[Closed] Marino custom frame - some progress!

Looks great!

Is it getting paint?

The drawing doesn't have much clearance between the tyre and seat tube, was that intentional?

It’s getting paint in the U.K. when I’ve got it here. It’s going royal candy blue with chunky metal flake underneath it so it should be very sparkly!

It’s a 40th present for me effectively, hence the head badge.

I think the tyre clearance is just the drawing - I’ve asked for it to have enough clearance for upto a 2.8” tyre. Going to be running a 2.6” Forekaster in the rear and 2.6 Magic Mary upfront. 140mm Pike Ultimate fork.

I’m 5’9 so it should end up being nice and lively but still stable on steeper stuff.

Good to see you're getting some progress on it. Apparently my frame is finished now, I'm just waiting on pictures. I also got told it would ship this week so fingers crossed they'll be on their way soon.

Your frame looks like it will be awesome!

@justaname - I think my frame plus 1 other were the last to be finished prior to the shipment leaving Peru. Not sure what the progress of the other frame is / what kind of frame it is - but hopefully it’s moving along as quickly as mine is.

I’m hoping my paint guy doesn’t take too long to do my frame - he won’t have to do much prep as it’ll arrive oiled but no lacquer. Just going to need a few layers of different paints to get the effect I want 1 but having decals from Marino which will just go under the lacquer - rather than having ‘Marino’ painted on. Saves a bit of paint cost / time that way.

Glad to hear of someone getting somewhere, put my deposit down in may!

Bare frames always look too small.

I thought my Banshee was the wrong size when I first took it out of the box 🙂

Sounds like it'll be a good looking hardtail!

@boxwithawindow

Is Luke in the U.K. looking after your order from May now?

Mine had literally nothing happening until he got involved and did the bikecad detail / confirmed the rest of the spec with me. After that he put it into the build queue and it’s just been a case of waiting until it gets to the front for the build to start.

Maybe yours is the other frame to be finished prior to the shipment - unless that’s @justaname ‘s frame 🤷‍♂️

I've seen pics of the front triangle of my frame painted and finished so I think it probably is done. I've just not seen it put together yet. My deposit was paid at the very end of June if that means anything at all?

Hopefully its all coming to a close now though and we'll have frames in our hands soon. Can't wait to have the frame, but the wait and comms have been pretty painful. I was told 8-10 weeks from deposit it'd be with me, but they've missed every single date they've given me so far.

To be honest if they'd told me that it would be 6 months up front I'd have been fine with it. Its the constant missed deadlines that they are offering that's grating a little now.

I'm sure it'll all work out for the best in the end though

It’s the communication and setting of expectations that has been the issue.

Clearly the move of factory due to Covid has been an issue, as has a period where they struggled to get gas (also due to Covid). Both completely understandable, but not communicated. I found out both from hearsay on forums (Pinkbike mostly), not from Marino Peru or U.K.

Hopefully we all end up with frames that are built properly with no major errors for a decent price at the end of this!

If not I may as well have bought a Stanton Switchback or Pipedream Moxie (albeit within budget it would have been 4130 rather than 725 and they wouldn’t quite have hit the numbers I was after).

Looks lovely. 🙂

I agree, no problem waiting I just want to know how long I'm waiting for.

Luke has been involved for a few months now, I had a photo of my headtube being engraved about two months ago and I was told it was being built three weeks ago but nothing from Marino in two months. Times are very strange though so I do understand.

I'm sure there will be something soon or I may just decide to cough up a bit more and have Walty make it in Ti.

Haha, I wouldn’t hold your breath on Waltly -I emailed them several times and they didn’t ever reply. I’d even filled in the quote sheet from their website, but nothing.

Curtis would be worth a shout if you’re happy to up your budget. For the same cost as the AM7 standard geo they’ll change some of the angles / measurements for you. Also it’s 853.

I live close to btr and curtis and both said they would build me what I want but it's a bit of an experiment for me and can't really throw £1500+ at the frame though it's worth every penny.

I've already had a quote from walty and found them to be quite responsive but then again that was in July.

