Review: The New Marin Alpine Trail is More Adjustable & Capable Than Ever

They switched to a four-bar linkage named MultiTrac 2 LT, with a Horst link design. That also allowed them to work in a flip-chip on the chainstay for the simultaneous adjustment of chainstay length and bottom bracket height.

The 2024 Alpine Trail is available in three builds, all with a 12-speed drivetrain, 4-piston brakes and custom-tuned rear shock. The top-of-the-line Alpine Trail XR AXS model is reviewed here, which goes for $5,399 USD.

---

---

Construction & Features

All three models of the Alpine Trail run Marin's Series 4 hydroformed aluminum frame with internal cable routing, entering at the traditional spot just aft of the headtube. The ports have a rubber membrane that is punctured during initial assembly - they seal around the cable housing or hose once inserted.

New for 2024 is the UDH rear-end that brings SRAM Transmission compatibility, and the addition of downtube storage. Marin call it the Bear Box for obvious reasons. To open it, you unclip it at the side latch then hinge it open partially (hinging it fully would snap it), before pulling it outwards away from the hinge. It opens up a cavity into the downtube, where you'll find a small pencil case that is not waterproof, but does have little loops on each end to help you fish it out.


The door of the hatch is home to a set of bottle bosses - frustratingly, the small frame can't fit a water bottle here without use of a spacer and an aftermarket cage adaptor - not provided. That's a significant oversight for an enduro bike, and could be a deal breaker for some. That's true for the XR AXS and XR models that are home to a piggyback-equipped shock. The more affordable Alpine Trail 1 has an in-line shock, so that model should fit a bottle.

The hatch has the additional job of securing the brake hose and cable housing. It does the job, helping to keep the bike devoid of rattle.


The usual forms of frame protection are dotted about the bike. A hard plastic guard sits on the underside of the downtube, and the drive-side chainstay and seat stay get some rubber guards to fend off the ill-effects of chain slap. It's well thought-through, with the chainstay protection extending onto the inboard edge of the chainstay pivot where it runs closest to the cassette.


At the other end, it extends up the stay toward the main pivot, a spot that is all too often overlooked. Again, the bike is reasonably quiet as a result. A bolt-on mud flap also sits between the back of the seat tube and the chainstay, in place to keep the worst away from the main pivot bearings.

Geometry & Sizing

The 2024 Marin Alpine Trail is available in four sizes, S-XL, with reach figures of 424mm, 454mm, 484mm and 514mm. Those numbers pertain to the configuration in which the bike is shipped - all four sizes are MX. As it comes, a size large has a 484mm reach, a 442mm chainstay, a 63° head angle, a 78.3° effective seat tube angle and a BB height of 345mm.

The frame offers up geometry adjustments at three locations:

• Wheel Size: The flip-chip at the seat stay corrects geometry when switching between a 27.5" and a 29" rear wheel
• Chainstay Length and BB Height: The flip-chip at the chainstay pivot raises/lowers the BB height by 7mm while simultaneously shortening/lengthening the chainstay by 7mm - it also concomitantly alters the head angle by 0.5°
• Head Tube Angle: The bike ships with a neutral headset cup, but a 0.75° offset top cup allows one to steepen or slacken the head angle


That gives no fewer than twelve geometry charts to pore over. The idea is to give riders a solid enduro-worthy geometry, with scope to tweak things to suit the demands of different riding spots. Of course, everything is a compromise. Highlighting that is the inability to adjust chainstay length without affecting BB height - we are yet to see an independent chainstay length adjustment that is compatible with UDH from any of the mainstream brands - something I, and I'm sure many others, hope will change soon.

Above this section you will see the six geometry charts pertaining to an MX configuration. You can view the geometry figures for the 29" configuration here.

So, if your local tracks are obscenely steep, there's scope to run a 62.2° head tube angle. That could give you that extra confidence needed to commit to the fall line, at the expense of a front end that's more ungainly on the climbs, or feels more liable to washing out in flat corners. Alternatively, if your trails are less severe and warrant quicker handling, you might benefit from a steeper head tube angle. The point is, Marin are handing riders the opportunity to figure out exactly what works, or doesn't work, for them, and that is to be applauded.


