Over the past couple of years I have breathed new life into a 1993 Marin Bear Valley SE as a winter bike, but I am looking to cut a little weight and go a little faster so I was thinking of moving all of my components onto a Nashbar frame with a carbon fork. I live in hilly wet Seattle and commute about 12 miles each way.
Anyone care to comment on your current nashbar aluminum frame set up?
The Marin is steel so obviously it will handle the bumps a bit better, but I am really looking to get a bit faster. (I already have a road crank which made a huge difference 52/44/30 something I think.

p.s. in the spring and summer I am on my road bike, certainly this will not be as fast, but hoping to get a little closer

It was 26F on the NOAA weather report , last night,
Town Quiets right down, then ,
and all the people raised in the warmer states stay home.

so Undaunted, I pumped up the tires of my old rigid frame mountain bike,
and went downtown (2 miles) for a few pints.
The tires: Nokian Mount and ground W with tungsten steel studs ..

I built the wheels around a pair of Drum Brake hubs , and they worked excellent also..

all Bolt on stuff, no Disc Mounts required, and works way better
than rim brakes in foul weather.

Old mountain bike frames make a fine all weather transportation tool.

My start was a Stumpjumper Sport frame with a broken right dropout.
then, I found a suitable fork , in the back room of one of the LBS,

mechanic there said 'it had problems', those were misalignment of the fork
which was done by a different LBS...

I don't think one can find new rigid fork mtb these days. These old beasts have now been re-marketed as hybrid bikes.
I converted my hardtail to rigid fork months ago for commuting duties. It's awesome! Saved 2.5lbs and increased climbing efficiency.

Some others with even more knowledge might chime in here, but I have doubts that the Nashbar frame is going to be much lighter than your current frame. If you want to save weight you could get a different fork, but I wouldn't spend time and money on the Nashbar frame (nothing wrong with it I suppose) when you have such a great Marin frame already. Tires and or wheels might be a good thing to consider spending money on if you want to go faster on the Marin.

The Nashbar frame is going to be lighter than the Marin. However there are going to be issues with swapping parts. I doubt that much is going to fit on the Nashbar from the 1993 Marin. The fork for the Marin is probably 1", the wheels are likely 130mm (135 is now mountain bike standard), the front derailer is probably too small, the stem is probably a quill stem and the seatpost is too small. At the very least, andresih will need a new headset, new wheesl, new front derailer, new stem and new seatpost. With new cables, tires, grips and other stuff, the price of a $100 frame is suddenly pushing the price of a new low end bike. If he doesn't do his own work, the price goes up significantly.

Now that it is close to winter bike prices should be coming down. My winter commuter bike is an old sears with fat tires that I bought for $5 at a yard sale. After I put a light, rack and fenders it is a great commuter. It is so ugly that no one wants to steal it! I work in Philly which has the highest rate of bike theft in the nation. I suggest you continue to check Craigslist ofr your winter commuter.

John

the Mongoose Sabrosa is interesting to me. i'm patiently waiting for a good deal on a 2010 with the 8 speed alfine IGH...

https://www.mongoose.com/usa/usaeng/m...ilterYear=2010