shish1

I'm looking to replace my aging GT Zaskar. It's been a great bike, but I do 90% of my riding in a city, on the road and the other 10% on light trails & country roads so a wee bit of suspension would be a nice to have feature.

I'm looking into getting either a 2009 Trek 7500 or a 2009 Marin Sausalito. Both are very similar but I'd like to hear anyone's feedback on their experiences with models within a year or two of these. There's plenty of reviews on the Trek, but fewer on the Marin. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Manetheren

I have a 2005 Marin San Rafael, which is in the same category as the Sausalito, just one or two models lower. Overall it's been great. One complaint I had at first was that the bars were curved slightly back, whereas my older bike (1997 Diamondback Outlook) had straight bars. It took a long time to get used to that. I also had rear wheel problems (spokes breaking every three weeks), but apparently that was due to a bad batch of rear wheels made in 2005, not confined just to Marin. Overall I'm very happy with it - my only additions have been SPD pedals and slicks. The brakes and shifters were a vast improvement over the Diamondback. BTW, my riding is 99% road with rare bits of dirt or gravel.

shish1

Thanks very much for the reply.

I'm actually favoring the curved handlebars, since this will give me a more upright position. Out of the bikes I've tried:

Trek 7.5 - 17.5"
Trek 7500 - 17.5"
Marin Sausalito - 17.5"
Brodie Dynamo - 54cm

... The Marin is the most comfortable. Unfortunately, the top bar is too high for me, and the next size down brings the handlebars closer, making it feel like a kid's bike. The search continues. Next is a Gary Fisher Mendota, but I think that will be more of a road bike position than the more upright one that I'm looking for.