The price of a Marin Hawk Hill 3 is not the amount of small change you would expect to find down the back of your sofa, however, at €2599 it does represent the ‘affordable’ end of the spectrum when it comes to buying a full suspension mountain bike. We take the top-of-the-line model 3 to the trails for a review, can its performance match the outrageous paint job.
Reading through the Marin Hawk Hill press release and website, one word keeps popping up – ‘fun’! It’s easy to see that Marin are not targeting the Hawk Hill at racers or STRAVA warriors, instead they are trying to attract riders who like to spend time on their back wheels. Let’s call them the jib culture, new school riders who get their kicks jibing off logs in the woods, manualing everything and trying to ‘out trick’ their riding buddies; measuring their fun in smiles, not seconds. One thing about the Marin that’s undeniably fun is the paint job, and we love it. The three-colour fade attracted huge amounts of interest on the trail, with many surprised when told about the budget price. Surprisingly, the 3 model is the most expensive in the Hawk Hill range, with a 1 and 2 model priced at a bargain sounding €1,599 and €1,999 respectively. With 27.5 inch wheels and 130 / 120 mm of travel, the Hawk Hill sits in an increasingly niche category as 29ers swamp the trail sector, but do the smaller wheels suit the bikes target market?
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