MARIN RIFT ZONE JR £1,675
Kids bikes aren’t toys anymore. Gone are the Grifters, Choppers and Vektors of our youth, and instead today’s young rippers get full-suspension, grippy tyres and geometry optimised for descending. They don’t know how good they’ve got it.
The latest to impress us is the Marin Rift Zone Jr, it’s a slimmed-down version of the grown up Rift Zone, complete with lightweight 6061 alloy frame and 120mm of travel on the rear delivered through a X-fusion O2 Pro R shock. That’s just 5mm less than the full-size bike. At the other end is a X-fusion Velvet RLC fork with 120mm travel, compression and rebound adjustment, and enough room for 26in wheels. This is important, because while the bike comes with 24in wheels, there’s space underneath the brace to squeeze in a bigger wheel as your little ripper grows. There’s room at the back end for a 26in wheel too, although with mixedwheel sized bikes increasing in popularity, we wouldn’t be surprised to see some of these things growing a mullet.
The bike is designed for riders measuring 122.5-142.5cm in height, which roughly corresponds to ages seven to 11. Then switch the wheels over (Marin says it can supply the parts), and the 26in bike will take them from 142.5-157cm tall, up to their 13th birthday… if you’re lucky.
Doing the leg work is an 11-speed Shimano Deore mech and shifter, Marin 32t crankset and
Sunrace 11-46t cassette. It’s not glamorous but it’s good quality and gives little legs a decent spread of gears. It’s matched by the rest of the kit, which is everything you need on a modern bike: grippy Vee Flow Snap tyres, tubelessready wheels, a threaded BB for longevity, and Shimano MT201 brakes with sizeable 180/160mm rotors.
Should seven-year-olds be rolling around on full-suspension bikes? A hardtail is definitely a smart-money option, but rear-wheel travel makes it easier for kids to keep up with adults and opens up the number of trails suitable for them to ride. It never would have happened in our day… but thankfully it isn’t 1982 anymore. marinbikes.com