{"id":32073,"date":"2023-02-16T22:59:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T22:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/16\/our-fave-adventure-hardtail-steel-too-is-back\/"},"modified":"2023-02-16T22:59:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T22:59:38","slug":"our-fave-adventure-hardtail-steel-too-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/16\/our-fave-adventure-hardtail-steel-too-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Fave Adventure Hardtail (Steel Too!) Is Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A couple of years in the past, we reviewed the Marin Pine Mountain 2<\/a>, which was the 29er replace of what I nonetheless suppose is essentially the most enjoyable bike I\u2019ve ever ridden, the 27.5-plus Pine Mountain which has been discontinued. I appreciated the bike so much, although I missed the smaller wheels. The solely actual points I had had been with the tires and, finally, that it rode somewhat too upright for me. <\/p>\n

The new model is out now<\/a>, nonetheless, and whereas I haven\u2019t ridden one but, they\u2019ve slackened it a bit and I\u2019m tremendous intrigued. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s nonetheless a 29er, nonetheless a metal body festooned with mounting factors, and nonetheless has the bedroll handlebars, which I like. Even for those who don\u2019t plan to go bikepacking, it\u2019s nonetheless good to have some area on the bars to mount issues and even tie off a jacket you\u2019ve shed since you\u2019re sweating like a yak. <\/p>\n

The Pine Mountain 2 is the upper spec mannequin, with a Shimano SLX drivetrain, Shimano MT520 brakes (the BEST bang in your buck on the market), a RockShox FS 35 fork, TransX dropper, and the identical 2.6\u2033 Vee Flow Snap tires I didn\u2019t look after the primary time round (although it needs to be famous, the tires by no means failed me). It sells for $2400, and whereas just a few years in the past that may have been eye popping for a metal hardtail, the value appears honest for what you\u2019re getting. <\/p>\n

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Plus, it\u2019s acquired a barely slacker head tube, and slacker geometry general, which is one thing I\u2019d hoped for with the earlier mannequin. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I mentioned about that 2020 mannequin:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve put nearly 500 miles on the XL-sized bike to this point, over a wide range of trails: steep and unfastened, steep and rocky\/rooty\/terrifying, gravel roads, winding circulate trails, and a mixture of all the above. Throw in loads of in-town pavement cruising too. <\/p>\n

My general impressions are of a assured, steady bike that rides effectively and may deal with nearly something. On flowy trails, it\u2019s a refined hoot, loading up vitality within the compliant metal, releasing it after a financial institution; on punishing climbs, the steep seat angle (74.5 levels) retains you in a snug pedal place, and the comparatively talking slack (66.5 levels) headtube angle retains issues playful when pointed down. The attain on the XL is 455 mm, which isn\u2019t very lengthy for an XL; I really feel snug and prepared for lengthy saddle days within the cockpit, and using it round city it nearly seems like a commuter with tremendous huge bars.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simply straightforward to experience. It\u2019s enjoyable to experience. I’ve a steady of bikes to decide on if I need to experience to the espresso place or to seize one thing on the retailer, together with an e-bike and a Public bike townie factor, and 9 instances out of 10 I experience the Pine Mountain. It\u2019s not what I\u2019d contemplate a very rowdy path bike, but when I simply need to cruise within the afternoon on some filth and don\u2019t really feel within the temper for shredding, I\u2019m on the Pine Mountain. If I wanna load up with gear and experience as much as a lake to fish, I\u2019m on the Pine Mountain. If I had been to be bikepacking this weekend, it could be on the Pine Mountain.
Add all that up, and that\u2019s one bike doing loads of issues.<\/p>\n

Right there on the headset cap it reads: Made for enjoyable. And I believe that\u2019s precisely proper. This is a $2,100 bike that’s constructed to final, comes specced with respectable parts, will take you wherever you can ever need to go, seems nice, and is enjoyable doing it. Long time period, I\u2019m completely swapping the tires, rebuilding the fork (not Marin\u2019s fault \u2013 the fork it got here with felt clunky), perhaps swapping out the bars for one thing with somewhat extra give. I\u2019m additionally completely having enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will the 2023 mannequin produce those self same grins? I’ve to think about it can. Can\u2019t wait to strive it. <\/p>\n

*There\u2019s additionally a Pine Mountain 1 with no dropper and lower-specced parts for $1,500. But I\u2019d swing for the upper finish mannequin.*<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[ad_1] A couple of years in the past, we reviewed the Marin Pine Mountain 2, which was the 29er replace of what I nonetheless suppose is essentially the most enjoyable bike I\u2019ve ever ridden, the 27.5-plus Pine Mountain which has been discontinued. I appreciated the bike so much, although I missed the smaller wheels. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ajmedia.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/16095029\/Screen-Shot-2023-02-16-at-9.37.39-AM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adventure"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoptraveler.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}