The Marin Alpine Trail all-mountain bike is going full enduro. The bike just got a major refresh that brings new frame features, more progressive geo, and multiple builds that are all based around an aluminum alloy frame. In short, it’s a long-travel bike designed for the people.
Marin Alpine Trail key updates
- Increased rear suspension travel to 160mm rear
- Geometry (neutral setting, mixed wheel): 63° head tube angle, ~78° effective seat tube angle, ~484mm reach (size large)
- Mixed wheel builds, can run matched 29er wheels too
- Adjustable head tube angle and BB height/chainstay length
- Aluminum alloy frames only
- Downtube in-frame storage
- Price: $1,849 frame, builds from $3,199 – $5,399
- Buy from Marin dealers
What’s changed? For starters, the Marin Alpine Trail now offers 160mm of rear suspension travel, up 10mm from the previous version. In conjunction with the increase, the new Marin MultiTrac 2 LT suspension design moves the seatstay pivot to the chainstay, which is said to reduce anti-rise and deliver more mid-stroke support.
Marin is also introducing adjustable geometry to the Alpine Trail with headset cups and inserts that can change the headtube angle ±0.75° and a flip chip on the chainstay that affects the bottom bracket height and chainstay length. Another flip chip on the seat stay allows riders to switch between mixed wheel and matched 29er configurations. All told, there are 12 different geo/wheel size configurations available.
In the geometry chart above the bike is set up mixed wheel, with the low BB/long chainstay setting, and a 0° headset cup. Flipping the chainstay chip shortens the chainstays to 435mm and raises the BB height to 352mm.
The Marin Alpine Trail also sees a new in-frame storage compartment in the downtube. Additional frame features include a mud flap protecting the lower pivot, a beefy 34.9mm seat tube, UDH-compatibility, and a set of accessory mounts underneath the top tube.
All Alpine Trail builds come with 4-piston brakes and 200mm+ rotors, 170mm forks, and 12-speed drivetrains. Two of the builds ship with a coil shock. The top-end build, the Marin Alpine Trail XR AXS, features a SRAM GX Eagle Transmission drivetrain.
