Marin Alpine Trail E1/2 thread

[Nato]

what is it about the EP8 that you don't like? i have no comparisons other than what i read about eebs, and by almost all accounts, it's a fantastic motor with a couple of minor issues. kinda like the other motors. unless everyone has been duped.

It's pretty much what Zimmerframe said. It's not a bad motor by any stretch of the imagination, but i've spent a lot of time and done a lot of km's on Bosch motors and they are absolute powerhouses! So i'm used to that. They also kill the Shimano for range/battery life.

I did a 63 km ride last week on my Rail 9, There was 900 meters of climbing and i was in Tour 50% of the time and Emtb the rest. I ran out of battery within sight of the car, I am not able to do the same ride in Eco on the EP8, i've tried it and ended up riding a long way unassisted.

Nobody has been duped, except for me! Everybody has preferences and my preference is for Bosch over Shimano. I'm sure people love their Shimano powered bikes. If it gets them out riding and they have a blast every time they ride, then that's awesome! The bike is doing it's job and i'm happy for them. It'd be a boring old world if we all liked the same thing.

This is just my opinion for what it's worth, which is not much! just like every other opinion on the internet.

Happy riding.

 

[Zamzoo]

Maybe the default ep8 settings need tuning?

Shimano EP8 300ks In

For those that are waiting or deciding here are a few observations after 300ks on my Merida E160 10K Proiles are very cool.... but in the most powerful setup with everything turned up there isn't a jump in perceived power to Boot from Trail. The new Trail mode is more like the Bosch EMTB...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[Nato]

My Kashima coated fork stanchions arrived today, so sexy!!
Over the next week or so other bits and pieces will arrive and i'll have everything i need to swap the stanchions over.
I've never done any mtb suspension work before but i'm going to do this myself. I'll watch a few youtube videos and jobs done! What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Nato]

I had some time this afternoon and fitted the Kashima stanchions to the Marin. Having never done any suspension work before it was a bit daunting for me to do the job for fear of messing it up and damaging the forks. Prior to installing the stanchions I watched heaps of YouTube videos and meticulously studied the guides on the ride fox website. I took my time with it and everything went really smoothly. It took me three and a half hours from the first tool touching the bike to taking it for a test ride.
The scariest part was cutting the steerer tube, I thought if I mess this up I’ve wasted a lot of money!
The saying goes measure twice cut once, well I measured about 20 times and got it bang on.
I feel a real sense of achievement and now have the confidence to do more suspension work myself.
I’m really happy with the result and I think the bike looks awesome!

 

[pete-E1]

So I've had the E1 for about 2-3 months now andd put about 300km on it.

- The Rockshox Gold RL35's are crap. They do the job for basic riding but anything challenging, tech, chunky, rocky....you just get rattled around. I temporarily swapped them out for the Fox 36's Performance from my Scott Ransom until I can get something better for them.

While changing the coil spring, the top pivot bolts that go into the trunnion both rounded out, despite using the correct size Torx piece. So its cheap, soft allot used. So be warned to have some spares on standby. Marin says these are made to spec for their bikes, so I doubt getting a pair with hex bolt fittings will be easy/possible? The online dealer here in Australia was pretty good about the replacement bolt....after I argued I didn't want to/need to spend $99 on a complete bolt kit for the sake of 1 bolt.

Also, tonight, while getting my bike ready for a ride tomorrow, I noticed the non drive side crank arm bolt had come off and the left crank arm had worked its way about 5mm off the spindle. It didn't have any flex yet as it still had enough bite on the spindle. The pinch bolts were pretty loose as well. The drive side crank arm bolt was almost hand loose but its pinch bolts were tight enough.Not much locktite was used on the threads either.

 

[pete-E1]

Couple of videos from the past few weeks on the E1.

 

[WantAnEMTB]

So I've had the E1 for about 2-3 months now andd put about 300km on it.

- The Rockshox Gold RL35's are crap. They do the job for basic riding but anything challenging, tech, chunky, rocky....you just get rattled around. I temporarily swapped them out for the Fox 36's Performance from my Scott Ransom until I can get something better for them.

