Excuse my fence!

This weekend I’ve had the new Marin Attack Trail 6.8 for company. I’ve been looking forward to riding this bike since I saw the new catalogue. I was a big fan of last year’s Attack Trail and I wondered how the new one would compare. There have been a few changes and some weight shed too, so it all looked promising. The travel has been pushed up to 150mm and last year’s Pikes have been replaced with Revelations, the rear shock is a Monarch. Gone is the large plate gusset on the front end, replaced by a much more pleasing looking tube.  The headtube is tapered and the downtube has been beefed up a bit too. The shock links have also been machined out and lightened up too.

New links

Tapered headtube

It would also seem that finally Truvativ have managed to make an attractive set of cranks with the Stylos, very nice. Not bad in the weight stakes either, hopefully the black will stay on the sides and wear well. Amazingly I am well known for my rather cack footed pedalling style but despite all the mud I never scratched it up with my heels.

Stylo cranks

Speaking of which on last years bike I caught my heels once or twice on the swing arm and on the links too, but it didn’t happen at all on this bike, maybe it has been slimmed down a bit?

So how does it ride?

Well I think my companions on the Swinley ride will tell you I was loving this bike from the off. I’m not quite sure how my ’style’ of riding is best described, but this bike fits me like a glove. I never once even thought about how it was preforming, I just rode it with a grin on my face.

Tweakage

The Attack Trail is well at home on the singletrack, but you do have to keep an eye on your pedals as sometimes you can clout them on trail obstacles. But it’s the downhill sections where it really announces it’s intentions, somewhere along the lines of “Is that the best you can do?”. It’s really stable, flickable, and unusually it manuals at the drop of a hat. Those last minute hucks off trail obstacles are easily accomplished and the 150mm of travel are a real get out of jail free during those awkward moments!

Berm fun

The downside? Well I guess if there is one it would be this bike is never going to win any uphill races. However that said it does seem to be lighter than the previous model and you don’t really notice the weight that much. Coming from a bike that is a few pounds lighter than this I can’t say I really felt handicapped. There is an unexpected bonus though, on a steep climb when the bike is in the granny ring the quad link system seems to seek out every last bit of grip there is, providing you can get forward on the saddle and get low you’ll still be riding when your fellow riders are off and walking. It shouldn’t be possible on a bike like this, but it is

Verdict:

So what do I think? I love it. Is this much travel really necessary on a bike round here? Well I ride a hardtail, so clearly no! But if you want a really comfy bike that climbs well, descends like a mini downhill bike, is quick and nimble through the singletrack this is the daddy. You can ride the Attack Trail all day and not feel beaten up. It really is a hoot to ride. It encourages you to ride like a loony and rewards you by getting you to the end in one piece with a big grin on your face, you can’t ask for more than that!

Hummerlicious

Although it was cold there was a good turn out down at Quest and the women’s ride was on the same day. As there was only the two of them this time they decided they’d tag along with us too.

Keen group

After a bit of indecision I decided to take the route up past Hill Barn golf course and the long bridleway up to Cissbury ring. Conditions were pretty good, the path had obviously been used a bit and there was a nice crusty line down the middle which allowed us to make good progress…..

Chilly!

….Until we got to the big climb in the middle! Amazingly the grip was actually pretty good up here. But about a third of the way up there had been an obvious thaw then a refreeze and there were a couple of tyre tracks that were un avoidable. These had pretty much everyone off and walking. A little further though and we were able to remount for the slog to the top.

Push time

A little bit of playing around occured further up. There were a couple of good drifts and a bundle developed! Then I stopped to take some pictures, only to have my bike buried when my back was turned! We continued through the top gate with the intention of doing the diagonal downhill to the right, but the snow was more than hub deep and it proved impossible to get any momentum at all so we gave up on that idea.

More pushing!

I decided that the lower singletracks were probably the best bet and we crossed Cissbury and dropped down the side into Findon valley. Once out the wind we realised that we were actually having a lot of fun and decided to continue for a bit longer. We crossed the A24 and climbed up Church Lane, which proved to be grippier than when there is no snow! We had to push through a couple of deep drifts at the top and then we headed back towards Salvington eager for cake!

