[Marino 26 street build]

 

Frame: Marino (based on early hex geo)

Fork: Marino 

Headset: Hope

Stem: Wake 90x25

Bars: Arcade riser

Seat: inspired combo 

Wheels: hope pro 2 ss on spank spoon 32s

Tyres: Billy Bonkers (decent compound)

Chain: KMC 

Cranks: Sram GX 

Cogs: inspired integrated bash and sprocket, gusset wide base on the rear - 22:17

Pedals: DMR v12 mk2

BB: custom stainless cups to convert from Spanish to BSA, running GXP bearings 

Brakes: shigura - Shimano XT levers, MT5 calliper on the rear and MT4 up front both with standard pads and HC storm 203mm rotors 

Grips: Ergon

This is how it was when I got it:

 

 

 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Quick vid of a small line I did today

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

A few more pics from todays ride:

[Shimano Lever + Hope Calliper - 6 Months on]

I thought my shiguras were exotic, but this is impressive! 
 

Now you need to settle on name…

Homano?

Shimope?

Haha

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

2 hours ago, Swoofty said:

Wow! That's quite a looker. Proper urban camo

Thanks mate, I’m so happy with the finish, really looking forward to a proper ride on Saturday 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Build complete!

The bike feels great, running a 90x25 stem keeping the front a little lower relative to the bb - feels a little more old skool like that somehow. 

 

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

14 hours ago, Swoofty said:

Oh right, steel frame. Good thing you're paying attention!

@Swoofty To be fair, if I was being weight conscious I probably would have gone for aluminium and used a compound to prevent ceasing. But the stainless steel was readily available and didn’t cost me a penny (I’ve built several wheels for my mate so it was a favour). Thanks again for the pointers on this conversion and inspiring a solution! 
 

 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

41 minutes ago, Luke Rainbird said:

Looking good man, nicely done. Geo looks in a similar ballpark to an early Hex, so will no doubt ride as well as it looks 

My old Marino was arguably the most fun bike I ever built. Sure as shit wasn't the "best" in any other respect but that's largely irrelevant if you're enjoying yourself. It got used and abused and was genuinely missed once it move on to pastures new (Paging Adam Whittingham...)

Thanks @Luke Rainbird, I’ve had fun doing this one.

Yes the geo is based on the early Hex, so the numbers I posted above need to be double checked once finished. 
 

Been itching for a modern street 26, so I’m really looking forward to having a blast on this

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

40 minutes ago, The Dark Knight said:

Looking good so far, those bottom bracket cups look very nicely machined.

Do you know the geo of the frame? I looked at these frames years ago.

Thanks @The Dark Knight

Main numbers as follows:

Wheelbase: circa 1030mm
Chainstay: 380mm 
BB: +20mm (I need to check this with the correct forks on it)
Head Angle: 73.5˚

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

59 minutes ago, Swoofty said:

Well done! That looks great! What flavor aluminium did you use?

The heavy one, stainless steel haha 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Disc wise I’ll be running either 203mm magura storm HC rotors, or some Shimano 180mm, I’m currently undecided.

The brakes themselves will be shigura. The bike came with Shimano XT’s front and rear. I happen to have a spare MT5 calliper, which I’ll run on the rear with standard pads (manual heaven). For the front I have an MT4 left from selling a bike in bits, so I’ll pinch the calliper.

Hoping to pick the forks up tomorrow and get it built in the evening. I’ll get a picture up as soon as it’s done 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Tonight I actually got a bit impatient, I’d dropped the forks off to be powder coated last week, but wanted to see how the cranks would feel under my feet, so built up a rolling rig with some bits I had kicking around. 
 

the forks, bars, stem and seat will be changed for the final build:

Thankfully the cranks feel great so far, but keen to see how they perform when pedaling!

Looks wise, I’m stoked that it’s not a million miles away from what I set out to achieve: (squint a bit haha)

 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Now to tackle the bb. I could have kept the middleburns on, but having used the SRAM gxp cranks on the 24 inch, and on my enduro bike - the stiffness and clean look of them felt like it was worth a battle to get them to work. 
 

I spent hours searching for some sort of adapter to no avail. I asked for advice on this forum and @Swoofty mentioned a product, which were press fit bb cups that housed a bb30 bearing. This is what I needed, but with cups that would house the SRAM bearings. 
 

So I ordered to SRAM bb replacement bearings (which are such an odd design due to the stepped crank spindle):

I then got in touch with a mate who works in a company that does a lot of machining. He was able to get a colleague to make these beauties:

I picked these up yesterday - and god was I impressed. The tolerances these have been made to is spot on. 
 

