# Marin Bayview Trail 24 - First Impressions & Help Needed



## pearsth (Mar 31, 2009)

Just picked this up for my son today from REI in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. Here are my first impressions:

Aesthetics - Overall, a very nice looking bike in person. There were none in stock locally, so we had to order online and ship to store. So, a couple surprises: The stem came in black, not while, and the rims were all black, not the green/silver as shown on the web site https://www.rei.com/media/rr/c94b6afc-c20d-4876-a45c-9ffc3f8118bb.jpg. My son was slightly dissapointed in the different color scheme, but still likes the bike.

Fit and finish - Seems like a very well built bike. REI did a good job with the assembly and all works very well.

Issues:
- REI Service - I was dissapointed that the person who had us sign the paperwork for the bike barely said a word. She was folding the paperwork together and I turned to talk to another person about getting some work done on my bike and when I turned back, she was gone and the paperwork was sitting on the seat. I was expecting somebody to actually see my son get on the bike and make sure it fit well and adjust things like the seat, brake levers, etc - I wanted that LBS care and feeding considering I bought from an LBS. I got none so I put him on myself and checked it out. Here is what I have observed:

- The brake levers are not made for little hands. My son is 4' 6" but with smaller hands. He could not initially reach the brakes. I asked them to adjust them and they put them as close as possible, but they still are a stretch. I am looking at options without having to replace the shifters and levers - they are an all in one unit. I am thinking of somehow fabricating a lever to attach to the main lever, then adjust them all the way out. Maybe they make these somewhere.

- He can work the right shifter without issue, but the left requires a much larger hand. He cannot thumb shift it forward enough to upshift onto the bigger cogs. I will probably just have him keep in the smallest one on the trail, anyway, but it's a bummer as I want him to learn the full range of gears.

- They installed the stem pretty high with what looks like all included spacers. Seems too high to me, but maybe I just don't get it. I am used to the geometry on my 1998 Stumpjumper, stem low and extended. I know a lot of folks are into riser bars and higher stems, but it seems odd to me.

Questions:

Anyone have any ideas for the levers, left shifter?
Thoughts on the spacers? Should I take a couple back out?

Pics - 
Bike









Long Neck









Stumpy Steering Geometry - Admittedly a bit squirrely at times, but aggressive when necessary:









Thanks,

Tom


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## Vampir (Mar 15, 2012)

It's a good bike for a kid and makes a great platform for upgrading. First thing I did was take off all the extra little tidbits that I could like reflectors. It doesn't actually save much weight, but it makes it look cleaner and keeps you from leaving a bunch of plastic bits on the trail when they break off.

Depending on what you want to do with the fit for your son, you can lower the bars pretty easily by just changing the stack of spacers around. Cutting the steerer is a pain though if you don't have the right tools in the garage.

The bike is heavy for a kids bike mostly due to the fork. There is a pretty good thread on actually making it usable. Out of the box, it might as well be a solid piece of cast iron.

The brake levers can be adjusted pretty easily to be closer. That said, the brakes aren't all that hot and it takes a lot of force for little hands to use them. My daughter isn't a big fan of long downhills because her hands get tired. Helpfully, she had an epic crash the other day and totally borked the left shifter and brake. It's a great excuse to replace the unit with something better.

On my list is to replace the seat, handlebars, stem, seat post, and tires as all of them could be easily upgraded to something lighter for not a big outlay of money. The final thing I'm looking at, is making it a 1x7. I'd have to replace the front cranks. There is a good thread on this too. Like you noted, the rear shifter isn't bad to use. The front shifter, especially to the big ring is ridiculously hard. It's tough for me even to shift.


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## Leopold Porkstacker (Apr 21, 2010)

Steerer tube:
A run of the mill exhaust pipe cutter or a plumber's pipe cutting tool does just fine for cutting steerer tubes. I picked up a basic pipe cutter for the local hardware store that will cut up to 1.25" diameter tubes-just a little handheld one-works fine, but takes a bit of hand strength to cut through. I think it was less than $20.00. End result is a clean cut, but of course follow up with some sandpaper to remove any burrs or jagged edges. HOWEVER, you could take a couple of the spacers from under the stem and put them above the stem-this would effectively lower the handlebars-just make sure there isn't an annoying/hazardous amount of steerer tube sticking up from the top of the stem.

