Chap at work’s offered me an old marin for a few quid. he bought it in 1991 and it saw plenty of abuse before being stored for years.

I intend to rebuild it and run it as a single speed.

I’m just worried if a 20 year old bike is still strong enough for off road riding? my biggest concern is the stem/handle bars.

I can’t see it being used for day rides in the peaks, but certainly blasting round my local trails and perhaps the odd trail centre if it rides nice.

Cheers
Matt

Why not replace the stem and bars then?

My first thought was replace them, but they are bright green and i doubt i’ll find anything new (or made after the 90s)to replace them with.

I was unaware that the colour of the bars / stem has such a specific part to play in how they worked.

Plenty of good kit over here if you want to stay period correct >> http://www.retrobike.co.uk

doh ! have you considered painting the bike another colour like red ? That way it would it would both be faster and you could replace the bars ?

It’ll be fine. I’ve got a 92 Cindercone with P2s and a Velocity stem on it, and it’s fine. 🙂

Will be fine IMO, I run several components that old, YMMV.

I wouldn’t be getting air miles on it though.

I replaced the stem and bars on my old Kona from the same period. Had to buy a headset adaptor for £10 – just slides into the steerer. Added a wee bit of weight but works fine and I no longer feel like I’m stretched out on a mediaeval torture rack, due to modern, short stem.

It’ll be fine – there are a lot of myths about metal fatigue. See how many old aluminium planes there are still taking thousands of passengers a year! And those wings bend like ****.

If you don’t want the Marin I will gladly take it!

Metal fatigues in use not when it’s sitting around, afaik. Steel can rust but the bars and stem won’t have.

I still ride my 1988 Explosif and I can’t say that I worry about mechanical failure any more than with any other bike – I expect the frame and forks (which are all that’s original)to outlive me.
I’ve probably had more enjoyment out of that bike over the last 20+ years than from anything else that I’ve ever bought.

I’d certainly replace 20 year old bars – I don’t think that I’d trust them….

Depends what and how your planning to ride with an old bike.

I got into the whole retro thing a few years ago and built a fantastic period piece just as I wanted back in the day. Sourcing it all and building it was brilliant fun, but actually riding it was not as much fun as modern bikes, and then there was the fear of breaking parts and body. I broke a few wheels and forks before calling it a day and selling it on to fund my modern bikes… a much better use of the funds for me. But the retro thing ws fun and I’m glad I did it as I met some cracking folks through retrobike *waves* 😀

PS – I’ve still got the broken and welded 1995 Kona Exlosif as an SS which got me onto retrobike in the first place… me and this bike will never be parted (except by death of either… and since the bike can always be welded again I guess that will be my death then 🙄 ).

Thanks for the advice guys, i reckon i’ll go for it and see how it rides.

Messiah – broken forks 😯 what sort of riding did you do with them?

Riding a twitchy 1991 race hardtail with 1″ of spongy crap rubber travel in the same way that you ride modern bikes is asking for trouble. For some reason I get away with it more on my old rigid Kona Explosif… but thats perhaps because it has the Kona magic dust they used to sprinkle on their frames in those days 😉

PS – 15 year old carbon fibre bouncy forks were possibly pushing things a bit far, but the 5 year old rigid ones fared no better… me and carbon fibre do not get on (PACE RC35 and RC31).

I still ride a 1994 rigid kona off road from time to time. You have to kind of re-learn how to ride, use your arms for suspension as much as possible, but it’s great fun. From my own experiences of steel frames and alloy components of the era, they are more likely to bend before they break/snap, so just watch out for any crash damage.