Trek Slash 9 - Review
''Throw the Slash down the most technical descent, fly back up. And win,'' says Trek about the enduro race inspired Slash lineup, and with 160mm of rear wheel travel and a 65° head tube angle (when in slack mode), there isn't much that should give the bike pause, at least on the way down. We suspect that the majority of potential Slash owners will be using it for simply charging hard on their home trails more often than aiming to collect stage wins at their local race series, which means that Trek's long-travel weapon has to be more well rounded than you might first assume. And with top tier suspension from FOX and SRAM's high-end X01 drivetrain, there are really no excuses when it comes to performance. The Slash's frame is aluminum rather than carbon fiber, a fact that helps to bring the bike in at $5,769.99 USD. That's a good chunk of money no matter how you look at it, but it would cost much more if its FOX suspension and 11 speed drivetrain were hung off on a carbon version. Did we mention that the complete bike weighs in at just a hair over 28lb? Carbon schmarbon, right?
Slash 9 Details
• Intended use: all-mountain / enduro
• Wheel size: 650B
• Rear wheel travel: 160mm
• Aluminum frame
• Active Braking Pivot suspension
• FOX Factory Series 34 TALAS w/CTD fork
• FOX Float DRCV w/ CTD shock
• SRAM X01 11spd drivetrain
• Weight: 28.1lb (w/o pedals)
• MSRP: $5,769.99 USD
We spent four months on the orange and black bike, managing to ride everything from local loops of epic proportions to lift-assisted big mountain laps on seriously hairball terrain, and even travelled to Whistler to put it to the test on the valley's rocky and unforgiving trails. In fact, this particular test bike has likely seen more miles, both on the ground and in the air, on more varied terrain than any machine that we've covered prior, and that immense amount of saddle time has made it as familiar to us as a close family member, quirks and all.
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 Trek uses a lot of acronyms to describe the Slash's 160mm travel suspension design, but it's all proven technology that they've been using for years now. |
The Slash's Suspension Explained
• ABP Convert: Trek has been using their Active Braking Pivot for many seasons, and the Slash 9 employs their latest ABP Convert system. The design allows the dropout pivot to rotate concentrically around the axle, limiting the amount of rotation between the caliper and rotor, which Trek claims helps to keep the suspension working better regardless of if the rider is on the brakes. The 'Convert' means that the pivot hardware is easily interchangeable to allow for both 12 x 142mm axles and standard 135mm quick release rear wheels.
• Full Floater: Attaching the bike's FOX Float DRCV CTD shock to an extension off the front of the chain stays rather than a fixed position on the front triangle isn't a new concept, but it is one that Trek has used for a number of years on everything from their Session downhill bike to the short travel Fuel trail bike. Trek says that it allows the shock to ''better respond to bumps across a wide variety of terrain,'' which is a simple way of saying that the arrangement gives them more
opportunity to tune how the shock performs throughout its stroke by altering the leverage from both ends. They aren't the first to employ such a layout, but they have used it for a number of years on most of their high-end full suspension bikes. • ABP Convert: Trek has been using their Active Braking Pivot for many seasons, and the Slash 9 employs their latest ABP Convert system. The design allows the dropout pivot to rotate concentrically around the axle, limiting the amount of rotation between the caliper and rotor, which Trek claims helps to keep the suspension working better regardless of if the rider is on the brakes. The 'Convert' means that the pivot hardware is easily interchangeable to allow for both 12 x 142mm axles and standard 135mm quick release rear wheels.
• Full Floater: Attaching the bike's FOX Float DRCV CTD shock to an extension off the front of the chain stays rather than a fixed position on the front triangle isn't a new concept, but it is one that Trek has used for a number of years on everything from their Session downhill bike to the short travel Fuel trail bike. Trek says that it allows the shock to ''better respond to bumps across a wide variety of terrain,'' which is a simple way of saying that the arrangement gives them more
• DRCV: Trek's proprietary rear shock technology, developed with the help of FOX. The 'DR' stands for Dual Rate, with the shock's two different air chambers providing two different rates depending on where the shock is at in its stroke. Connecting the two chambers is a plunger, or valve, that opens the airway between the two at a predetermined point in the travel. The plunger is referred to as the control valve, or the 'CV' in DRCV. The goal is to be able to have your cake and eat it too, by having a lively but firm spring to push against that is provided by the main chamber while also benefiting from the secondary chamber's ability to add a more linear and forgiving end to the stroke.