That’s weird - Waltly completely ignored me - that was at the start of July too!

I got a "hope your doing OK?“ email from Waltly at the start of lockdown and was really pleased with the frame I had built a while ago so I can't recommend them highly enough.

My Marino frame was ordered around 3 weeks ago, can’t wait to build it for next winter then!! At what point did you pick what is engraved on the head tube?

Engraving is an extra on the order form.

If you selected it then they will be in touch about colour and graphics etc...

This - you pay the extra for it and select the option on the order form.

My frame has that extra, post mount rather than is mount, all cables internal, tapered headtube and 725 rather than 4130 I think.

Literally only got the final detail of the headtube badge nailed down last week after they asked for a better image / file to work with. I think they’ve done a great job on it in the end - better than I expected.

So has anyone that was expecting their frame to be shipped this week been asked for a payment yet? From what I was told back in September I was expecting photos of the completed frame and a request for the outstanding amount prior to shipment. I've not had that yet so its starting to feel like another week slipping by without much progress.

I'm beginning to think of asking for my deposit back at this point.

I messaged Luke and threatened the same, perhaps if you threaten to call it off too then they might take us a bit more seriously.

I'm sure with all the evidence of poor communication and broken promises paypal would side with me.

I think it will be a year or more from initial quote before I see mine.

Nope - I haven’t seen the fully finished frame pics yes and it’s been quiet today. No request for further funds since my deposit.

Not convinced it will ship this week - but someone else I know has been told the shipment should hit the UK on the 26th November. So I wasn’t going to chase any further unless I haven’t heard anything else by the end of next week.

I saw they put a load of pics up on instagram and Facebook earlier from which my frame seems suspiciously absent. I've been waiting pretty much 3 weeks now just for a photo of my completed frame.They told me it was completed BTW.

I may be being very cynical at this point but it really feels like I'm being taken for a ride (not in a good way either!).

I don't hold out much hope of them hitting any date they offer any more. Frankly it's starting to leave a pretty sour taste for what was meant to be a bit of a treat having never totally specced my own frame before. Monday is when I send out a chasing email to them, this Mondays mail will probably be pretty blunt and may well end in a cancellation.

My patience is at its limit I think.

Ordered my frame the start of September.
Went into it fully expecting the lead times to be overly optimistic due to the world being a little manic right now. Happily cut them some slack although do agree a few more updates (even if it isnt good news) would be nice.
Much worse things happening right now so the excitement of new bike day would be good but can understand delays...

When I ordered mine luke insisted it was definiatly a 6 week lead time still. I clearly took that with a massive pinch of salt!
I would like my frame in January ideally but I’m probably more likely to win the lottery with out buying a ticket!
I sort of wish I ordered something else to be honest. Not sure when anyone else will have any stock of anything though

You're right but I ordered my frame in April and I have been very patient.

When did you order @marksnook? I put my deposit down at the end of June and was told 8-10 weeks. Clearly they are no where near that, I'm almost at 21 weeks now.

Must be a framebuilder thing. I ordered from myself. Me promised me it would be 6 weeks and ready for the Alps in summer. I just checked dates on some photos:

I made my curved seat tube 27th May 2018.

The first unpainted bike photo was 13th May 2019.

Luckily I don't make a living from this..... 🙂

@justaname just checked emails, it was only 4 weeks ago! Judging by what you are all saying getting it in January is not very realistic is it?! How can they still claim its 6 weeks lead time?!
Should have bought a moxie!

They shouldn’t be claiming 6 weeks now. Realistically 3-4 months if they’ve resolved the gas and factory location issues. Mines going to be 5 months if it gets here the week after next.

They’re not shipping frames over individually when they’re ready anymore - they’re gathering them up in bulk and shipping. Makes sense but some people are going to wait longer as a result.

How much is shipping these days? It was a large chunk of the overall price for me

It was $110 when I ordered in July but I think it’s changed now as bulk shipment is cheaper then individual shipment m.

I think I paid the same for individual shipment , in theory it should be quite a bit cheaper if they're bulk shipping now. Although I guess it then needs sorting by someone this end and posting individually.

