First Bike - Marin Bolinas Ridge Or Merida Matts 70?

stringsonfire

Hi!

I'm torn between the two for my first proper bike. I'm 5 ft 6, so will be on a 16"/17" frame. It'll be for paths and forests, and riding about a very green university campus. Please help!

Marin Bolinas Ridge
http://www.marin.co.uk/2013/bikepage.php?ModNo=13BD
http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/marin/bolinas-ridge-2013

Merida Matts 70
http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bike/2013/77/MTB+Hardtails/Matts+70
http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/marin/bolinas-ridge-2013

Both 10% off, making them £450 with a free service later on from a local family run bike shop. It's definitely one or the other, but I can't decide which! Any experience/spec comparison/advice etc would be much appreciated!

Thanks

P.S. Please don't send me here... http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12875967

Update:

The Marin has a hydrolic fork lockout, the Merida is mechanical. I think the Marin also has a better cassette for the money. Otherwise, gear systems are the same. Both use Tektro HDC-300 brakes. Not much in it...

rockmonkeysc

Both as bad as each other. You can get much better for the money from Halfords or Decathlon.

stringsonfire

What makes these two so terrible?

cooldad

If it has to be one or the other I'd get the Marin.

rockmonkeysc

stringsonfire wrote:

What makes these two so terrible?

Awful fork, useless transmission and rubbish brakes.

PhilDafOrce

my first decent mountain bike was this
http://warriorbiking.com/2011-marin-bol ... ke-review/

i upgraded to hydraulic brakes for around £560, it was a good bike but soon started costing me money as the miles clocked up.

stringsonfire

RockmonkeySC wrote:

stringsonfire wrote:

What makes these two so terrible?

Awful fork, useless transmission and rubbish brakes.

It'd be quite helpful if you could explain why you consider the fork is awful, the transmission useless and the brakes rubbish.

PhilDafOrce wrote:

my first decent mountain bike was this
http://warriorbiking.com/2011-marin-bol ... ke-review/

i upgraded to hydraulic brakes for around £560, it was a good bike but soon started costing me money as the miles clocked up.

What did the money go on? Both bikes have a 1 year warranty on parts and 3 years on frame, but apparently frames rarely go bad.

Thanks!

The Rookie

The spring in the fork needs a damper (like the shock absorber on your car), that is missing from the Merida while the Marin has a basic one, so of the two the Marin is less worse in that respect.

Of the other parts on the bike, the cranks are basic, as you'd find on a £200 bike, and the derailleurs and shifters you'd expect more on a similar price point bike (£200) not at this price point, brakes are a bit better and while the wheels can be found on £300 bikes they also appear on decent £600 bikes.

That said for similar money the Voodoo Hoodoo at Halfords has much better forks and drive parts while the Rockrider 8.1 is massively better in every area for £550, consider also the Voodoo Bantu or Carrera's Vulcan or Kraken from Halfords, the Vulcan is a better specced bike for less (as is the Bantu) while the Kraken is even better for the same price as the Marin.

Not sure how much you're looking at paying for the Merida as te link is to the Marin again, but I would have expected it to be cheaper.

stringsonfire

The Marin Bolinas Ridge sold out by the time they went to order it for me, and the Marida I'm not so keen on now, with it's slightly lesser spec at that price.

Any thoughts on the Marin Bobcat Trail? £625 with their Hydro Alloy, and I've been offered it at £550, same as the Rockrider 8.1. At a £75 price difference, I wonder if the components are on par? I'm sure the Marin frame here is better.

http://www.marin.co.uk/2013/bikepage.php?ModNo=13BT

Thanks again!

ncn

I would still say the RR is much better, the fork alone makes the extra 75 premium worse. At this price point frames are all pretty much on par and there will be little to no difference in quality.

I would definitely be going for the RR out of those 2 without a seconds thought. simply due to the fork...

stringsonfire

I don't suppose the rr is ever on offer? I've found no vouchers or cashbacks for decathlon, and its still £100 more than i budgeted for

ncn

It's a massive bargain at that price as it is to be fair but unsure of if they offers or not.

Have you looked at the voodoo range?

These get great reviews, your getting a fairly good fork and it comes in at 400, if you sign up to British Cycling you get 10% off as well.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

Or this if you can stretch to 500

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499

A bit of extra travel and you get Maxxis Ardents as standard which is a bonus.

stringsonfire

I've read of a lot of issues with Halfords - not the bikes themselves, but more they aren't very good at assembling them correctly, so I've been avoiding them. Nothing like that from Decathlon though

ncn

Not all are like that, my misses got a bike from our closest and I was chatting to the guy and raced so it was done very well. If in doubt get it built by Halfords then pop to a LBS to get it rechecked, should barely cost anything or read up on Park Tools (Read this first - Link on Cool Dads sig block) and check it yourself which then means you know what your doing anyway.

stringsonfire

After the Marin went OOS, I went of the slightly lower spec Marida. I tried the Rockrider 8.1 on the weekend, and now I own one. I did look at the Halfords bikes as they were next door, but they weren't quite on the same level. I had a hard enough time buying a pair of shoes at Halfords yesterday - there really is a lot of incompetence to be found there - so I'm even more put off them, and glad I liked the Rockrider! Thanks!