While changing the coil spring, the top pivot bolts that go into the trunnion both rounded out, despite using the correct size Torx piece. So its cheap, soft allot used. So be warned to have some spares on standby. Marin says these are made to spec for their bikes, so I doubt getting a pair with hex bolt fittings will be easy/possible? The online dealer here in Australia was pretty good about the replacement bolt....after I argued I didn't want to/need to spend $99 on a complete bolt kit for the sake of 1 bolt.

Also, tonight, while getting my bike ready for a ride tomorrow, I noticed the non drive side crank arm bolt had come off and the left crank arm had worked its way about 5mm off the spindle. It didn't have any flex yet as it still had enough bite on the spindle. The pinch bolts were pretty loose as well. The drive side crank arm bolt was almost hand loose but its pinch bolts were tight enough.Not much locktite was used on the threads either.

Hi pete-E1,

it's a shame, that the build quality appears to be not as good as the (often praised) ride quality...

Just curious, why did change the coil? Was it just not strong enough or did you go for a progressive spring? What is your experience regarding bottoming-out and how lively the rear end is on the trail?

Cheers, Tom

 

[pete-E1]

Hi pete-E1,

it's a shame, that the build quality appears to be not as good as the (often praised) ride quality...

Just curious, why did change the coil? Was it just not strong enough or did you go for a progressive spring? What is your experience regarding bottoming-out and how lively the rear end is on the trail?

Cheers, Tom

The build quality if the actual frame seems ok so far. Granted, the pivot bolt torx heads, they seemed weak and rounded out. the replacements they sent me are allen head so happy days. The crank arm bolt, speaking to a reputable Trek dealership/bike shop here, its a common issue for ebike crank arms to walk themselves off the spindle, so regular checking and lots of threadlock.

The rubber grommet/plug to cover the hole to put the 4mm allen key in to remove the battery also broke. It's a 4mm rubber plug so not a huge issue. Replacements are easy from a gardening centre or some duct tape just to stop dust and moisture getting in.

Rode some tech steep trails today after exploring/pedalling an area for a while.

 

[R120]

Many of us who have owned various itineration of Shimano motors down the years have replaced the plastic crank bolts with alloy ones - whilst the job of the bolts is not to secure the crank arms, the alloy ones do a much better job of preventing the arm "walking" down the spindle if the pinch bolts loosen.

 

[pete-E1]

Many of us who have owned various itineration of Shimano motors down the years have replaced the plastic crank bolts with alloy ones - whilst the job of the bolts is not to secure the crank arms, the alloy ones do a much better job of preventing the arm "walking" down the spindle if the pinch bolts loosen.

View attachment 76007

The original bolts were alloy, I picked up a plastic spare as a stop gap to getting another alloy, which I've got now but the plastic is holding steady with lots of threadlock, so can't be bothered fixing what isn't broken.

 

[Trev1979]

Hi People,

I’m considering an Alpine trail E2 for my first ebike,
One thing I’m not sure on is do different countries spec different components?
I’ve seen loads of pics of the E2 and what some appear to be showing is a different bar and stem combo?
I’m the the UK (Surrey) and just wondered if anyone can confirm what the UK setup is, am I right in saying the UK versions have Deity bars and a Deity copperhead stem?

Cheers Paul

 

[UglyWeld]

I have 2 E2's - a medium for me and a large for my son - sorry for those that are still waiting, I just got lucky searching

(Ironic - I feel guilty climbing past regular riders on an E-Bike and now I feel guilty having 2 when some of you don't have yours yet)

My M came with the 35mm deity, the L came with the 50mm raceface - To be fair - the US specsheet for 2022 shows a race facespec, I just thought going to 50mm was a bummer - so I contacted Marin about this and a few other things, they were very responsive, and it came down to Deity was replaced with RaceFace due to supply issues. So if you get a bike from early in the build cycle, you might get a 35mm deity, otherwise it will likely be a 50mm RaceFace. I am in the US - I could not speak to regional differences.

Here are my impressions after having mine for a short while

As far as build, it is always good to go over the bike if you know how - no bikes are immune to build issues, some more than others.

