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Sep 16, 2023

Marin Bobcat Trail 5 review

Can updated geometry see the Bobcat Trail 5 raise its game and improve upon

Can updated geometry see the Bobcat Trail 5 raise its game and improve upon its previously impressive performance?

This competition is now closed

By Sarah Bedford

Published: May 25, 2023 at 2:00 pm

Marin promises a lot from its updated Bobcat Trail range of bikes, including capable, modern geometry and excellent value for money.

The Bobcat Trail 5 sits at the top of the range, with the Trail 4 and 3 below it. For the extra £160 to £260, Marin has equipped the Trail 5 with a sound, reliable package.

Coming in just below £1,000/$1,000, the Trail 5 is a contender for our 2023 Budget Mountain Bike of the Year award.

It sports a 120mm-travel fork up front and the size small (as tested here), rolls on 27.5in wheels.

Taller riders have the option of 29in wheels if they can fit onto the medium, large or extra-large frames (though there is a second medium size designed around 27.5in wheels if that's your preference).

The Bobcat is constructed using ‘Series 2’ double- and triple-butted 6061 aluminium. Series 4 is reserved for Marin's top-tier frames.

Marin offers the Bobcat Trail with either 27.5in or 29in wheels, depending on frame size.

The size small, as tested here, only comes with 27.5in wheels, though.

Up front, the Bobcat Trail has a 120mm-travel coil-sprung SR Suntour XCR LOR-DS fork.

This uses a thru-axle to clamp the wheel in place for a stiffer connection and includes a lockout and some damping adjustment (with rebound adjustment and spring pre-load).

The headset is an FSA No.10 P semi-integrated number, which accepts the fork's straight steerer tube.

This means for future fork upgrades, you’ll need to budget for an alternate headset if you’re keen on fitting a fork with a tapered steerer tube.

The Shimano Deore 11-speed drivetrain includes an 11-51t SunRace cassette and 32T chainring.

A set of Shimano MT201 brakes use 180mm (front) and 160mm (rear) rotors, and two finger levers. You can alter the reach to suit your hands and fine-tune feel.

Thanks to a shortage of mountain bike tyres in the industry, the advertised WTB Trail Boss had to be replaced on my test bike with unbranded tan-wall alternatives.

Cables are neatly internally routed inside the down tube, with a spare port for a dropper post should you want to upgrade.

The 27.5in frame gets one pair of bottle bosses on the down tube, while the 29ers have an additional set on the seat tube – a thoughtful touch to avoid the issue of bosses limiting seatpost insertion for shorter riders.

The bike is topped off with Marin-branded components. These include tubeless-ready rims, 170mm cranks, riser handlebar (780mm wide with 12-degree rise and 31.8mm diameter), plus a short 45mm stem, grips and saddle.

I tested the Bobcat 5 across the range of green to black trail centre trails and flowy natural singletrack that Glentress forest in Scotland has to offer. I included the jump park and paved cycle paths to test efficiency and speed.

My size-small Bobcat 5 was one of two 27.5in-wheeled bikes in the Budget Bike of the Year test.

The smaller wheels enable Marin to build a small frame with more reasonable proportions, rather than stretching things out here and there to fit bigger 29in hoops. This is something I really appreciated.

That said, it does put the Marin at something of a disadvantage when trying to maintain speed uphill.

While the smaller wheels might not smooth the trail in quite the same way the larger-frame equivalent with 29in wheels might, the Bobcat Trail's steep seat tube angle helps position you in a great place to attack the climbs.

The seat angle is 74.5 degrees, which puts the rider in a reasonably efficient pedalling position with the seat pushed forwards on the rails.

The effective top tube is 601mm, meaning it's decently stretched out when seated compared to its competitors.

Even when coupled with the 45mm stem, this feels quite long for a size-small bike.

The Bobcat also impressed at the trail centre thanks to the choice of tyres (despite not being the anticipated WTBs) which, when set at low pressures, soaked up the chatter well.