Someone mentions cake to Uncle Phil

A quick cheeky descent and we were back into the valley and riding along the gallops trying to dodge the sledgers. It was great to get into Parklife and have a hot Mars Bar milkshake and a toasted cheese sarnie to warm up!

The rest of the photos are here.

Some pics on Martin’s photostream here.

Hummerlicious

The 2010 Mount Vision is a bit slacker in the head angle, a bit steeper in the seat angle and is meant to offer a better all round trail appeal for everyone. A bike that will still munch the miles if you want it too but will handle the singletrack and the techy bits in a bit more of a sure footed, friendly fashion.

2010 Marin Mount Vision

I’ve got to start with the looks, Marin can often be a bit of a ‘Marmite’ design, usually polarising opinion in the group, but they’ve really gone to town on the new model and made some nice design tweaks over previous incarnations. Gone is the nasty little step in the top tube that the headset sat in. The swingarm has been mad more swoopy to take it well out the way of your heels, which works really nicely now. Most noticably though a lot of the welds on the front triangle have been ground smooth leaving lots of people asking if the frame is carbon, it’s a sweet loking frame.

I have had the benefit of riding this bike a few times now, so I’ve had a chance to get to know it quite well. It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Marin’s suspension system and indeed both Deadly and Tatts both have quad link 140 frames which they seem to get on with. But as mentioned above I’ve always found the Mount Vision a bit nervous for my taste so I was keen to see what difference the geometry changes had made.

Mount Vision

I’ll be honest my first ride out I was a bit underwhelmed. It had 2.1″ High Rollers on and it felt nervous and twitchy and I just felt too stretched out and skitty on it. Playing with the rear shock settings out on the trailed helped, but I didn’t really feel happy on it. On my return I mentioned it to JP and he made a few changes. He loves it and he was keen for me to try again and see if my opinion had changed.

The stem had been swapped for a shorter one and the tyres were swapped out for some wider Maxxis Ardents, a bit like a lighter High Roller in a way. The difference was immediately noticeable, I no longer felt so stretched out and as a result felt a lot more at home. I did a lot of familiar trails on that second ride and my speed through the singletrack was commented on, so it was obviously working better for me. In fact the singletrack round the top of Steyning I flew round and did feel a bit like I was cheating

Mount Vision

So it just goes to show that if you have your mind set on a certain bike but it doesn’t feel right you can get the cockpit feel sorted out to your taste with a bit of minor tweaking. On the trail the bike is fast and fluid. It’s only about half a pound heavier than my Hummer so I didn’t notice the extra weight of having rear suspension. The quad link suspension works well helping you search out grip on the climbs, and is as usual super smooth on the downs.

The revised geometry works well, it doesn’t feel steep and nervous although it is a bit steeper than what I’m used to with my Hummer. It whips through the singletrack nicely as well. So who is this bike for? Well I reckon if you’re looking for an all rounder, reasonably light weight, that is suitable for blasting around on the south or indeed the north downs it’s well worthing booking a test ride. The faster you make it go the more fun it is

The funny thing is although we didn’t get on to well on our first outing together I can’t help but ask if it’s free whenever I’m nipping out now which obviously means something!

Marin Attack Trail

I intended to ride it a few different places and see how it felt as a trail bike as well as checking out it’s credentials as a burly descender.

So to that end the first ride scheduled in was up at Pitch Hill. I went with the express purpose of sending it of the larger part of the Judge’s seat, which quite frankly I’ve not really had the balls to do unless you count the one time a few years back when I did it on ASBO’s Intense.

Judge's Seat

So I rolled up to the lip, marked the line I wanted with a small pine cone the went for it. Of course not being on a hardtail it left me wondering what the fuss was about. The Attack Trail just sucked it all up and laughed at me. Perhaps I’ll have the guts to try it on the Hummer now…..

Continuing on round our usual loop of Pitch Hill trails it was a lot of fun and the descents were an absolute scream, I guess I was going quicker than I would have dared on my Hummer, but it all felt perfectly in control as well (for a change). I guess the only time the bike was an issue was on the ’switchback trail’ where I had trouble fitting the bars between a couple of trees. The other aspect was with a longer fork and a more laid back head angle I really had to work to hold it on line on the tight downhill switchbacks. I got round though and booted it off the drop at the bottom too, so that was nice.

