# Marin on Ebay



## Angelfishsolo (26 Mar 2009)

This http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/19-5-MARIN-NA...3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:1|39:1|240:1318 Marin looks like it could be a great purchase


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## chrisuren (26 Mar 2009)

Bidding has Closed


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## Alembicbassman (14 Apr 2009)

There was a 'bike shop' (farm industrial unit) in Nuneaton W. Mids had a job lot of Marin bikes in as bankrupt stock. I bought a Larkspur off him for £200 (RRP £390) It was pukka, but no mfrs warranty as not an authorised Marin dealer.

I think he sold all the bikes as a job lot to another dealer.

I don't think Marin are as well made as some other makes though. They used to have a good reputation, but like GT are now forced to cut costs. My original 1998 GT was made in california, now it's all Far East fabrication.


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## spandex (14 Apr 2009)

Marin's are grate and well built...

BTW Marin is from Marin county in California and has been going since 1986 and GT is from Santa An, LA, California?(I maybe wrong on the last bit) and started in 1979. But none of the bikes that are sold have ever been in the USA. GT's are made in Taiwan which is one of the best places for bikes to be made at the moment.


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## Mr Pig (15 Apr 2009)

spandex said:


> GT's are made in Taiwan which is one of the best places for bikes to be made at the moment.



Seems most bikes are these days.


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## spandex (15 Apr 2009)

I do wish that was the case but Scott for instance are made in Indonesia and Taiwan mainly and then Dawes are made in Taiwan, Indonesia and Cambodia It all depends on the speck.


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## very-near (15 Apr 2009)

Mr Pig said:


> Seems most bikes are these days.



No doubt also is the innards of the computer you/we are typing this on.

Nothing wrong with Taiwanese technology.
Their standards are very high, and labour rates are close to ours (apparently)


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## spandex (15 Apr 2009)

you are right V-N but some have higher standards it all depends on the price of the thing you are buying.


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## very-near (15 Apr 2009)

spandex said:


> you are right V-N but some have higher standards it all depends on the price of the thing you are buying.




A company called 'woof wear' manufacture a body protector called an 'Exo' for horse riders. It is the only body protector which actually can protect the rider from a 'rotational fall' (where the horses head goes down, the ride is thrown and then the horse goes head over heels and lands on the rider - average horse weight - 500kg)

when you hear of fatal riding accidents on horseback (in competition, this is the usual cause)

This protector differs from the others as it has a magnesium cage to protect the riders vital organs. They use magnesium alloy as it bends without snapping like carbon fibre - which could pierce the riders body when it fails.

The only place they could get this casting made up to standard and down to price was 'Taiwan'









In testing 650kg was dropped on it from two metres and the sensors positioned beneath the Exo detected no force – very reassuring


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## spandex (15 Apr 2009)

Sounds good I now know a bit more about horse riding Thank you. 

But what has that got to do with cycles?


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## very-near (15 Apr 2009)

spandex said:


> Sounds good I now know a bit more about horse riding Thank you.
> 
> But what has that got to do with cycles?



They are more than capable of producing the standard of quality you would expect to see in a top dollar cycle - peoples lives depend on this technology doing its job.


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## spandex (15 Apr 2009)

You are right the Top 8 selling brands of bikes are made in Taiwan apart from hand built frames nothing can beat them.


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## very-near (15 Apr 2009)

I'm a toolmaker by trade. All of the CNC machining centres and lathes as well as much of the measuring equipment we use come from Taiwan.

If a british bike manufacturer set up, they would no doubt be machining the parts on these machines.


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## Mr Pig (15 Apr 2009)

very-near said:


> All of the CNC machining centres and lathes as well as much of the measuring equipment we use come from Taiwan.



Having said that, we have a printing machine that was made in China and it is crap!


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## papercorn2000 (15 Apr 2009)

My mum has a china tea set and it was made in Holland!

What's that all about?


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## very-near (15 Apr 2009)

Mr Pig said:


> Having said that, we have a printing machine that was made in China and it is crap!



Taiwan isn't China. These machining centres are accurate to within 0.001mm and cost about £100k each depending on the spec.


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## spandex (15 Apr 2009)

And your point is V-N with saying all this?


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## Alembicbassman (15 Apr 2009)

So long as the training is up to scratch then the quality should match. I hear Fender guitars that are Made in USA are actually made by Mexicans taken from the Mexico factory. The USA models are 2x the price of the Mexican models. Sub-contracting is the main ball-ache of the Far East, this has lead to several major recalls in the toy industry over toxic lead paint. Spesh have a recall on handlebars at the moment due to a manufacturing defect.


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## ASC1951 (16 Apr 2009)

papercorn2000 said:


> My mum has a china tea set and it was made in Holland!


Mine has a Dutch tea set and drinks China tea from it. Spooky!


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## very-near (16 Apr 2009)

spandex said:


> And your point is V-N with saying all this?



Don't confuse Taiwan with China


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## Steve Austin (16 Apr 2009)

spandex said:


> Marin's are grate and well built...
> 
> BTW Marin is from Marin county in California and has been going since 1986 and GT is from Santa An, LA, California?(I maybe wrong on the last bit) and started in 1979. But none of the bikes that are sold have ever been in the USA. GT's are made in Taiwan which is one of the best places for bikes to be made at the moment.



THe GT Xizang was made in America by a titaninium manufacturing company that the name escapes me at the momen. I know this as i had one
Very nice it was too, bit too nice to commute on, so i sold it. 

You are right about the Taiwan bit. Some of the best bikes made have been made there


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## Losidan (16 Apr 2009)

Steve Austin said:


> THe GT Xizang was made in America by a titaninium manufacturing company that the name escapes me at the momen. I know this as i had one
> Very nice it was too, bit too nice to commute on, so i sold it.
> 
> You are right about the Taiwan bit. Some of the best bikes made have been made there



Xizang...lovely frame that. Far too nice to commute on. I think I would probably just mount on the wall and lick it every day!


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## Mr Pig (16 Apr 2009)

very-near said:


> Taiwan isn't China.



Thank you for clearing that up for me :0) Is it rock and dirt like everywhere else then?


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## spandex (16 Apr 2009)

very-near said:


> Don't confuse Taiwan with China




I am not


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