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Climbing / Acceleration: Being a 160mm travel bike would be a hard life. Not only do many riders assume that such a machine should be able to descend as if it's a dedicated downhill sled, they are sometimes guilty of thinking that they can head out for a big loop with their friends who are all on 130mm and 140mm travel bikes without any drawbacks. That isn't the case, of course, since a bike like the Slash is usually quite a bit slacker up front, has more forgiving suspension, and sports an extra few pounds around the waistline. It's the first two that count the most, though, and it's how one deals with those attributes that will determine how the bike performs on the climbs. Thankfully, Trek has built in some options that do a good job of hiding the bike's downhill leanings when it's time to point it uphill. The key to getting the Halloween themed Slash up technical pitches is to take full advantage of those options: drop the bike's 34 TALAS CTD fork down to 130mm of travel but leave it in the open 'Descend' damper setting to allow the fork to sag into its stroke (further steepening the head angle) so as to suck up all of of those momentum-stopping ridges and rocks that can slow a big bike like the Slash down on rough, steep climbs. The result is a bike that can ascend much better than one might guess after riding it around on flat ground and in full-travel mode, but only when ridden by someone who doesn't mind tinkering with the bike's dials before any substantially technical pitch. To not do so leaves you with a machine that reminds us of a dog sled team trying to push the sled rather than pull it - you're going to end up all turned around and tangled up. However, with the fork lowered and left open, and the Float DRCV CTD shock firmed up to the middle 'Trail' mode, you'll find your way around some tight switchbacks that can trouble quicker handling bikes, although you'll no doubt eventually find the bike's limits. It won't be traction that stops you, with plenty of bite from the Bontrager tires, but rather its geometry. My advice: aim to carry the momentum you have as far up the slope as possible, even staying a gear or two higher than you think might be ideal, and you'll find yourself getting up all sorts walls. Approach the same climbs with the long term commitment of a tipsy lad on the prowl in a nightclub and you won't get far, though.
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| Don't scoff at the bike's TALAS fork - it will come in handy if and when you need to get yourself up and around anything tight and steep. |
The Slash's Float DRCV CTD shock is ultra-forgiving when left in its full-open mode, and it's noticeably more active under power than some other 160mm travel bikes, enough so that I nearly always reached for that clever little CTD switch when faced with any climb that didn't turn into a downhill after twenty or thirty seconds of working for it. Part of this is down to the quicker rebound speed that I ended up preferring for the descents, something that had the Slash bringing back childhood memories of spending too much time in the bouncy castle, but it really isn't anything that can't be tamed by flipping that blue lever. Somewhat surprisingly, rotating the bike's 'Mino Link' chips at the seat stay / rocker arm junction to steepen the Slash up by 0.5° felt like it didn't actually do much to aid climbing, but I did feel like the slightly higher bottom bracket height hindered its handling on the way down. I say slightly because the difference is just 8mm from the ground up, and it is something that admittedly may have been more in my head than in the real world. Regardless, I preferred the bike's handling and suspension action with it set to the slacker of the two settings.
 | The result of making use of the fork's TALAS dial and CTD shock is a bike that can ascend much better than one might guess after riding it around on flat ground and in full-travel mode, but only when ridden by someone who doesn't mind tinkering with the bike's dials before any substantially technical pitch. To not do so leaves you with a bike that reminds us of a dog sled team trying to push the sled rather than pull it - you're going to end up all turned around and tangled up. |
How would I rate the Slash against other 160mm bikes when talking about climbing? It's a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde story, with the not so friendly Hyde coming out of the shadows if you leave the bike's fork up at 160mm and its DRCV CTD shock wide open - there are better 160mm travel ascenders when you do exactly that. Flip the switches, which is almost mandatory for a rider who considers themselves to be weak technical climber, and the good doctor will show up and surprise you. The Slash is bike that depends on its tricks to get you up anything serious, but those tricks work wonders.
