(laughing)
- It's a Rift Zone, it's fast-moving terrain
'cause you're in an earthquake.
(upbeat electronic music)
(birds chirping)
Hey everyone, my name's Sarah Moore and we're here
on the Sunshine Coast for the "Value Bikes Field Trip".
With me here is the Marin Rift Zone 3
which we're testing in the full suspension category
under $3,000.
It retails for $2,849.
It has 125 millimeters of rear travel,
130 millimeter fork and 29er wheels.
The California brand says it's the ideal bike
for pushing limits both up and down the trail
and for setting personal records.
The Rift Zone comes in four sizes, small through extra large
and we've got a medium on test here.
The aluminum frame has internal cable routing
in the front triangle but not the rear triangle,
boost spacing and room for water bottle on all sizes.
It has a threaded bottom bracket
where you'll also find the ISCG mounts.
One thing this bike doesn't have is a downtube protector
and there's also very minimal protection on the chainstay.
Let's take a look at the geometry.
Our test bike has a 65 and a half degree head tube angle
and a 76-degree seat tube angle which is aligned
with the other bikes that we're testing here
in the trail category.
Our size medium has a 455 millimeter reach
and a 1,186 millimeter wheel base.
It has short 425 millimeter chainstays.
The Rift Zone's 125 millimeters
of rear travel are controlled
by Marin's multi-track suspension design,
a single pivot linkage-driven design.
The frame fits a 30.9 dropper with a size small
getting 125 millimeters of drop all the way
up to 175 millimeters on the extra large size.
Our test bike here is a Marine Rift Zone 29 3
which comes with a 130 millimeter Marzocchi Z2 fork,
a Fox Float DPS rear shock, Shimano SLX drivetrain,
and Shimano Deore 4-Piston Brakes.
There's no Maxxis or Shelby here with the Rift Zone
sporting Vee Tire Co rubber.
The whole bike weighs 33 pounds
and 5 ounces and retails for $2,849.
That's it for the details.
Let's look at how this bike rides out on the trail.
(upbeat music)
- Alright Sarah, it's time to talk
about how the Marin rides
but first as always, let's go over set up.
What did you do?
- Well, we set up the suspension according
to the manufacturer's suggested settings
and then we don't have control tires for any of these bikes
but we did make sure that we had the same tire pressure
on all the tires.
So we set them at 21, 23 psi and good to roll.
- Alright, let's talk about climbing,
that's the first thing.
(bright upbeat music)
- I thought the position was really good for getting
through kind of windy sections at the single track.
It feels very efficient.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm.
- Sometimes to a fault, you know, you are losing traction
on some of rougher stuff, but if you're on a gravel road
or a smoother section of trail, it's super efficient.
It feels like a lot of energy that you're putting
into the bike is just helping you go forward down the trail.
- So it sounds like the Marin and the Ibis are kinda
in that same family of bikes
where the manufacturers have favored speed
and efficiency over that forgiveness and all out traction.
And that's just the ticket for a lot of riders,
no doubt about that.
But in those settings where you need some extra bite,
maybe it doesn't quite have the grip that the
Giant and the Polygon has, eh?
- Mm-hmm, exactly yeah.
The Polygon and the Giant have a lot more active suspension,
you're kind of, you're not bouncing off the roots as much.
- [Mike] Mm-hmm. - You're kind of just
making your way up through them.
It's more comfortable, you can stay seated.
Whereas the Marin, you kinda wanna stand up,
put some power on the pedals
and it'll reward a rider who wants to accelerate
up the climbs.
- Yeah, I thought the same thing about the Marin too.
There were times when I would be climbing up the hill
and there'd be coming up and there'd be lots of steps
and things like that.
And on the other bikes, on the Giant and the Polygon,
I would just stay in the seat because I'm lazy.
(both laughs)
Just stay in the seat, just tractor up the things.
- [Sarah] Yeah.
- Whereas on the Ibis and the Marin,
I was more likely to get out of the seat and maybe help
that rear wheel up over those things a little bit.
So it doesn't feel like quite a momentum-stopper, you know?
(bright upbeat music)
- Okay, it's time to talk descending now.
And Sarah, when I was riding that bike,
there were times that it definitely felt a lot more nervous
than some of the other full suspension bikes here.
And I should preface that by saying
that one of our test laps is a pretty high-speed trail full
of rocks and roots and that's exactly where the Marin
didn't feel that great, right?
- Yeah, at high speeds it feels less planted,
a little more nervous.
It's got quick steering, it feels precise,
but that's not necessarily a good thing here.
- You're not gonna frame that as being nimble?
