2023 Trek Marlin Gen 3 Lineup Compared!! What’s The Difference Between All 5 Bikes??

Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel. My name is Lollipop and today I'm so excited to finally be able to bring you my new Trek Marlin comparison video for

2023

, where I'll cover all these similarities and

difference

s between every bike in the world. new Trek Marlin range so you can clearly understand

what

changes there are to these

bikes

when you go up in price. I've already done a comparison video of all five Trek Marlin Gen 2

bikes

. I'll link it below, so check it out if you're interested specifically in the Gen 2 bikes that were released in 2022, but in this video we'll compare the entire

2023

lineup

, which includes the new Trek Marlin gen 3 bikes that have a new frame and hey if you're new. to the channel, welcome, thanks for watching.

I make comparison videos on tons of bikes, so if you enjoy the video, consider liking it below and subscribing to my channel to see more. I'll also add links to Trek Marlins below if you're interested in seeing the bikes on the Trek website now in terms of setup for the video. I'm going to start by comparing all the different components of these bikes, like these suspension forks, brakes, drivetrains, and drivetrain components like shifters and cassettes. I'll give you a comparison that has all the details and then at the end of the video I'll be filling in these big tables to show you all the changes in one place.

I'll also talk about

what

style of writing and what type of rider each bike is. is the most suitable and then finally I explain my favorite choice among the five. This particular video is going to be a little longer as I'm trying to cover every

difference

to give you the best comparison possible, so be patient, but definitely. Look at the timestamps throughout the video if you're interested in a specific section of the comparison. Okay, let's move on to the background. The Trek Marlin line is intended to be Trek's entry-level mountain biking line, although it does include some high-end ones.

Models that are more expensive and more Trail Ready, these bikes can be used for intermediate beginner and even more difficult trails depending on the model, but can also be used as commuter bikes as they have mounting points for a rear rack to carry cargo. . As for the left side stand, here are five bikes in total in the range, with the Marlin 4 being the lowest and most affordable tier and the Marlin 8 being the highest and most expensive tier, so now let's get into this comparison and We'll start by showing you all the parts these bikes have in common so you can see which parts are standard across the Marlin range, so that all Trek Marlin bikes in 2023 use the exact same Bond trigger.

Arvada Seat. The same nylon pedals. The same Bond trigger alloy. Handlebars but with different widths depending on the frame size and the same Bond Trigger alloy stem but with different lengths depending on the frame size. These are the only components shared between all four bikes, so I won't focus much on these in this comparison. Since if you buy any Trek Marlin you will get these parts, the front and rear wheel hubs are also very similar and most bikes use the same hubs, but I will quickly mention that the lower end Marlin 4 uses a hub compatible with free wheel. instead of a dual cassette compound rear hub, which essentially means you won't be able to upgrade the Marlin 4's drivetrain as easily, but that's about it for these similarities.

Now let's move on to the differences starting with the price, so these prices. They are subject to change but they are correct at the time I made this video, the Marlin 4 is always the least expensive Trek Marlin bike, it's 530 US dollars and then we move on to the Marlin 5 which is currently 600 and now we're moving on. Let's move on to the newer third generation Marlins, starting with the Marlin 6 at 900, so there was a pretty significant price jump and then the Marlin 7 at a thousand dollars and finally the Marlin eight at thirteen hundred dollars, which is definitely a considerable price for a Marlin.

We've raised all the prices in GBP but all the bikes in the UK are on sale so they will be a bit cheaper than in the US currently, but next let's talk about the first component difference in these bikes, that's actually the frame, so the Marlin four. and five still use the Gen 2 version of the Marlin frame, which is the same frame that has been used on these bikes since 2020, while the Marlin 6, 7 and 8 Gen 3 bikes now use the new redesigned Gen 3 frame. Geometry measurements of the Gen 2 and Gen 3 frames on the screen right now so you can pause and look at them all if you're interested, but I made this table here to highlight the main differences so you can see the head tube angle.

The Gen 3 frame is slacker or three degrees lower to make it more capable and stable when riding downhill and the C-tube angle is steeper by one degree to make this bike more efficient when going uphill. In addition to the measurements, we have a few other notable differences and I covered all of this in more depth in my Trek Marlin 6 2023 video, which I'll link at the top right of the screen right now, as well as in the description below, so check it out if you want all the details except the essentials. is that the Gen 3 frame uses an oblique thru axle at the rear which basically makes it easier to align the rear wheel on the frame and has a removable lever for added security.

