Does anyone own or has anyone any experience with the Marin Pine Mountain 1? I know there was a problem with the forks on the pine mountain, which was fixed under recall, but the pine mountain 1 comes with Rock Shox recon sliver, with 15x110mm axle so should be fine.

It uses the 141mm qr boost rear, but so do some Sonder bikes, some Norcos, Cannondale and the Bizango so it’s not unique there.

I’ve also read it’s heavy. Aside from that the geo is a bit conservative and it’s using a 27.2mm post.

I’m considering one to replace my Charge Duster, I like the additional roll over and added grip by brothers Kona Unit had, but am looking for feedback on the Marin before committing to buy. Used for xc and the odd trail centre in Lancs, so sandstone and peat.

I can’t get to the store to test ride one for a couple of weeks so it’d be an online purchase.

I have one, and rode it tons, awesome grip, good real steel feel!

I added a dropper post.

Downsides – quite a lot of frame paint wear and tear, and the proximity of the chain to the tyres = even more mud/crap in the drivetrain than usual (suspect this is normal for plus bikes)

Other – handlebars are super wide…so think before you go through that narrow gate!!

Thanks for that madxela, I’d noticed it has really wide bars, I wasn’t aware about the paint though. It does look like a fun bike, in a monster truck kind of way.

I bought a 2017 rigid model last year on a whim as due to the iconic grey and orange paint job!

Prior to that I had owned a succession of Pace RC200’s and a 300 for the past twenty plus years. The weight of the pine mountain came as quite a shock. I got upgradeitus and bought a Thomson post, Chris King headset, alloy chainring instead of the standard steel one and fitted M8000 XT shifter, rear mech and cassette, which in my mind at least has lost a bit of weight.

It rides so differently to any bike I have owned before but I love it.

Yeah, it was the 2016/2017 rigid Pine Mountain that first caught my eye, I really like the look of them. However I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted a rigid fork.

The spec on the Pine Mountain 1 appeals as I think I’d be happy enough with the SLX rear mech and shifter, and I expect the Recon fork would perform similarly to my much older Reba, even of it weighs more as it has steel stanchions. So long as they ride well and most of the parts last a reasonable amount of time I’d be happy with it.

When I had a quick ride on my brothers’ Kona Unit (which he has added Sram GX 11 speed to), it seemed good on a technical climb, and no slower than mine on the flat.

I owned the orange and grey anniversary rigid version. Lovely steel frames. Grip very well but they are heavy! Great for packing as there isn’t much to go wrong.

The weight does seem to be their biggest criticism. Followed by their somewhat dated geometry. It’s more modern than what I currently have though, and weight aside should be more competent. Simple, reliable and fun are what I’m looking for.

I have this year’s green one, rigid. It is good fun, I used it end of last week up callop cycle centre – did freeminer and verderers trails, certainly interesting with 2.8 Nobby nics over the rooty sections braking bumps. I use it on the road with 2.4 schwalbe Moto X tires.

I’ve heard braking bumps aren’t great on plus tyres, that said they’re not great on my 26er wither. Most people seem to be enjoying them, which is encouraging as the mag reviews seem to slate them for a lack of grip on some surfaces and their somewhat dated geometry.

They do make a lot of sense for a bike packing ride, but I don’t see me doing much of that, I just want a good all rounder for mostly wheels on the ground XC/trail rides from the front door. I’ve got an all road bike for bigger road rides/commuting.

Simple, reliable and fun are what I’m looking for

I bought a Ramin 3+ recently, certainly ticks all those boxes. I think I actually have the perfect bike for what I actually do, rather than the perfect bike for what I like to think I might do one day but never will. 🙂

Re Geometry – it’s old school for a reason – it’s rigid – and its really good, you feel very “in” the bike not “on” the bike

The riding I do is mostly from the front door, 4 miles on road to the local trails, then a fireroad climb, some good single track and some technical bits with small rocks and wet roots.

However I work close to the West Pennine Moors so could chuck the bike in the car and ride after work.

Other than that Gisburn is 20 miles away and there are some bridleways I can get to from home.

The pine mountain 1 I was considering has a 120mm fork. It’s a bit longer and slacker than my current bike, with 20mm more travel and bigger wheels and tyres, so it should do what I want of it.

How do people find the hubs? No reliability issues?

I think they were cheap unbranded novatech ones on the orange n grey jobbies….seemed ok and I never had any issues.

That’s encouraging, thanks.