My ’94 Marin Indian Fire trail has served me faithfully for over 20 years now and the time has come to put it out to pasture. It’s getting hard to find bits for it, and in particular the Manitou II forks are very much past their sell by date as the lower bushes have gone. This being the case, I have decided to build myself something a bit more up to date. I’ve never actually ridden a full suspension XC bike, and I have to confess that I’ve been feeling a bit left out!

To set myself a bit of a challenge (and because I am on a budget), I’ve decided to source as much as I can from eBay, and build it myself. There’s a lot to learn as so much has changed from when I built the Marin all those years ago. I am in a new world of threadless headsets and maxels and things!

I have started with the most important bit – the frame. I’ve acquired a (very green) 2009 Commencal meta 5.5 for the princely sum of £170, complete with a Fox float R shock. The shock looks to be in good shape, but I will service it anyway. The frame is visually shabby with lots of stone chips and rubs, but functionally sound. Some of the linkage bearings are feeling a bit gritty, so I will change those out too. A commencal seat post (£12) and bars (£5) are on their way too. As I get bits and pieces, I’ll update here with progress and pictures.