Britain’s most famous bike boffin John Whyte has been working hard in his converted Cotswold swinehouse to get the Marin line up into shape for 2001.

Compared with the detail tweaks of other manufacturers he’s gone in hard with a significantly different shape.

Essentially the mainframe frame is built from two welded monocoque, boomerang, think Preston maintube, sections forming a split Y structure that adds lots of stiffness and loses weight without sounding like a drum. There’s also a new bottom bracket and pivot casting to lock everything in alignment.

There’s a 4″ travel Mount Vision, frame 40% stiffer, 1lb lighter and East Peak family, as well as a new, on the fly, quick-release adjustable 4, 5 or 6in travel bike that we’ve heard rave reports about, from trusted, independent sources, top end ones get Rock Shox Phsylo forks as standard. The entry level adjustable bike, the Alpine Trail, comes in at under a grand.

Marin hardtails all feature custom extruded and butted Edge tubing. Mid-high end bikes get Afterburner 2 triangular section rear end. Rocky Ridge models upwards are disc ready.