Marin Team DH 1998 | Bike Check

June 14th, 2016

By Andrew Dodd in Bikes,Features

1998 Marin Team DH Bike Check

Because XC was the most dominant type of riding in the mid-90’s, it was hard to convince riders that suspension designs were efficient enough to race with. In the UK it took until the 1997 National XC Championships where Paul Lasenby won on a Marin Mount Vision FRS for people to pay attention.

Off the back of Paul’s great result, Marin developed many popular full suspension bikes – like the Marin Team DH. Although pretty basic by todays standards, this pearlescent white and mango beast was hot on our Christmas wish list back in ’98!

Although the 165mm rear wheel travel might sound more like your trail bike these days, it was a lot of travel back then! Combine this with the slacker than usual 69.5degree head angle and a 1117mm wheelbase and the Marin Team DH was about as full on as DH bikes got at the time! Although team riders used the iconic MRP Ultra Speed chain device, the bike came stock with a White Industries crank and triple ring set up! This build is virtually original – bar the pedals and stem.

Although it says designed in the USA, the Marin Team DH was essentially designed by the UK R+D team, which featured riders such as Paul Lasenby; James Allaway and Dave Hemming.

When disc brakes first appeared, there were many different mounting options. In this case the Marin Team DH used a custom mount for a Hope C2 caliper. Note the Hope Big Un hub and quick release lever creeping in to shot.

The Fox Vanilla RC was one of the best go-to shocks in the 90’s. It’s simple design and no-nonsense construction saw it outperform many other shocks of the same era.

The business end of the Marin Team DH – a simple single pivot, with a low forward mounting for as little feedback as possible.

Although the original Marin Team DH came specced with Shimano 636 DX SPD pedals, the red DMR V8 pedals look alike at a glance.

Remember the Manitou X-Vert Ti downhill fork? This 6in travel fork featured Twin Piston Chamber damping, and ran on ultra expensive – but light – Titanium springs.

With adjustable compression, spring preload and rebound damping the X-Vert Ti was a high tech fork back then, despite running on skinny little 30mm stanchion tubes.

Hope C2 brakes were specced on the Marin Team DH – a sign that the UK design team had a lot to do with this beast. Do you remember how the closed system brakes used to pump up, and you’d have to unwind them to continue braking until they cooled down?

Hope later released the O2, which were an open system. They self regulated and had much better consistency – though lacked the adjustable dial on the lever cylinders.

The Manitou X-Vert Ti was a downhill fork with a huge 20mm axle. Back then the concept of bolt through axles seemed overkill – but the stiffer front end achieved by the axle was day and night from the more conventional quick release lever.

Hope also knew about the importance of front end stiffness and produced the Big Un hubs – with huge flanges to counter fork twist.

Mavic rims were the only ones worth having back in the 90’s, and the SUP D521 (and 121 predecessor) was the rim to have. Most rims were just pinned, but Mavic developed SUP technology – the rims were pinned, welded and filed down to give a perfect join. Wheelbuilders praised Mavic rims for their arrow straight construction before being laced up, which helped make the wheels stronger even tensioning was easier to achieve. There were various different versions – silver; CD (the grey anodised as shown) and the infamous Ceramic which had braking surfaces finished with a grippy ceramic coating.

Michelin made the absolute best downhill tyres in the 90’s, and the Comp 16 was probably the best you could get.

Whereas the Comp 24’s were better in drier and rockier conditions, the Comp 16 had it all – great casing; soft compound rubber and phenomenal grip on virtually every surface.

Remember the Answer Alumlite bars? The original bars came out around the same time as the Club Roost Go Fast bar, but thanks to a clever marketing strategy it was Club Roost that every one remembers. We had the original Alumlite bars in silver, and whilst they were immensely heavy they were reliable as tended to bend instead of snap. Although the 22.2mm size needed shimming out with an alloy shim, which always creaked.

It seems funny that a bike designed for downhill racing would come with anything except a chain guide and bash guard – but in the 90’s every one still loved a triple!

The Marin Team DH came with these White Industries cranks and chainrings – with a 26; 38, 46 combo – can you imagine using a 46t these days?