Trunnion bolts are always a touchy install on any bike - its a fine thread aluminum shoulder bolt and has to be 100% aligned and straight to start the bolt - just take your time and make sure to manipulate the rear triangle to get it lined up. Both our bikes came with allen heads
Clean the threads with a brush as best you can, put clean blue threadlocker on the threads and a dab of grease on the shoulder upon reinstall, torque to spec. I've replaced both springs - I put a Sprindex on mine and put the 350 from the M onto my sons, and lining up the trunnion bolts is the touchy part.

Motor limits - my M came with a 20mph US cutoff, the L came with a 16mph EU/NON US cutoff - to fix this we will need to take the L to a shop to get a firmware update (it's apparently a special firmware flash that uses the Steps/DI2 interface) - I don't want to sideload it with another app at this point

Battery connector - keep an eye on the upper battery connector (at the head tube) my L came loose - not a big issue for me to fix it - but if you are not comfortable wrenching, take it in if the battery starts rattling around. Marin stated they were aware of this and addressed it at the factory during production runs.

I feel a little hesitation with all of these e-bikes and the long term of the battery staying tight in the holder. I have some rubber cinch straps I might use to keep the strain off the holder - but then again, I might be providing a solution where there is no problem - time will tell

Dropper post cable - the cable binds in both frames - I'm guessing the cables are binding up on the seat tube - I could barely get the cable on our frames to pull through , even after pulling the battery and working it from both ends. I have no desire to pull the motor to figure this out so it was just a tug of war to get a couple of extra inches to raise the seatpost on the L

SeatPost - I can definitely see a value to longer extension dropper posts - I wish my M was at least a 170mm dropper - the L frame could be a 200 at least - this bike has a ridiculously low standover, so Marin might as well pair it with the right dropper post

Water Bottle - I have no idea how a S would ever fit a bottle. My M will only and ever so barely fit a short bottle I found on Amazon (550ml I believe) using a Specialized Z cage, I had to hog out the cage bolt slots to get it fit just right. For so many things right with this bike, this was one area where they blew it

And Marin - why did you use such tall rivnuts for the water bottle bosses? - they are ridiculously tall - about 10mm or 3/8" high - Why? a braver person than me would machine/file these down some and use shorter bolts if it helped solve the problem

Side note: It will fit a beer can in a foam coozie just fine!

Fork Stops - all four of ours are already wonky from transporting the bikes, etc. They are held on with some odd adhesive that isn't strong enough to keep them in place. I have umpteen types of adhesive at my shop, I can figure it out if it becomes a problem. Plus, if I can thin these out or make thinner replacements without leaving the frame susceptible to denting, I might try that and grab a few degrees of turn radius - these are boats, see below

Other than that, these bikes are hella fun and then some and just eat up where you point and turn where you lean (unless you are on a real tight switchback, then prepare to use your directionals for a 3 point turn).

Future change will be:
Trying to put an I Spec 2 PNW dropper onto the I Spec EV SLX levers - I think it can be done - that left hand control area is clunky out of the box - but again - if I have to rerun that dropper cable , I'll gladly put this in the later pile

 

[jbv]

i don't even have mine yet but the point about the battery staying in place is noted. there's a couple of videos out there of Mark Matthews just shredding on one of these (his is an E1) and on one ride his battery drops and skidders down the trail. few ride as hard as him but a ski type cinch strap may not be a bad idea to have on hand or just put in place around the down tube anyways. the way Matthews rides his, i have fewer concerns than ever about how an eeb will handle serious trail riding. clearly the bikes have very few limitations unless you're trying to win a slopestyle event.

 

[Trev1979]

I have 2 E2's - a medium for me and a large for my son - sorry for those that are still waiting, I just got lucky searching

(Ironic - I feel guilty climbing past regular riders on an E-Bike and now I feel guilty having 2 when some of you don't have yours yet)

My M came with the 35mm deity, the L came with the 50mm raceface - To be fair - the US specsheet for 2022 shows a race facespec, I just thought going to 50mm was a bummer - so I contacted Marin about this and a few other things, they were very responsive, and it came down to Deity was replaced with RaceFace due to supply issues. So if you get a bike from early in the build cycle, you might get a 35mm deity, otherwise it will likely be a 50mm RaceFace. I am in the US - I could not speak to regional differences

Interesting info that, thanks.

So it could be pot luck to wether you get the Raceface or Deity setup.

I wonder if it’s actually size related either then?