- Oh yeah, it's a nimble bike.
I say it comes from a cross-country background, you know.
Like I was reading the marketing copy
and you're there saying it's more capable
than a cross-country bike which the Polygon's
not even going to have the word cross-country anywhere
near its marketing copy, you know?
- [Mike] Yup.
- [Sarah] So that's kind of I think the way
that the Marin is coming about it is,
you know it's more capable than a cross-country bike
and they're not wrong there.
- [Mike] No.
- But it's not the Polygon on the descends.
It's not the Devinci Marshall on the descends.
- Yeah. I would have to agree with that for sure.
I mean, this is a short travel trail bike
and it isn't meant to crush those super rough,
fast, chundery descends.
There's no doubt about that.
In those settings, the bike doesn't feel like it's sticking
to the ground as much as it should
or as much as I hope it would.
- [Sarah] Mm-hmm.
- [Mike] And it just feels nervous and like it doesn't have
quite the same amount of traction.
But the flip side to that is you get it on
some smoother stuff, some more playful stuff.
I mean, in those settings, the bike's a lot of fun.
- [Sarah] Yeah, if you're kind of going through
like a trails that go up and down
and you're kind of accelerating out of one part
into the next part, it carry its speed really well.
And you're kinda want to like get on the pedals
and accelerate up the climb if there's like a downhill
into a climb, it's a really fun bike
to ride through that kind of terrain.
- Yeah, in the same vein is the Ripley.
I mean, a bike like this really suits
that sort of rolling terrain.
I'm picturing the Middle America stuff, you know,
where you got short climbs, short descends,
but you have a few hundred of them on your ride.
And if you work on those climbs, you carry momentum
over the tops of them and therefore you're going faster
on the downs, carry more speed.
That's where a bike like the Marin is definitely
gonna be more at home.
(bright upbeat music)
- Time to talk about the components.
Let's start with some of the good things.
- Yeah, the big thing for me is that Z2 Fork
on the front of the bike, it worked really, really well.
It doesn't have all the adjustments
but it does everything that you're gonna need it
to for half the price.
So, there you go.
The other thing for me is that SLX drivetrain and the
4-Piston Brakes, both of those worked absolutely perfect.
Especially that SLX drivetrain,
there's zero need to upgrade.
And I mean, when you do wear stuff out, don't upgrade,
just buy the same SLX stuff.
It works too well not to.
My last call-out has to be those Vee Tire tires.
It's not a name that you would usually think of
if you're thinking about high-end tires
but they work extremely well.
I've used them on other bikes before
and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them.
Yep.
- And then if we talk about some of the things
that aren't as good about the components?
- Well, Marin has done a really good job specking this bike.
There's no argument about that.
But for me, when I look at the cockpit,
that stem and handlebar looks like it's from 1997.
It's got to go, that doesn't work for me.
- [Sarah] Yeah, definitely agree.
(bright upbeat music)
- Let's get into some of the pros and cons starting
with the good stuff.
- The good thing for me, big one, it's a very
efficient pedalling bike.
And if you're the kind of rider who enjoys that in a bike,
you don't wanna reach out and flip the switch?
Well, that's a big plus for you.
The other thing, we've mentioned it a few times already,
I'm gonna mention it again, Marin's done an amazing job
of specking this thing, haven't they?
There's nothing really left to upgrade on that front.
And that's a big deal if you're shelling out 2,800 bucks
and especially if this is one of your first mountain bikes.
(bright upbeat music)
- Cons, Sarah, what's the big one for you?
- I mean, it's a pretty nervous descender.
It's not as confidence-inspiring as some
of those other bikes that we've got here.
- [Mike] Right. - It's also pretty noisy
with that chainstay, no protection.
- Yeah.
Definitely comparing it to some of these more modern
and more forgiving trail bikes, it just,
it can't keep up to them on more demanding terrain.
And hey, maybe the 125 millimeter Rift Zone
wasn't really intended for that either.
If your terrain isn't super rough,
that's not something that really should be
of a concern to you.
(bright upbeat music)
- Alright, Sarah.
Let's wrap up this Rift Zone review.
Tell me your closing thoughts.
- Yeah, so the Rift Zone is a bike
that's gonna suit somebody who wants an efficient bike,
they're in fast, rolling, less demanding terrain.
Maybe somebody who comes from a cross-country background,
they're gonna be doing long days in the saddle,
they're not really interested
in going into really technical terrain,
it's gonna be a great bike.
- Alright, so that is it for our Marin Rift Zone 3 review.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
so you don't miss any of our "Field Trip Value Bike" reviews
and we'll see you next time.
(bright upbeat music)