I chose.. now I hope I was right!

KnightofCydonia

with the very helpful bike shop today I purchased my Marin. I had a good look at 3, the spesh rockhopper expert, a commencal combi deluxe & a nail trail.

Overall the spesh didn't do what I was looking for & i was torn between the other two. The commencal is strikingly beautiful, the white rims kinda jump out at you. The Sram transition was good, crisp and better imo than the shimano on offer on the Marin, but the overall riding position felt wrong on the commencal, a bit cramped, the bars seemed narrower & I was left unsure about the recon air forks.

The marzocchis felt nicer, the overall sitting & standing felt awesome on the marin so I've gone for what I think will give me the best mileage & the frame has infinite potential long-term.

But....... it's still nagging me. Did I pick for the right reasons?!

MuddyFunster

Yep. Better a bike that fits you properly than one that gives you a sore back or neck after an hour on the trail. All the shiny bits will wear out eventually anyway - faster if you enjoy riding the thing and take it out more!

littleandy0410

Don't lie, the real reason you picked it is for the bright orange paint job, isn't it!?

Yeah, as MuddyFunster says, if it fits and feels good, it's the right choice. If there is something you don't like, you can always change bits as and when.

KnightofCydonia

littleandy0410 wrote:

Don't lie, the real reason you picked it is for the bright orange paint job, isn't it!?

Yeah, as MuddyFunster says, if it fits and feels good, it's the right choice. If there is something you don't like, you can always change bits as and when.

I've had it in white I thought it looked better and the trim on the forks is green which can be nicely matched with some v12s and for a white-green & black scheme :?

MuddyFunster wrote:

Yep. Better a bike that fits you properly than one that gives you a sore back or neck after an hour on the trail. All the shiny bits will wear out eventually anyway - faster if you enjoy riding the thing and take it out more!

That's what I thought. Only time will tell but I'm happy to have it, already planning my back-to-fitness rides

littleandy0410

Nice! Much better in white, I really like the lines of Marin Hardtail frames, and think they look best in white. 8)

I'm even more impressed then!

KnightofCydonia

pic for now. most of what I took didn't turn out, censored camera, excited cameraman and poor lighting conditions all scapegoats!

pdid

Lovely looking steed. Need to get those reflectors off though :twisted:

Must admit to having a tiny bit of a soft spot for Marins

KnightofCydonia

i know! the front/rear normal ones and the bell came straight off. those can be the next in line

Raymondavalon

Leave the reflectors on and fit a bell... sorted

Seriously, junk them.. but what a nice ride. Good to see you tested the bikes before making your choice. The Marin is an excellent bike and a good looking one too.
Hopefully it will be covered in mud in the next photo we see of it :¬)
Us i in anger and my she serve you well

The Big Cheese

Welcome to the Marin fan club!

Nice rig you have there!!!! Nice subtle colour scheme!

Lovely frames, I always thought that! 8)

Remember.... God rides a Marin!

ride_whenever

Lovely, needs some white mg-1s and a white bar/stem combo, with black lock-ons and green ano clamps...

Very pimptastic though.

KnightofCydonia

ride_whenever wrote:

Lovely, needs some white mg-1s and a white bar/stem combo, with black lock-ons and green ano clamps...

Very pimptastic though.

I dunno if white stem/bars would be too much overkill. I do like the Irish Green DMR v12s however


Had my first ride today, just road stuff to get me used to riding again, can't move now

Definitely going to upgrade the shifters/mech in time, probably to xt and after that white suggestion I found this

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/images/pr ... 002592.jpg

Tank-slapper

Yep, you bought good.

Which shop did you buy at? Was it a Derbyshire shop?

KnightofCydonia

yeah. Leisure lakes just outside long eaton, off the A52/M1 island by a couple of miles. I trawled the derby city centre ones, ones in staffs/leics too and found them to be the most helpful & willing to talk to me for a prolonged period of time about stuff and the range was good. Found one in the city in particular pretty useless with more of an attitude of not caring if I was going to spend upto £1k with them or not.

Tank-slapper

I've never been to Leisure Lakes, but will have to soon as they are the nearest place that do servicing for Scott (extended warranty thing). Kind of looking forward to it now after your glowing report.

I expect the city centre shop that didn't care was on Ashbourne Road? I've felt the same thing several times and only go there now to buy bits that I know can't be found elsewhere.

KnightofCydonia

indeed it was. I just found them not to be much help at all. I wanted to see a particular genesis in. Was told if it wasn't there I wouldn't be able to. No offer to bring one in or owt. Shame really cos I was tempted by both the core 30 and the altitude 10. Another one nearby in the city seemed more road bike orientated and he'd obviously had an awkward customer before me who left moaning about something so I think i got the raw end of it, plus he was wanting to eat his sandwich

On the other side, some of the smaller ones out and about were very nice & helpful but just didn't have the buying power or the ability to get brands in that interested me more than stuff like GT & Giant.

Tank-slapper

Was the sandwich shop just off Abbey Street? They are normally very friendly and helpful (hope it wasn't me who miffed him off!). The selection is a bit limited, but they can order stuff in.

Anyway, hope you enjoy your new ride.

KnightofCydonia

it was yeah. He seemed nice enough but there were way more hybrids and racing bikes in than MTBs of a certain quality. Had a nice trek in at 1500 which I salivated over :P

I plan to thanks, need to get upto the peaks sometime but before I try anything serious offroad, I need to get into some sort of shape so i can even climb anything too bad by foot! Although if a local park counts as off-road, i've begun :roll:

Tank-slapper

Take a look at the routes on the Brassington website (link below). There are several nice easy rides and you can mix and match bits to suit.