There are configurations that Marin specifically do not recommend. Off the table is running a 29" rear wheel with the seat stay flip-chip in the 27.5" position - there is insufficient clearance. They also do not recommend you run a a 27.5" rear wheel with the seat stay flip-chip in the 29" position, as it results in a BB that is very low, to the point where Marin consider it unsafe.

Suspension Design

The Alpine Trail delivers 161mm of rear wheel travel in the stock MX configuration, dropping to 156mm with a 29" rear wheel. A 205mm x 65mm shock damps that displacement, giving an average leverage ratio of 2.47. The curve is consistently progressive throughout the stroke, becoming a little less so in the final quarter of the travel.

Arguably the biggest change for the Alpine Trail is the move away from a linkage-driven single pivot to a four-bar linkage. Mathew Cipes, the responsible product manager, tells us that this was necessary to satisfy their desired kinematic on the longer travel 160mm platform. In addition to giving the leverage curve more mid-stroke support, the Horst pivot gave the engineers more control over the suspension's anti-rise behavior (how it behaves under application of the rear brake). It allowed them to keep the anti-rise low (65% at sag) for better chassis control while braking.

Anti-squat is model dependent, in that Marin recommend 30% sag for for Alpine Trail 1 with the air shock, and 25% sag for the coil shock-equipped XR models. To that end, in for 32T-52T, anti-squat at 25% sag is 76%, decreasing to 70% at 30% sag. That's a little on the low side as compared to some competitors' enduro bikes, and it indicates the bike will have a tendency to sit down into its travel a little under pedal-induced acceleration.

---

On the RockShox Zeb Ultimate with the Charger 3 damper, I run a slightly higher pressure than is recommended for my weight, simply to get the rebound speed running a little faster. At the lighter end of the spectrum, there is a significant compromise to be made between sufficient rebound speed (aka traction), and general comfort. As the fork packs down at lower pressures, even with the rebound damping fully open, one can find oneself in some compromisingly pitched positions over the bike, especially when riding step-riddled sections at speed.


Testing Info

Testing took place over the last two months in the Tweed Valley, Scotland, at the enduro trails and downhill tracks around Innerleithen. Trail conditions were mostly wet, with some damp greasy days, finishing up with some dry and dusty days that gave rise to rougher, hard-pack conditions. This Trailforks route includes a bunch of trails that were ridden during the test period.

Climbing

As ever, the choice of tires feels to me to have the biggest influence on how efficient the bike feels to pedal. Yes, the Maxxis Assegai in a MaxxGrip compound feels very draggy, but on this 160mm travel enduro bike, they are absolutely the correct choice. On a bike that is intended to perform going downhill, grip and puncture resistance should come before rolling speed, so it's nice to see Marin committing to that with MaxxGrip, and a DoubleDown casing rear tire.

The bike feels very short in the seated pedaling position. The 78.7° seat tube angle gives a short effective top tube length, which did a good job of making me feel biased over the front. Slack head tube angles can sometimes be associated with a front-end that has a tendency to lift on steep climbs, but a short effective top tube length minimizes that, making it easier to keep weight over the front. As a result, the Alpine Trail is far easier to manage on steep technical climbs than its slack front-end might suggest.


The downside to that is that a lot of weight is naturally pushed onto the hands, which can be uncomfortable if riding a long stretch on the flat. It makes a lot more sense when pointed uphill, and that pressure eases off. I actually found the seat tube angle a little too steep, and found it more comfortable with the saddle pushed back on the rails. Comparing the published effective seat tube angle with that of most other manufacturers' bikes should be avoided; while most brands measure the effective seat tube angle from the height of the headtube, Marin measure it at what they consider will be the average saddle height for each frame size. That's 684mm for S, 721mm for M, 763mm for L and 795mm for XL.

On steady fire road climbs, when the chain is in the larger cogs of the cassette, the rear-end does exhibit minimal bob under acceleration. However, I can't say it bothers me in the slightest. In my experience, the drag of the tires has a bigger influence on climbing efficiency than the suspension behavior or the bike's weight (17.6 kg w/pedals and saddle). The Super Deluxe shock does have a lock-out, but I don't find it useful. I set my saddle angle to account for sag, so if the suspension is locked-out near top-out, the angle biases my weight even further forwards to the point where its quite uncomfortable on the wrists. It's also a proper lock-out, so you lose all bump absorption and traction is negatively affected as a result.

