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Trek marlin 5 upgrades

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Trek marlin 5 upgrades

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flag daveairplane
O+
Posted: Mar 8, 2022 at 18:10 Quote
Hi all,
First thanks for reading this. I have a boy who is going to join the high school mountain bike team. He won't be a competive race (he is special needs) but I want him to have a good experience. He is riding a Marlin 5 that is a year or two old. I can't afford to buy a new bike right now so I am curious where you guys would start with upgrading the marlin?
In my research he could save almost 2 pounds by switching the fork to a rockshox judy. Would you start there? Drivetrain?
Give me your thoughts
TIA
-Dave
flag barp
Posted: Mar 8, 2022 at 23:27 Quote
Is it already tubeless? Does it already have a dropper?
flag boct480
Posted: Mar 8, 2022 at 23:44 Quote
My first new bike was a marlin 5 as well, in my opinion and my dads opinion I outgrew it really fast, not by size but just riding capability, awesome first bike but if your son is progressing really fast these are some of the upgrades I went for.
Also I was more of a jump rider and always wanted to hit the bike park so this is not a view from a cross country rider.

Tires, the stock ones work till your blow a tube but maxxis tires offered a lot more grip in my opinion

Dropper post. I went for a one up dropper and if you like riding jumps or downhill more it really helps but if your mostly riding XC it’s not really needed.

Fork, I didn’t really know how bad the fork was until I upgraded, I got a 300$ sr sun tour air fork compared to the spring one that comes stock, it saved a lot of weight and actually felt like it worked like a fork should

Single speed, it comes stock with a 3 speed up front, get rid of it I have nothing good to say about it at all really, it messes up the shifting and in my opinion there is no point of it but that’s just what I think. Get a cheap drivetrain. This makes a huge difference, possibly more that the air shock.

All the rest of the stock parts are good like bars and seat, if your son is riding xc I would still go with a new for and single speed if you can find something good for cheap.

Hope this helps
flag daveairplane
O+
Posted: Mar 12, 2022 at 7:14 Quote
Thanks for the comments. I will start with the drivetrain, fork then wheels. Tires will have to be replaced soon, the factory tires are just about shot.
Thanks again!
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