To celebrate having completed 30 years of building bikes since 1986, Marin is getting a bit retro and bringing back one of their classic color fade paint jobs on their popular Four Corners Elite everything adventure touring bike. Rebuilt for next year with a bit lower gearing to take on more loaded trips off the beaten track, the bike also bumps up to some wider rims and bigger tires to tackle any trail surface you can find. The Rasta paint job is just for this 30th anniversary and only available in this Elite build. Take a closer look at the bike, plus an updated version of Naild’s 12-3-9 quick release thru-axles after the break…
The Rasta Four Corners Elite uses the same Columbus Thron shaped and butted Cro-moly tubeset that we saw when the top-level bike was introduced last summer. Like it did then, both frame and fork include full fender & rack mounts, 160mm post mount disc brakes, and thru-axles. It also gets enough braze-ons to bolt on pretty much anything you can think of.
The special edition Rasta paint job harkens back to the early days of Marin, but modernizes it a bit with a matte finish that should hold up well over time. The Four Corners Elite gets what Marin calls ‘Utilitour’ geometry for stable loaded touring, and equates essentially to 72° head angles 72-74° seat angles, long headtubes, 70mm of BB drop, and 450mm chainstays.
The bike’s 15mm front and 12x142mm rear thru-axles use an updated version of the Naild 12-3-9 quick release thru-axle. 12-3-9 references the clock positions of the lever to go from Open, to Engaged, to Locked in a matter of a few seconds. The new version of the easy-to-use and secure axles gets a new, more compact lever shape and a revised squared off internal axle shape.
They uses the same Locit Lever Tech with the captured nut on the opposite side of the lever for fast-moving and almost idiot-proof functionality, plus adjustable positioning of the lever. The new Naild 12-3-9 also adds a neat little ID system called quadrant code that give a quick visual confirmation of the appropriate use, warranty period, durability, and recommended service interval for the thru-axle. A full breakdown of what it means is over at: Naild.it
The Four Corners Elite gets a SRAM Rival 1 build kit that now combines a 38T chainring to the 10-42 cassette for improved hill climbing on loose and steep trails. New for 2017, WTB KOM i25 (yep that means internally 25mm wide) rims are 4mm wider than the previous spec, and tubeless ready. They now get wrapped in WTB’s new 45mm wide version of the tubeless-ready Riddler for really breaking off from the beaten path. Finishing off the bike is Marin’s own Four Corners flared drop bar, color-matched alloy stem, alloy seatpost, and WTB Volt saddle. It even comes with a nice set of thin and light platform pedals for trekking in street shoes.
European pricing for the Four Corners Elite is expected to be around 2100€, which is up a bit from the current model in euros, but in the US it will sell for $2250 which is actually cheaper than the current version.
steep geo, road parts, & skinny tires?
Yup, sounds like a 1991 MTB to me 😛
Rasta mon… Norcal Marin party bike. Jamaica me crazy.
Rhygin…
Bingo! Yup.
almost exact as the Rhygin…have one hanging from our house with xmas lights and a friend still rides one. Castano wheels women’s team had them as team rigs. Love the paint, wish I could have caught 311 the other night.
don
Cool bike and nice job Marin. But not sure I want a skewer that requires a maintenance schedule.
I will never understand the bike industries love for rasta colors. It’s why I avoided Salsa’s Warbird in my recent new bike search. This bike is just gaudy.
Rasta colors were everywhere in the early 90s, they were just giving people what they wanted. Had a lot to do with black youth standing up & feeling like their culture was valuable, & showing solidarity with that.
Fiveten gets no pass on having rasta impact VXis last year, though.
well, that….and smokin’ pot and listening to Marley. ‘Tasty waves and a cool buzz and I’m fine’
All those California builders rode and partied together starting in the late 70’s. Keith Bontrager and Ross Shafer are big fans reggae and dub and it influenced many. Why you see Rasta colors in their designs even to this day. Maybe you should read more instead of being so grumpy.
For once a real monster cross rig !
Check out Vassago. They’ve been doing proper monster cross for a while.
Monster cross on a touring bike?
Hollywood wins
Cool bike none the less
Rasta colors are for the stoners. If you aren’t a stoner, than buy another bike.
I have no idea how people drink beer and ride bikes…ugh…just thinking about the hangover and dehydration makes me sick.
Never had those problems with weed, and guess what, it’s legal now in the PNW!
Colors ripped exactly from the 2008 GT Peace 9r Multi… hell the frames themselves even look similar other than the headtube and the rack mounts.
http://fcdn.mtbr.com/attachments/29er-bikes/429071d1233514619-2008-gt-peace-9r-multi-performance-img_2121.jpg
Hi Kristan – the graphics go back over dozen years before the Peace 9r: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/322570392041492670/
bike looks great and rasta is a constant theme in action sports industry heavily supported by surf, skate and snow. I am feeling the vibes and dreaming of the island life mon
Nice dedicated dropouts for a non-standard, overly complicated skewer!(heavy sarcasm) Good luck getting a replacement skewer in 5 years. At least the 30 year old bikes can still be serviced with replacement parts.
Hi Charles and Gringo – The Naild 12-3-9 quick release thru-axle offers the safety and security of a thru-axle, but is quicker to operate than a standard quick release as used with open dropouts. You can learn more about the innovative system here: http://www.naild.it/pr001-1
Considering that the dropouts are closed, what security benefit does this complicated axle bring? You could acomplish the same security with a much simpler and much cheaper standard QR. I understand this thing would be quicker than a QR, but considering the platform I guess F1 style pit stops are not a factor.