£2,995 • 29in • marinbikes.com
Marin’s alloy trail bike keeps things simple and favours thrills over frills
Sometimes the simplest ingredients make the most delicious dishes. The Spanish turn a tomato, a clove of garlic, some salt, olive oil and a slice of crusty toasted bread into a moorish appetiser that distils the essence of Mediterranean flavours. Italians can effortlessly convert some fresh pasta, a drizzle of olive oil and a shaving of truffle or parmesan cheese into a meal that tastes as good as any Michelin-starred dish.
Which brings us to the new Marin Rift Zone, an unassuming trail bike, that’s plain vanilla next to the likes of Trek’s feature-laden Fuel EX and Specialized’s manipulatable Stumpjumper Evo, but has been infused with the flavour of a freshly scraped pod rather than the blandness of