Night riding fun

The second ride was on more local trails on the South Downs. Just a usual ‘Tuesday night’ style loop. To be honest I found it a bit hard going, but then this isn’t really the bike you want if you are intending to go out mile munching. It got the job done obviously, but on one or two of the long smooth climbs the extra six pounds of heft over my Hummer was very noticeable.

The third and final ride was going to be super lush, a long morning up at Swinley with the Boyz and a chance to ride loads of singletrack and the amusingly names “Sandy Chute”, it sounds saucy, but the rest of us know it as the jump gulley.

I was really up for this ride and despite having spent the previous day walking round Legoland I had bags of energy. The bike felt great and rolling through the jump gulley preloading the suspension I was amazed how much of a boost I could get from the lips. The doubles at the end were easily cleaned first time with minimal effort.

Jump gulley

The downhill run to ‘the labyrinth’ was silky smooth and as fast as I dare let it go. It’s the first time I’ve cleared all the jumps so I was very happy.

Dropping in

So what’s the verdict?

Well I gave it back before I got too attached to be honest. I really enjoyed riding this bike. The Lyrik forks were silky smooth and soaked everything up nicely. The Hammerschmidt worked superbly. I still don’t really like the way it looks, but you can’t fault the execution, it’s great. Hopefully subsequent revisions of the Hammerschmidt will make it a bit lighter / prettier / cheaper!

The bike is a real blast to ride, it flows through singletrack well, although you have to work a bit harder on the really tight stuff. When the trail points down it really comes alive. Flattering your poor line choices and giving you a feeling of invincibility.

Point it uphill and, providing you’re not in a hurry, it’ll surprise you by giving out bags of grip enabling you to get up stuff that shouldn’t really be possible (despite my comedy wipe out at Swinley).

If I could find a way of monetising some of my less important internal organs I’d hapily have it in the shed for those fun days at Pitch / Swinley, and of course it would give me a good excuse to enter the MegaAvalanche

Scott and Marin / Whyte had their test fleets there and there were a few bikes that I knew I definitely had to try, so it would be a good opportunity to get a good blast on them. It’s no secret amongst the Sussex-MTB crew that I’m a big fan of Marin’s current suspension platform, it’s fairly efficient and strikes a good balance between grip and comfort for my style (whatever that may be) of riding.

Ride 1:

First off for the day was the Marin Attack Trail. This is the longer travel brother of the fantastic Wolf Ridge, though not as hefty as a Quake it’s still quite a big lump. They built this to be a great bike for events such as the Mega Avalanche and as such giving a blast on the South Downs isn’t really a full test of it’s potential. I’m hoping to at least get it up to Pitch hill for a session on some more suitable terrain before it goes back. 

Marin Attack Trai

Back to the South Downs though and the weight was definitely noticeable getting it up to the top of Cissbury Ring although to be fair to it, it still did so without any dramas, they were all coming from the rider! I definitely felt I was over biked, that was until we came to the descent down through the side of Hill Barn golf course. All of a sudden it made a lot of sense and I was soon up the front, being held up by the two riders in front of me. The bike has the kind of indestructible feel that means I was tempted to plough between the two of them and put the hammer down! However caution won out and I suspect they were more worried by the manic laughter I let out all the way to the bottom of the hill. If the freeride / downhill type riding style is your thing you’d be mad not to take one of these out for a test ride……

Hammerschmidt

One feature of this bike is the much hyped Hammerschmidt crankset. You’ll probably agree that the whole triple front ring and derailleur set up works fine, but Truvative have chosen to turn convention on it’s head with this one. The result is a mega compact front ring with a dual speed ‘gearbox’ inside, actuated by a thumb shifter. I have to say it’s an amazing bit of kit, it literally makes you smile the first time you use it. Sure it’s quite heavy and it’s certainly a lot of money, but as this is the first iteration I’m sure we’ll see some refinements as time goes on.

Hammerschmidt

It totally makes sense on a bike like this, keeping all the gubbins out the way, and it just works. Really well. Me want!!