When sprinting out of the saddle in harder gears the bike does noticeably sink into its travel, which does give the feeling that you're not getting quite so much forward propulsion for your watts compared to bikes that remain firmer under hard acceleration - bikes like the Liv Intrigue LT, for example.

Descending

I spent the vast majority of my time testing the Alpine Trail in its stock geometry setting. That's with the chainstay pivot flip-chip in the Low (BB - 345mm) and Long (CS - 442mm) position, with a 27.5" rear wheel and the neutral headset cup, giving a head tube angle of 63°.

A 424mm reach is somewhat on the more compact side for my 163cm, especially when paired with a 35mm stem. With the back-sweep on the bar and the slack head tube angle, it gives the rider a feeling of being in the bike, braced in a commanding position behind the bar. Being more spread out in the cockpit could feel beneficial on extra fast, rough sections, but overall I think the reach on this one suits me and my local trails very well. They're are a little on the slower side by most standards, often with tight turns in rapid succession of one another.

With the chainstay pivot flip-chip in the High BB (352mm) - Short CS (435mm) setting, the rear end felt noticeably more supportive in compressive corners. With a shorter chainstay, the leverage ratio is a little lower, resulting in higher shaft speeds at the shock with more damping force generated. I really appreciated that extra support, and when I went back to the Low BB - Long CS setting, I added one click (of a possible 4) of low speed compression damping to try to replicate that additional support.


On the whole, my preference was the Low BB - Long CS setting. The bike felt more prone to understeer in the higher BB setting, and I also felt that it accentuated that pitched feeling I got on steep, stepped sections of trail that was largely as a result of the slower than ideal fork rebound.

Being a relatively light rider, a common complaint of mine is over-damped suspension. However, I'm pleased to report that the tune on the RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate coil feels more than satisfactory. Riding flat pedals almost exclusively, I'm very sensitive to a shock that is packing down over successive hits, as I will have trouble maintaining a good shoe-pedal connection when things aren't quite right. With the Alpine Trail, I have no complaints in this department. I will often run rebound damping fully open, but with the custom-tune that Marin have settled on, I actually stood to benefit from not running the rebound as fast as possible. It's refreshing to have meaningful use of the external adjustment dials.

The rear-end of the bike tracks reasonably well. It's no magic carpet however, and doesn't have the buttery smooth feel of some of the mid-pivot enduro bikes I've ridden. It can feel as though it's getting hung up on square-edged hits sometimes, but my feet aren't getting blown off on those occasions. The bike generally feels composed when it goes deep into its stroke. It did have a tendency to feel little kicky sometimes - in scenarios where I'd unexpectedly come upon a chunky lone root at speed with the bike pitched downhill. Again, slowing the rebound with 4 clicks of damping settled things nicely.


The small gets a 150mm travel dropper post, which for me is the minimum acceptable drop for an enduro bike. Clearance was largely fine on all but the steepest of trails, where I benefited from manually slamming the seatpost an extra 25mm. Happily, the small - and other frame sizes - offer plentiful insertion depth. At my saddle height of 627mm, I could run a 180mm OneUp V2 or V3 post in there.

A 63° head tube angle is slacker than what I'm accustomed to. It's manageable, but I did occasionally feel the fear of losing the front end on the steepest trails where the corners weren't so supportive. In light of that, I don't foresee a slacker head tube angle being of any benefit to me on my local trails, but it's cool that the option is there especially for those who want the stability that a longer wheelbase confers - those looking to use the Alpine Trail for fast laps in the bike park, perhaps.


I eventually lost patience with the under-performing RockShox Zeb, as I felt it was holding the bike back from greater potential. So, I switched it out for a 160mm Ohlins RXF 38 m.2 fork that I had lying around. The axle-to-crown height is 13mm lower than that of the 170mm Zeb. That has the effect of lowering the bottom bracket a touch, and steepening the head tube angle by half a degree to around 63.5°. I felt most at ease in this configuration. If I were to race an enduro tomorrow, this is how I would set the bike up: MX with the Horst Flip-Chip in Long and Low, the Headset in Neutral, and with a 160mm fork. This is how it performs best for me.

