AM Marino. Hammered hard box.

wkkie

It's Not Easy Being Green
I've finally got this together and rideable! The Marino quality is, I suppose, you get what you pay for.

There were a few issues, the main being that they built the rear end about 5mm too long and it wouldn't initially work with the belt and rear cog combo I planned for.

Thanks to @fjohn860 and his grinding skills, he was able to chop some of the sliding dropout insert and with taking a couple of the little tensioner end caps off, I was just able to get the clearance needed to run what I was after. And how can I forget, his creation, the Juicy Jizz keeping the tyres up!

Another thanks goes to @merc-blue and the lend of his reamer to get rid of some bits / burs in the seat post tube that hacked up the seat post when I first got one in there.

Here's the spec;
Frame: Custom Marino, Reynolds 520 steel, Pinion mount.
Fork: SR Suntour Durolux, 170mm, 29 inch.
Headset - Uberbike, 44mm.
Stem - Funn Equalizer, 42mm, 31.8mm clamp.
Handlebars - PNW Loam carbon, 800mm, 25mm rise, 10 deg back, 5 deg up, 31.8 clamp.
Grips - ODI Rogue, cut down.
Shifter - Pinion DS2.
Cranks - Pinion CNC 165mm.
Bottom Bracket - Pinion C1.12.
Chainring - Pinion, 39t.
Rear cog - Pinion, 34t.
Belt - Gates Carbon 115t.
Pedals - Unite Instinct.
Brakes - Z-Race M1 levers on TRP Trail EVO calipers.
Brake pads - Uberbike Race Matrix front & E-Matrix rear.
Rotors - TRP, 203mm, 2.3mm thick.
Front Wheel - 27.5 in Zerode carbon 28mm internal, 35mm external, on Hope Pro 4.
Front Tyre - 27.5 Maxxis HR2, 2.4 EXO TR, 3C Maxx Terra.
Rear Wheel - 27.5, Light Bicycle AM730, 30mm internal, 36mm external on Onyx Classic single speed, 142mm, 32h.
Rear Tyre - 27.5 Maxxis Rekon Race 2.35, EXO TR, tubeless.
Seat Post Clamp - Unite, 34.9mm.
Seat Post - PNW Ranier V3 200mm, 31.6.
Dropper lever - Ztto, oil slick.
Seat - Dartmoor Trail v2.
Cables - Uberbike components silver braided brake hose, gear & dropper cables.

Weight - 16.28 kg

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New hardtail time. I've been waiting on this one since I paid the deposit in August, who knows how Marino works with their orders, it's a total mystery... Anyway, their last hardtail frame I had was my favourite ever riding hardtail, it was just without the gearbox, so I'm hoping this can live up to it.

I changed the geometry slightly from the last Waltly hardtail I had built up, going slightly longer in the front and slightly shorter in the back.

It'll be a gradual build up, but I've made a start. I'll try it out in 27.5 all round and mullet (29) format and see which I like best.

I went for the hammered finish, but split it with the grey and blue. The paint is chunky!

The split for the belt isn't quite as refined as the Waltly and it uses chainring bolts to secure the piece in place.

The rear end measures up at about 150mm, which was / is meant for 142mm. I've fitted a wheel in there, but I'm not sure that squeezing it down that far will be great for it long term. I've given them the heads up just in case.

And the weight for those interested, with dropouts, seat post clamp and no pedals, 3575g.

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No green - are you ok? Looks great, you do like a well built frame.:cool:
 
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No green - are you ok? Looks great, you do like a well built frame.:cool:
It's ok. Don't fret, there will be splashes of green and silver. I think it may be a bit OTT with the darker bits of the frame when it's all together,it'll be a bit different I think. Probably not to everyone's taste, maybe not even quite to mine. 😁
 
That hammered look is sick. I was building up a spesh awol and considered it but I always chicken out on the paint crazyness scale - I need to live a little it would appear looks awesome!
 
It's ok. Don't fret, there will be splashes of green and silver. I think it may be a bit OTT with the darker bits of the frame when it's all together,it'll be a bit different I think. Probably not to everyone's taste, maybe not even quite to mine. 😁
It will be your Picasso!
 
What was the turn around time? Just missed out on a cheap Ferrum NV170 by minutes on marketplace so now thinking of a Marino. I know they seem to make a few errors here and there but there’s tonnes of very happy customers out there so for the price it’s worth the consideration.
 
What was the turn around time? Just missed out on a cheap Ferrum NV170 by minutes on marketplace so now thinking of a Marino. I know they seem to make a few errors here and there but there’s tonnes of very happy customers out there so for the price it’s worth the consideration.
The turn around was from deposit in August, to about a week ago.

I emailed about every 10ish weeks and at least I was getting a reply, but it didn't seem to make the process any faster.

On their socials you see done turning around pretty quickly though, 6-8 weeks. It's a lottery! I'm guessing the Pinion mount was put in the too hard basket for the majority of the time I was waiting.

In saying that, they did send me photos of an unpainted Pinion frame about 3 weeks after the deposit, but couldn't 100% confirm that it was actually my frame.
 
Looks great @wkkie! The blue/grey/green combo works way better than I expected. The taller profile of the rear rim makes that Rekon Race look chonkier than it is though - I thought you had a 2.6 on there for a second!

How do you find the steep STA for general JRA type stuff? I couldn't gel with my original Waltly frame because I set the STA up similarly steep and it used to make my hips sore on anything but steep climbs. From memory most of your frames are setup like this, so presumably no concerns...

Would love to take it for a spin if we can even line up a ride, just to try the Onyx classic and Pinion combo if nothing else!
 
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