Marin Nail Trail 2010 - any good ?

mountaingoatimnot
mountaingoatimnot Posts: 185
edited April 2012 in MTB buying advice
Whilst browsing for a new bike to replace my uncomfortable 18" Carrera Vengeance i was offered a little of an oddball. Oddball in the sense that the few bikes i'd sat on in the last 36 hours have been generally 19.5/20" frames which seem to have been a better frame size for me to achieve a reasonable stem / saddle height balance.

However i was offered a Marin Nail Trail for £950 (supposed RRP 1400). It has been sat behind other more recent stuff in the warehouse, but surfaced earlier this week. It appears to be a 2010 model, has the grey/champagne type colour and the Fox 32 F100RL fork . Its appeared great spec bike for the money, and seemed as comfortable as the best of anything else i've sat on. My dilemna is that its a 17" frame, and i seem to have issue accepting that this 17" model will be any better than what i currently have :shock: Only I can determine whether the frame fit is OK, but I like thoughts on..

1. anyone's experience of this model ?
2. is it a good buy at £950 ?


ps - i wasn't able to ride it this evening, thunderstorms aren't good times to test !

Comments

  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    Bike sizing is an odd one. Top tube length has alot more to do with comfort than the 'frame size', so it's a slightly pointless measure to go by. My advice would be to measure from the nose of the saddle to the stem clamp on your current bike, and compare to the nail trail. Theyre good generally, so worth a look. Atb sales have an ex display whyte for a little more on their site with a great build kit. If you like the marin, I'd consider that too!
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • mountaingoatimnot
    mountaingoatimnot Posts: 185
    benpinnick wrote:
    Bike sizing is an odd one. Top tube length has alot more to do with comfort than the 'frame size', so it's a slightly pointless measure to go by. My advice would be to measure from the nose of the saddle to the stem clamp on your current bike, and compare to the nail trail. Theyre good generally, so worth a look. Atb sales have an ex display whyte for a little more on their site with a great build kit. If you like the marin, I'd consider that too!

    Thanks for the reply.

    I did a rough elbow on seat to longest finger in stem measurement on the Marin and compared to my Carrera once i got home. They arent a million miles apart, maybe the Marin is 1/2 " shorter. Perhaps in combination with the better (longer?) fork and the spacers fitted under the bars, the seating position did seem less forward inclined which is what i'm looking for.

    I'm not exactly a slight bloke , and thats why some shops are moving me towards 20" frames i think - in some respects they look more visually in proportion to my body size, but a longer top bar isn't necessarily any improvement in my case.

    Thanks for the link to the demo - I spotted it last night. A freshly built old stock model for £950 doesn't seema bad deal.

    Got another bike shop to get to tonight/tomorrow and a few demo rides lined up so will see how they compare.
  • mountaingoatimnot
    mountaingoatimnot Posts: 185
    Great a spec as it was, i've decided the frame is too small - my eyes were over the bar. Now seen sense, especially after trying some large sized Giants today. A lot clearer on my requirements now, even if a bit different to many MTB'rs

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