I’ve seen a few pics taken of uk bikes and seen both setups but again I don’t know what size those bikes were.

If I order one I’d really be wanting the Deity setup. Would be a shame to spend that money on the top model for me to then want to go change the stem straight away (I’d be going for a medium, I’m 5’10” but would prefer a smaller setup coming from a bmx background).

Cheers Paul

 

[pete-E1]

I have 2 E2's - a medium for me and a large for my son - sorry for those that are still waiting, I just got lucky searching

(Ironic - I feel guilty climbing past regular riders on an E-Bike and now I feel guilty having 2 when some of you don't have yours yet)

My M came with the 35mm deity, the L came with the 50mm raceface - To be fair - the US specsheet for 2022 shows a race facespec, I just thought going to 50mm was a bummer - so I contacted Marin about this and a few other things, they were very responsive, and it came down to Deity was replaced with RaceFace due to supply issues. So if you get a bike from early in the build cycle, you might get a 35mm deity, otherwise it will likely be a 50mm RaceFace. I am in the US - I could not speak to regional differences.

Here are my impressions after having mine for a short while

As far as build, it is always good to go over the bike if you know how - no bikes are immune to build issues, some more than others.

Trunnion bolts are always a touchy install on any bike - its a fine thread aluminum shoulder bolt and has to be 100% aligned and straight to start the bolt - just take your time and make sure to manipulate the rear triangle to get it lined up. Both our bikes came with allen heads
Clean the threads with a brush as best you can, put clean blue threadlocker on the threads and a dab of grease on the shoulder upon reinstall, torque to spec. I've replaced both springs - I put a Sprindex on mine and put the 350 from the M onto my sons, and lining up the trunnion bolts is the touchy part.

Motor limits - my M came with a 20mph US cutoff, the L came with a 16mph EU/NON US cutoff - to fix this we will need to take the L to a shop to get a firmware update (it's apparently a special firmware flash that uses the Steps/DI2 interface) - I don't want to sideload it with another app at this point

Battery connector - keep an eye on the upper battery connector (at the head tube) my L came loose - not a big issue for me to fix it - but if you are not comfortable wrenching, take it in if the battery starts rattling around. Marin stated they were aware of this and addressed it at the factory during production runs.

I feel a little hesitation with all of these e-bikes and the long term of the battery staying tight in the holder. I have some rubber cinch straps I might use to keep the strain off the holder - but then again, I might be providing a solution where there is no problem - time will tell

Dropper post cable - the cable binds in both frames - I'm guessing the cables are binding up on the seat tube - I could barely get the cable on our frames to pull through , even after pulling the battery and working it from both ends. I have no desire to pull the motor to figure this out so it was just a tug of war to get a couple of extra inches to raise the seatpost on the L

SeatPost - I can definitely see a value to longer extension dropper posts - I wish my M was at least a 170mm dropper - the L frame could be a 200 at least - this bike has a ridiculously low standover, so Marin might as well pair it with the right dropper post

Water Bottle - I have no idea how a S would ever fit a bottle. My M will only and ever so barely fit a short bottle I found on Amazon (550ml I believe) using a Specialized Z cage, I had to hog out the cage bolt slots to get it fit just right. For so many things right with this bike, this was one area where they blew it

And Marin - why did you use such tall rivnuts for the water bottle bosses? - they are ridiculously tall - about 10mm or 3/8" high - Why? a braver person than me would machine/file these down some and use shorter bolts if it helped solve the problem

Side note: It will fit a beer can in a foam coozie just fine!

Fork Stops - all four of ours are already wonky from transporting the bikes, etc. They are held on with some odd adhesive that isn't strong enough to keep them in place. I have umpteen types of adhesive at my shop, I can figure it out if it becomes a problem. Plus, if I can thin these out or make thinner replacements without leaving the frame susceptible to denting, I might try that and grab a few degrees of turn radius - these are boats, see below

Other than that, these bikes are hella fun and then some and just eat up where you point and turn where you lean (unless you are on a real tight switchback, then prepare to use your directionals for a 3 point turn).

