The 2016 Marin Gestalt Is a Mountain Biker’s Road Bike
Marin Bikes is probably best known for being one of the early makers of full-suspension trail bikes. While the brand has since branched out to urban, cyclocross, and road models, it’s still primarily considered a mountain bike brand. But for its 30th anniversary, Marin is doing things a little differently—the company’s 2016 new releases are drop-bar models.
We got a closer look at the new Marin Gestalt at Eurobike 2015. While Marin calls the Gestalt an endurance road bike, the company brought elements of its off-road heritage to this model, giving it some unique, category-defying characteristics. “We asked ourselves, ‘How would a mountain bike company build a road bike?’” says Chris Holmes, brand director at Marin, regarding the Gestalt design process.
Adventure bikes with burly, knobby tires may evoke fantasies of riding into the sunset on endless dirt roads, but, given that the majority of us still primarily find ourselves on paved surfaces most days, I wish more “adventure” models came spec’d with tires that are slightly more practical, yet still more capable than a traditional 23- to 25mm road tire. The Gestalt’s 30mm tires with low-profile knobs seem to fit that bill; even better, the aluminum frame has clearance for up to 38mm knobbies when you’re really planning to get out there. These durable wheels with a high spoke count (32) should be able to withstand more of a beating than those on a typical endurance bike, and they’re tubeless-ready, to reduce the risk of pinch flats on rougher terrain. Disc brakes provide stopping power on long, hazard-ridden descents, and the Navit carbon fork provides more than just front-end compliance: It incorporates the company’s Heat Sync system, which protects the carbon from heat build-up at the pads and rotors.
The Gestalt includes Marin’s urban dropouts, which sport mounts for a kickstand—broadening this bike’s potential use to that of your everyday commuter. The dropouts also make the Gestalt compatible with quick-release or thru-axles, though the bike comes spec’d with the Naild locking thru-axle system front and rear (15mm front thru-axle, 12mm rear). With the Naild system, you have to push the red release lever to open the thru-axle, then turn the black lever to the 12-o-clock position to actually slide the axle out, which reduces the likelihood that your thru-axle opens up because you secured it incorrectly.
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Given these smart details, the price might be the most surprising feature. Figures start at $1,099 for the Gestalt 1, which comes with a Shimano Sora 2x9 compact drivetrain (the fork is aluminum on this version), and go up to just $2,254 for the Gestalt 3, including the Naild Navit carbon fork and SRAM Rival 1x11 group with a 10-42 cassette.
Amidst the flood of all-road or adventure models hitting the market this year, the Gestalt lives in a unique sweet spot: It has features that lend it the efficiency and everyday utility of an endurance road bike or a commuter, blended with the versatility and capability of a bike ready to go on some legitimate off-road adventures.
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