Made For What?

Look at many of our bikes and you'll find those three words printed somewhere on the frame "Made For Fun."

Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's big-and-bold. It's on our social media posts, it's on our website and we should probably even print it in big letters on our HQ in Petaluma, California.

What We Do And How We Do It

Back in the day, Marin went by the tag line "Better By Bike" and for years that worked just fine. After all, it is better by bike right?

But after a while, we wanted to tell our story with a little more feeling and really home in on what it is that drives everything that we do. We knew we needed some new words to define what we do and how we do it.

Many brands might hit this point and hire in a flashy marketing agency, set up some audience focus groups or spend big bucks on data and market research.

Those sort of brands might come up with something like "FREE YOUR ADVENTURE", "BE MORE EPIC" or "LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS" on their bikes.

... But screw that, we're not one of those brands.

No Idea Too Stupid

So, we ditched the think tanks and got the Marin team together around a table of beers, a pad of paper and the instruction that no idea was too big, small or stupid. And man, did we come up with some stupid ones.

It's at this point we should introduce Mike.

Mike is our graphics guy and the force of crazy, inspired genius that came up with all of those wild, colorful designs that make us look like us.

If you can see a thing with "Marin" written on it, chances are he probably sketched it, pitched it, developed it and brought it to life. Bikes, websites, logos, stickers, tees, beer mugs, you name it. They all got the Mike treatment.

High five, Mike.

Back In Time

Roll back the clock to 2016 and the Marin you see today was being born. We were still "Better By Bike" but we'd started to give our business a new look, a new feel and a new range of bikes.

The Marin Hawk Hill led the way - a simple, affordable and super capable full suspension that put the feel of a top-end mountain bike in reach of anyone.

Mike being the mischievous guy that he is, designed a simple graphic onto the bike, hidden away on the seat-stay as a secret "Easter egg" for owners to find.

Yep, you guessed it, it said: "Made For Fun."

Big bars, short stem, confidence boosting suspension, 1x drive train. It wasn't made for racing or winning medals or beating anyone. It was simply made to be heaps of fun. The first seed was planted.

Another high five for Mike.

Eureka!

Jump back to our table of beers a few years later and we just couldn't get Mike's Easter egg out of our heads.

Everything we do at Marin is about getting people out there on two wheels and having a blast on the roads, the tracks and the trails. We’re making those bikes… for fun.

Sure our bikes are high-tech and high-spec but it's all about the experience and all about that end result of a rider ripping a turn and smiling from ear to ear.

The Eureka! moment came and it just seemed perfect.

"Wait a minute…” someone proclaimed,

“Why don't we actually just go with 'Made For Fun'?!."

It Aint What You Do, It's The Way That You Do It

Made For Fun, what does that actually mean?

Simply put, everything we do should be about having fun.

Everything should be about that end result of getting a person on a bike, with a smile on their face, wherever they are, whoever they are, whatever they choose to ride.

For our bikes, that's all in the design. We were the first mainstream bike brand to put a dropper post on a gravel bike, donchaknow? We were also super quick to build a flat bar gravel bike and an early adopter of suspension forks on gravel bikes.

The Bikes

That OG Hawk Hill tore up the Marin rule book and put good times and an achievable price point way ahead of race-winning, high-performance tech.

Our most race-oriented bike, the Team Marin, is even designed to be a go-anywhere, shred-anything all-rounder that's as at home on your local XC race as it is simply carving turns on a solo chill lap.

Fast can be fun, racing can be fun, winning can be fun but here at Marin, we'd rather give you the option to do what you like, whatever you think "fun" looks like.

We make our bikes easy to ride, nimble, playful and exciting. They're proudly not designed to be all-out speed machines that require years of experience to ride fast. They're fun, they're fast, and they're exciting from the get-go, whether you're a wet-behind-the-ears newbie or a seasoned veteran.

Just stomp on the pedals and away you go.

The People

But it's not just the bikes.

We try to make those words a rule to live by. We have a "no a-holes and no egos" rule for our staff and try to keep fun at the heart of all things.

Sure, some days are harder than others and we take our business seriously, but "Made For Fun" is a reminder that tough times are always rewarded with good times on two wheels.

The people that work at Marin are almost all mad-passionate, ride-or-die, in-it-for-the-love bike riders. We love being on two wheels and we love sharing that feeling with the world and building it into our bikes. We'd rather build a bike that turns a grom into a rider for life than help a pro-athlete stand on top of a box.

It's also no coincidence that the athletes we work with are more about smiles than miles, more about grinning than winning. We're laser-focused on supporting riders that are fun to ride with, fun to watch, inspiring and exciting.

Made For Fun

It's more than just a tag line for us.

Sure, it's written on our website, on our bikes and on our marketing stuff but for all of us here at Marin, it's more than that.

It's our reason for being.

It's a simple, BS-free reminder of why we are how we are and a guiding star for how we should go walk and talk for the future.

Plain and simple, we're all about having fun.

Now, anyone for a ride?