Future change will be:
Trying to put an I Spec 2 PNW dropper onto the I Spec EV SLX levers - I think it can be done - that left hand control area is clunky out of the box - but again - if I have to rerun that dropper cable , I'll gladly put this in the later pile

My battery popped off the bike on a large step up jump at a bike park. It's hard to clear and landed pretty heavy. The battery popped out and the spring holding it in place had popped forward/out of its seating position, preventing me from reinserting the battery until I pushed the spring back into its correct position. Simple remedy is velcro strap around the battery to stop it happening again.

The dropper cable is very tight in the frame. You have to feed it in from the outside of the frame at the head tube and pull it from inside the battery compartment to give it some slack before raising the dropper out of the frame. If not, it won't activate (on the E1 at least).

I always ride with a hydro backpack so haven't even bothered trying a bottle. My Scott Ransom is tight for a water bottle and the E1 looks even tighter. Could be worse though, the YT Decoy ebike needs a specially sized, proprietary 425ml bottle to go into its frame.

I moved my dropper to the inside of the motor switch. It works better for me but it is very busy....but coming from Scotts Twinloc system....it's not so bad.

 

[pete-E1]

Another ride from yesterday. Bit of a boring video and doesn't show how steep some of the sections are.

 

[pete-E1]

Hit a local park over the weekend in between the rain showers. Did 3 laps before it got too unenjoyable for me.

My new issue is my battery pops out of the frame on bigger hits which is great. Luckily I've been using a velcro strap to secure it in case it happened again. I did notice a noise while riding and its only when I was packing my bike up, I noticed the only thing holding the battery in the frame was my velcro strap.....

 

[Trev1979]

Why is the battery falling out?
What are the factory fittings like that hold it in place?
Allen bolts?

Cheers Paul

 

[pete-E1]

Why is the battery falling out?
What are the factory fittings like that hold it in place?
Allen bolts?

Cheers Paul

Impacts from bottom outs with the rear suspension, the spring/release button holding it in place doesn't seem strong enough to retain the battery inside the frame. It pops the bottom of the spring/button out of its seating on the battery and a needle nose pliers or something small is needed to push the spring back into place.

It could be the retaining clip inside the frame near the head tube end might have been installed 1-2mm to far up the frame, so the battery clips into place but it isn't held securely, or the spring just isn't strong enough. Either way, it's not great having to use velcro/tie down straps to make sure your battery doesn't fall out of the frame.

My local dealer has asked for photos of the battery to check if it is swollen (it isn't from inspecting it) and photos of the battery mounts in the frame.

The first time it happened was on a difficult step up jump that everyone struggles with and a hard landing and it popped out. I put it down to possibly not clicking the battery all the way in properly. It's happened once more before yesterday which is why I had the velcro strapping in place for extra security.

I did have a rear wheel case/bottom out on a jump at 3:17 in the video I posted and I believe thats what caused the battery to pop out. I could hear/feel something loose when I was riding after that but couldn't pinpoint it until I was putting my bike back into the car and noticed the battery wasn't fully in. Somehow, I didn't lose power to the motor?

 

[Trev1979]

Wow!

Yeah that isn't great of the battery keeps popping out!

You’d hope the system holding it in place would be good enough to at least do that!
Must be something up with the catch/mechanism, anyone else had this trouble?

Cheers Paul

 

[pete-E1]

Wow!

Yeah that isn't great of the battery keeps popping out!

You’d hope the system holding it in place would be good enough to at least do that!
Must be something up with the catch/mechanism, anyone else had this trouble?

Cheers Paul

They suspect, as do I, the front mounting mechanism is out of position or worked its way forward so should hopefully just need to be adjusted to secure the battery.

I went for another ride this morning, using 2 straps to try keep the battery in place but it still managed to come out. The straps held it in place enough to not rattle around and maintain power to the motor so thats all that mattered.

 

[Pickle1970]

I ordered my E2 back in January, still waiting for it to arrive. had more excuses than one of Boris's speeches. more and more delays, I have now been informed today that it is definitely (yes definitely) coming in February next year. here's hoping it's in by April

If there were anything like it in stock in XL i'd cancel and sack it off to be honest.

 

[UglyWeld]

They suspect, as do I, the front mounting mechanism is out of position or worked its way forward so should hopefully just need to be adjusted to secure the battery.

