BIKE TEST
THE ‘BIKES ARE GREAT’ TEST
Three disparate bikes of different materials, but the same general fun-loving attitude.
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY SINGLETRACK
Bikes are popular things at the moment. You might have noticed that anyone selling a bike has already sold it, and anyone wanting a bike (or even spares) is having a tough time, or a long wait, finding what they need.
And so, with this issue’s bike test, we decided not to go overboard with getting three bikes in on a particular theme, we’d simply look to see what bikes were launching, or were offered in our direction. So the theme for this issue’s bikes is ‘The bikes we have here right now’, which, if you think about it, is no more random than our ideas to only review yellow bikes, or bikes that come with tanwall tyres.
So, here’s our random mix of bikes. They all appear to be mid-travel suspension bikes and from three different materials, so there’s a bit in common (or to tell them apart) and they’re all in the middle ground pricewise for bikes in their field.
Let’s get on with seeing what’s out there!
MARIN RIFT ZONE CARBON 1
Price: £3,195.00 From: Marin UK, marinbikes.com Tested by: Chipps
Marin Bikes might be named after a county in Northern California and its head office is based there, but the brand has always had a strong connection with the UK and the very individual needs of its riders. This started with the British designer Jon Whyte back in the ’90s, but has stayed strong even after his departure.
The Rift Zone model can also trace its roots back to the late ’90s, when Marin was pressing ahead with some revolutionary full suspension designs. It was one of the first companies to promote full suspension bikes for general trail riding and even cross-country racing, netting the UK’s first National cross-country round win on a full suspension bike under Paul Lasenby. Marin continues to push boundaries, with bikes like its Mount Vision and Wolf Ridge bikes with the innovative Naild suspension platform.
What we have here, though, is the more conventional Rift Zone Carbon 1, a bike that features Marin’s MultiTrac suspension to give 125mm of rear travel with a 130mm fork. Marin claims that the Rift Zone is a bike for endurance rides, fast group rides and for chasing personal records. With ‘long, low and slack geometry’ it’s intended to be more aggressive than a cross-country bike with similar travel, which should give it the advantage on those long, fast descents. The 110–130mm trail bike category is certainly a busy one and Marin is confident that it has enough to set it apart in a lively marketplace. Mind you, that’s once you’ve worked out the model hierarchy: our Rift Zone Carbon 1 comes below the £3,995 Rift Zone Carbon 2 in the range, but ahead of the all-alloy £2,395 Rift Zone 3.
The Bike
The Rift Zone Carbon 1 features a gorgeous looking unidirection carbon main triangle, in a sleek black and mint colour scheme. The angular shapes of Marin’s carbon frames were a little jarring when they first appeared a few years ago, but now the shape looks bang on. The frame features a long headtube ‘block’ that gives the bike a sense of solidity and this is mirrored in the chunky triangular seat tube section. The rear triangle is welded aluminium.
The MultiTrac suspension system features a big main pivot, bang on the chainline of the 32T single ring and there’s another pivot on the lower seatstay. A reasonably conventional rocker arm transfers the 125mm of rear wheel movement into the Fox Float DPS shock.
Everyone needs ‘Made for fun’ pivots, eh?
There’s room for a single bottle cage in the main triangle and, talking of room, our medium bike features a roomy reach of 455mm. Other angles are slack 65.5° head angle and a steepish 76° seat angle. Interestingly, the Marin size chart allows for little overlap between sizes. So if you’re up to 178cm, you can ride a medium. If you’re 178cm and up, then you’re on a large.
In terms of spec, the gear on the Marin is a bit of a mixed bag and not really in keeping with the bike’s aims of being a bike for ‘fast group rides and endurance riding’ as it has a distinctly chunky trail bike flavour. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just seems at odds with its advertised outlook. The Marzocchi Bomber Z2 is not a fork we’d put on an endurance machine, but it’s a great addition for a hard-hitting trail bike. In its 130mm travel guise here it’s the shortest travel that you get it in and we’re more used to seeing these forks on enduro rigs. The same could be said for the stock Wide Trail Minions and the 203/180mm brake rotors.