Marin Interbike 2007
Marin has gone through a lot of refinements with their lineup since I last looked at them. They’ve using a new linkage design (Quad Link 2.0) in an attempt to achieve a number of things that they feel will improve the ride of the Marin bikes. The key things they focused on were wheelpath, instantaneous pivot center, intelligent wheel to shock movement, quick moving links, and beneficial chain growth.
The result of these key focal points was to:
- Optimize ratios to allow great climbing and sprinting.
- Reduce bob and pedal feedback.
- Give great small bump response.
- Improved mud and tire clearance.
I demo’ed their quad trail Wolf Ridge on one of the XC trails and it has a lot going for it. The Marin folks set up the bike nicely and the shock was actively absorbing the small bumps quite nicely. There wasn’t too much bob out of the saddle but some tweaking with the air pressure would’ve helped that out.
2008 Marin Wolf Ridge (click to enlarge)
The other bike that might appeal is their Quake XLT series. The XLT series is their long travel Freeride bike. Ridden to victory in the Masters Downhill World Championships by none other than Shaums March, the Quake is built for big hit durability. Time constraints didn’t allow us to ride them but they do look very promising.
The 2008 Quad XLT 7.3 pictured below had a pretty impressive spec list
- Maxle rear end
- Totem fork
- Hydroformed and extruded tubing
- Shimano Shadow XT shifting
- Avid Code disc brakes
- DHX 5 air fork
- E.13 DRS
- Modular rear end allowing for 150×12 or 135×10mm
2008 Marin Quake 7.3 (click to enlarge)
Be sure to check out the gallery for detailed pics of the Quake and Wolf Ridge bikes as well as extended photo coverage of the rest of Marin’s lineup.