Ride 2: 

Well I have to say I was feeling the strain after riding the Attack Trail, so for ride 2 I took my trusty Cove Hummer, just to give me a chance to recover. It was of course excellent

Hummer lushness

Ride 3:

I haven’t raced XC for a couple of years and I was interested to see how pure race bikes have developed since I diverted down the road of long forks and big tyres. So to that end hooked myself up with a Whyte 19 carbon. This is one seriously lush bit of kit. I’m a sucker for a bit of carbon swoopiness and this is one stylish looking bike. As well as that it’s super light too.

Whyte 19 carbon

After the Attack Trail this bike seemed to actually pedal itself up the hill, I put the hammer down just to see what I could get out of it on the climb and was pleased to get to the top with the front runners with seemingly not too much effort.  

Swoopy

What would it be like on the downhill though? Race bikes tend to have shorter travel forks and steep angles and can seem a bit nervous. I went pretty quick down the hill and the bike behaved itself nicely, although the steeper angles were definitely noticeable after the previous two.

Lushness

The next singletrack section was sweet though, sharp handling, light weight and good power transfer means this bike absolutely flies along when you want it to.

I thought it would be a bit of a back breaker but I was pleased that it actually offered quite a comfortable ride. If I could afford the luxury of a bike for the few races I do a year, this would definitely be a fine choice. I certainly much prefer it over the original Whyte 19, which I found to be a bit harsh on my dodgy back

Ride 4:

Last one of the day and enthusiasm was starting to wane, despite the weather still being great. I opted for the Mount Vision as it was the last of the bunch I hadn’t tried. 120mm travel, slightly slacker geometry to last years model too.

Mount Vision

One thing that was immediately noticeable was just how active the suspension was on the Mount Vision. It always seems to be moving away under you and feels a bit disconcerting at first. Certainly more active than the Wolf Ridge or Attack Trail. Bizarrely though you soon realise this is in no way related to wasted effort. The bike climbs well and absolutely flies along in the singletrack as well as being a confident descender too.

The Verdict:

Well should there be a verdict? I’ve been lucky enough to try a whole slew of bikes from Scott, Marin and Whyte over the last two months, some I’ve loved and some less so. I can only apply what I’ve ridden to my riding, which can be characterised by lots of technical singletrack (up and down) and a love for getting the wheels off the ground too.

If I was forced to choose just one of these bikes I think it would have to be the Wolf Ridge, as I have said in a previous review it does really tame the trail (which was a slight negative for me, as a die hard hardtail rider) but it does everything well and feels like it would take everything I’m capabale of throwing at it. It would be an absolute blast to ride on the North Downs and especially at Trail Centres or in Spain. It climbs well enough that the extra weight would be worth it. 

A muddy Wolf Ridge

That said the bike that was probably the most fun to ride was the Rocky Ridge, I think it may be the cheapest of them too! It was a serious blast to ride and it left me wondering what the point of spending £1600 on a Ti Hummer frame was when you could have this much fun on a complete package that cost about £1200. Not that I regret buying my Hummer at all, but hey, we can all manage to make space for an extra bike can’t we?

Hummerlicious

Demo day

The Quest Adventure demo day is this coming Saturday (21st March). We’re doing rides at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00. You can book up a test ride by calling the shop on 01903 573700 or 01903 821296.

The list of demo bikes is below:

Marin Wolf Ridge (6.9 &/or 6.8): S, M & L

Marin Mount Vision (5.8 &/or 5.7): S, M, L & XL

Marin Mount Vision women’s: S

Rocky Ridge: M & L

Quake 7.9: M

Indian Fire Trail & CXR if they arrive in time

Scott Scale 20: S,M,L

Scott Scale 35: M

Scott Spark 30: M

Scott Spark 20: S, M, L, XL

Scott Genius 20: M, L, XL

Scott Genius 30: M

Scott Genius 50: S, M, L

Bring your own helmet. Flat & clipless pedals will be provided but you are welcome to bring your own.

Trials display by Darren and his one time trials display partner Chris Donney of Zero gravity. Many thanks must go to Chris and Rob for bringing their rig down.

Marin Rocky Ridge

 The Rocky Ridge complete bike comes in significantly cheaper than what I paid for my Hummer frame, so I thought it would be interesting to compare the two.

