Marin’s 2018 collection was uncovered early last week, with a line-up that spans everything from gravel grinders and kids’ bikes to highly anticipated full-suspension models. Riders of a certain age will also be excited by the return of one particularly iconic name.
- Marin's Wolf Ridge brings new tech to 29er trail bikes
- Marin's Pine Mountain plus bike is one for the purists
Rather than overload you with each and every model, we’ve sifted through the ranks to present six of the most interesting 2018 models, and here they are:
Marin B-17 3
Resurrecting a legendary name, the new Marin B-17 is a 120/130mm all-alloy trail bike with plus tyres.
The MultiTrac suspension layout, which is Marin’s take on a faux bar setup, casts the same silhouette as the company’s Hawk Hill and Rift Zone models.
The B-17 3 photographed here is the range topping bike, which for £2,900 packs a SRAM XO1 Eagle drivetrain, a RockShox Pike RC fork and Deluxe RT Debonair suspension combo as well as Stan’s 38mm internal diameter Major rims.
Three different builds will be sold, starting with an £1,800 bike with a Rockshox Recon fork, Shimano hydraulic discs and a 1x11 setup that’s a mix of SRAM NX and SunRace parts. A halfway house B17 2 model will also be available for £2,300.
Marin Pine Mountain
Marin’s back to basics hero remains in the company’s line-up for 2018 and this, the cheapest of three models at £900, remains the purest way to ride.
Last year’s throwback colourway has been dropped in favour of an equally fetching jerry can green, but the double-butted chromoly tubes that make up the frame and fork appear unchanged for 2018. That means you still get the strange 141x9mm QR rear end and boost spaced quick release fork.
The 1x10 drivetrain now shifts via a Shimano Deore XT clutch derailleur, and the Schwalbe Nobby Nic plus tyres from last year’s bike have been switched in favour of tubeless-ready Crown Gem 2.8in parts from Vee Tyre.
Marin Wolf Ridge 9
The Wolf Ridge and its Polygon sister bike, the Square One, are very much the bikes of the moment right now, pulling in some gushing reviews from various publications.
It’s important to distinguish between the two of these bikes though, because aside from their common R3ACT suspension platform these are two very different bikes.
Rather than the 27.5 wheeled, 180mm chassis of the Polygon, the Marin delivers 160mm of travel above 29in wheels, and unlike the Polygon you’ll actually be able to buy this bike in Europe.
For the considerable sum of £6,350 you get a bike dressed with SRAM’s XO-1 Eagle drivetrain, a Stan’s Flow Mk3 wheelset and Rockshox’ Lyrik RCT3/Monarch R suspension.
We let our part-time suspension nerd and full-time bike slayer Seb Stott on this one for a few hours and he came back with a big old smile on his face. You’ll be able to hear more about that when Seb posts his findings to the site a little later this week.
Marin Nicasio RC
This handsome blue commuter immediately caught our eye among a sea of mountain bikes.
The Nicasio is built around plump 47mm wide WTB horizon tyres that will soak up all but the very worst surfaces, with the skinny steel frame — which of course includes Marin’s signature dropped seatstays — adding a further degree of comfort.
The highly swept-back bars are definitely love/hate, but will work well for some, keeping wrists in a more natural position.
The 7-speed, weatherproof Nexus gear hub should provide years of hassle-free service with the matching alloy mudguards adding further practicality. The bike comes in at a surprisingly affordable £800.
Marin Four Corners touring bike
The Marin Four Corners is the brand's dedicated dirt-touring bike and uses a comically tall head tube to keep the bars way above the saddle in a chilled out, touring-friendly position.
Built with a Shimano Sora groupset, Marin was keen to stress that it specced the Four Corners with a triple crankset as the bike is designed with loaded touring in mind, where a diminutive inner ring can be useful when scaling the steepest inclines on a heavy bike.
And if you’re not keen on the little ring, you can always ditch it and adjust the limit screws to suit.
Smaller sized bikes in the range are built around 650b wheels, with the geometry of the frameset altered to work with the smaller wheels.
While the most curmudgeonly of touring-istas will still prefer rim brakes, this particular bike comes specced with TRP’s Spyre disc brakes, which we’ve had good experiences with in the past. This particular model of the Four Corners comes in at £800.
Hawk Hill Jr
The Hawk Hill Jr is a new addition to Marin’s range and is a full-suspension, shred-ready kids' bike that is designed to ‘grow’ with rad groms as they do.
With this in mind, Marin has designed the bike to be ripe for upgrades, with routing for an internal dropper post, swappable dropouts that allow you to run a bolt-thru 12x148 rear wheel and the ability to move up from the stock 24” wheels to 26”.
The stock build is no joke though, with a 1x Shimano Deore drivetrain, hydraulic brakes and a proper Hollowtech-style crankset.
If you're in the market for a sweet shredster for you little one, you can have the Hawk Hill Jr for a cool £1,350.
