TESTED: 2005 Marin Pine Mountain

WHAT: Marin Pine Mountain HOW MUCH: $1,700 WHERE: www.marinbikes.com
Face it, there’s a little retro grouch in all of us.

Maybe it’s that uneasy feeling we get when the latest wheelsets feature fewer spokes than just one of our old wheels. Maybe it’s the way that an old, first-generation XTR derailleur begs to be resurrected from the bottom of your junk box and returned to your bike.

Or maybe it’s just that little voice inside that says, “Dude, you should get a steel bike!” There’s just something about the comfy, snappy feel of a steel frame that gets forgotten in today’s world of long travel, full suspension and wonder alloys.

The Pine Mountain is Marin’s flagship steel XC hardtail. The wiry-looking frame and barely-there decals have an understated, simple look, but save for the seat tube and headtube, every piece of the frame is shaped and/or butted to give a unique ride and shave weight.

Although designed by Marin in northern California, Italy’s Columbus supplies the bike’s double-butted top- and downtubes, and each is custom drawn into distinct teardrop-profiled shapes. To eliminate unwanted flex in the rear end, the Pine Mountain features stiff three-sided chain- and seatstays, which are ribbed for extra stiffness.

At first glance the short, 80-millimeter-travel Manitou Skareb fork, carbon bars and seatpost scream XC racer, but the girthy, 2.1-inch WTB Motoraptor tires and safe-at-any-speed Avid Juicy 7 brakes politely whisper all-mountain, all-rounder.

On the trail, the effort Marin focused on the tubing pays off. Even when wrestling up “just-for-the-glory” climbs, the spindly looking rear end feels stiff and true. When the bike encounters harsh jolts and compressions, however, those arrow-straight seatstays transmit plenty of trail chatter, regardless of whether you’re pointed up or down the hill.

The Pine Mountain is most at home on tight, technical singletrack. When being wrenched through winding, steep terrain, the spry frame seems to wrap around turns. But as the trail opens up and speeds increase, the 71-degree head angle and ultra-lightweight fork, combined with a narrow, laterally flexy downtube, can make for a sketchy ride on fireroad descents.

Ultimately, the Pine Mountain offers a snappy, compliant ride on tough, twisty trails, and has an insatiable appetite for climbing. It has the attitude, and nearly the weight, of a race bike, and comes decently equipped to handle solid use/abuse. If you long for the classics, but you’re not quite ready to switch over to coaster brakes, you should get a steel bike, dude.