Did you get the Marin? I recently got a T8, and liked it enough I got my son a T7. They're both bloody great. I'd like to try the Marin, but they're not as easily available where I live. We get Polygon from the local shop.

Awesome feedback! thanks.

27.5 or 29er?

I got a 2022 Marin Riftzone 3 27.5” it’s a nice bike

It is ,,,thill the frame brokes from upper tube aluminum,safety hazard,never again thanks

@@memyself2458 how and why did you frame break did you use a angle headset or use forks with more than 130mm front travel ?

No sir all original L large aluminum

Thank you. Let us know how you like the bike if you buy one

Good points. I find many bikes have too low of a stack measurement on bigger sizes but very correct on the previous Rift Zone/B17 frame

Good choice. Between the geometry, spec and knowing exactly what condition everything is on this it would be a challenge to find something in the used market as good for the $$.

Agreed. Polygon really hasn't penatrated the Canadian market much but they look good

You've given me an idea for a video. I think it would be great to discuss benefits and trade-offs of going with more or less suspension. To summarize my initial thoughts: I think the Rift Zone will be a more enjoyable bike on undulating terrain, perhaps with techy climbs. The Alpine Trail would shine in situations where climb is more something you endure so you can get to a more full-on descent (perhaps steeper and chunkier). The RZ is very balanced - trying to make climbs, flats, descents all equally fun and proficient. The Alpine trail will be a bit more challenging tighter or techier climbs but pay back with more room for error on descents.

@@BikeBrosBikeShop Thank you! I was also wondering if there was a difference in terms of "strength" between the 2 frames construction (series 3 vs series 4)? If the RZ can handle hard hits and chunky stuff, it would be a great allrounder!!!

I haven't heard anything about the wheels, whether they've been improved. I do see things differently regarding the wheels. A frustration of mine is when bikes come with "good" wheels that I know I'm paying a premium for but aren't actually high end aftermarket quality... leaves less money to afford the aftermarket wheels and makes it tougher to justify. We Are Ones are awesome and adding them and tires to this bike would be a great move for someone who decided they wanted to do big upgrades on this bike.

@@BikeBrosBikeShop I get that as well. I guess it’s all balance. I’m on the east coast but having your videos certainly helped push me to the Alpine Trail XR. I guess even with those wheels the bikes bang for buck is pretty incredible. I’d love to see a slightly more durable house brand rim, but that’s gonna add cost.

Marin really nailed the geo, pedalling efficiency on this. Every time I look at Treks offerings compared to Marin's I notice how much further your dollar is stretched with Marin. Trek makes excellent bikes, but especially at this price point it makes sense to get as much bang for your buck as possible so Marin ( for me) is the better choice.

To be fair to Marin, I think Linkglide is still available only in limited amounts and Marin wanted to be sure they could keep up with demand... but I agree, the Linkglide stuff is really good. That is a shame about the dropper, we try to replace droppers in this sort of instance at very minimal cost.

Yes, I think so

From customer feedback it seems about 80 to 90% are happy with the brakes (speaking of previous year's similar bikes with these brakes) - the 10 to 20% who aren't happy with the brakes tend to be younger/aggressive riders who often realize at the time of purchase that brakes is one component that they would consider upgrading in the future. Bike companies are trying to cater to that 80% and know those customers tend not to be aggressive enough to justify raising the price of the bike for brake quality alone.

They are on the weaker side for sure, but for someone like me (75kg), they are more than enough for every terrain and descent. I can imagine the brakes, for someone over 90kgs going max speed downhill, being not efficient enough in some situations. You have 600 usd fork tho, can’t have everything of that tier in this price range. But yeah, I would rather pay 50-100 more for this bike and have better stock brakes.

I'm actually a big fan of the cable ports and we haven't seen any signs of issues. If anything, I think these ports are better for the cables housing/hoses

This is a rare bike. With the 2 different wheel size versions the geometry and specifications are the same

@@BikeBrosBikeShop yeah I look and it’s very similar. Think the 29er has a slightly longer reach. I went 27.5, keen to see how it differs from my 29er XC bike.

You can probably get away with sizing up to a medium.

thanks

The XR seemed to have a fair amount of media attention so I didn't think I needed to.

If they were the same price I'd probably lean towards the Giant to get the Fox rear shock and tubeless set up Maxxis tires. That would be a really tough decision as they're both great bikes and values. The Marin may feel a bit more playful, the Giant a bit more planted too so a test ride might be the best way to decide.

A Stance is a flex pivot. That said, half of the XC race bikes being used in World Cup are Flex Pivot so that isn't necessarily a knock.This is a linkage driven single pivot, same as Kona and Commencal. With proper pivot placement, I believe a single Pivot design like this is capable of keeping up with just about any suspension design as long as pivot location & shock driver links results in suitable antisquat, antirise and progressivity.

Probably the best way to make a Rift Zone into a mullet would be starting with a 27.5" wheeled version then switching the fork to a 130mm travel 29er fork and getting a 29" front wheel. It will maintain proper geometry compared to putting a 27.5 rear wheel on a 29er version ( which would drop the bb and make pedal strikes more likely).

Among brands that bike shops sell, this is a standout value for the quality of components and execution. We've probably sold about 100 and not seen a warranty claim on a frame for what you describe. Did you make a warranty claim? Maybe it was a legitimate warranty where there was a problem with materials or workmanship? We heard of one on the previous frame design and there were extenuating circumstances. I would be very interested in seeing what you're talking about if you post a video, please let me know so I can learn from your experiences.

Yea I wasn’t very happy about the colour, but bought one nevertheless. It doesn’t look that bad with red pedals and red accessories, but maybe I will get it repainted in the future.

Why is a white bike a woman's bike? I personally love this colour, because it sticks out from all the rainbow colours currently getting around. Throw some tan walls on, and it would be mint. Not everyone wants to look like a power ranger with bright colours when riding.

This guy is probably one of those that loves purple and teal bikes and calls them "classy".