It also has a nicer chainstay protector to better protect the paint. and a foam padding to reduce chain noise for internal cable routing to keep that noise down too and you also have the option to route a dropper post internally but I'll get to that later so so far the frame New Gen 3 looks like a complete. It is updated and has better features, but one reason to choose the Gen 2 frame would be that it weighs one to two pounds less and is designed more for cross-country riding to be a little more efficient and faster on lighter trails and on road in rather than more capable on tougher trails and in terms of sizes, I made another table to show you what sizes each of these bikes are offered in, so it's something to keep in mind if you're shorter or taller and considering a certain model with smaller sizes.

Also use smaller wheels and certain smaller frames will also have a curved top tube to make it easier for shorter riders to get on and off the bike. One interesting thing here is that certain frame sizes aren't actually offered in certain countries, so this chart is actually specifically for US bikes and as you can see, certain colors aren't offered in all countries either. sizes, so if you live outside the US you may notice some differences in this chart. In this comparison, I will focus on bikes with 29-inch wheels. in the medium and top sizes, however, most of the differences will apply to all bikes and I will include more details in the tables at the end of the video if you want details on these smaller sizes.

Well finally moving on to our next difference between the five bikes, which is the color, so there are so many colors that are unique to each respective bike in the range, so I will show some tables that highlight these color options, but not them. I won't go over in too much detail since that just takes forever, but hey, this is a complete comparison so I should at least mention them, but now let's look at some component differences between these bikes, starting with one of the most important components of road cycling. mountain, front suspension. Fork, so each bike uses a fork with 100 millimeters of suspension travel, but some of the bikes with smaller frames will come with 80 millimeters of travel to make them more comfortable for shorter riders.

All forks also use quick release axles to make it easy to remove the front wheel from the bike. The Marlin 4 uses the SR Suntour xce 28 fork which has a coil spring and 28mm wide top extensions, while the Marlin 5 and Marlin 6 go to the SR Centaur 30 millimeter widths for added rigidity and strength, as well as a hydraulic lockout, which is a knob you can manually turn on the fork to make it completely rigid. This helps you go faster on flat areas or uphill, as you don't lose pedaling efficiency with the The suspension fork rocks up and down on the Marlin 7, then upgrades to the RockShox Judy coil spring fork. , which also has 30 millimeter wide bars and a hydraulic lockout, but has better damping and construction to make it more reliable, and finally, the Marlin 8 makes a significant improvement. to the silver RockShox Judy air fork, which once again has 30 millimeter wide stanchions and a lockout, but has a rebound adjustment knob on the bottom so you can adjust how quickly the fork rebounds after a blow in the air.

The fork also means it is much lighter and more adjustable for its specific weight and that makes it a significant upgrade for the next component. I'll talk about the wheels starting with the rims, so the Marlin 4 and 5 actually use the same rim, which is the trigger link connection. Alloy rim using Schrader valves, then the Marlin six, seven and eight upgrade to Bontrager Kovi rims which are tubeless ready and use Presta valves. Kobe tires are better because they are a little wider for added strength and allow you to set up your bike. Tubeless is easier as long as you have tubeless-ready tires, and on that note, let's talk about tires.

The Marlin 4 and 5 use Bontrager Their website states that the Marlin 4 may come with narrower 2 inch wide tires, the Marlin 6 and 7 then use the Bontrager xt3 Comp tires which have similar specs to the xr2 tires but have a completely new tread pattern which is more aggressive and will be better for trail riding. These tires are also wider at 2.4 inches on most frame sizes for much better stability, and finally, the Marlin 8 makes a major upgrade to the Maxis Ardent tires. that are tubeless ready, meaning the Marlin 8 is the only bike in this line that can be converted to tubeless with just tubeless sealing valves and a tubeless-ready wind strip, making it More Trail Ready than the other bikes, these tires are also 60 TPI, so they are lighter and more flexible on rough terrain, while still being 2.4 inches wide for stability and have a good tread pattern. for both speed and traction.

Then we have the brakes, so every Marlin uses a 160 millimeter diameter brake rotor for the rear brakes, but most Marlins in midsize frame sizes and above use a wider 180 millimeter diameter rotor at the front For more stopping power and for the brake calipers, the Marlin 4 uses Tektro mechanical disc brakes, while the Marlin 5 and 6 upgrade to Techno hydraulic disc. Brakes Hydraulic brakes are much better than mechanical brakes because they have better stopping power, work better in all weather conditions, and require less maintenance. The Marlin 7 and 8 also use hydraulic disc brakes but these are the Shimano mt200 brakes which are quite similar in texture. but we just got a better build and a little better braking power and then covered the seatposts so that all the bikes in the range apart from the Marlin 8 use a Bond trigger alloy fixed seatpost, which is not nothing special, but the Marlin 8 has a significant improvement. here to a trans , which allows you to get lower on your bike while riding trails for better balance and stability, helping you ride tougher trails safely, but now we're going to talk about a smaller component which is the grips, so that all Marlin 4, 5 and 6 use Bontrager XR resistance. comp grips that are ergonomic and have an area for your palm to rest, while grips 7 and 8 go to the XR Trail comp grips that are completely cylindrical for better control while trail riding.

