When N+1 Comes and Finds You...

Well I've neglected this here blog a bit lately, so with some good coffee (M&S Honduran done in the Aeropress – very nice) sat beside me, let's dive in and sort things out.

Way back in the 1990s, I was poking a Raleigh Activator 2 about, and for those who don't know of these gruesome machines, here's a web found shot of one in all its dubious glory.

Oh Lordy... what was I thinking? Behold the Activator 2...

As bikes go, it was a bit like driving a Reliant Robin really, all very nice until someone sees you. I was having fun though, riding around on my days off, marvelling in the plush ride of the high tech elastomer full suspension. It was as heavy as a small house and the finish on it was pretty grim I must say - nasty, gaudy, stickers that started peeling off with the first wash, thin paint crappily applied, and so on. 

But all was fine and dandy in Activator world until one day I clapped eyes on a more serious looking pair of bikes. The ex Lady Back Road Bimbler and I (she also had a bike) were up in the Forest of Dean, enjoying some trails, when on arriving back at the car park, I was stopped in my clattery tracks by the sight of a pair of Marins. An Eldridge Grade and a Bear Valley I think, but whatever they were, they really caught my eye with their rakish looks, and superb looking paint.

 Now here was a really sexy looking bike - The Marin Eldridge Grade. Way out of my range financially at the time unfortunately, but a bike that I really lusted after, and still think is a proper looker to this day.

The Bear Valley, also a good looking bike (certainly way better than my fugly Raleigh). 

Since then, I've always liked Marins, well, most Marins, they've made some right munters too, but I'd never owned one.

That nearly changed back in late 2015 when I was thinking of getting another bike, and was wanting something with fat tyres. Marin had just announced the new version of their old favourite, the Pine Mountain, by way of celebrating their upcoming 30^th birthday in 2016. This bike really caught my eye – steel framed, fully rigid, 27.5 plus wheels/tyres and so on. I really liked the idea of owning one. Also in the frame was a full fat bike, the On One Fatty. Both bikes were at the same price, but there was a fly in the Marin's ointment in that it wouldn't be available in this country until May of 2016 at the earliest, while the Fatty was a mouse click and a couple of days away. I clicked my mouse and Fatso entered my stable of bikes, and a damned good bike it is too.

Old Pine Mountain.

New for 2016 retro looking Pine Mountain. I was very taken by this bike, but lack of availability when I was ready to buy meant I opted for the On One Fatty instead.

But I still liked the Marin, and as time went by and reviews or posts on forums started appearing, I'd read them with interest. It was very much a bike I still had an eye on, despite having opted for another at the time.

So fast foward to the present and I'd been happily bimbling about as usual, when a couple of weeks ago N+1 came and found me and grabbed me hard. I wasn't actually thinking of buying another bike, but I got wind online of a great deal on the Pine Mountain at Rutland Cycling, and what a deal it was. 

The PM was listing at £850, but they were offering the bike for £550. That was tempting enough, but then to really keep me awake at night, there was another £50 off to be had via a discount code on the site. Oh now that really did become very tempting indeed. Further more, if I went through Top Cashback, I could get about £13 back on the sale. Under £500 for a reasonably well specced steel mountain bike is pretty good going. The fact it was my old fave the Pine Mountain just made it a deal that was impossible to ignore really. 

I tried though, telling myself I didn't need another bike, it was yet another different wheel size so requiring the purchasing of yet more spare tubes to carry, and a bag to carry them in, then there was the cost of another bike computer to log my rides with the bike, mudguards for the front and so on. I tried, I really did, but the deal was too good to miss out on, and in a spirit of we're a long time dead, so do what I want, while I still can, I finally hit the buy button, and I'm really glad I did as the bike is a real treat to own and ride.

The Pine Mountain straight out of the box and in my rainy back garden. Buying online from Rutland Cycling was a painless and very quick affair. I ordered the bike on the Sunday and it it arrived just after 9 am on the following Wednesday, requiring only the straightening of the bars and the fitting of the supplied pedals.

 86 - 16 relates to this model being launched to celebrate Marin's 30th birthday. Frame is marked XL and is a 20" size. They also offer a 22" XXL for really long people, plus all the usual smaller sizes.

The general finish, the quality of the paint and other details, are all very pleasing I must say.

Lots of spare mounts for dropper post cabling/bottles/bike packing luggage too.

