Marin El Roy

The El Roy is as happy as any hardtail I’ve ridden when the going gets tough… It’s long, slack and low – and all the better for it… the El Roy corners well… lean the bike and carve…

It really is a hardtail that you can ride like an enduro bike… Downhill, the bike is super super stable and it’s just not as harsh as aluminum… the steel absorbs vibration on the trail… The slack headtube angle and that Bomber fork feel fantastic… Just a unique bike, really really cool feel… It definitely lives up to the hype… super super happy with it so far.

On trails I normally rode with full suspension, I didn’t feel like I was hindered by this hardtail, and I didn’t change up lines… For terrain that challenges with technical climbs and then rewards with fast, rough downhills, the El Roy is a competent and ready hardtail… If you dare to be different and want to test the extreme fringes of MTB geometry, then the El Roy is ready to get weird with you.

I’m gonna be honest, right. Long distance, up hills, that kind of stuff, it’s a slog… on the way down it doesn’t feel massively different from my trail bike that’s got full-suspension… It’s just a really fun bike… The headtube could be a tiny bit too slack and the seat tube could be a tiny bit too steep but it’s still fun!

Once the speed picked up my eyes were opened and I’m like, “I get it. I get what this bike is meant for.” Descending fast blues and blacks: 10/10, double blacks: 9/10… This is for the hardcore hardtail fans that will only ride a hardtail and never ride a full-suspension and want to prove to their friends that they can keep up on the fast bikepark days and this bike will do it.

The El Roy doesn’t quite make rational sense… it isn’t all crazy though — it’s offered with a no-nonsense build, and comes in at a reasonable price… A significant part of what you’re paying for is a higher-end frame… The El Roy is a bike for terrain where most people would want a full-suspension Trail or Enduro bike, but for the riders who want to tackle those sorts of rides with a hardtail… If you think the notion sounds absurd, that’s okay. It’s not for everyone. Bring the right attitude and some decent bike handling skills to the table, though, and you’ll be amazed by what the El Roy can do.

Riding this bike was really fun, the learning curve was slow but little by little we got used to it… the El Roy’s great advantage over other hardtails is its ability to ride exactly the same lines that you would on your enduro full suspension bike… we were able to go down sections that we did not think possible at first, the confidence that this bike provides is something remarkable, we may have tried the fastest hardtail on the market.