I ordered a frame (along with 3 others, for friends), in February, paid deposit, reasonable communication at first including pictures of almost complete frames, then nothing for last few months.

If they have covid issues I would understand, but had zero communication recently.

@duner

Have you contacted Luke at Marino UK? He might be able to track the orders down for you and find out where they are.

Looks like the frame is finished and on route to the U.K. (maybe).

Doesn’t look like the routing is quite as I discussed and I can’t work out how the dropper routing goes but guess I’ll see when it arrives. Pretty happy with how it looks except maybe the internal routing pipes. Might need a bit of a file before paint perhaps.

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That looks tidy, I was weirdly going to look for this thread this morning as I got an email overnight from Luke asking me to clarify puny colours. It had a photo of a frame that looked like mine attached!
If it is my frame fair play i take it all back 😂
I’m between raw and some sort of grey colour. Exciting I know..

Here's one I built for a customer last week. Tidy work

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@bikerevivesheffield

That looks tidy and a nice spec! Most people have gone longer / slacker / bigger fork travel than mine. I’m just aiming at a fun bit stable trail bike with 140mm fork.

Is that frame clear coated or has it been left totally raw? Either way a brave choice as I’ve seen a number of clearcoated steel frames from different manufacturers corrode under clearcoat.

@marksnook - is your frame being painted in Peru or in the UK? I think raw is subject to rust but grey could look really good. Like the below colour with nice coloured decals on it

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Think it must be in for painting in Peru. I’m leaning on grey. Yeah any raw will always corrode a bit. I quite like that look though!

Edit, the ribble in that photo is a nice grey, not sure if I want a darker or lighter grey. Just waiting for the Marino colour chart to come through!

Ah interesting. So when Luke says he’s waiting for tracking details that probably isn’t strictly true if your frame isn’t even painted yet and you haven’t had the colour chart to pick from 🤷‍♂️

The communication leaves a little bit to be desired it would seem.....

What communication is that then?

Even Luke has stopped responding now.

@boxwithawindow

Luke replied yesterday on messenger to something I sent him a few days ago. Pictures of my completed frame and saying it’s all packed. Apparently they’ll have tracking visibility of the batch of frames coming ‘any day now’.

I guess he means once all the frames are finished - assuming it’s just one frame left to paint that is.

I chose my colour after looking at some completed builds on the Marino Instagram page, I just asked for him to match one of them. I went bright yellow, a friend calls it the Steel Canary

@marksnook - did you pick your paint colour yet?

I went raw, always talked about a raw frame so figured I would do it now! Weirdly just been sent a photo of it in clear coat! You and my emails must be linked 😂 @joebristol

Better get component shopping! Maybe ours will be on the same shipment?

Good lad! Maybe shipping in the next few days then with a bit of luck. Pretty sure they’re all coming in one big shipment and our frames were the last to be completed ready to send.

What components are you going for - is your ht or fs?

I’ve had all the components for mine for months - killing me waiting. Just hope the frame is all in order when it arrives and nothing is wonky / the internal routing is ok.

I’m going to partially build mine up raw when it arrives to check everything before it goes off for paint. Hope I don’t like it too much in raw otherwise that’ll be tempting. Although I already have a raw fs bike so a bit of colour is in order.

Fingers crossed we're almost there. I got photos of mine completed and painted last weekend and it looks brilliant. Can't wait for it to get here.

Here's hoping the shipment is only a couple of weeks or so. I also have a huge pile of parts waiting here. Must stop buying more stuff!

Yeah the longer it’s gone on the more bling the build has got!

Pike Ultimates / carbon Descendant cranks / carbon bars / Erase Components hubs with Ti freehub body / gold KMC chain etc.....

It’s a hardtail. Running a commencal meta am for fs duties right now.
Going to run:
140mm pike ultimate
Hunt enduro wide wheels
Zee brakes
Burgtec bar
Oneup dropper
Probably shimano 12 speed of some variety
Keep calling it my xc bike but it’s turned into a hardtail version of commencal! I had the fork and wheels so I’m calling it a parts bike as well but that’s clutching at straws!

