I bought a Marino full sus frame

So, I put my geo numbers in and Marino made me a full suspension frame.  It arrived on Thursday, built up Friday and had two rides on it over the weekend.  It’s really good, but I suppose I would say that because it was to my design, but pleasantly surprised that I seem to have got it all bob on and it fits really nicely.  I’ve always struggled with bike fit due to long legs and short torso.

I went for the Reynolds 725 tubing, but not sure I’d bother with doing that again.  I thought the posher tubing would give some weight saving, but the frame alone with rear axle is 4.3kg (bathroom scales) so not sure of the value there.  My geometry is nothing extreme, but I wanted a high stack and steep seat angle. Very pleased with it, so feel free to ask any questions if you’re curious.

How do I post photos these days?  Not done it for years.

That didn’t work…

Stick a photo on imgbb and then copy and paste the image source jpg into the img tags on here.

What’s the geometry?

I keep mulling the idea of getting them to build me a “one bike to rule them all” gravel/Road frame to my chosen numbers, they’re cheaper than any other custom frame option I’ve come across.

The different tubeset options do make quite an impact on the price, but you don’t think they affect weight as much as expected OP? (there’s no indication on relative weights on the website)

How did you find importing the frame? covered in their shipping cost or did you get knobbled for import duty?

I asked Marino if the Reynolds tubing was any lighter and he said it wasn’t so I went for the standard stuff. His frames aren’t light but I’m well pleased with my hardtail.

I can’t see any img tags.  That’s how I remembered doing it, but can’t see that now.

Anyway, I doubt going for the 725 over the 4130 makes that much difference on weight.  I was hoping it would, but I doubt that now.

Importing was straightforward.  Marino sends a tracking link and it probably took around 10 days or 2 weeks door to door.  I had to pay £76 handling fees and VAT, but UK have a trade agreement with Peru, so no actual import duties.

It’s a 27.5 wheel frame with 150mm travel off a 210×55 shock.  Geo is 65 head, 75.5 actual seat angle, but effective works out at 78.8.  455 reach, 435 chainstays, 135mm headtube to give a stack of 634, so more in line with a 160mm forked 29er than most 27.5s.

I was keen to not get anything too digressive on the shock leverage and my coil shock is good to a certain point (probably 2/3 of way through) and then bottoms more easily.  Looking at getting a progressive spring, but also have a RS Deluxe shock on the way to use the natural progression of the air shock to assist that last 1/4 or 1/3.

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Like that a lot

Looks good. Glad to hear it rides well. Got my own Marino frame a couple weeks back. Still waiting on parts to be delivered so no build underway yet. Also went 725 but agree (based on  ‘weighing’ the frame in my hand) there’s no real weight benefit to that.

@rickos maybe you’d like to submit it as a Readers’ Rides? : https://form.asana.com/?k=Qz1S6ibQTvMWWrxM4Q4J0A&d=1121725724315322

I like that.

Looks great!

Always good to see bike to fit specific folks.

How many bottles are you going to be able to fit? Two and an accessory mount? Looks like quite the overlap of bottle on the diagram.

Colour noise- how much travel does your frame have? I’m surprised to see the same manufacture have two different single pivot layouts.

The pivots look to be in similar places? Will they ride similarly?

That’s very cool!

“ I’m surprised to see the same manufacture have two different single pivot layouts.”

Colournoise’s layout will be less regressive. If you draw a circle with the centre the pivot and the circumference starting at the rear shock bolt, then if the front shock bolt is inside the circle it’ll be progressive whilst if it’s outside the circle it’ll be regressive.

@tall_martin – Marino does two types and gives you the choice; he says the e-stay type is stiffer, but mine has 4 bearings at the pivot and feels plenty stiff enough. The pivot point of the e-stay version is also quite a bit forward of my type for better leverage ratio but I find a forward position makes it more difficult to loft the front end for dropping off stuff and generally messing about. That was a big reason in choosing the lower chainstay design for me.

As for bottle mounts, the tool roll thing in the photo fits well on the back mount and the bosses in front of that could mount a bottle cage. I’m currently using a Fidlock bottle on the bosses on the down tube in front of the shock. As you say, I don’t think I’d get 2 bottles in (not really checked yet) without losing the tool roll, but I wanted the flexibility in case one set didn’t really work. I don’t think Marino has time to faff about checking these things for you, so I just hedged my bets.

Brilliant. Looks great 🙂👌

I suppose the big questions are how much, how long?

$895 with a spare SRAM UDH and a spare rear axle, so worked out around £740 with exchange rates. They also included a nice Marino long sleeved riding top for free, but it’s a size small, so my boy can use that.

I filled in the online form on 24th Feb and paid the $100 deposit on 11th March after the toing and froing to get everything as I wanted.  It was shipped to me on 17th May (they had a 2 week or so delay due to dengue fever lockdown in Peru) and I picked it up from the Parcel Force depot on 6th June.  So about 15 or 16 weeks in all.

Was that price including the shock?

No, I already had a shock.  I think he can do a DVO shock for a decent price though.

Looks really nice, and the price is similar to a used Starling frame (just as a point of comparison, because I just sold one).

How’s the fit and finish?

Fit and finish look fine to me.  The headtube is a 44mm and the M:Part lower cup pushed in with my thumbs, so I’ve ordered a Nukeproof lower set to see if that’s any better, but if not then I’ll get some Loctite 603 bearing retainer compound.

BB went straight in with no tightness.  The pivot set up is quite agricultural and old school with the bearing pinch bolts, but it works.  For the price you can’t really complain, especially as it’s a custom build to my geometry design.

I bought a Marino last year, also went for the 725 option and on a rigid frame with sliding dropouts it came out to 2.8kg.

I wanted a Jones-esque geometry drop bar mountain bike that could fit a truss fork, so the headtube length needed to be short (130mm) The headtube came out at 132mm but I made it work, only other issue was that with the sliding dropouts slammed forward the wheel isn’t perfectly in line, easy to rectify by moving one side back 1mm and the frame alignment seems fine. I specified higher tyre clearance than I needed which is good because it seems quite tight. Overall I’m happy with it, especially for the price.

Good looking frames.

I often toy with the notion of ordering one but  never do.

as mentioned above about getting a progressive wheel rate, I’d need to buy a shorter shock to get it to work as I’d like (or think I’d like, I’d not know till the frame was built) and that puts the cost too high for me.

that said, I love the shade of red Marino uses.

The leverage rate would depend on what shock you have now and what travel you’d want.  If Marino was able to communicate back and forth a little around the design I may have dropped to 145mm or 140mm travel just to get the shock and upright at 90 degrees or less to give a preferable rate.  Having said that, it’s not too bad now – nothing that a progressive spring or an air shock won’t fix.

I wanted a Jones-esque geometry drop bar mountain bike that could fit a truss fork

Pics needed!

Nice bike Rickos, I like that.

@bikesandboats what sort is the sliding drop out?

like a paragon works job or something different?

Photo of the sliding dropouts here – the dropout slides along the guide that’s welded to the frame.

I think Marino machines his own dropouts