Marin Mount Vision

EH_Rob

I'm thinking about going to have a look at this later.

viewtopic.php?f=40092&t=12868073

Thing is, although it appears it will take a 140mm fork, which is about the sort of travel I'd be looking for, I'm not totally sure its the bike I'm after, despite it's good reviews (and assuming the frame is in reasonable condition). What I want is a bike that will descend much better than my HT (an upgraded 2011 'dale SL3), whilst still retain some climbing ability. Down is definitely the priority. Looking at the geo of this bike I notice that the head angle of 69.6 degrees is pretty steep (the 'dale is 70), and that makes me wonder whether it's for me, given my above description.

Marin - http://www.marin.co.uk/2007/bikedetail.php?ModNo=3722

Cannondale - http://www.cannondale.com/gbr/catalog/p ... egory/506/

I would consider getting the frame anyway (assuming condition and price is right), and fitting an angleset to slacken the head angle by a degree if it was going to improve the stability of the bike downhill (obviously at the compromise of climbing performance), but not if it is going to totally screw the bikes performance. Does anyone have any experience of this, or of the qualities of this bike in general? Is it something you would/wouldn't recommend? Is it even possible?

Thanks in advance.

YeehaaMcgee

Mount visions have always been very play-friendly bikes. Even when they were supposedly "thoroughbred" XC bikes, they still had a very playful feel.
There's far more to a bike's stability than head angle.

cooldad

I don't normally get involved in trivia like angles, but look at the respective angles of the seatubes and where the saddle is. The Marin has more bike sticking out the front.

.blitz

My Voltage has a HA of 65 degrees and compared to the 68.5 on my Rize trail bike it makes a huge difference. I would not go near a bike with a HA of nearly 70 degrees if descending was a priority. Fitting longer forks will slacken it off but raise the BB been there done that etc

Apart from the straight-ahead steering stability, a slack HA will push and push and push the front wheel when it starts to let go before it eventually drifts in a fairly controllable way (YMMV )

A steep HA will make the front wheel snap sideways very quickly you will have to be a riding God to save it if (when) it goes

cooldad

Im am a riding god. Obviously.

cooldad

Trouble with downs is that to get down you have to go up, and it's a known fact that ups are always exactly 107 times longer than the downs.

.blitz

Our local 'big hill' descends approx 130m in a mile and it takes me 25 minutes or so to ride/push up on the big bike

Best time back down is 2:48

YeehaaMcgee

Ok, we now know .blitz has no sense of humour, or exaggeration.
Right, anwyay...
It's definitely worth checking out the Mt Vision - Marin full suss bikes often handle in ways you wouldn't expect, and are very capable descenders.

EH_Rob

Thanks for the comments, good to hear some different views on this.

What I don't want is two bikes that are too similar in terms of what they do, and I think maybe there needs to be a bigger gap than this to justify me having both. I'm still tempted to go and look at it (though if I do that I know I'll end up leaving with it).

If I had my heart set on a Marin (which I don't), I suspect what I'm maybe after is probably more of an Attack Trail. But at the right price this is still a good option.

Although I hear what Yeehaa is saying - and I've heard other people say the same thing about Marin's FS bikes abilities compared to other manufacturers at equivalent travel lengths etc. I guess I could buy it, swap what I can of my 'dales components over and see for myself...

It does look like it'll build into a great bike for someone. Hmmmm.