 Those black bands on the fork legs are important - without them I would've had second thoughts on buying the bike due to the potential hassles involved. The 2017 models were subject to a recall earlier this year to replace the forks, as a potential issue had been identified. The modified forks, fitted at the recall or to new bikes leaving the factory, are identified by those black bands.

Brakes are Shimano BR-M445s, and initially lacked bite, but as the first ride went on, and I did a few crash stops to bed them in, they got better and better, and are now quite powerful and progressively bitey enough for my needs.

Sram GX derailleur snickety snicks nicely between ratios on the Sunrace 11-42t cassette.

This is my first 1X transmission, and given the ugly great hills round these parts I was a little worried, but combined with the 32t chain ring, the gearing is easily low enough to get up even the most gurn inducing of climbs.

You do lose out on high end gearing though, and my wildly spinning legs bounce off the rev limiter at about 24mph on the flat, but that's fast enough for me.

This photo does highlight one of the two things I'm not so keen on with this bike - that rather ugly looking brace twixt chain stay and seat stay. The other issue is the way the fully sheathed cables/hoses hang down the front of the downtube, but both these issues are pretty minor aesthetic ones and not deal breakers by any means.

Bars are a tree snagging 780mm wide, but with a 15mm rise and 9 degree back sweep, are very comfortable and of course, give epic leverage over that fat(tish) front tyre.

The pedals the bike arrived with were a bit crappy, being heavy, not very spinny and with a built in reflector. Having bunged DMR V6 nylon pedals on the Voodoo and been very impressed with them, I opted for another pair for the Marin. This pair though are not so good. The V6 pedals are DMRs entry level jobbies, featuring bushes rather than bearings apparently, and are sealed up - no owner servicing possible. That's all fine, but both the pedals on the Marin have started squeaking liking someone stepping repeatedly on a Stoat or a Weasel. The ones on the Voodoo are fine, so this is both odd and disappointing. I have today taken them both off and run chain oil down past the spindle, but have yet to bung it up the road to see if this has cured the issue.

I've added some of my usual guff to the bike of course - spare tubes in a saddlebag, computer 'cos I like to know how far each ride is and how many miles each bike is doing and so on. I can live with a muddy backside, but not a splattered face, so have fitted fork and downtube guards.

I am really impressed with the way the Pine Mountain tracks. I don't know if it's the tyres (27.5 x 3" Schwalbe Nobby Nics), the rigid steel fork or the geometry, but the steering is very accurate and stable on and off the road. Where my other bikes wander ever so slightly, the Marin just rigidly sticks to a line as if the front wheel is running in a slot.

Tyres don't feel at all draggy to me, and roll for ages in scientific testing (on the flat, 5 mph, stop pedaling and see how far it takes to stop. A long way is the answer). 

I'm also impressed with how the tyres and steel frame and forks take the sting out of harsh bumps, and muffle things like road chatter and corrugations. My Fatbike just floats over those sort of things, feeling like there are fluffy pillows attached to the wheels, the plus sized tyres on the Marin give more feedback while still removing all the harshness. Off road I haven't ridden in mud yet, but it has coped well with everything I've found on a couple of lumpy bumpy bridleways. You have to be a tad more careful in choice of line than on the Fatbike that just batters and flattens its way along, but roll over and traction are still good compared to narrower tyres.

The seat has proved perfectly comfortable so far, although the longest ride I've managed to date has been 17 miles.

I like bikes, both owning and riding them, hence having 4 bikes where to a 'civilian,' one would do. I like their differences in details, style and ride, and the Marin is a very satisfying bike to own and ride. It is well finished (it pained me to take it out and get it mucky, it really did) and is a real pleasure to get out on with no vices that I'm aware of so far. For the price I paid, it's an absolute bargain I reckon.

I'm doubly pleased I pulled the trigger when I did though as the 2018 Pine Mountain has just been announced (maybe why the 2017 models are being discounted) and not only has the list price risen to £900, but they've chosen to paint it a rather dull green all over. Not my cup of tea at all looks wise I'm afraid to say, a backwards step in that department.

2018 Marin Pine Mountain - a bit drab looking in my book. Lay it down in the undergrowth and you'd never find it again.

Photo nicked shamelessly from the Singletrack Magazine site.

So that's four bikes now in my ready to ride collection (plus the old Clattermonger Carrera that is in retirement)... It's going to be even harder to justify anything else should N+1 come knocking again in the future!

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