Needless to say, I got to work fitting them:

once pressed, I then pressed the new bearings in and fitted the sram cranks:

the true test will be riding it, but it feels good in terms of movement by hand. 
 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

So after another 3 coats, and allowing it to dry overnight I added some decals:

the pictures really don’t bring out the bronze of the lacquered rust, but it looks so damn good in person. 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Next job was to clear coat the frame, I bought two cans of clear coat from somewhere like Poundland, hung the frame on the washing line and proceeded with this ultra professional application, with a total of around 5 coats. I was pleasantly surprised with the results:

 At this point only two coats had been applied:

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

With surface rust starting to form I got in touch with @Ben Davies who is a master at making graphics. Absolute top bloke who I can’t recommend enough. 
 

I sent Ben some pics of what I was after along with some measurements and he came up with these:

While I was waiting on the frame to rust , I rebuilt the rims it came with using black spokes onto some black Hope Pro 2 trials hubs which I already had - using these hubs also meant I didn’t need to split the 24inch Marino, which has pro 4s (if I get on with this bike I’ll possibly rebuild the wheels with the pro 4s). 
 

A fresh set of black Billy bonkers tyres will go on for the build. 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

I quite liked the dirty look, deciding to leave some bits of the black paint, and even some of the purple - a nod to those that have owned it before, giving it a little bit of character (in my mind). 
 

But to get it looking more like Akriggs build, I needed rust. I contemplated forcing the rust with chemicals, but had time on my hands whilst I worked on a solution for the bb. So the frame spent a week in the garden after being soaked in water:

 

 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

So first job was to strip the bike down and begin to remove the paint.

This is when I discovered it wasn’t a BSA bb, it’s Spanish. 

I genuinely didn’t realise when I picked it up and never thought to ask.

This was a bit of a stumbling block, as I wanted to run SRAM GXP cranks. I’ll come back to that shortly! 
 

I debated about having the frame powder coated, but having done this on a few bikes in the past, I know that I worry I’m going to scratch them!
 

So the idea came about to strip the frame and clear coat it, in an attempt to get a finish and colour scheme something like Akriggs custom mongoose: 

 

Needless to say I won’t be rushing to strip paint off a frame again having spent an accumulative 12hrs attempting to remove every last bit of purple!

Beneath the purple was black paint. this came off easy on some areas and not so in others. Which led me to a more of a rat look. 
 

 

[Marino street 26inch build / refurb]

Got the bug for another bike build…

After building up a 24 inch Marino back in early 2021, I couldn’t help but feel it was too small and twitchy for me to get on with. As much fun as it is, it feels more BMX than trials at times, so nimble that it’s almost too unstable for me at least. 
 

I spotted a post on here from @smiddy86 who was looking to swap a 26inch Marino for a 24inch frame. I thought I could rebuild the 26 using the bits from the 24 having done a swap. Long story short I ended up getting the whole bike which had also been owned by @Eldertroll

Here it is as as purchased:

A relatively nice spec, but I still wanted to change some bits and the colour. 

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

@Swoofty @Mark W @La Bourde

after a lot of measuring, and some amazing lathe work here is the finished product:

 

I’m yet to build the whole bike up, but it feels good turning by hand, and I can’t feel any play (I’ll know immediately if there is any once I ride it). 
 

Super happy with how this ‘turned’ out

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

@Mark W if all goes to pot, I’ll run the middle burns that I already have, if I really get on we’ll with the frame - I quite like the look of the inspired Bmx style cranks which I believe can be ran on a Spanish bb?

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

@Mark W My thoughts are to machine external cups that house the new bearings, the cups will push fit into the Spanish bb shell. Machining the cups in theory should mean that I can position the new bearings exactly where they need to be in relation to the crank spindle. 

whether this will work, I’m not sure. 
 

the inspiration for this came from these, which are Spanish to BB30:

 

 

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

@Mark W @Swoofty @La Bourde

Right guys, I’m in the rabbit hole now. I figured some sort of custom push fit adapter could be made. Got talking to a mate who thinks he can do it on a lathe. 

Essentially it will be very similar to the racing line push fit cups (which I can’t find an anywhere in stock).

I’ve ordered these bearings that are gxp bb replacement bearings. 

let’s see where this goes! 

 

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

4 hours ago, Swoofty said:

Now that is a sweet lookin ride! Needs eeWings

Haha! I’d still be stumped for a bash guard!

The bike is getting a bit of an overhaul. Just rebuilt the back wheel onto a black Hope hub, new chain and a 17t sprocket ready and waiting.
 

It came with Shimano XT brakes, and I happen to have a spare mt4 calliper and a spare MT5. So very likely I’ll be running shiguras. 

Oh and I’ve spent about 8hrs in total trying to remove the paint!

 

slow progress, but I like to put my own stamp on a build.

I’ll do a build thread once I get a bit more done 

[Spanish BB - Sram GX cranks]

Thanks @Mark W thankfully it came with the middleburns on;