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Looked and see lots of hard tail but few full suspension frame options...been on Facebook looked at group lots of USA owners but just wondered if anyone here had specced a full suspension frame, what geometry did you go for? Apart from wait time what was your experience of the process and how does the frame ride?
Cheers
Marino owner here.
HT not FS but my experience dealing with them.
I'd talk to Luke the UK Marino guy and get him to sort it all out for you as it'll still cost roughly the same but be easier.
They were good and bad for me.
First frame arrived just outside of the quoted delivery time.
However there was a problem with it.
Again Luke sorted all this out for me and they agreed to build me another frame.
This however dragged on and on.
Took months to eventually arrive but when it did the previous fault had been sorted.
So kind of a mixed bag.
Overall a cheap frame that seems pretty well made but took forever.
Bloke called Phil Ball on Insta has a couple - one's a mullet I think. He's in Scotland.
I've got one. The process took 6 months pretty much to the day. I dealt with Marino UK and Luke and he was really helpful and really good to deal with, I'm not sure if they are working at the moment as their website says they are closed.
In terms of geo I took a few ideas from existing bikes I knew I liked and tweaked things a bit further. I'm really pleased with the end result. I've got a bike that rides absolutely brilliantly and its a nice feeling to know its a custom build frame.
Sometimes the communication was a little patchy and there were a couple of confused/mixed messages, but we got those sorted out between us.
Over all I would recommend them, however I cannot see how they could possibly deliver in the 10-12 weeks they quoted to me when I placed my deposit. Go in with your eyes open and be patient and you will get a great frame.
I dont think luke deals with Marino anymore, I couldn't see any pages for marino bikes uk last I looked.
Probably sick of dealing with the complaints.
I dont think luke deals with Marino anymore,
TBF That doesn't surprise me.
Seemed a really decent guy that was as frustrated as everyone that was being left in the dark.
Exactly that, hard being the u.k distributor when you have no stock and an inbox full of moaning ass-hats such as my good self.
It did take more than a year to get my frame after I paid the deposit though.
Thanks, tried the website but closed. It seems to be patient is the key.
Just bear in mind it will be quite heavy.....my medium ish sized Marino hardtail weighs 3.1kg for the frame / axle / seat clamp.
If you go for quite a long slack one and a coil shock most of the build bike weights in the Facebook owners page seem to be in the 35-38lb built up weight range.
In terms of riding I think they are a fairly high single pivot but without an idler. Maybe they’ll be a bit orange like - active as long as you stay off the brakes?
most of the build bike weights in the Facebook owners page seem to be in the 35-38lb built up weight range.
Wow, that's a chunky weight!
Thanks joebristol,as that was my other concern was the suspension design ....never had too much issue with single pivot but looks a slightly higher pivot point.