Sounds a similar build to mine then really - decent trail stuff but with burly brakes etc to take some abuse!

‘XC’ definitely stretching it with Zees and Pikes 🤣

Already got one of their frames and it is a great bike, rides well and well built.

Ordered two new frames, a MK2 27.5 'XC' singlespeed (120mm pikes and 2.3 tyres) and a 29er (150mm lyrics and 2.5 tyres).
27.5 will be British racing green and the 29er will be raw.

Ha ha yeah I’m not too close to xc on this hardtail! I’m going to ride the same stuff I ride on my enduro bike so it’s got to be a bit burly! Really looking forward to this build

Still not shipped yet 🤷‍♂️🤬

Yet more **** about nonsense from Marino!

I've given up now, I want my frame so I'll just have to wait around with finger in arse.

Should ship this week then 7-10 days wait. Fingers crossed for before Christmas 😞

Would prefer it to get in the country before all the Brexit shenanigans.

Yeah that is a concern, I've got a lot of brand new kit waiting for the frame though so at least I won't get stung on that.

Would be nice to see it before a year passes though. Haha

Hope you get yours for Christmas or at least 2020 though Joe.

I'm in Somerset too so might bump into you at A.C in the new year.

Fingers crossed. I’m just glad I’ve got a trail fs that’s pretty good at everything and not waiting for this as my sole bike. Haven’t had a hardtail for months now though as I thought I’d sell my frame / forks / wheels in the summer when I could get decent money for them!

Well I guess that's another week slipping by without any sign of a frame yet, unless anyone else has heard different and they are finally on their way?

I have a feeling I'm going to hit 6 months of waiting. At what point do I get cold feet, panic about the sick bikes debacle and try to pull the plug on it?

You can't compare Marino to Sick!. Marino had made all the frames for Sick without getting paid, he's been in the business for years but is still only a small operation in Peru. Demand for his frames seems to have significantly increased so there are likely to be some teething problems. You'll still end up with a custom frame at a lower price than one off the shelf so it's not all bad!

Edit - Yeah you're right. Its just been a very frustrating wait. Really would like to actually see the frame soon though

I appreciate your frustration but you're buying custom at bargain basement price from a tiny manufacturer in a developing nation half way around the planet during a global pandemic.

Maybe get the tools out and build your own frame to appreciate the time and labour involved - and what it would really cost if you were paying for UK materials, labour and delivery expectations.

yeah maybe

I’ve asked for an update from Luke as to whether they’ve shipped yet this week - just waiting to see what comes back.

It was always a risk ordering from Peru and during Corona....again, it’s just the communication and broken promises that are the issue. If they’d been up front and said it would take about 6 months then people would be less annoyed about it.

Price wise for a custom steel frame out of Reynolds 725 it’ll be an ok deal if the frames are straight / correct etc. Effectively getting custom geometry for broadly the same price as a Ribble HT725 (which is the same steel) once I’ve had the frame painted.

Compared to Curtis which would have been around £1250 (albeit 853 and UK manufactured). That would still have had a long wait but there’s someone on the end of the phone and less than 100 miles away from me. I couldn’t justify paying that though as I’d have had to compromise on wheels and forks and ultimately that would have given a worse bike ride as a result.

Let us know if he replies! I haven’t heard anything since getting a photo of my frame saying it was in paint

Yeah I really don't know why they would ever have suggested 6 weeks. It takes a few weeks to sort the design with you, then to hit that deadline would mean starting it immediately and probably airfreighting it.

Got to say I like their partially tapered head tube - looks like it avoids (or almost avoids) having to do a complicated matching tapered mitre on the tt / dt. Can't say I've seen a tube like that available in the UK.

They are obviously making the frames (not a Sick cloud of nothing) and they will eventually arrive. I've had similar from UK framebuilders (timescales and not making what was on the drawing) which is partly why I ended up going DIY. That way I'm in charge of late delivery, poor quality and would rather not think about the true overall cost per frame 🙂 la la la la tubes just cost me £100 la la la 🙂

Yeah I full took that six week idea with a bucket of salt! I haven’t bought everything to build it with yet so no stress!
I would love to make my own frame, only ever had some mig welding experience on a car I was building. Not sure that’s the best frame building start!

