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Right, with my back eased but still a bit painful, I couldn"t wait any longer to get out on the Marin, especially as for once this week, it wasn"t sluicing down with rain.
I only rode around the lanes to start with, and did 16 miles, but I"m very pleased with the bike so far. I"m glad I went with my heart and not with my head!
The tyres (27.5 x 3.0) surprised me a bit, with how well they absorb bumps and road corrugations. I haven"t checked the pressures other than with the double thumb test, and they are set pretty hard. The sidewall gives a pressure range of 15-35 psi , and I would think they are pretty much at the high end of that scale. But whether it"s the steel frame giving a bit, or the fat tyres, or both, I don"t know, but I set off fully expecting to have to let some air out, only to find the ride was very comfortable. More so than the Jamis which has front suspension (well, there are two bouncy things that keep the handlebars off the front wheel, that"s about all you can say about them) but my backside didn"t get kicked around like it does on the hardtail Jamis, which is a 29 er with 2.2 tyres.
I saw a review that said the tyres (Nobby Nics) were noisy. Well they do make a low hum, but nothing like as the Land Roveresque Skwaaaarrrppp that accompanies the fatbike"s tarmac travels.
The one by ten gears were no problem on the hills I climbed today, which included a couple of steep beggars, so no problem there. You do run out gearing when piling on the coals on the flat or downhill though, which isn"t an issue for a bimbler like me much, but speed freaks going for personal bests will want higher gearing at the top end.
The chain did slap the chainstay once when hitting a bump when in top gear, so I might add a chainstay protector.
Otherwise, the Sram GX rear derailleur snickety snicked between gears very nicely, better than the X5 equipped Fatso which rattles very briefly before clanging into the next ratio.
The Shimano brakes felt lame at first, but they got noticeably better as the ride went on, and I did do several hard stops to help bed them in. The front one did make a scraping noise after one long, steep and slow descent, but it stopped again soon after. I put new pads in the Voodoo and had the same thing happen after a long, brake dragging descent, so maybe it"s a heat related thing.
The bike rides really nicely and I really don"t miss a suspension fork on this, or on Fatso. Whether it"s the tyres, or the geometry or the rigid fork I don"t know, but the steering tracks very nicely, holding a line almost scalpel like, whereas my other bikes are prone to being a bit vaguer in that regard.
I see Marin have just launched the 2018 models, and the PM gets some rather deep green paint (and an extra £50 on the price, so up to £900 now) on the frame and fork, but I much prefer the retro paint on this model. The finish looks good to me everywhere, and the grey paint shows off the orange graphics and forks really well.
I"m a 32" inside leg, and opted for the 20 inch frame size (which turned up with an XL sticker on it) and once I"d adjusted the seat forwards a bit, is fine for me. They do an XXL (22") frame for the really tall folk.
I mentioned the only two things I"m not so keen on on another photo, but they are both aesthetic anyway - one is the little brace in the chainstay/seat stay angle that just ain"t pretty, the other is the fully sheathed cables hanging loosely down against the downtube, which just looks untidy. Fitting that downtube guard has hidden them to some degree, but the guard isn"t much to look at either.
Other than those two minor quibbles, I"m very impressed. For the money I paid (under £500 with it being in Rutland Cycles" sale, plus the £50 discount code, plus a bit through Top Cashback) I reckon it is an absolute bargain.
Quick Update after another quick spin: Heel strikes on the chainstays, or rather the lack of them. I wear size 9 walking boots that are quite clumpy, and they can rub the chainstays on my Fatbike quite easily, but this is not an issue at all on the Marin.
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