Trek Marlin 4 vs 5 vs 6 vs 7!! What’s The Difference?

hello everyone and welcome back to the channel my name is your lollipop and you may have noticed that i have been doing some videos on the marlon truck series lately and i compared the

difference

s between the 2020 and 2021 versions in my last video but i I noticed. I haven't done a comparison between each of the bikes, so in this video I'll go over all the main

difference

s between the Marlon four, five, six and seven pickup, covering all the things that will affect the handling of these bikes. On the road and trail, the Marlon Seven had some big changes in 2021, so I'll mention the 2020 and 2021 versions of that bike in this video.

I'm going to keep this organized by focusing on a different component at a time like the transmission brakes or suspension so you can clearly see

what

changes between the models, but before I get into the details, I'll give you a quick overview of the Marlins. Marlin bikes are basically entry level mountain bikes and from my experience in my twenties. Twenty rather than five and researching the other bikes seem like a great way to get into mountain biking on a budget. That being said, Trek offers different lineups that are more mountain biking oriented, such as the Roscoe and Excalibur series, but I can talk about those. in a separate video if anyone is interested and one last note to keep things simple, I will only focus on the men's versions of these bikes for those of you who don't know that the women's versions of the Trek Marlin bikes are actually the exact same bike than the men's versions, but offer a curved frame design.

In the extra small and small versions, they also come in different colors and have a more comfortable seat, but basically if you buy a women's Marlin five or something like that and emphasize the size medium or up you essentially have a men's Marlin five with a different seat. . Also, I will only focus on the bikes offered in the United States since the truck has an international version of the Marlin because it is a much cheaper bike, but I have made one. There is already a video on that so please check it out if you are interested.

Well, let's get into the comparison. I'm going to start by talking about all the similarities between these four bikes so we can focus on

what

really changes later, the main thing shared. Among these bicycles is the frame. All Marlin series bikes use a silver alpha aluminum frame with internal cable routing. I'll show a picture of the specs for this frame, but there are too many to go over them all in this video. The Marlins also share the same rims, tires, pedals, seatpost, stem and handlebars. I won't go into all the details about these components, since if you buy a Marlin, you'll get them no matter which one you choose.

Somehow, let's talk about what you really have to decide when buying a Marlin. Things that differ between these bikes are the suspension, forks, brakes, grips, and the drivetrain, which consists of the shifters, chain cassette, and cranks. That may seem like a lot, but I'll do my best to simplify it in this video. Let's start with the suspension fork. All bikes come with coil forks, but the Marlin 4 comes with an SR Sun for our xce 28, which is the same fork the Marlin 5 comes with all six upgrades. This to an SR Sun ture lockout, the Marlin 2021. 7 improves this further with a RockShox lockout feature.

All of these forks have 100 millimeters of travel, and as you improve, you'll see better cushioning on the trail and better components that will last longer. Next are the brakes. All bikes come with disc brakes. with 160 millimeter rotors but the Marlin 4 uses Tetro mechanical disc brakes while the Marlin five and six used the same Tetril hydraulic disc brakes the Marlin 7 in both years uses Shimano hydraulic disc brakes The hydraulic brakes are better than the mechanical disc brakes as they require less maintenance and work better in all weather conditions and Shimano hydraulics cost more but come from the Shimano zalta groupset which is quite reliable.

Then we have the grips, so all the Marlin 4, 5 and 6 use the same Traeger XR endurance racing grips that are comfortable to ride. Grips that have additional palm support, the Marlin 7 in both years upgrades it to the more trail-oriented Bontrager XR trail comp, which has a cylindrical design; However, the grips can be quite cheap so this is not a big problem and they both work perfectly. Well, finally we have the transmission, which is the main difference between these bikes. Starting with an overview, the Marlin 4 and 5 primarily use a cheaper Shimano Tourney drivetrain that has three gears at the front and seven at the rear and is therefore more geared. towards daily commuting and road cycling, with this 3 by 7 transmission, it has 21 different gears and you can easily find the perfect gear to reach the speed you want on flat areas, the Marlin 6, on the other hand, mainly uses a Shimano Altis drivetrain, which is a level above the Shimano tournament, but this time there are only two gears in the front and eight in the rear, this makes the transmission more simple for the trail and although you only have 16 gears to choose from, If you're more focused on the trail, you should There will be plenty to follow, the 2020 Marlin 7 improves this further with a Shimano tall 2 by 9 drivetrain that gives you a few gears to help you ride uphill.

The 2021 Marlin 7 is a big improvement over the Shimano Deore 1 for 10 drivetrain, which is nice. Much of tomorrow's entry into series mountain bike drivetrains, many specific parts in these drivetrains are different between bikes, but that's mainly because the Marlins use different sets of Shimano groupsets, so So going over each of the parts and these drivetrains would be a little much, but I'll list some specs on some parts and talk about them now, shifters get progressively better and are different depending on how many gears the specific bike has, but basically as you move up the line you will get faster shifts and on the top Marlin 7.

On the model you have the ability to shift multiple gears at once without the transmission failing which can be useful in trail riding scenarios fast paced. The cranks are also progressively improved, but the main changes between them are the number of teeth in the available gears. which results in faster and easier street vending as they become more expensive. The last component I will talk about is the cassette for which the Marlin uses a 14 to 28mm bore, the Marlin 5 uses a 12 to 32 tooth 7 speed and the Marlin 6 uses a 11 to 34 tooth 8 speed, The 2020 Marlin 7 has an 11-36 tooth 9 speed and the 2021 model has a 46 tooth 10 speed 11 cassette, as you will notice as models get better and more expensive in tooth count. the smaller sprocket on the cassette goes down while the quantity and the larger sprocket increase basically, the fewer teeth on the smaller sprocket translates to faster pedaling on flat areas, while more teeth on the larger sprocket translates in easier uphill pedaling and with that I have covered all the components that make the Marlin 4 5 6 and 7 different from each other.

I will do a short summary of these. Well, I show a board that simplifies what I talked about since I went over a lot of things, but basically the Marlin 4 and 5 are intended for beginner mountain bikers who still want to have fun on the trails and have a good time learning the ins and outs of mountain biking. , but that being said, I personally own over five 20 20 trucks and I think it can be used as your primary trail bike if you are on a budget and can't spend $800 or more on a bike right now. The Marlin 6 costs $100 more than the Marlin 5, but it's a step above the 5 and is probably a better entry-level mountain bike if you have the money, since it has that 2 by 8 drivetrain that's more geared. to the trails, as well as the hydraulic lockout, then the Marlin 7 is clearly the best of the line and I would.

I definitely recommend the 2021 version over the 2020 model if you're looking to hit the trails more often as for only $40 more you get that dior groupset and a 1 by 10 drivetrain which is really nice but that's it for this video yeah I enjoyed it and this helped you, leave a like, subscribe and leave a comment below if you have any questions or suggestions for me, but also, thank you so much for watching and keep riding.