2011 Airborne Marauder Bike

Vital MTB Retail Partners:

“Whole lot of bike, not a whole lot of money!”

The Good: This is a 6" travel bike for under $700. It is speced, for the most part, with decent componets, it is a blast to ride. It comes with a SRAM X-7 rear derailluer and X-5 shifters, Tektro Novela Sprot disk brakes with 208mm rotor, thats right 208mm of stopping power, the wheel set is tough as nails and the Kenda Kinetics tires stick like glue. Nice bash guard to save your chain rings.

The Bad: The FSA crankset sucks, it has the power drive bottom bracket, it is FSA's bottom of the line. My bottom bracket lasted only two months, but it was replaced with a more capable FSA bottom bracket and have had no problems since. The only other think that people may worry about is the weight, this bike is heavy, but I personaly don't have an issue with this.

Overall Review: Bottom line that this is one sick ride for very little money. I ride every thing from xc to full on down hill on this bike and it has serve me well. The frame is burly, but heavy. The bike loves all types of gravity riding, it flies down hill and is stable in the air, but you can still climb. All in all I love this bike.

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“One Sinister Rig! Airborne Marauder!”

The Good: My rig is a 2010 Airborne Bicycles Marauder. I purchased it in January of this year. It's a Freeride rig with 6 inches of travel. I've been riding it nearly daily since i got it. I love to ride on the dirt, but unfortunately where I live, there aren't very many trails. So i have to make due with what i have. In turn my Marauder sees a lot of urban freeriding assaults. But don't worry, it spends plenty of time on the dirt singletrack and even some rocky Ozark terrain. It hasn't let me down yet, tackles anything I put in its way. Be it rock gardens, roots, step-ups, drop-offs, dirt jumps, staircases... You name it, it can take it.

The Bad: Could use some lock-on grips.

Overall Review: I've put my Marauder through some punishment and it has taken everything i have thrown at it and then some. Bike feels great in any condition be it mud, snow, loose pack or hard pack singletrack, downhill, and even urban freeriding. It stays stable and maneuverable in even the worst of situations. The Spinner Cargo 340 fork works great, takes a lot of punishment. I haven't bottomed it out yet and I've hit some 5 and 6 foot drop offs. The Marzocchi Coil F shock that its coupled up with works amazing. Crisp response and takes everything you can put it through from small bumps to drop offs and rock gardens. The Tektro Novela 203mm mechanical discs help you come to a stop when blistering down the trails. The Shimano and Sram drive-train is amazing. Fast and reliable, and coupled with the FSA Dyna Drive 22/32t crank with bashguard you can go just about anywhere. Makes climbing pretty easy considering the weight of the bike. The bashguard will save your chainrings from getting beat up on rocks, roots and other obstacles. The WTB wheels are nice and sturdy. Hubs roll smoothly letting you go as fast as possible down the trails. The Kalloy 670mm wide bars allow for great response and handling but yet keeping you narrow enough to make it through tight technical areas. And the Kalloy seat post coupled with the WTB Pure V sport saddle allow comfortable seating. All in all, great bike, great spec list and a great price at $699.95. I suggest you check out Airborne Bicycle's website at http://www.airbornebicycles.com/ and grab yourself one today. Check out full review at http://airbornealf.blogspot.com/2011/05/airborne-marauder_23.html Thanks.

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