Singletracks Mountain Bike News

Aaron Abrams is Director of Product for Marin Bicycles and is currently based in Taiwan. The Marin bike brand has been around since 1986 and the company’s slogan says their bikes are “Made For Fun.” In this episode we talk about how mountain bikes are specced, and how product managers make decisions about which parts to include. When planning out the builds for a bike like the Marin Rift Zone 29 (three options, priced between $2,000 and $3,000), do you start with a set of say 3 price targets and choose the best parts that make those prices work? How important is overall bike weight when it comes to build specs? What is the purpose of speccing house-brand components like bars, saddles, and stems on bike builds? Is there a lot of cost savings by going this route? Why did Marin recently start selling branded aftermarket grips, bars, and stems? We rarely see full suspension builds that mix and match forks and shocks from different brands. Why is that? How do you know if consumers are going to like a pa