Behind The Bike: Marin Mount Vision

What better way to kick off the first episode of this new series than with the ever polarising Marin Mount Vision!

My personal experience with this bike was nothing but positive. I have been riding the Marin Mount Vision 9 for around three weeks at the point of writing this blog post and, I have tried to throw at it as many variables as possible by riding long Peak District loops, steep rocky descents/climbs and also a day in a bike park.

Wether you like the look of the bike or not it's hard to ignore the forward thinking NAILD suspension system which was first used on Marin's Wolf Ridge model, along with the hundreds of hours that went in to product development, researching and testing. It will also guarantee to fire up a post ride debate between your friends in the pub! 

The Mount Vision 9 sits in the middle of the build range and the spec is as follows:- 

FRAME // Full Unidirectional Carbon Fiber, Naild R3ACT – 2 Play Suspension. FORK // Fox Performance Elite 36. SHOCK // Fox Float X2 Performance. DRIVETRAIN // SRAM Eagle. BRAKES // Shimano XT. FINISHING KIT // Deity. DROPPER POST // KS LEV Integra. TRAVEL // 150mm (full spec here)

Once the bike landed at the office I tried my best to not read a single review. Other than check the recommended sag settings the only change I made to the bike was the bar/lever positions and adjusted the seat post height along with a quick bolt check to ensure everything was tight and ready to rip.

The first thing that really jumped to my attention was how well this bike climbs, I had noticed there was no lock out position on the shock so I was slightly dubious how it would perform on an iconic Peak District climb called 'the bastard' yup, it really is! Surprisingly the NAILD suspension system does indeed reduce pedal bob and at no points during the first climb or any further climbs I felt I needed a lock out at the rear in fact, this is a big claim... it climbs like a hardtail.

What about descents? the fun stuff, the things we begrudgingly slog away up climbs for then? Marin describe this bike as "all mountain trail, bliss trail popping, playful fun. Up, down and everything in-between". As you will hear in the podcast that was my reaction to the bike after the first couple of descents, it did feel like I could put it anywhere I wanted and once the bike is pointing downhill and under rider tension it starts to take on a whole different identity to what a quick look at the numbers might suggest...

We got into all of the above and plenty more during the podcast

This episode features Marin's head of full suspension product Matthew Cipes to chat through the timeline/road map of bringing this unique bike to market along with John Oldale, Marin's International marketing manager to discuss how to get a bike in front of the media, general public and showcasing its potential to the masses. 

Enjoy!

As discussed in the podcast the link to take a closer look at the Marin Mount Vision are below, along with links to Marin's social media platforms.

Marin Mount Vision Info

Follow Marin on Instagram @marinbikes / @marinbikes_uk
Follow Marin on Facebook Marin Bikes