MARIN NEWS & REVIEWS

Ideal for UK trail centres

Aggressive feel inspires confidence

After the success of last year’s Quad 140 series, Marin decided to give the top bike in the range a more aggro feel.  The 2007 Attack Trail was a great all-mountain bike and was well capable of taking the hits thanks to having a RockShox Pike fork, but now it’s a lean, green, Mega-munching machine.

The frame

The most significant changes in the frame derive from Marin’s use of Truvativ’s Hammerschmidt geared crankset.  Marin had to  tweak the linkage by shortening the lower link in order to optimise the bike’s efficiency around the 22-tooth chainring, as opposed to the previous frame, which was base on the 34-tooth middle ring.  The frame now has ISCG mounts, as required by the Hammerschmidt, and holds on to the all-important Maxle dropouts.

The detail

The Hammerschmidt system is SRAM’s new single-ring dual gear front chainset.  It’s based on a 22-tooth chainring and uses planetary gears – so when you shift into overdrive you get the equivalent of a 14-tooth jump into a 36-tooth gear.  Marin’s partnership with SRAM brings matching green decals on the  RockShox Lyrik fork and Monarch shock, while the new Mavic Crossmax SX wheelset in bruches grey and white contrasts with the green brilliantly.  The rear end has heaps of mud clearance too – ideal for the UK.

The ride

We first rode the Attack Trail while testing the Hammerschmidt in Whistler, and it impressed us right off the bat.  Marin have slackened the head angle and lowered the bottom bracket, giving the bike a confidence-inspiring aggro feel.  The Quad Link suspension systems is stable with virtually no pedal bob, so it’ll be perfect for  UK trail centres where you want to enjoy the climbs as much as the descents.  It was also confident at speed and brilliantly balanced.  When taking corners, the lower centre of gravity pulls you deep into the apex, and as a result the bike encourages you to push each corner faster that the last with no hint of loosing grip.  One thing we found with the Attack Trails is that the Monarch rear shock had a supple mid-stroke but felt harsh and unresponsive on fast small bumps.  It also had a tendency to blow through the travel.  We mentioned this to Marin and they said they were testing different tuning set-ups on the Monarch to dial in the small bump sensitivity.  The rig is a great example of how much work Marin are doing to get back on top of the hardcore all-mountain market.

The Attack Trail is a full bore trail-attacking machine.  With more and more Brits venturing out of the UK to ride Enduro DH races around Europe and North America we predict you’ll be seeing green blurs flying past you sideways at a Mega Avalanche-style event near you soon. 

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