Trek Marlin 5 vs Vitus Nucleus VR

I ended up with a Trek Marlin 5. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but once I got to riding some real trails and improving my skills, I got a better idea of what I wanted to upgrade.

If there's a Marlin 6 available go for it (since it has an air fork), otherwise I'd highly recommend a Vitus Nucleus. It will be immediately responsive and will require minimal upgrades/maintenance for entry-level mtb'ing unlike a Marlin 5.

I replaced it with a Rockshox Recon and it's night and day, a different bike now. **I would rather have a rigid fork than a cheap coil fork.

Have not checked the bottom bracket yet. But this is annoying that such garbage bearings were used considering how inexpensive to do this correctly from the beginning. Not a con but worth mentioning, bike comes with workable pedals. I took a magnet to make sure they at least had a steel spindle, to not worry about catostrophic failure on some trails

I could have purchased a much, much nicer full suspension for the money I have put down, though that's just my own experience and will not be like yours necessarily. If there's a Marlin 6 available go for it (since it has an air fork), otherwise I'd highly recommend a Vitus Nucleus.

Probably one of the best, if not the best hardtail on the market, Right out of the box. This bike comes stocked with an Sr Sun Tour Xcr 32 air fork an...