Marin Rift Zone series

Rift Zone 1

If you’re looking for a fun and capable trail bike that won’t break your budget, look at these Marins.

The first one is Marin’s Rift Zone 1 full suspension trail bike. It’s a gas to ride, comes with some pretty great parts and is all yours for under $1800.

So what do you get for your money? You get a playful and tough design that you’ll love to take on twisty and technical singletrack trails. You get a trail bike with 130mm of suspension travel in the back and 140mm of travel in the front. The X Fusion Slide air-sprung fork comes with adjustable spring rate, rebound and a lock-out switch. You get a bike that rolls on 27.5″ wheels shod with Vee Flow Snap tires and a Shimano Deore 1 x 11 drivetrain. There’s Shimano hydraulic disc brakes and cartridge sealed bearings in the headset, bottom bracket, frame pivots and wheels.

If you’ve been looking for a full suspension bike under $2000 you’ve probably found a lot of heavy bikes out there with at least one component or design element that looks a little suspect. Maybe you’ve found used full suspension bikes that were a whole bunch of worn-out parts rolling around on ten-year old suspension designs. Worse than those, you probably found new bikes that were basically down-spec’d race bikes that were no fun to play around on and too heavy to actually race.

This Marin will beat all of those “options” with great handling, fresh design, outstanding components and light weight (the medium size Rift Zone 1 bike weighs 29lbs).

As for the second option, if you’d like a dropper seatpost and a few more component upgrades, consider the Rift Zone 2, it has some nice extras and still comes in around $2300.

Marin Rift Zone 2

Let’s say that you’re looking for a new Full suspension bike that runs less than $3k. You’ve already checked out Marin’s Rift Zones with their 27.5″ tires and are pretty impressed. But you want bigger wheels.

There are options! Marin does 29’er versions of their Rift Zone trail bikes. All of the 29’er versions closely match the smaller-wheeled bikes in components and price, with the frame geometry modified to handle the bigger treads.

These are great sporty bikes that do a lot of things well. They’re fast enough to race, they’re stable (and tough enough) to handle the more advanced trails at Whistler bike park, and they’re comfortable enough to leisurely roll through the Grand Forest as you follow your 10-year-old around the park.

Speaking of… If you happen to be under 5’ tall or want a full-suspension trail bike for your kids, check out the Rift Zone jr., which is available with 24” or 26” wheels…