Unlike some on here I like to try the bike first and see what it rides like before I pass comment and I’m so glad I did. We were out riding at Leith Hill for about three and a half hours and it tipped it down with rain the whole time, the thing was it really didn’t matter, I just had such a blast!

In terms of frame design, I guess the geometry must be fairly similar to the Stiffee and that style of bike. A long, buttery smooth, Fox Vanilla fork plugged in the front, with the new 15mm bolt through axle. it felt better than a quick release, although not quite as bomb proof as my Pikes. A great choice for the bike though. The frame is aluminium with a lot of complicated forming going on with the tubes. It’s rigid and goes where you point it without fuss, and with a big pair of tyres on, surprisingly forgiving. Although not as comfy as my Hummer.

Marin Rocky Ridge

 In terms of the rest of the kit you’ll just have to go and look at Marin’s web site for the full run down, it was all dependable stuff though.

So the ride? Well the others will tell you, I didn’t shut up about it! It’s well mannered through singletrack and the longer travel fork works fantastically. Riding down Return of the Jedi at Leith Hill I piled into the last section way faster than I probably should have, loads of roots and rocks, but I leant back a bit launched the roots and the fork took care of business on touchdown and I just ploughed my way through the rest!

It’s extremely easy to manual and is very flattering to someone like me who usually can only manual a few bike lengths, great fun! When you get it into the air, which is hard not to considering it’s playful nature, it feels well balanced and easy to control.

My only real gripe was the tyres, which were frankly very scary! Easily solved though, whack on a set of 2.35″ Maxxis High Rollers and the jobs a good ‘un.

For a bike that’s listed at only £1125 I reckon it’s an amazing package, but don’t take my word for it, go and book a test ride!

Hummerlicious

The colourscheme somewhat divided opinion amongst the boyz in a ‘Marmite’ kind of way, but I fell on the love it side. I like white bikes and all the other little details set it off nicely (to my eyes anyway).

One of the first things you will notice is the weight. You pick it up and think ‘wow’. It does feel quite heavy, but then as I’m coming from a Ti hardtail (albeit a robustly specced one) I guess any suspension bike will feel heavier. The pleasing thing though is that it really doesn’t seem to translate to weight on the trail for some reason. The extra pounds only really became an issue to me towards the end of the ride when I was tired. I think if I was still riding my old Cove it probably wouldn’t have been noticeable at all.

On the trail you immediately notice it is quite short, but of course this translates to it being pretty nimble and chuckable. Blasting down the singletrack trails of Leith Hill it seemed pretty effortless, booting off jumps and roots with little care for personal safety and line choice all the rough sections we’re just ‘lean back and grin’! So much so that on more than one occasion I got to the bottom of the trail only just behind Hoops and we were both sat there waiting for the others to catch up for 30 seconds or more! Fine handling indeed.

Avid’s new Elixir brakes proved to be powerful stoppers and just as well because on more than one occasion I found myself going way faster than I should have been and despite a few spectacular two wheel lock ups on corners they got the job done with no dramas

Out front it has Rock Shox Pikes, I’m a big fan of these and have them on my Hummer, in the air the bike tended to be slightly front heavy for me, but I think I needed a bar with slightly higher rise to offset the shorter top tube. I tend to run my own bikes with a higher bar, so it was probably just a case of tweaking the set up slightly for me, which I didn’t have time to do.

One of the most amazing things about this bike though is it’s climbing ability. It shouldn’t really be possible, but this bike just seems to have bags of grip. On more than one ocasion I was still riding up some of the steeper stuff where others were off and walking!

All in all I really enjoyed the Wolf Ridge. Would I buy one? Well for me I would love to have it as a second bike, it really is a blast and for North Downs fun and taking to Spain I reckon it would be awesome. But for my general riding round here it’s overkill for me. It tames the trail a little bit too much to keep it exciting for me. Marin are, perhaps somewhat unfairly, generalised as being bikes for people with beards and sandals, and although I am in posession of both I didn’t wear my sandals whilst riding it

If you are after a really capable all rounder that errs on the side of playful then why not give the demo bike a try? One things for sure, it’ll put a big grin on your face.

Hummerlicious