This certainly helps make up for some of the trail-smoothing increased rollover you’d get from 29in wheels, but you do have to be more mindful when it comes to avoiding punctures should you do this.

I flatted after landing a small drop, though this particular section of trail was included to really push the Marin outside of its comfort zone.

Converting the tyres to tubeless or swapping them for slightly heavier, tougher casings would help solve this if you’re really looking to push the bike further and harder.

Turning and maintaining speed through steep switchbacks on the climbs felt instinctive and precise.

Equally, the Bobcat inspired confidence when riding banked turns on descents. I was able to ride aggressively, weighting the front wheel and navigating the trail with precision thanks to the wide bars and short stem.

The 67.5-degree head angle never felt too unwieldy on the climbs and offered the right balance of stability and playfulness on the descents. It really came into its own with quick changes of direction and when nipping through tight, twisty turns.

Tackling steps and drops highlights the lack of adjustability with the 120mm Suntour fork, though.

Swapping springs isn't as simple as adding or removing air from an air-sprung fork, so fine tuning isn't anywhere near as easy.

As a result, I was regularly only able to access around 60 per cent of the fork travel, resulting in arm and hand fatigue on longer downhill runs. Heavier riders are unlikely to suffer from this issue.

There is plenty of support through the fork, however, which helps when carving a corner. Plus it has a lockout, which is a nice addition for flat tarmac climbs or the commute to work.

While the internally routed cabling remained quiet and rattle-free, this bike isn't totally silent on the downhills, thanks to the lack of a chainstay protector. However, this should be a very quick and cheap fix.

Although the suspension fork spec doesn't rival the best hardtails in this category, thanks to its good geometry and handling across the board, the Marin Bobcat Trail 5 snuck into third place in our Budget Bike of the Year test.

It's a seriously fun bike to ride, with the stability and manoeuvrability of a cross-country bike, even if it is a touch on the heavy side.

The long reach, which is comparable to the medium sizes of its closest competitors, gives the rider space to move around on the bike, along with providing plenty of stability when the pace picks up.

While the fork is harder to tune than some and the parts list isn't quite as fancy as its closest rivals, the Bobcat Trail 5 offers a great foundation for upgrading.

More affordable mountain bikes are the best they’ve ever been.

These wallet-friendly machines give an insight into all the thrills and spills that mountain biking has to offer, along with being versatile enough to handle the commute or a quick pedal to the shops.

The best budget mountain bikes should combine up-to-date frame features, geometry and componentry that will feel confident and capable everywhere from the towpath to the trail centre.

In an ideal world, the frames will enable you to upgrade to even more capable parts when you inevitably get hooked on the sport.

All eight bikes in this test challenge the preconception that ‘budget’ is a code-word for ‘not very good’. The overall standard and quality on offer mean you’re in for a good time no matter which of these you select. But there could only be one winner.

With that in mind, we selected a wide variety of trails in Scotland's Glentress Forest, where we could put the bikes through their paces, before reporting back to you on the wisest purchase when it comes to quality, performance and value for money.

After weeks of back-to-back testing on increasingly technical tracks, we were able to whittle down which bikes were most capable of taking on ever gnarlier trails where, despite what the price tag might suggest, they felt more than at home.

Thanks to our sponsors Crankbrothers, MET helmets, Bluegrass Protection, Supernatural Dolceacqua, Le Shuttle and BikePark Wales for their support in making Bike of the Year happen.

Contributor

Sarah's been riding MTBs for 20 years, across the UK and abroad. She has honed her skills on the varied terrain of Scotland's Tweed Valley, host to the UK's round of the Enduro World Series and 2023 MTB World Championships. Although Sarah's passion lies at the more extreme end of the mountain biking spectrum, where she prefers to ride enduro, with the number of miles she puts in she's got the fitness of an XC racer. Being out on the trails more often than not makes her the perfect person to put any product or bike through its paces.