Opinion on this bike please?

[DarK]

Ok, I know I'm posting this somewhat too late, but I've just bought a 2005 Marin Bobcat Trail



Just wondering what your opinions were on this bike, and Marin in general?

I paid £435 for it and it has a lifetime maintenance warranty on it - I can take it in weekly for a check if I want! I'm mainly doing road riding but after getting this nice new bike I'm starting to look at some slightly more adventurous stuff...

[flatulant_man]

hey, looks great if your into more cross-country type stuff. might see if your derailleur shifts fast enough for you, and if your tires aren't too burly, but looks fine. check out http://mtbr.com/reviews/2004_hardtail/
find the bobcat on this page (alphabetical) and see what people who ride it think.

[Darkreaper]

Well, I swapped the tires out at the start for semi-slicks with just some knobbling at the sides - a mistake in retrospect if I'm going to be going on anything softer than gravel but it rides very nicely on solid ground. The gears are a bit vexing, I was using an old manta ray with gripshift so a trigger system is new to me. I find that if I want a quick gear change up, on the rear derailleurs at least, I am best going one higher than I want and dropping down instantly - I don't know if it should work smoother than that or not, should I get that checked out?

The disc brakes are starting to work nicely now they are being broken in - I have a slight issue with them but I've already posted about that in the mechanical forum. I'm not planning any seriously hard riding, but being able to go down a flight of steps or hop up and down kerbs and off speed-bumps is always nice. If I find any easy off-road trails I might give them a go but I'm not sure how my tires would handle them.


I'm dark btw. Made a slight screw-up in the account registering

[ioscope]

My dad has one of those, nice bike, don't pour any money into it though. It is not exactly a top of the line platform for expensive parts

[mtballday]

hey man what ever tickles your fancy

[jacksonpt]

Does it pedal? Do the derailleurs work? Do the brakes work? If so, it's an awesome bike.

[Darkreaper]

Yes to all

The derailleurs are a tad wonkly, and managed to almost lose the chain last week when all I did was cycle down a kerb, but yes it all works. I just adjusted the brakes today so the pads arent rubbing any more.

[Darkreaper]

I also had to replace the pedals today, after having broken off almost all of the plastic moulded grippy pins... Cheap set of DMR V8s but it's a vast improvement on what I had and should last a while. Picked up a puncture one minute into cycling home as well so it would appear that the bike currently has bad karma!

[sirsleepsalot]

Hmmm.... don't you just hate those "bad karma" bikes ?

4 bikes ago (yes, I measure life in bikes, not in years), I had a bike that was just one problem after the other... and the mechanic at the shop I bought it was an asshole !
<rant>
On my first ride with it, I noticed that the brake would rub on the tire on one side, so I bring it back to the shop. The mechanic starts telling me that I don't know how to ride if I managed to go through my pads that fast that the brake is already rubbing on the tire. He goes on saying the he built the bike himself and that it was perfect when he buit it up. Turns out, there was a spacer or something missing on the break and it was indeed HIS fault since HE built it. Anyways, I continue to complain about weird shifting and chain making weird noises. He checks it and says everything is perfect, so I ride off pissed. 3rd pedal stroke, the chain snaps on me. I go back in, he's with another customer... I throw the chain at him "Yeah, my chain is perfect !" I say very loudly (almost screaming due to the fact that I was f***ing pissed at that point). Anyways, after my first two days of ownership and once that stuff is fixed up and that shop is banned, I proceed to get flat tire after flat tire. Like, 4~5 flats per week sometimes ! I got 7 flats on one weekend. I was going through tubes like crazy. And, I always checked my tires everytime. Nothing was sticking out of them. Rim tape was fine, spokes were fine. Never figured out why it would pop like that. Ended up changing the tires and magic... no more flats... those tires were the worst piece of **** "pointy-stuff-magnet" things I ever got. Anyways, after that, the bike was stolen.
</rant>

The good news, that was my last cheap bike and I'm now fully into biking, the shop with the horrible mechanic went bankrupt, and I now have good bikes and am enjoying the sport as much as I can ! Yay me !

Sorry about the rant guys... for some reason, I started thinking about that yesterday and just needed to re-get that out of my system... calling up bad memories just doesn't sit well with me... hehe

Have fun with that bike Darkreaper ! May it lead you to a life of fun fun fun riding !

[Darkreaper]

Now you're just plain making me nervous! Here's hoping it isnt that bad!

I'm quite chuffed with myself atm, just fixed my first ever flat - shows how much of a n00b i am... The tire managed to pick up not only a flat sliver of glass that left a 5mm slot in the rubber, but half a staple too - doesnt bode well! Still, it's a nice bike, and significantly better than the raleigh manta ray I've had for the past three years. I took that out yesterday cos my other had a flat, and dear god I can't understand how I managed to ride it - it's freakin tiny and so hard to pedal!

My front discs were rubbing on one side as well, but I fixed those myself with a couple playing cards and an allen key. Hope I havent screwed anything up too badly...

[sirsleepsalot]

Well Darkreaper, if you can fix your own flat and adjust your brake so it works properly, you're already on the good path to happy happy fun fun fun riding land...

I have to say, my experience with that particular bike was quite horrible. But, that was the only one. The rest of my bikes, wether the cheap ones or the good ones, all worked well. Of course the occasionnal flat and routine maintenance, but that's it. As long as you ride within the limits of yourself and your equipment, you should be fine !

Happy riding !

[Darkreaper]

Ok, the bad karma issue is geting worse. I've fallen on it once, not bad but enough to push the front brake pad (piston side, away from the wheel) out so it's constantly rubbing and no amount of alignment fixes it. One of the handlebar end plugs has fallen out. The light is now on the blink, literally, it flicks off when the bike bumps a certain way and I have to tap it to get it back on.

[Skookum]

Ok, the bad karma issue is geting worse. I've fallen on it once, not bad but enough to push the front brake pad (piston side, away from the wheel) out so it's constantly rubbing and no amount of alignment fixes it. One of the handlebar end plugs has fallen out. The light is now on the blink, literally, it flicks off when the bike bumps a certain way and I have to tap it to get it back on.

Check your rotor to see if it's bent.... handlebar end plugs are a dime a dozen at a LBS (local bike shop) you should just buy some bar ends anyways, i have these and i love em.

and your light well can't help you there... haha you shouldn't worry so much, you bought a bike on the cheap that's going to lead to small problems and headaches inevitably but it's a good sign, because your out there riding and enjoying yourself....
Also since your riding so much you've fallen, welp welcome to the club, we all crash, so much so we've learned there's actually a method of doing it as to not get hurt. (Go limp, roll etc)
Sounds to me your're on the right track of beating yourself and your bike up, much better than those who get a new bike, hang it in their garage and sit on the couch all day.

[ncrider]

well, you get what you pay for. At least you're into the sport and this bike will teach you all kinds of little fix its. By the time it disentigrates you'll have a vast knowledge (or hatred of fixing parts) and know what bike to move on to.

[s1ngletrack]

Sounds like you're coming along fine - beginning to break parts, falling off your bike, from the sound if it, you're getting closer to being an actual mountainbiker every time you straddle the bike

I'm waiting for the post that says "Well, I've gone and flat-spotted my rim, again, came up short on the step up at the local resort & and my light is still on the fritz...."