To find out if there would be additional benefit to running an even steeper head tube angle, I made use of the offset headset cup to steepen it by a further 0.75°. While I didn't feel any less confident on the very steep descents, I did have a few unsettling moments where the bike felt too tall. No drama of course, just a fleeting sensation of feeling a little pitched. To be clear, all of my findings were made from back-to-back testing of different setups on the same set of tracks.

How does it compare?

The Marin Alpine Trail compares favorably to some competitors' bikes that I've tested in recent years, namely the YT Capra Core 3 MX, the Merida ONE-SIXTY 6000, and the Vitus Sommet 297 CRX. Though each of the aforementioned are very good bikes in their own right, the Alpine Trail XR AXS would be my preference. It has the edge with the most composed, traction-delivering rear-end, and feels the safest to ride fast while handing its rider quick handling and a good sense of being the boss. While it is the heaviest of the lot (being aluminum, not carbon), it is also far more adjustable than most other enduro bikes, which will be of great appeal to the fettlers, or those who want something that can adapt to the varying terrain of different riding spots.

Marin will always struggle to compete with some of the direct-to-consumer offerings. The YT Capra Core 4 MX (carbon) with a comparably high-end spec is more affordable at £4,499, but again it lacks the adjustability of the Marin.

Also noteworthy here is that the Airdrop Edit MX Deluxe, another Horst-link aluminum enduro bike of comparable geometry, is a fair bit more affordable than the Marin Alpine Trail XR AXS tested here. With the same suspension components, and more adjustable brakes of equivalent power, but a mechanical SRAM GX groupset, it retails at £4,399, versus the £5,225 RRP of the Transmission-equipped Marin. For me, the benefits of the electronic drivetrain don't warrant parting with the additional £825 (granted, there are a few other spec differences, of course). The other side to that story is that while the Marin has heaps of adjustments, the Airdrop Edit MX has a fixed geometry. Also, the Marin is sold with a five year warranty, while the Airdrop gets a two year warranty. Oh, but the Airdrop can fit a water bottle on a size small.

Which Model is the Best Value?

Always a difficult one to answer, given that it depends on exactly what you value and what your budget is. Personally, I wouldn't be compromising on quality of suspension components, but I would always be happy to forgo the expense of an electronic drivetrain to have some extra pennies in my pocket to upgrade more important things aftermarket, like tires or brakes.

To that end, I reckon the $4,599 Alpine Trail XR model offers the best value of the three available. It has the very same suspension components as the XR AXS (tested here), but forgoes the SRAM GX Transmission group for mechanical GX. The performance of the SRAM DB8 brakes is unknown to me - but I wouldn't let that put me off - especially in the knowledge that the $800 I saved could get me a set of entirely adequate 4-piston Shimano SLX brakes with plenty of change to spare.

The Alpine Trail 1 is the entry-level offering, priced at $3,199 USD. It gets a Fox Float Performance air shock, Fox 36 Rhythm fork with the Grip damper, a Shimano Deore 12 speed drivetrain, TRP Slate EVO 4-Piston brakes, and Vee Tire Flow Snap tires with the Top 40 compound.

Building it yourself? The frame kit with the Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate coil shock will set you back $1,849 USD / 1,899 € / £,1925 / $2,469 CAD.

Technical Report

RockShox Zeb Ultimate w/ Charger 3 Damper: The fork is over-damped for lighter riders, and struggles to rebound fast enough at low pressure, resulting in poor traction and a pitched feeling on steep, chunky terrain

SRAM Code Bronze Brakes: Powerful enough, but I did miss the contact point adjustment that is present on the SRAM Code RSC levers

HA adjusting headset cups: Changing the head tube angle is straight forward, requiring only the switching out of the top headset cup. It requires no special tools. A massive plastic bush sits over the lower headset bearing to accommodate the change in steerer angle inside the headtube. Arguably, the offset cup is misleadingly labelled - orienting it with the -0.75° label at the front of the bike actually makes the head angle steeper, not slacker as it would suggest.

Flip-Chips: Adjusting the geometry using the flip-chips is very easy, requiring no special tools, but having a bike stand is of course tremendously useful. The chips are well greased, and were easy enough to pop in and out.

---

Pinkbike's Take

---

---

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Marin Marin Alpine Trail