Photo: Deven McCoy
Reviewed: The Marin Rift Zone EL Has Changed Me for the Better
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I have had mixed feelings about e-bikes since I began seeing them show up to the local dig spot and blow out the corners, come up short on landings, and brake hard into turns, adding to the already plentiful breaking bumps. They always put a sour taste in my mouth, especially since I grew up surrounded by pristine national forests without e-bike accessibility. I believe in earning your turns and respecting the regulations put in place to preserve the trails that we are so fortunate to ride.
Please don’t get my opinion twisted as an opposition to using e-bikes. I see them as incredibly valuable for those who cannot experience the riding without assistance. They are very much a conduit for adventure and have played a treasured role in maintaining trails with their extra oomph for slogging tools and water back and forth. E-bikes are clearly a part of the zeitgeist, and the sooner we accept their seat at the table, the less animosity we can carry around for one another. That is precisely what the Marin Rift Zone EL has done for me.
Photo: Deven McCoy
This new era of lightweight e-bikes has opened up many opportunities for acceptance. I see them more frequently at trailheads, and with more exposure comes more understanding, so when I was made aware of the new Rift Zone EL from Marin, I was eager to give it an honest and open-minded shot at swaying my stubborn mind.
The first thing I noticed when building the bike was its weight. I have never personally owned an e-bike, and most of my time on one has been accompanied by extra tools, a loaded backpack or trailer, and a mission dedicated to trail maintenance, so the weight was of little consequence. Upon unboxing the Rift Zone, I noted that the ~45 lbs bike was not much heavier than a few acoustic bikes I have owned in the past, and that was pretty enlightening. I had a fully built Commencal Meta AM V4 with coil fork and shock, DH tires with inserts without a spec of carbon to be found, and that tipped the scales at 40 lbs while carrying me up at least a few hundred thousand vertical feet.
Now, a 47 lb bike (including pedals) with 600 watts of power and 55nm of torque beneath me was a mouth-watering offering. With a recent green light to get back on the bike after a broken clavicle, I was frothing for some miles, and this lightweight chassis was the perfect way to ease back into things.
The Details & Geometry
- Series 4 Alloy frames across the board
- 29’’wheels front and rear
- 150mm travel front | 140mm travel rear
- Adjustable headtube angle-set (+.5, 0, -.5)
- Bosch SX (lightweight) drive unit
- 55nm & 600 watts max power
- CPT400wh battery (all models)
- Compatible w/ bosch Powermore 250wh range extender
Marin Rift Zone EL E-MTB Geo Chart
Photo: Marin Bikes
Photo: Marin Bikes
The Builds & Prices
The Marin Rift Zone EL 1
Photo: Marin Bikes
- Marzocchi Bomber Z1 29”, 150mm travel
- Marzocchi Bomber inline air shock, custom-tune
- Shimano Cues 11-speed drivetrain
- TRP Slate Evo brakes
Rift Zone EL 2
Photo: Marin Bikes
- Fox 36 performance 29” 150mm travel
- Fox float x performance, custom tune
- SRAM GX Eagle 12-speed mechanical drivetrain
- SRAM code bronze disc brakes
Rift Zone EL XR
Photo: Marin Bikes
- Fox 36 performance Elite 29”, 150mm travel
- Fox float X performance elite, custom tune
- SRAM GX T-type 12-speed drivetrain
- Magura mt7 with HC3 levers
Now, I was lucky enough to test the top-end RZ EL XR build since I’m 6’2 ", and an XL was available to send out. Although it’s the high end of the offerings for this new lightweight e-bike, it’s still well under $8K, which is somewhat affordable for an e-mtb of this caliber today. Considering a Heckler SL R build will set you back ~$7,300, weighs only a few pounds less, and a much less impressive spec sheet puts things into perspective.
I was happy to test this top-end build, but I feel like the Rift Zone EL 2 is the perfect option for those curious about e-mountain bikes. The EL XR is thoughtfully built for the price, and the Grip 2-equipped fork is great. The Magura MT7 brakes feel incredible, and the GX transmission is mint, but the build on the EL 2 is an exceptional option for someone who wants an excellent bike with a bit of assistance. Honestly, the spec and price tag on the EL 1 are hard to ignore as a contender.
I Rode This Bike A Lot With The Motor Off.
One of the most important considerations during the many hours I spent on the Rift Zone EL is counterintuitive for an e-mtb review: how does it ride as a bike, not an e-bike? And it’s a really great bike, even without the “e” designation. I’m not saying I just rode this downhill with the battery and motor off; I pedaled uphill, a lot, without any assistance, and I will continue to do so. I wanted to test the Rift Zone EL as a bike because, at the end of the day, that is what it is, and the pedal assist is just a REALLY nice feature on an excellent bike.
Rift Zone EL needed a nap but I wanted to keep on going
Photo: Deven McCoy
Suspension Considerations
A big part of why the Rift Zone EL feels so great as a regular bike is the amount of time and effort dedicated to tuning the suspension while Marin developed the bike. The Rift Zone EL was designed to be fun, and to do that, Marin partnered with Cass Labs to dive deep into data acquisition. This analytical approach to speccing suspension on the Rift Zone EL allowed Marin to offer the best possible ride characteristics at each price point.
The goal was to take their tried-and-proven Multitrac suspension and dial in the balance, traction, and comfort of the chassis to create a lightweight e-mountain bike that did everything it was supposed to do as an e-bike but rode like a regular bike. This is a jack-of-all-trades but somehow masters them all.
The E-Part
The Rift Zone EL is an e-mtb, though, and I would be remiss not to discuss it as such.
The Shimano SX Driveunit is incredibly well balanced for this application. It strikes perfection and offers enough assistance to make steep, dusty, chunky fire road slogs sting much less without feeling a little bit disconnected from what you’re doing. This is not a Talaria or Sur-Ron; this is a mountain bike, and it feels like you’re riding a mountain bike, which, to me, is an important distinction to make. This new era of lightweight e-mtb’s has made great progress in making e-mountain bikes feel like regular mountain bikes, which has really changed my mind on the topic. I never felt as if I was “cheating” while riding the Rift Zone EL. I felt like I had a bit of extra juice that inspired me to keep on truckin’ until the battery indicator displayed empty, and even then, I would keep going.
Photo: Deven McCoy
On average, I was able to squeeze a solid 2+ hours out of the 400Wh battery with pretty consistent use to hoist myself up the fire roads outside of Boise, and even more, if I decided to keep it in the less-demanding modes. Of the many 2-hour rides, most were 20+ miles and 3,200 feet or more of climbing. The descents were a mix of aggressive moto/DH trail, flowing singletrack, and the occasional warm-up/cool-down at the pump track. Another thing to note is I never drove to the trailhead. I am fortunate to live close enough to an intricate spider web of trails within a 10-minute ride from my front door, although not all of them are e-bike accessible, hence the hours spent testing this bike without any assist.
Final thoughts
I like this bike, and it has significantly changed my opinion on e-mountain bikes. Honestly, I feel a little embarrassed to have ever poo-pooed e-MTBs as much as I did in the past. I am now in a place of acceptance and understanding, and my heart is open to the freedom that e-MTBs can facilitate. Yes, they might be slightly heavier than some bikes, but the way things are trending, they won't be that much heavier for long. This is the first e-mtb I've spent significant time on that I would actually want to add to my current rotation of bikes. I love alloy and a horst link suspension platform, so this bike played to my bias a bit. All that aside, I’m impressed with what Marin has done with their foray into the lightweight e-MTB market. If you are currently shopping for a lightweight e-MTB, the Rift Zone EL deserves serious consideration.
Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publishing.
