How do you make a massively popular bike even better? Well, Trek have given their biggest seller a boost from Bosch with the launch of the Marlin+ e-mountain bike. This is for people who want an affordable e-bike that’s happy rolling around city streets and on your daily commute but is very much built for fun on the trails.
Marlin is Trek’s most popular bike globally. It’s a hugely versatile hardtail mountain bike with a very wide range of frame sizes that make it a perfect fit for everyone from pre-teens to adults. It’s great on the roads and on a ride to the park with friends but it really comes into its own heading out cross country or on lighter trails.
The introduction of Marlin+ now means this same ride experience is available with mid-level power assist. It has a new-for-2024 Bosch Active Line Plus motor producing 50Nm of torque and powered by a 400Wh battery fixed into the downtube, which is good for an estimated two to four hours of assist. While that might be less than beefier e-bikes like the 85Nm on Trek Rail, it’s plenty for assisting you up steep, lengthy climbs and feels more powerful than that. The new Shimano CUES gears - tailor-made for e-bikes - have also impressed on our first ride out. Read on for the thoughts of our Ops Manager Alistair on both the motor and gears.
Having done a few miles on it now, we can tell you that Marlin+ is perfect if you just want a nice, useable e-bike for everyday use. It’s great around town, on footpaths, railway lines and towpaths, and is really well suited to that kind of riding. However, if you wanted to head into the forest on a weekend and do some light trails it would be great for that too.
In terms of Trek’s e-bike offer, Marlin+ comes somewhere in between the more adventurous hybrids like Dual Sport+, city bikes like FX+ and the more powerful medium travel e-MTBs like Trek Powerfly and Rail. This bike is a great choice if you like spending time on the trails and appreciate the 120mm travel on the front fork and the fast rolling 29er wheels but you also want something that’s simple and more affordable than Powerfly and full suspension e-bikes like Rail and Fuel EXe, which are towards the premium end of the market.
Marlin+ is lighter and easier to manoeuvre than some of Trek’s more powerful e-MTBs. This is a bike that likes to keep things simple and fun.
Marlin+ is launching with two models - Marlin+ 6 and 8. Both come with new technology in the form of the motor, battery and controller, and have a range of assist modes, including an “auto” setting that senses when you need an increase in assist and does the job for you. Marlin+ is also compatible with the Bosch PowerMore range extender which offers an extra 250Wh and gives you an additional 60% ride time.
Marlin+ 6 - £2,500
Marlin+ 8 – £3,000
Alistair, our operations manager said: “We’ve had Marlin+ land in the shop this week and were itching to give it a try so we built it up and took it for a test ride on the lanes around Pickering. First impressions are that the new Active Line Plus motor from Bosch offers really smooth feeling assistance and is a lot more powerful than it’s quoted. It’s only a 50Nm motor which is a little bit down on power from the full fat ones like Rail and Powerfly but it doesn’t really feel like it. It’s definitely worth a try so come and have a test ride.
“Marlin+ also has Shimano’s new gears specifically for e-bikes - Shimano CUES. They are designed to be more smooth shifting and hard wearing on e-bikes and that was one of the main things that hit me on my test ride. E-bikes can be quite clunky when changing because of the power being put through the system but this new system is designed to shift more smoothly under load and it really felt like it. I really noticed it. “
We’re very pleased to say we have stock of Marlin+ in store right now (pictured above) to come and test ride. Come and see us in Southgate, Pickering.
