It took me 30 years but I finally got it... The Fuji* Marlboro folding mountain* bike! (*Not really a Fuji, not really a mountain bike). Waaaay back in the year of the lord of 1994 (or thereof, memory is fuzzy) Marlboro had a campaign to promote cigarettes by letting you accumulate miles (5 miles coupons per pack of smokes) for outdoor gear! Oh the irony of selling a super unhealthy product with a super healthy activity. I used to smoke back then, and I accumulated them miles, but never got enough for the bike so I got tent. Anyways; one popped up for sale for $50 bucks and I just had to get that achievement I failed so many moons ago. (next stop, reach the end of the arcade game Ghost and Goblins).





It is a breathtaking bike for sure; as in I have never seen such a perfect collection of _factory_installed_ garbage parts on an actually useful frame. The crank looks like an aluminum crank, fat arms and all. But nope, it is solid steel. And not just steel (cranks were used to be made of steel but they were skinny) these are given enough steel to make them look like an aluminum crank. Who cares that they weight 1,400 grams? By comparison a Shimano XTR triple cloaks in at 650 grams or so, with lighter cranks in the market around 600 grams. Everything else is no-name steel parts; handlebars, stem, seatpost, you name it. The cantis looked like Shimano ones but nope, generic knock offs. The pedals are mostly plastic and still manage to be heavy because the rest is steel, same with the brake levers. The only brand name part is the derailleurs and that is Shimano SIS, not something you can really brag about.

But now that the "group set" is property stored in the trash what's left is not that bad. It is not an immediate project because I want to replace the dropouts for cast ones with a derailleur hanger and two sets of eyelets. While I'm at it I may as well move the canti studs for a full conversion to 650b tires (this was never meant to be a mountain bike to go bat $h1t crazy downhill) so I can dial in as big a tire that is still fat enough for some posh riding (35mm or so). Maybe a lugged fork with mid fork rack mounts, better having and not needing those. Plus a few other niceties like a chain hanger stud. It also need to go on a diet. I'm not a weight weenie but with the frame coming in at 9.65 pounds it could benefit from some sensible choices. After all this is a travel bike; I'm going to have to actually carry the thing so no point on making that worse.

I mostly wanted to say that if you see one of these and feel like you must have it, make sure you calculate your price point on the fact that the only salvageable thing in there is the frame, everything else is garbage. If you disagree I will be happy to pack the "groupset" and send it to you just for the cost of shipping.

Those parts are all actually pretty functional, even if they aren't what I'd pick.

If you want a bit of inspiration, bicycle pubes did up one in ridiculous fashion, including brakes, grips, and fork made to look like cigarettes. https://www.instagram.com/bicyclepub...D/?img_index=1

Funny how life works sometimes...Jus' sayin'

They are garbage as in they are garbage quality. As in you would expect better parts from just about any free bike. I'm really marveling at the crank; before aluminum took over they were steel but they were skinny; no need to waste material and certainly no need to make them heavier for no good reason. They are the size of aluminum cranks but made of solid steel. The spider is swagged in and the rings are riveted; there is no replacing them. Everything else is rusted; the mediocre coat of paint could not protect mutch, and plating on the derailleurs stamped metal is also as mediocre as it gets. Shifters, brake levers, they are plastic with uncoated/unplated steel parts that are also rusting. The knock off cantis are reasonably nice, albeit with very crude castings compared to the Shimano they were copying.

But hey, if somebody want them they are free for the taking.

There were low-end cotterless cranks that looked like aluminum with a black finish but were actually steel arms coated in thick black plastic. I don't remember ever seeing black all-steel cotterless cranks made to look like aluminum, though, if that's what you have there.

"perfect collection of _factory_installed_ garbage parts on an actually useful frame"
My thoughts exactly though I agree they are functional. Here's a bike that a trash day Walmart bike parts could upgrade and I am checking the curbs to upgrade mine.

Promotional bikes…a friend offered to sell me his Alfa Romeo promotional bike. I thought it might be neat but it was a let down. Much like @abdon’s bike it was a compilation of really cheap components on a hybrid frame (as best as I can recall) and it seemed like a great opportunity lost. At least they could have used a decent Italian made frame with mid-level Campy but no. Big time let down.

Best of luck getting your folder whipped into shape!

Marlboro's marketing department determined that using any parts above entry-level would be a waste of money as they fully expected the cheap components to outlast the heavy smokers who earned enough points to win the bike.

I used to smoke Marlboros- AND I would scour the bar for packages.

I got a Victorinox watch (it sucked and broke), and a few Leatherman tools (still have 2 of them), and a cooler bag.

Hilarious. Love it.
I smoked Camels, earned a Joe Camel ashtray. Zippos. Never a bike.

Do an internet search on Marlboro Classics. The tobacco company licensed the name and logo to a clothing company in the 80s . They used to have stand alone shops in Asia. Was actually pretty decent other than having cigarette logo where you might expect to see say a Levi’s tag.
Looks like you can still get the clothes in the EU. But no bikes on offer.

I was at an antique mall in Florida once that had a booth filled with Marlboro stuff from the coupon catalog. There was jackets, sleeping bags, backpacks, duffle bags, etc., but no bikes. I think the Marlboro items were brought in as a one time thing, not that the booth specialized in it.

I guess these are an upgrade to those. They are plastic capped but they are for a square bottom bracket.

We had a wonderful customer named Mel Berkampus that rode the folding Marlboro bike. He earned it through points from cig purchases. He was so enthused about riding that bike and stopped by often. Loved the guy because he was so genuine with his enthusiasm. Mel died from complications of emphysema due to smoking 2 packs a day.

I forgot- the Zippos! I still have a brass Marlboro one.

Also some brass Marlboro dice... I'm a freakin' hoarder... the longer I think about this, the more junk I'll remember I have.

Also still have my first Zippo I bought when I was in high school... It's been all over the world with me- and I quit smoking 15 or so years ago.