People thought I was slagging it off. I wasn’t… The full text is below. The problem was that it does everything so well, and isolates so much of the ride, that I wasn’t getting the feedback I wanted. I guess it’s too long on hardtails for the last few months. Anyhow…

Last week I was out on it for a reaonsonably big ride. Not big in distance, but it was getting a bit grim. Actually it was the precursor to the storms that drowned my local town, Todmorden… you probably saw it on the news… Anyhow. A big day out on the Marin showed its “boring” streak actually translates to “reliable” in a good way. When it was getting wet and grim and cold, I could point it downhill and bobble and roll over stuff that I’d have to otherwise think about riding over. I guess that’s what makes it a great bike. So I’m convinced. For those hard days out there, if you want a workhorse that lets you eat up trail distances, this is it. Read on for the other view… which is the same, but put in different words…

Brant

I’m not sure what I was really expecting. I haven’t ridden a Marin for a while, the last couple I rode in anger were the Alpine Trail – “wow – how can it be this good for so little money” and the B17 – “how can a bike that downhills like this climb so well”. So, when the East Peak turned up I was expecting great things.

The thing is that it really wasn’t remarkable. It’s possibly one of the most boring bikes I’ve ridden in a while, not in a bad way, but in a gets-everything-done sort of way. It’s competence belies the complexity of the job that it’s doing without a doubt. Any bike that’s capable of covering rough ground as spectacularly efficiently and quickly as any of the Marin range (this bike included) has to be a good thing. But there seemed to be no spark there. No fun. No, not really no fun, but it seemed positively Germanic in its efficiency. Perhaps it’s the Benetton in John Whyte coming out.

I can’t help be underwhelmed by some of the parts choices. “Ovation” features throughout the bike – tubing and componentry both recieve the branding, but on the component front it’s efficient stuff, just not quite the sparkling quality you might hope for. Then again, we are talking about a hotly contested pricepoint, and we are looking at a bike with a real quality frame, fork and shock. That quality doesn’t come from nowhere and the frugality in other areas points to the cost that these parts add up to.

There’s nothing wrong with an Ovation chainset, and you probably won’t notice the give-away A on the front mech until you’ve had the bike a while – there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with Alivio stuff, it’s just a bit, you know… hmm…

For my money, the stems too long, the bars too narrow, but you might disagree. The saddles too fat and the tyres too skinny – but then it’s important to get the right wheel weight on suspension bikes to make them react properly. Certainly with suspension this good (and it is this good) you can get away with a lot less grippy tyres than you might otherwise think.

One thing all suspension bike manufacturers seem incapable of doing is producing a seatclamp that functions correctly. This Marin effort is actually mechanically wrong, going over-centre at the end of the movement and actually loosening in the final closing. This is undoubtably to try and lock the post in place, but it doesn’t really have that effect. Perhaps it’s time to lose the daft QR levers and look again at how they all work. One for the drawing board there.

This might sound like a slagging off. It’s not. It’s a great bike. Looking around the market you can get better value parts on other models, noticeable Jamis and Univega. But then they don’t have the FRS frame. Which is definitely worth the money.

What other BIKEmagic members said about the East Peak …

Simon Woods said…

I bought my East Peak in February 2000, and have ridden it in the North Downs, Peak District & North Wales

It is great fun to ride, well balanced etc etc (as per all reviews of the frame). Most impressive is the low weight and handling of the bike – no adjustment is needed to riding style apart from not being able to put loads of power through the back end (it bounces). I have been going much much faster over a cross country course (especially downhill). The only component problems so far have been :-

(1) the pedals (VP spds) which have broken but never really worked well (hard to locate, and erratic performance) – changing to Shimano

(2) the front mech – needs a stronger spring – upgrading to LX

However at the price this is a real steal – rather than spending more up front on the Mt Vision, probably sensible to upgrade selectively

A telling comment is from a friend who rides a Fat Chance hardtail. He borrowed it for the Red Bull and came back with a large smile on his face and started wondering about the state of his finances …

This is a bit of a cheat as I don’t actually have an east peak, but I’ve been saving for an east peak / rift zone for some time now and thought I’d let you know why.

