Marino Advice

[SCOTTY___]

Basicly its getting close to me making a choice, im pretty much swayed by a 24", but with limited funds... so Marino looks win win.

Now, Spec's;

Ive rode and ET before and loved it, ive had the odd go on an Inspired and its seems nice, but im just confused, with the different GEO of the frames, what frame is particually designed for what?

Ive read in the search that ET suits people more than inspired blah blah, but how will the GEO effect this?

Secondly;

The dropouts on the Marino, i really dont fancy a rear mech, but if i have to, then tuff shit. But ive seen THIS and its has Horizontal dropouts, and from what i can make out, Snailcams. Cant really tell from the image, but looks like a standard 135mm rear hub, now ide be running a PRO II. Would this be suitable?

What size axel hole would i have to select?

Third;

The price, ive seen the mention of different prices thrown around, and its effect with specs etcetc, but with an ET / Inspired build, and the advanced shipping at $105, what are the prices of the frame? cant find any guide or such anywhere.

Forth;

Tyre spacing, im hoping to have a nice street, hit eveything fast setup, but what did other people use? I see you can go upto 2.7" wide, but.. would u ever see a use from it?

Break mount spacing, for a 4bolt setup, what would be needed?

BB what is standard these days? Burns on ISIS setup?

Thanks in advance, may need to add some more,

Scotty

[Tomm]

Now, Spec's;

Ive rode and ET before and loved it, ive had the odd go on an Inspired and its seems nice, but im just confused, with the different GEO of the frames, what frame is particually designed for what?

Ive read in the search that ET suits people more than inspired blah blah, but how will the GEO effect this?

They're really very similar. I rode an ET then a Zoot (which is very similar to the inspired). The ET is a tiny bit (15mm I think) shorter, but it has a steeper headangle so in effect the reach (BB to stem) is fairly similar. In theory the Inspired might be a bit nicer for trialsy things (taps) and less good for front wheel taps but I doubt the difference is that noticeable. When people say they prefer one or the other, I'd bet it's got way more to do with individual bike setup than the geo itself. In fact when I changed from the ET to the Zoot and swapped all the parts over, the only real difference I felt was the standover height which makes more difference than you would think.

I know what it's like, you have the choice of geometry so you want to get it "right", but in actual fact it won't make very much difference if you go for ET geometry or Inspired. Just don't do something daft like 1040/74 (which will have a pretty long reach) or 1020/70 (which will feel tiny). People don't "get" what a huge difference the head angle makes to how long the bike feels*.

*When I bought my Leeson 609 I went for 1040 WB, but I asked for a steep head angle (74). Which actually made it feel very similar in length to my Koxx levelboss (1065/70) which wasn't what I intended. It still rode pretty nice (and it's definitely not long by today's standards) but it was weird

[jambo]

If i were you i would pm Ross Mcarthur about the geo of the ET and the Inspired as he has owned both and he also rides for Marino, so he will be able to help you with your frame choice and specs. He Knows his Peruvian bikes!

[LEON]

Go for the biggest tyre clearance possible, i had a 26" one with 2.7 clearance with a 118 bb and 8 gears and I still had miles of clearance. Seems stupid to limit yourself if you dont need to.

Agree on the head angle, most important part and I got mine wrong, I like very shallow head angles like the orange zero (about 69deg) I went for 71 to get a good mix but I hated it.

Depends how you ride, if you wanna do streety bunny hop stuff then dont bother going for a steep one, 2 degrees will make it feel like a different bike.

Leon

Edited September 15, 2009 by LEON