Finally, we have the last component difference between the five bikes which is the transmission. I'll start with an overview of all thetransmissions and then I'll dive into each component and really highlight those differences, but before we start I want to mention that all the transmissions are actually identical to the transmissions of the 2022 generation. 2 lines of bikes, so if you watch my previous comparison video of Marlin, this part will be the same, so the Marlin 4 uses a primarily Shimano Tourney transmission with three gears in the front and seven in the rear for a total of 21 different speeds.

Tourney is Shimano's lowest-end groupset for drivetrains, but it can work for daily commuting and light trail riding. The Marlin 5 then upgrades to the Shimano Altus 2x8 drivetrain, so two gears in the front and eight in the rear for a total of 16 speeds in this group. It's a step above the tournament, but noticeably smoother and faster. Also, having fewer gears means less maintenance and less problems with gears in general, so it is definitely preferred after the Marlin 6 and 7, they both now have the same 1 by 10 drivetrain, which is the Shimano Dior is now several steps up above the Altus, making it much faster, smoother, more reliable and less prone to failure and finally we have the Marlin 8 which has the entry level drivetrain from Sram's mountain bike line which is the SRAM SX Eagle 1. for 12. but now let's get into the drivetrain components starting with the shifters, so the Marlin 4 uses Shimano Altus shifters but they have a shifter and brake lever design.

One piece, the Marlin 5 upgrades to Shimano Altus M315 shift levers that are not connected to the brake levers, making them easier to replace and smaller to take up less space on the handlebars. They are also more responsive to shifting and are a bit quicker than the Marlin 6 and 7. Both use the Shimano Dior M40 100 shifters which are more ergonomic and have better build quality for faster shifting all of these shifters Shimano have the ability to shift up to 3 gears at a time when shifting into an easier to pedal gear, so you can go up hills even if you didn't see them coming fast enough to shift from the start, then the Marlin 8 moves forward. to the SRAM SX Eagle shifter, which has a different feel as it's SRAM rather than Shimano, but the main difference is that the SRAM shifter allows you to shift up to five gears at once when going into an easier gear , which makes it even better to go to.

Next uphill we can go through the front derailleurs which move the chain to a different gear on the front crankset. This will be quite fast because the Marlin six, seven and eight do not have front derailleurs as they only have one gear in the front, but the Marlin 4 uses the Shimano Tourney front derailleur by welding Marlin 5 upgrades to the Shimano Altus derailleur which is much faster smooth and faster than rear derailleurs that move the chain through the cassette, the Marlin 4 also uses a Shimano Tourney while the Marlin 5 of course Al Altus, which is again more reliable due to its better construction, makes it allowing you to be a little faster and smoother, the Marlin 6 and 7 are a big improvement over the Shimano Dior m5120 rear derailleur which is much faster and has a clutch mechanism that adds tension on the chain to prevent noise and chain performance and finally the Marlin 8 uses the SRAM SX Eagle rear derailleur which honestly is known to be problematic as it is the lowest derailleur SRAM Eagle offers; however, if configured correctly it works. very good, but it is more fragile than the Shimano Dior and this one also has a clutch and now we can move to the gears starting with the front cranks, so of course the Marlin 4 has three chainrings on the front cranks. for all three gears and is a Shimano Tourney level crank with 42 teeth in the largest gear, 34 teeth in the middle and 24 in the smallest, so the Shimano Altus uses a two-chainring crankset with 36 teeth in the larger chainring and 22 on the Smaller now, the Marlin 6 and 7 actually use a different crankset which is a 30-tooth pro wheel on the 6 and a 28-tooth FSA on the 7. and the Marlin 8 uses a 30-tooth SX Eagle crankset.

