Comunque alla Marin si fregiano per il secondo anno consecutivo dell':
"
What Mountain Bike Awards 2008 Winner: Marin Mount Vision.
Our Famous Five bike test in Issue 77 was the most significant and closely fought of the whole year. No wonder then, that its winner turned out to be the Bike of the Year.
Feelgood Factor
Marins aggro hardtails (such as the Rocky Ridge) have always had serious balls, but now the previously rather tall and timid full-suss bikes are packing the same outstanding presence on the trail.
The Mount Visions wide bars, singletrack-friendly short stem and easy sag that slackens the already relaxed steering sits you down on the trail with real authority. The big, square stays and broad linkages over the centrally-mounted shock give it the muscular purposefulness of a much bigger, longer-travel bike. The sharp power transfer and sharp changes from the stiff modular dropouts do nothing to undermine the serious underlying strength either. While Marins Quad XC suspension isnt the most neutral and efficiently quiet around Giant,
Trek and DW link-style bikes hold the all-round aces in that camp it adds a real dynamic
edge to the ride. Big leverage at the start of the stroke means a front end thats very easy to lift and manual through trouble. The extension and tensing of the suspension under power keeps the nose down on steep climbs, though, as well as giving masses of rear-wheel feedback for judging traction.
Okay, so the Mt Visions relaxed attitude to turning takes a few corners to get the hang of. Once you sync with it, though, itll rip you through like nothing else in its category. The same applies to descents, drops, technical climbs and any other situations where you are taking the fight to the trail. In other words, the Marin may bob and scrabble a bit more in some situations than the Trek Fuel X and Giant Trance X but it continues to encourage and inspire your riding in a way that theoretically more optimised rides just cant match.
The upshot is that while some bikes weve loved initially fade into the background as new rides appear, riding the MV just gets better and better. In fact, wed definitely boost our tentative initial climbing and value scores from 8 to 9 and give a totally deserved overall 10. Its not just our experienced suspension testers telling us this. A mixed group we sent to Glentress with the Famous Five biketest all came back raving about the Marin. Its the most requested bike on our fleet by far, whether we are heading off across moors all day or for a Thursday night thrash. Weve had letters from readers whove spent a lot of time making their final buying decisions but are now totally in love with their Marins.
Love You Long Time
The Mount Vision makes a great investment. Massive mud room and bearings with a 10 year warranty have been a feature for years but now the shock is hidden from spray and sideloads by the big linkages. Straight-through cabling keeps the gears sweet for even longer than average, too. Interchangeable rear dropouts not only add damage limitation but you can swap them for Maxle versions to create collar and cuffs coordination with next years crop of lighter, bolt-thru forks.
It says a lot that while weve played with both heavier and lighter builds while the Marin has served as our 2008 test mule, its always happiest when closest to its original spec. Marins Rift Zone gets the same crucial Fox suspension pairing for $2380 while the East Peak utilizes the same frame for $1860.
Designed to deliver
If theres one excuse that we take from a bike builder as a good sign its the one that precedes ATB head designer Ian Alexanders take on the Mount Vision: Sorry for the late reply been out riding all day.
We asked Ian about the Mount Visions creation. He told us: We were trying to make a bike for classic MTB rides, such as riding on the moors for hours on end, but could also rip round the trail centres and fit with the new styles of riding that have developed.
This bike needed a little more travel than our old 100mm XC bike plus highly developed geometry., more linear travel and a chassis that was significantly stiffer and stronger..
We spent a long time working on a new hydroformed tubeset. This uses a blend of 6061, 6066 and 6069 grades of aluminium alloy to achieve the lightest but most durable frame and swinging arm weve ever developed. The new replaceable dropout system boosts shifting performance, but more importantly it allows complete freedom of choice of dropout and disc mount standards. Geometry was rationalised to add in an XL size.
Spec wise the MV has always been super-durable for our terrible UK weather and has excellent performance for the price. The benchmark
XT group combined with Hope/
Mavic/
DT Swiss wheels and Avid brakes make sense for our riding. Foxs fantastic F120 fork offered us a significant weight saving and the RP23 is a great rear shock.
A shortish stem, wide bar and lock-on grips all help reinforce the efficient XC trail bike with a heap of attitude personality.
The verdict:
Simply put, its the bike nobody wanted to give back.
