ofridingonavarietyofsurfaces,equippedto
taketheirownerfromroadtodirtroadtotrails
andbeyond.Maybeforanhourortwo,and
maybe for a few days. That just depends on
what your definition of adventure is.
Marin are based out of California and they
are not short on mountains, beautiful dirt
roads, long and open trails and some sweet
routes that vary from dense forests, craggy
coastline and of course big mountain ranges.
Not surprisingly Marin’s range of bikes suits
their backyard. The Alpine Trail 8 we tested
earlier this year showed that Marin is right on
point with high-value and high-performance
big wheeled all-mountain bikes. The Marin
Gestalt X11 shows that Marin have their finger
on the pulse adventure pulse as well.
Gestalt means something that has greater
worth than the sum of its parts. Applying that
to the bike world, it means that Marin feels
that this bike is going to deliver a lot more than
what you might expect just by reading the spec
sheet and geometry chart.
With a price of $2699, the Marin Gestalt X11
brings a whole lot of features to the adventure
bike market, including some that are usually
only found on boutique builds. While Marin
has another Gestalt in the range, it lacks
the dedicated 1x11 group set with a clutch
derailleur, a dropper post and hydraulic brakes
among a few other features. The Gestalt 2 is
therefore a great mixed surface bike, it will
find its limits when the dirt turns to trail much
faster than the Gestalt X11.
Marin claim that the Gestalt X11 has a
forward geometry to keep the front wheeldroppingyourseatonthetrailsitreallymakes
sensetodoitonanadventurebiketoo,where
youtendtohavelesstractionandofcourse
no suspension. Does it let you take the bike
further and find more ‘adventure’? That’s the
$2699 question.INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
Marin bikes come from Bicycles Online in
Australia, which means they ship direct to your
place in a cardboard box from the Bicycles
Online HQ in Sydney. Having spent long enough
build anything from a balance bike through
to long travel bikes and frustratingly complex
time trial bikes in bike stores through my
teens and twenties, I can assure you that bikes
in boxes from Bicycles Online don’t come how
a bike in a box comes to your local bike shop.
Just about all the hard work is done for you.
Like other direct to consumer brands Marin
and Bicycles Online do everything to the bike to
make sure it is set to go, before disassembling
it just enough to go into the box for delivery to
your house. This means the shifting tends to
be spot on and brakes run drag free.
When the delivery driver dropped off the
Bicycles Online box with the Marin Gestalt
X11 inside, it was a very similar process to
building the Alpine Trail 8 earlier this year. The
front wheel was off, as were the handlebars,
and the seat and post were also waiting to be
fitted. The front rotor is on the front wheel
with a huge protection cover to prevent any
damage to it or the frame. The reusable straps
and pads between the items are a nice touch,
and surprisingly useful to have around in theTESTED
WORDS:MIKEBLEWITT IMAGES:TIMBARDSLEY-SMITHTheMarinGestaltX11isnotjustalittleleftof
fieldforustoreviewhereatAMB,itisabike
thatisabitleftofcentreformostpeople.It’s
notaroadbike,it’snotamountainbike,it’s
notacyclocrossbikeeither.It’sanadventure
bike.Adventurebikesareagrowingnichein
thecyclingworld,buttheirremitiseasyto
understand.Theyarebikesthatarecapable
of riding on a variety of surfaces, equipped toloaded,somethingweallknowisthekeyto
tractionwhenridingoffroad.Italsohelps
keepthebiketrackingwhenloaded,andwith
mountsontheforkandframeforracks,a
longoffroadtourissomethingwellwithinthe
GestaltX11’scapability.Havingthedropper
postasastockitemactuatedbythelefthand
SRAMshifterisunique.Andifyou’reusedto
dropping your seat on the trails it really makesMarin
Gestalt X11