For a budget of around £1200 (can’t afford more – if I could it would be a serious battle between a Sub 5 LX and a Mount Vision) there are, in my opinion, only two full-suss bikes worth considering for XC /all day riding – (this is based on the weight of the bike and the package you get): Marin’s FRS range and the Specialized Stumpjumper. I’ve ridden the 98 east peak, a Y2K rift zone and a Y2K rock springs (having ridden and discounted the Stumpjumper ‘cos its got too many pivots and linkages for my liking – I’m just not convinced it will last). I currently ride a battered, but faithful, ’97 Univega Alpina 502 with Judy T2s up front and cover about 100 commuting miles a week on canal towpath and road, with a ‘proper’ ride in the Lakes about once a month. The new bike is for ‘proper’ riding, not the commute.

I like the 4″ FRS range mainly because the frame’s great and they feel not too dissimilar to a hard tail – as a ‘step up’ you don’t need to think about things too much, just ride. They climb really well, give you plenty of confidence to ride down rocky Lakes bridleways, and don’t complain too much if you sprint out of the saddle. I’m not convinced about the Ritchey rims on the East Peak, or the non shimano hubs / bottom bracket, which is why I’m looking at the Rift Zone. Otherwise it’d be the east peak and pocket the difference.

The Rock Springs is tempting because of the Hope upgrade, but the 5″ of travel is a lot more noticeable straight from a hardtail and its a wee bit heavier (I think about 28lbs with discs compared to 26-27lbs for a rift zone). If I could guarantee that I’d get used to the floatier ride, the fantastic Hopes would swing the deal……….(what do you think).

I still think Marin / Whyte have the edge in the market (although I heard a rumour that prices are going up next year due to stronger Asian currency). If they’d just put disc ready hubs on the 4″ FRS range ……

I’ve owned a Y2k East Peak for just over 5 months now and have found it to be a really good, fast lightweight Full Suspension bike.Having previously owned a ProFlex 855 I was keen to get something that was as simple to look after and possibly a bit lighter. My alternative to the Marin was a Specialized FSR which was £50 cheaper but I must say that I was put off by the apparent over complexity of the rear suspension and weight ( the Marin is 27lbs to the FSR’s 28-29lbs). The Lifetime warranty on the Pivot bearings and the designed in UK label gives you a bit more confidence in the bike lasting the rigors of British mud.

The groupset is a mix of Alivio, LX and Marin own brand components and seems, once fully bedded in, to be giving good performance. My only concerns lie with the use of Shimano Paralax hubs in the wheels, these are not sealed and the rear has already needed attention (new bearings). The wheels are Lightweight Richey Rims (with DT spokes) which are still true ( a miracle considering the way I ride) The frame and fork has mounting front and rear for disc brakes whic has got me thinking about how to spend my pay rise if I ever get one…

The Manitou SX fork is holding up well to my current level of abuse: commuting and quite hard trail riding. The adjustability is limited to the compresion spring and not the damper but this seems to suit my riding style :I dont like to muck about with the tuning that much off road and on road I just set the fork to be as hard as possible.

The rear suspension is a total revelation from my old ProFlex. The Fox Float shock is basically maintenance free and, once set to a slightly higher running pressure than suggested in the manual seems to give a good level of control and shock absorbing. Initilally I felt that the front and rear suspension set up was a bit “bobby” and it was a bit disconcerting to see the rear swingarm moving up and down a lot on technical climbs and descents. Once I got over this, and realised the bike will soften a lot of trail hits to a point where you can really concentrate on finding the faster line, I found my confidence level attacking fast singletrack has shot up. The bike stays attached to the ground far better than my Proflex. Small bumps dont set it airborne and big hits dont seem to affect the handling .The Riser Bars, which I had previously felt to be too BMX-like ( I was a straight bar and bar-end luddite), give a really good feel to the steering in tight corners.

I only really noticed how good the bike was once I fitted a cycle computer and realised I was usually traveling 5 or 6mph faster on downhills with better control.

There have been problems with the bike: The right hand pedal had been fitted incorrectly when new and soon sheared off the crank ( this was repaired free by the shop I bought the bike from) and the rear shock mounting pivot seems to be loosening up ( ie wearing) a bit: This doesn’t affect the main Bearing Pivot or the rear suspension movement and, according to the shop, can be replaced quite simply if it gets worse.

I feel that the bike is very good and , as the frame is basically from a Marin Mount Vision Pro, has a lot of upgrade potential.

I would say that if anyone is thinking of buying a bike in the £950-£1200 price range that the East Peak is a good buy but I would suggest trying to spend a bit more on the Rift Zone which has a much better fork and groupset. That said though, the East Peak is a good starting point for a full sus bike that can be lightened and specced up in the future.

Now for some hydraulic Disc brakes…