I'll talk more about what all these gears really mean down the road after I cover cassettes now, so the Marlin 4 on the rear actually uses a freewheel with 14 teeth on the smallest tooth and 28 teeth on the largest tooth. , while all other bikes use cassettes. Simply cheaper to manufacture due to their lower quality parts and they usually have a narrower gear range than cassettes. The Marlin 5 uses a 12-32 tooth Shimano cassette that has two fewer teeth on the smaller cog and four more teeth on the larger cog that has fewer teeth. on the smaller gear means you'll have a harder gear for going faster, while having more teeth on the larger gear means you'll have an easier gear for pedaling uphill; then both the 6 and 7 use a Shimano Dior 11-46 tooth cassette, so a lot of wider range, which is necessary because you only have one gear in the front every now and then, finally the Marlin 8 It has the widest cassette from 11 to 50 teeth, so when combining each of these cassettes with their respective cranksets, we see that the Marlin 8 has the easiest. gear for pedaling uphill with the Marlin 7 in second place, but the Marlin 4 and 5 have the hardest gears for pedaling the fastest;

However, in my opinion the added benefit of removing the front derailleur on higher end Marlins makes up for the loss of higher final speeds and especially on the trail, when mountain biking you typically don't need those very high final speeds. high and now that we have covered all the drivetrains, we need to discuss the weight differences in each of these bikes and Trek provides an average weight of each bike, although the actual weight of your bike could be a little more or a little less, They all weigh in at a medium size with air chambers installed, so the Marlin 4 weighs 31.75 pounds while the Marlin 5 weighs about the same at 30.81 pounds, but the Marlin 6 weighs more at 32.63 pounds. , the Marlin 7 then drops it a little bit to 32.19 pounds and lastly, the Marlin 8 drops it a little bit more to 31.51 pounds and that's the full comparison of the Trek Marlin 2023 line, I know.

This was a long one, but I hope this video helped you learn all the differences. Here is the first complete table. I'll show the other one soon, but for now I'll talk about which bike is best for a given purpose, so in my opinion the Marlin 4 is perfect as a commuter bike or as a bike you want to take on gravel roads or on rougher roads or something. If you're on a budget, it will also be fine for mountain biking, but it will be. Less reliable and less stable than any of the other Marlins, in my opinion the Marlin 5 is the best all-around bike for commuting, trail riding and anything else, because it has that remote lockout for efficiency, it has a good chain drive and reliable that it doesn't have too many gears to complicate things on the road, but enough to ride on the highway at a good pace, and it's also only $70 more than the Marlin 4 for some significant upgrades, so if you're among those bikes I would choose the Marlin 5.

So the Marlin 6 is really the entry level Trail Ready mountain bike with that new gen 3 frame that is much better for trail riding, but it also has the new Bond trigger tires with the more aggressive. tread pattern and incredible shimonidez or transmission, so it will handle much better on the road and be more reliable on more difficult terrain. The Marlin 7 is for people who want a little more, it still has that great 1x10 drivetrain but then upgrades the fork and brakes a bit to make it more trail oriented and it also has tubeless ready tires so you can get new tires and seal them and all that and have a pretty solid trail bike that can handle most trails and finally the Marlin 8 is the best. of the line is the most expensive, but it has a 1 by 12 drivetrain that is perfect for mountain biking.

Great tires and rims that you can install tubeless and you really have a bike that doesn't need to be upgraded. The dropper post is also an important part. upgrade for a Marlin and it's actually the same dropper used on more expensive Trek bikes like the Rosco 9 which is 1500 more than this bike so it's good to see it here of course all of these bikes will still be great bikes for all uses because of the stand and rack mounts so they are quite versatile and as promised I will talk about which one is my favorite so considering all the components and prices I chose the Marlin 6 as my favorite last year and, in fact, this year my choice stood.

Same thing, so the Marlin 6 is still the best overall Marlin in my opinion, it's the cheapest way to get the redesigned frame, which is much better for mountain biking, but still good for commuting, It has an excellent transmission and all other parts remain reliable. and usable, I wouldn't go with the Marlin 4 as their parts are lower quality and the Marlin 5 is much better for $70 more and then the Marlin 5 itself would probably be my second choice mainly because the price is high. cheaper than the price of the Marlin 6, but I think the upgrades to the Marlin 6 are enough parts to make the cost worth it.

The Marlin 7 doesn't really update enough parts for me to want to choose it out of the six, although I love that blue and it offers red color and honestly the Marlin 8 is too expensive, it's a great bike but for thirteen hundred dollars I'd rather spend a little more and get a Trek Roscoe or some other trail bike that is better for long term mountain biking, but As always, those are just my thoughts, let me know what you think in the comments section below and feel free to Leave any questions or comments too and I'll do my best to answer them and add updates too, but other than that, I hope everyone. of you enjoyed this thank you all for watching and remember to keep riding your bike