I went for another ride this morning, using 2 straps to try keep the battery in place but it still managed to come out. The straps held it in place enough to not rattle around and maintain power to the motor so thats all that mattered.

Pete, if it helps (and mine is an E2 but I am sure they are similar), I ended up repositioning the top mount myself - in fact we needed to as we were on the trail.
The forward internal battery mount has four (4) allen heads holding the battery clip portion to the frame mount (the mount is 2 piece) - after you pull the four allen heads (not the smaller 2 inner heads - those hold the release cam) you will have access to the portion that attaches to the frame, this has two 2 allen heads that ride in slots allowing for and aft positioning - once those two bolts are loose the battery mount can be slid fore or aft as needed. I pulled min all the way aft (towards BB) and resnugged. It is a very tight battery fit now and the battery will not release fully by turning the access bolt , I need to use a small flat to release the stainless clip fully - so I actually slid it too far down, I could probably push it fore another mm or so, but it works for now

The things I did not like was the mounts are thermoplastic and Marin did not use washers between the allen heads and the mount - so that plastic mount is taking all the stress against the bolt head, next time I am in their I will likely see to installing washers to spread the load

Unless the have a setting/measuring tool at the factory , these mounts could be hit or miss - explaining why some bikes do not have the release bolt head aligned with the frame opening

Good luck

 

[pete-E1]

Pete, if it helps (and mine is an E2 but I am sure they are similar), I ended up repositioning the top mount myself - in fact we needed to as we were on the trail.
The forward internal battery mount has four (4) allen heads holding the battery clip portion to the frame mount (the mount is 2 piece) - after you pull the four allen heads (not the smaller 2 inner heads - those hold the release cam) you will have access to the portion that attaches to the frame, this has two 2 allen heads that ride in slots allowing for and aft positioning - once those two bolts are loose the battery mount can be slid fore or aft as needed. I pulled min all the way aft (towards BB) and resnugged. It is a very tight battery fit now and the battery will not release fully by turning the access bolt , I need to use a small flat to release the stainless clip fully - so I actually slid it too far down, I could probably push it fore another mm or so, but it works for now

The things I did not like was the mounts are thermoplastic and Marin did not use washers between the allen heads and the mount - so that plastic mount is taking all the stress against the bolt head, next time I am in their I will likely see to installing washers to spread the load

Unless the have a setting/measuring tool at the factory , these mounts could be hit or miss - explaining why some bikes do not have the release bolt head aligned with the frame opening

Good luck

Yeah mate. I ended up taking the mount off and moving the bracket for the mount a few mm forward and the release catch now works. I'm still using straps to make sure battery doesn't pop out. It seems ok but will play it safe still.

Rode a local bike park today. Had some fun, had a few stupid crashes. All part of the game.

 

[pete-E1]

I had a bigger ride than normal today. My usual rides are a spin up and down the mountain where I live in BOOST to get there and back quickly. I did some more exploring and crossed to the other side of the mountain. I used ECO and TRAIL way more and taking my time to climb to guarantee my range to get home (Have previously made it home with 2% battery remaining).

Managed to get in over 1200m of climbing over 34km in about 3.5 hours and dropped to 1 bar of battery left about 1km from my house. The whole ride back from the bottom of the trails is about 2km of undulating hills using BOOST on all the ups.

 

[pete-E1]

 

[pete-E1]

Few trails from yesterday before the rain hit.

 

[Richt20000]

Berkshire Cycles have an E2 in Large available right now


£5760

01344 774520

View attachment 73199

View attachment 73200

View attachment 73201

That was the one I ordered then, it finally did arrive!

 

[pete-E1]

Has anybody else with the E1/Bt-8035 battery had the issue that their battery health deteriorates very quickly? After 12 cycles I was at 90% health and my range dropped from 100km in ECO fully charged to 89km. Apparently it's a somewhat common issue with the BT-8035 battery the E1 uses.

 

[SamirRifai]

Hi everyone, I got the E1 a few months ago in Peru. Just put around 600km on it and already feeling the coil and suspension bottoming out in my local trail jumps.

Any recommendations without breaking the bank?

On the other hand, my rear derailleur is jumping gears like crazy and the main bolt keeps getting loose. Can I fit an XT derailleur and cassette? Any other options for upgrade?