Wondering what people think of getting a marin 140 frame (2009 6.8 wolf ridge) and sticking 130mm dual air 2008 revelations (QR axle) on it?
Will it be just as "hardcore" or will the lower front travel play with it a bit?

You'll end up with a slightly steeper head angle which won't be a big problem and a lower bb. The bb is pretty low on these anyway so that might be a problem. Whats the axle to crown length of the forks compared to a pike? That's the critical measurement rather than the travel.

I have the 2008 Wolf Ridge which has 140mm Pikes on it, I'm told that the rear travel on these is nearer to 150mm than 140mm, I wouldnt want to run it at much lower than this on down hills although I do wind it down for climbing.
I think the bike would be great with Lyrik 2 step airs and at some point I will swap them over from my Enduro to try them

Tracey

The Marin 140's rear travel is 146mm according to the importers (and MBUK). The suspension is a rising rate at the end of it's travel so you'll never bottom it out realistically.

I don't see an issue with a 130mm fork, it'll steepen the head angle, drop the bottom bracket height a tad and steepen the seat angle, on a bike with slack angles I daresay you'll probably not notice much difference until the lack of 20mm bolt through makes itself apparent in the corners.

The question is why? You'd lose stiffness at the front with a twangier fork, not to mention compromise the high speed stability the Marin 140 was designed for. It was never meant to be an XC bike, the top tube is too short for that.

The question is why
Because I saw a new frame for £750 at rutlands and though about swapping bits over from my 07 trance – xm 719 on pro II, hope m4's, and the revelations.
Fancy something a bit harder hitting and pondered it for a bit. Seems like i'd need some new 150 forks though so maybe not this time. 🙁

A tough one… I own one and would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone. If you know what you want and are prepared to budget for the right fork then you can't go wrong if you want an aggressive bike which doesn't need pushing up hills.

My advice is go for it, you can pick up some great fork deals on Merlin of late for a 140-150mm bolt through fork.