Kona vs. Marin vs. Scott
Guy
bike. My shortlist now comprises of three bikes - the Marin Bear Valley
SE, the Kona Lava Dome or the Scott Boulder.
Has anyone had any experience of these models, either just
rec-use or racing, and if so what are they like? To my mind its the Marin
frame against the Kona spec and the Scott looks.
Any input would be useful.
-Guy
Schaller Thomas
I own a MARIN Indian Fire Trail and my wife has a Scott Boulder. Both
of them did 2 or 3 years of hard biking. We never had a problem with
the Scott. My Marin is a wunderful bike, I especially like the position
on it. But if you are buying a MARIN, give a closer look to all
components. I had to change the wheels on mine! I don't know the 95'
models, but I guess that there are always some cheap components hidden
somewhere.
We went to Island last summer for weeks with this bikes and we had
absolutely no problem with them. But we saw other guys with broken
frames and broken forks!
Hope this helps!
Thomas
-------------------------------------------
Thomas Schaller
University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
Institute for Informatics
E-Mail: thomas....@unifr.ch
Patrik Malmberg
Don't go for the looks, go for specs.
I ride a 1994 Marin Pine Mountain and I am massively satisfied with it. I
have tried both the Kona and the Marin, and I think they are comparable.
The best about the Kona is that it comes with thumbshifters, I had to
change mine on the Marin. The best about both the Marin and the Kona is
that they don't look flashy. Flashy bikes tend to get stolen more often
than non/flashy ones. I could leave my pitch black Schwinn almost
everywhere, but my friends with Scott bikes had to have triple locks and a
guard to avoid getting them stolen when leaving them where I left mine.
Oh, how I miss my Schwinn, it finally got stolen by someone who knew a
little something about bikes. Unfortunately is it impossible to by high-end
Schwinn MTB:s in Sweden now as Scott is importing them and they don't want
them to compete with their bikes.
So a tip is to look at a Schwinn also, but it is all a matter of personal
taste. Try the bikes out, and try them carefully and you will be satisfied.
Good luck
/Pat
--
===========================================================================
Patrik Malmberg | Faster and faster until the thrill of speed
Umea University | overcomes your fear of death - ride a bike...
dp...@cs.umu.se or http://wwwtdb.cs.umu.se/~dppmg/
Benjamin T. Wolz
: good too, not too flashy (ie no purple).
Hey my man, I have a bad ass 3D purple Kona AA!
Anyhow, I've had mine for 1.5 months and love it, although I already
tacoed my front rim.
Ben
--
** ** Benjamin T. Wolz
**** (512) 451-1178
** wol...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
** WORK: wo...@arlut.utexas.edu
WWW -> http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~wolzbt/index.html
Ed Treijs
I bought a Bear Valley (not SE) in the fall of '93. I will admit it:
the bike just looked sharp! :-)
Works pretty good. Haven't off-roaded all that much (and I got a road
bike for, well, the road) but I have bounced and smashed down steep downhills
with jagged boulders (Gatineau Park, by Ottawa). Nothing's broken yet.
Maybe suspension would be nice.... :-)
The bottom bracket creaked until I REALLY reefed down the crankarms. And
every once in a while there's this inexplicable "grunch" as if the chain
was trying to jump off the front; usually on the middle ring. Haven't
got a good explanation for that.
Tires work okay in mud. Seat is livable.
Actually, I must be a geek. Haven't biffed yet. Don't wanna, either.
Ed (I did trash the brake pads in a few rides, through) Treijs