Pride 'n' Joy

I've been meaning to blip my Marin for some time now. Especially over the last week or so, because I am in the process of replacing many worn parts on my other (Road) Mountain bike. So far so good - the gears are all in working order and all that is needed now is new slick tires & brake pads. I will blip it as soon as it is road worthy.

My Marin (Mount Vision FRS) however has been in sound working order for as far as I can remember, mainly due to the fact that I rarely ride it through mud nowadays as this requires many hours of post-maintenance (time which I simply do not have). I bought it in 1996, just after this Front & Rear Suspension design came out. It was one of the first FRS mountain bike designs that actually worked (for those who are mechanically minded will notice the rear suspension pivot sits just in front of the middle chain ring and therefore making peddling more efficient, which was the key design factor to the Marin success story). The frame is so well made that Marin put a life time guarantee (yes really) on it, which includes the wear and tear of the pivot. So if a crack were to appear or pivot the became loose tomorrow the nearest Marin dealer will replace the frame with the latest version and send the old one away "for research & development". I would just pay labour costs. Now that is what I call a successful business plan! I am not sure if Marin still do this on their new bikes as I am a little out of touch with all things mountain bikes at the moment.

When I bought it, most of my (non-mountain biking) friends didnt see the logic in paying a 4 figure sum for something that has wheels but no engine. I could see their point, but when you are as fit as I was back then, ie climbing a "mountain" without taking my foot off the peddles, then bombing it down the drop offs, fire tracks & boulders like a magic carpet, it was simply worth every penny.
Pure satisfiction followed by pure bliss.
I also used it extensively for racing during the late 90's, which included the NWA races & two 24hr Red Bull races ( like Le Mans, but on bikes).

Nowadays I am just not as fit (much older too) as the usual blipping, family, blipping, work, blipping, DIY, blipping, comittments have taken over. BUT, maybe now is a time to take it up again as my lad will be needing a new bike soon as he has to stand 'n' peddle on his present one.