hamster wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 12:44pm Those White Industries cranks go for decent money. You have made a good buy.
I think they're Shimano cranks from about 1994 - sometime around the move away from Exage and into the SLX / LX split. They might be the OE White Industries copies that Marin did (under licence) for a while.
Should say what they are on the inside of the crank.
No they are the Sugino WI versions. Trust me, I used to own one.
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lettersquash
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by lettersquash »

Thanks, all - what a nice place this forum is. I don't see a quote collection feature, so I'll just respond to some of the later replies.

I meant to check the cranks, but forgot. I noticed engraving on 'em, but didn't have my reading glasses on. Damn nuisance getting old. I'll have a look tomorrow.

I was happy it had cantis on, as I've had good experience with them before, although they might cause slight issues when it comes to fitting my pannier brackets on the front, but I can tweak that. The back should have clearance enough, as they hang on a standard rear rack. I took it for a few miles this evening after the guy fixed the broken cable, and my heels are pretty close to the brakes, in fact one kept catching the loose end of the transverse cable until I tidied it a bit.

He's not quite got the indexing right, so I'll try adjusting it. I'm not used to these trigger shifters, so it might be me. Does that thing of not changing up immediately, then does when there's a change of cadence or something, and shifting down seems to skip two sometimes.

Lots to tweak. It felt like a pretty hard ride, both through the wrists and derriere. My last bike was the opposite - weighed a ton, but had full suspension, so I got used to riding up curbs without standing up. Back to reality. It's a longer reach than is comfortable for me, at least with the saddle the right height - lifting the bars will help a bit, but I didn't have the right alan key with me. I can slide the saddle further forward, too, or get a shorter stem.

The bars are crazy short, made a lot worse by the bar ends. I'll try without those, or I might have to get something a tad wider. The bar ends aren't much use when it's already a bit of a stretch. On my last bike, I found the only comfortable saddle was off a child's bike, so I'll try that.

Nice tips from cycle tramp, cheers - I'll look at putting a mud flap on that front mudguard, and there are lots of rusty bits to fettle.
Jupestar
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Re: Marin Eldridge Grade - choice of new tyres, chain, general advice?

Post by Jupestar »

It does look like quite a long reach to be fair. I’ve got an old Claude butler I keep at my parents house which is similar. Very
Old school mountain bikes from the early 90’s!! Long top tubes and stems.

Is it one of their Tange Cromoly frames?
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