marin:start
Table of Contents
Marin Mountain Bikes
For a relatively late MTB bike brand which emerged over twelve years after the first Repack races in Fairfax, Marin Mountain Bikes origins are deeply rooted in Mount Tamalpais and the founders of mountain biking. Robert (Bob) Buckley and Joe Murray founded Marin Mountain Bikes in 1985 in San Anselmo, CA, less then one mile from the base of the Repack Downhill finish in Fairfax.
After a skiing accident (in 1984/5?), Bob Buckley went to his local bike shop in San Anselmo to buy a mountain bike to help recover and resume skiing. The shop was Kelly-Fisher MountainBikes, the very first MTB shop, nearby within San Anselmo 1) where Bob bought a Ritchey/Fisher/Kelly MTB from twenty one year old salesperson Joe Murray. Joe Murray was currently on track to race twelve straight wins in that summer of 1985, and obtaining his second NORBA national championship. Joe 2) was at that time working at the shop as: “Race team, shop mechanic, product testing and design.” 3)
Bob hatched the idea for Marin Mountain Bikes, buying the name from Gary Fisher, with Joe Murray acting as product line designer and race team director. In 1985, Joe officially left Fisher's employ to join Marin.4) By the end of 1985, Marin had already produced small quantities of mountain bikes for demo and sampling purposes 5).
Marin Mountain Bikes launched a single, cheap MTB in 1986, the “Madrone Trail”, 6) designed by Joe and likely built by Toyo of Taiwan, with low end components from Japan and Taiwan, retailing for $199. By 1987 Marin boosted its quality out of the low margins with six quality brand offerings. For example, the 1994 catalog lists seventeen MTB models, seven of which use top of the line Shimano XT or XTR components, and none are down market like the original 1986 Madrone Trail.
Joe left Marin in 1988 to join Merlin and later Kona bicycles. Bob stayed with Marin until 2011, when he sold Marin Bicycles to UK private equity firm Minestone.
Resources:
1985 Muirwoods prototype, from marinbikes.com history page. Shimano RD-RS12 rear derailleur, no brand decals, bullmoose bars, shoulder strap 7). Different braze ons than final version. City tires? Bullmoose bars. Creamy beige color.
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Surveying new markets from Mt. Tam. 1992 Marin catalog.
Racer Joe Murray, Founder Bob Buckley, and an unidentified man (Bob's father?). Ca. 1986.
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Original 1985 logo
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1986 Madrone Trail
Shimano RD-RS12 v2 (1983-85) rear derailleur, long cage (from a related DC-110?), bullmoose bars, DNP Climber shifters, Lee Chi brakes, “plain” seatpost (cheap kids style), unicrown fork, TIG welded frame. The first batch were red, then came yellow. Likely made by Toyo of Taiwan. 3×5 gearing. All early Marins had triple front cranksets. Mountain biking for the masses. $199 retail.
For the latter half of 1986 production, “Designed by Joe Murray” badges were placed on the seat tube. These were later replaced by stickers.
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1986 Madrone Trail
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1987 Eldridge Grade
Shimano Deore RD-MT60 derailleurs and front brake (1987-88), MT-61 rear u-brake (1987), Design by Joe Murray decal, Tange MTB double butted tubing. Marin upped its game with this model.
1987 Eldridge Grade
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1988 Team Titanium
Shimano Deore XT M732 derailleurs, shifters and brake handles (1989 only), non original Specialized crankset and other parts. Other Team Titaniums have the same M732 groupset. Scott Pederson self energizing brakes (later sold by SunTour.) Frame likely made by Litespeed 8)
1988 Team Titanium
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1989 Palisades
Shimano Mountain LX M452 (1989). The catalog lists M500, which doesn't show up until 1990 - so there's a catalog gap. Also, all 1989 Palisades pics show Mountain LX. Palisades didn't exist in 1988, and the 1990 model differs as well. There are plenty of catalog discrepancies, such as three year old components in the catalogs, etc.
1989 Palisades
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1990 Bear Valley
Unusual color scheme (not in catalog) but the supposedly original parts are all catalog spec: Shimano Exage 400 LX M400 groupset (1990-91), Tange MTB tubing, oversized seatstays, Marion Rockstar tires.
1990 Bear Valley
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1991 Bear Valley
In classic Rasta trim, catalog spec. Shimano Exage 400 LX M400 groupset (1990-91), Tange MTB tubing, oversized seatstays, Marion Rockstar tires.
1991 Bear Valley
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1992 Rocky Ridge
Alcoa Aluminum frame, Shimano Deore DX derailleurs (1990-94). XT shifters and levers. Marin Lite Al bars. 25.5 pounds.
1992 Rocky Ridge
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1993 Pine F.R.S.
Dual Answer Manitou Front & Rear elastomer Shocks. An early full suspension bike - but not nearly the first. It was predated by other full suspension MTBs from:
- Boulder (1989)
- Off-Road (1990)
- Moots (1991)
- Manitou (1991)
- Fisher (1991)
- AMP Research (1993)
- Yeti (1993)
Plus other non-damped full suspension efforts going back to the 1970s, such as this 1975 Yamaha Moto-Bike.9)
Shimano Deore XT M732 (1989 only) group set with some DX (1991-94) parts (cassette, front derailleur.) Why the old version of XT? To save weight? Al frame. 25 pounds.
1993 Pine F.R.S.
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1994 Eldridge Grade
Shimano Deore LX M560 groupset (1993-98). Tange MTB tubing. All original Marin stem, bar ends, bottle cage, water bottle and parts.
1994 Eldridge Grade
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1995 Pine Mountain
Shimano Deore LX M560 groupset (1993-98). Tange MTB tubing. White Industries hubs. 23 pounds.
1995 Pine Mountain
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1)
Some documents list Kelly-Fisher's address as Fairfax, but the shop was about 500' over the town line within San Anselmo. Kelly & Fisher first rented space at 1501 San Anselmo Avenue, San Anselmo in the winter of 1979. See: http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbikes_company.htm. Bob Buckley also lived in San Anselmo a couple of miles away.
2)
There really needs to a separate section about Fairfax native son Joe Murray and the other original professional MTB racers. Soon….
3)
Joe Murray's Linkedin job history: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-murray-b76a5a13. Also, starting in 1980, aged 17, Joe Raced for Tom Ritchey, and by 1984 had transitioned to Gary Fisher's racing team.
4)
Did Gary Fisher help Marin Mountain Bikes in any other way other than the name? Some web sites suggest that Gary was a third partner in the new business.
5)
See Bob Buckley discuss Marin Bikes history in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKcfAe7UnRc.
6)
Not named after an actual trail - just a favorite Mt. Tam trail covered by many madrone trees.
7)
Were shoulder straps ever bundled with Marins? They never make any catalogs, yet a shoulder strap also shows up on other, early Marin pics. See: https://www.escapebikeshop.com/marin.
8)
The first 100 titanium Marin frames were made by Merlin.
9)
The 1974-76 Yamaha “BMX” bike looks like it has real shocks front and rear. It weighed 44.5 pounds, without gears. Not an MTB - but a missing link from BMX to MTB off-road fun.
marin/start.txt · Last modified: by mtbtimeline