The Rift Zone is a model that has been in Marin’s line up for years, but it was time to give it some fresh legs. Sticking with the 29″ wheel platform, the new Rift Zone is what Marin calls their Trail 29er with 110mm rear, and 120mm front travel. Other than the material change to carbon, the Rift Zone XC 9 gains Marin’s new Isotrack rear suspension design which uses a flex stay in place of the rear pivot. The result is a 29 FS just over 25 lbs that will be the enduro race weapon of choice for Kyle Warner…
Designed with a 69.5 degree head angle and 440 chainstays, the Rift Zone is still XC, but built to handle as nimbly as possible. The full carbon frame comes in at 2000g for the top of the line carbon option and includes a lifetime warranty on the bearings. Set up stock with internal cable routing, the frame also includes provisions for external cable routing if you would prefer with cable guides built into the downtube and chainstay protectors.
The Rift Zone will be available in 5 models with the new design, two of them carbon, and 3 aluminum. Retail prices range from $2,000-6,500 and will be available in carbon in September, with aluminum following October and November.
The Indian Fire Trail is a new aluminum hard tail that benefits from trickle down when it comes to the tube shapes. This is a preview of changes that will eventually make it across all of their aluminum models. Available in 27.5 or 29″ wheels, the IFT uses a 100mm fork with thu axles front and rear.
The rear 142×12 dropout takes advantage of a direct mount rear derailleur hanger. Other details include a rubber gasket around the seatpost to keep water out of the frame, and the production frame will not have a bridge between the seat stays – as removing it resulted in 25% better compliance.
IFTs will retail for $2200 this July or August.
As a popular commuter bike in the line up for years, the Lombard gets a face lift and becomes more of an all road/gravel/cross bike. With a frame based on previous cross frames, the Lombard has longer stays and clearance for bigger tires in addition to disc brakes.
A lot of attention was paid to both the aesthetics and visibility with a blue paint scheme designed around the custom blue KMC X10 SL chain. Additionally there are stylish reflective accents on the front and rear of the bike to keep you visible at night.
In order to tackle Lombard street, an extremely wide range drivetrain is speced with a 34-50 crank and an 11-36 rear cassette shifted by an X7 rear mountain derailleur. Lombards will retail for $1500 and will be available this July along with a revamped pavement line up.
