MARIN NEWS & REVIEWS

Driving on the left, fish and chips and small cars – Shaums March’s week in the UK was a far cry from the life he leads across the Pond, but every bit as exciting. We asked the champion freerider to keep a diary for us. From Fort William in the wilds of Scotland to a soggy north Somerset and a craggy Yorkshire, Shaums put pen to paper when he was not in the saddle. This is his version of a visit that will stay with many of us in the MTB world for a long time to come: It also solves the etymological riddle of the word ‘Hucking’.

Looking at the flight schedule I knew I wasn’t going to be staying in any one spot for long, and I figured I would get a great sight-seeing tour of most of England and Scotland.

Hmm let’s see, it looks like six days with a long flight and a transfer, two internal flights and not to mention a couple of three hours drives through the countryside. More »

TEAM Aberdeen Asset Management – riding Marin Mount Vision mtbs – were worthy victors of the Wilderness Arc for the second year on the bounce. The team – Warren Bates, Nick Gracie, Ruth Metcalfe, Tom Gibbs, Helen Jackson and Pete James – did not just win the race, they annihilated the opposition in the UK’s toughest race.

Tom Gibbs took time to write us this exclusive report on the race and his exciting story tells of the breathless highs, the muscle-wrenching lows and the amazing sights (such as a porpoise!) they experienced in the Wilderness. More »

Price:£2995 Weight:38.4lb

Marin’s new Quake: other manufactures maybe quaking in their boots

When we heard Jon Whyte had left his normal rolling Cotswold trails for a development trip to Whistler in Canada, and Paul Lazenby was building his own North Shore, we figured big things were afoot with Marin. The result of all this radical riding research is the all new Quake AL7. More »

£1195 Marin’s new tighter TARA frames make the Alpine a classic UK mountain bike.

It might not look much different from previous long travel Marins but detailling has sharpened up the ride supperbly. Add enough uncomprised kit to get you going and this is a classic bike for the long run. More »

FRAME

Looking at the frame on the Marin it’s obvious that money has been invested where it counts. Only the seat tube is round in its entirety. Proprietary Edge tubing is used for the top and down tubes and is octagonal in profile. The top tube stays a similar size along its length and the head tube is supported by gussets at both ends. Combined with the cross-ovalised down tube, these help stiffen the front end and dissipate the stresses the long travel fork puts on the bike. The rear of the bike gets as much tube manipulation as the front. Chainstays morph to a ‘D’ shape at the dropouts, the inside of the stay is concave rather than simply crimped like on chaper frames. Even the stay bracing is not spared the detailing, with a forged, monikered seatstay brace and a hexagonal chainstay brace. The lack of brake bosses on the rear also adds to the neat looking back end. More »

4bar gates

Adjustable travel bikes are meant to be able to do anything and go anywhere – here we test two from Rocky Mountain and Marin

Like a lot of bikes, the Marin Attack Trail and Rocky Mountain ETSX-50 have adjustable rear-wheel travel, but the difference here is that it’s adjusted by sliding the rear shock in a slot or ‘gate.’ This basically changes the length of the lever used to compress the rear shock, and thus the amount of travel. More »