Getting a bit bored of radio silence on this one - so say all the frames were completed last week and should have been shipping imminently.

So bored I got out all the build kit to check everything through to make sure it was all there. Reminded me I have a bent code r lever to change and need to clean up the gx 11 speed cassette and fit it to the new wheels. Also might sell the 150mm brand x dropper and get a 210mm Oneup dropper for my full suss bike and donate the Oneup 180mm dropper from that bike to this one.

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Was also idly browsing other bike frames in case the Marino never turns up:

Pipedream Moxie - might be a bit low with 650b and 2.6” tyres - but looks lovely

Ribble HT725 - I feel like the small is too small but the medium has too long a reach

Stanton Switchback / Slackline - the frames just look a bit too conventional

Bird Zero AM - closest bike to my custom geometry but it’s in alloy rather than steel. The anodised black would look nice though.

That’s a tidy build! So at the moment I’ve only got a pair of hunt enduro wide, a pike ultimate, headset, stem and bars. Not sure what Groupset I’m going to run. Looked at 10/11 speed stuff but it’s just not that much cheaper than 12 speed shimano. If I run the same brand/speed on both bike it limits the spares I need!
My commencal is 34.9 dropper and I’m running it shimmed right now so I’m tempted to order a new one for my big bike and pass the current oneup down to the hardtail

So its approx £500 for a full custom 725 frame?

Mines £399 with no paint I believe. Not sure what they charge for paint but I’m doing my own thing with candy paint with a chunky metal flake undercoat for lots of sparkles.

That’s a tidy build! So at the moment I’ve only got a pair of hunt enduro wide, a pike ultimate, headset, stem and bars. Not sure what Groupset I’m going to run. Looked at 10/11 speed stuff but it’s just not that much cheaper than 12 speed shimano. If I run the same brand/speed on both bike it limits the spares I need!
My commencal is 34.9 dropper and I’m running it shimmed right now so I’m tempted to order a new one for my big bike and pass the current oneup down to the hardtail

Yours sounds like it’s going to be nice too. I think the Marino will come with headset and seat clamp from what I’ve been told.

The new 11 speed deore rear mech is pretty cheap - for a recent build I used that with an slx 11 speed shifter and a Sunrace 11-46 speed cassette I think it was. Came in really cheap. Cranks are the most difficult to get a bargain on I found.

The above has an old gx 11 speed mech, cassette and shifter I had lying around - hoping the mech isn’t too knackered. The cassette has only had one chain on it so far so has loads of life and imagine the shifter is fine. Going to run a 30t Sram alloy chainring with the 10-42 cassette for now. I’ve got Shimano 12 speed on the other bike but hoping 30/42 will be a good enough lowest gear on the hardtail.

I think mine was around £450 all in with the standard tubing and a headset as they were so cheap. It also came with a seatclamp, two rear axles and four mech hangers.

Got an email from luke saying my frame should be here by Christmas! Nice present for me!
Got an invoice email as well so all payed up. Think it was 400 all in.
Not gone for any special cable routing as I like external with zip ties! None of that 3 hours to push a cable through!

I bought the last remaining Marino built Sick Wulf frame from Luke earlier, mentioned it to a friend and asked how his frame was going and he’d been told it will be here pre-Xmas too. I’ve been enjoying seeing his Instagram stories of the parts that have been arriving over the past 4 months!

I started a thread about 2 years ago asking about alternatives to the Sick frames as I wanted a Wulf but couldn’t afford one - the answer was Marino and now 2 years later I’ve managed to get the fame I wanted for £350 rather than the £550 Sick wanted for it!

So cheap, can't go wrong!

Added benefit of course is that this one actually exists!

I’ve been told shipping is this Thursday 100% - so should just about get the frame before Christmas - which would be great timing. Just need to trial build it up to make sure everything is ok with the frame - then strip it again and drop it off for paint. Fingers crossed it’ll be good to ride by the end of Jan!