Front fork:
I haven't built up my son's Marin Bayview Trail 24'er yet, as all the parts are still in the box (my boy's birthday isn't until December). I just bought a Surly 1x1 fork, which is lighter weight than the stock suspension fork. The Surly unit is 80mm suspension corrected, and seems to be of the right length for decent all-around riding geometry. What's even cooler is that is has both cantilever bosses _and_ ISO disc mounts, so the obvious choice to get a cheap set of Avid BB7 disc brakes for the bike is a great start. _Even cooler_ than that is that if you cut off the cantilever bosses, you can run a 26"x3" knobby offroad tire (such as the rare and much sought after Nokian Gazzaloddi, or the much more common Duro Razorback), but my plans are to run a 24"x3" Nokian Gazzaloddi (I have two that are very lightly used) or perhaps one of the three 24"x3" Arrow Racing Wide Bite tires that I have-mounted on a 24"x2.5" Surly Large Marge DH rim (65mm wide). Pretty much bulletproof, but with a slight weight disadvantage. Fat tires on truly fat rims, run at lower than usual pressures (10-15psi or thereabouts) provides lots of fun "squish" and immense boatloads of front cornering traction, pretty much negating the need for a suspension fork on a kids bike. Having been running fat tires (26x3, 24x3, 26x3.8) and fat rims (Surly Large Marge DH 24x2.5, 26x2.5) on a few of my bikes for a while now, it's super-fun trail riding on boring fireroads as well as on technical/loose/rutted/roots/rocks/steep/off-camber stuff.

Brake levers:
You can probably substitute for BMX brake levers which of course will have a shorter reach. What's even cooler is the multitude of anodised colours you can get them in-the BMX world has always been ahead in the anodised department.

Shifters:
Grip-twist shifters seem the easiest for kids, but I would think that someone makes a standard front derailleur (SRAM, Shimano, etc.) that isn't a piece of crap which has smooth and easy shifting characteristics. OK, so you might have to spend a bit more on this part that one would like for a kids bike, but why should your kids not have as cool as components as you as long as they are stoked and serious about mountain biking?

Front BB/cranks/chainrings and cassette:
My plan is to not use the stock build. Really, does a kid _need_ a 42/36/22 setup in front? I race XC, and NEVER have used a big ring (I run a 2x9 setup). A kid could easily make do with a 32/22/bashguard setup and a 12-34 cassette in back, and with the smaller 24" diameter wheels the gearing should be adequate for 90% of riding.

Those are just my thoughts. I hope this gives you inspiration or some sort of general idea of where to go.


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## pearsth (Mar 31, 2009)

Thanks for the responses, guys.

Ironically, aside from the looks my son wanted, I chose the bike because it had trigger shifters instead of grip and 3 full gears up front. I could have just as easily spent less and bought a 7 speed Hotrock.

I know he won't need the big ring in the trails, but I like to ride the road to get to the trail, and I use the big ring all the time on my bike. That is probably uniquely my issue, though (that I will pass onto my son). I just like the speed you can get up to on the big ring (I have topped out on flat sections of trail on the big ring on my Stumpy for fun and for cooling off).

We did our first ride today (road and crushed gravel path). He learned the gears well and is getting used to them. I had him set the front to the middle before we left as we had no real climbs to do. 

Then, I had him practice drop off's into the ditch in front of the house from the driveway and built up some firewood log crossings for him to try. All in all, not bad. He commented that the front shock was helping, and I saw it moving up and down as he rode over things, so I guess it is doing something.

I am going to move the bars around and see what he feels best with, then likely leave the extra spacers on top - thanks for the suggestion! Perhaps when he is bigger in a couple years, he will want the height back.

We'll see how he gets into it through the fall. If all goes well, I will watch for end of season sales and garage sales to upgrade in the off season and build up quite the bike for him.

Thanks,

Tom


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