Downhill / Technical Riding: There's very little chance that anyone who's thinking of buying a bike like the 160mm travel Slash is doing so for its climbing abilities. Instead, they're looking at the Slash because they want to bomb the downhills, send it over gaps that would give their mother a heart attack, and come sliding through corners with complete disregard for exit speed. In other words, the typical Slash owner just wants to have more fun than Keith Richards on tour in the 80s. And I think 'ol Keith might have had even more fun on the Slash than whatever he happened to be on over the last thirty years or so, because this is one bike that is going to inspire you to paint every trail black. It seems to be equal parts stability and playfulness that convinced me to do things I might otherwise wouldn't have said yes to, and being able to lean on either one when necessary not only got me through sections of trail that had me closing my eyes and hoping for the best, it had me doing the same thing again and again. And much like the perfectly balanced sports car that saves your ass instead of taking you into the wall backwards like you might deserve for being so foolish, the Slash can keep you upright when you might otherwise get taught a lesson.
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| The Slash gobbles this sort of terrain up like shipwreck survivor who's been at sea for weeks and suddenly finds himself at Red Lobster. |
How does it do it? Traction is one part of it, with the bike's rear end finding it in places where none should be, something that I'm putting down to Trek's ABP design that I've long said is able to provide more predictability during moments when you need it most, and more so than some other layouts on the market. It's something that I've talked about after riding their Remedy, Fuel, and even the short-travel Superfly FS platforms, but it's even more noticeable on the relatively long-travel Slash. No, it isn't mechanical EPO, and it won't see you going from surviving to winning in a local downhill race, but there is most definitely a sense of more control and traction on tap, especially when on the brakes or cornering on rough ground. You can get thrown if you ride above your head, no doubt about it, but, for a bike that you might have pedalled to the top of the day's run, it does a stunning job of keeping you moving forward. Keep in mind that this is from a bike that weighs in at less than 30lb, not some limo of a downhill sled, and you'll start to see just how capable the orange and black bike is on truly serious terrain. You do, however, need to be on exactly that sort of ground to get the most out if it, especially when the fork is left at full travel and the rear end left wide open, a setup that I eventually began to call "going for Brook" when I reverted to the Slash's monster trucking mode, a nod to the wild and loose style of Trek World Racing's Brook Macdonald.
| I'd tell you that you can take the 140mm travel Remedy anywhere and have fun, but you can take the 160mm Slash anywhere and push yourself to new limits while also having fun, so it just depends on what you want to get out of your ride. |
Given that the Slash is a slack angled, 160mm travel bike, all of the praise above shouldn't really come as too much of a surprise. What did surprise me, however, was what happened when I consistently rode the bike with its fork dropped down to 130mm from 160mm and the CTD shock set to the 'Trail' mode. Rather than feeling unbalanced and awkward, the Slash became a somewhat mild mannered trail bike that I took on nearly every type of ride, from 50km cross-country loops to multi-hour climbs that led into the kind of descents that city folk would trade their dog for just a single run down. When set up like this the Slash could be popped, pumped, and prodded to play around just as well as any true trail bike with 20 or 30mm less travel, and I ended up preferring this stiffer setup for many of the rides I went on. If that's the case, why not just get yourself something with less travel? Well, I'd tell you that you can take the 140mm travel Remedy anywhere and have fun, but you can take the 160mm Slash anywhere and push yourself to new limits while also having fun, so it just depends on what you want to get out of your ride.
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| You want grip? You got it. The Slash finds traction when you expect it to slide, especially when on the brakes. |
Technical Report
• The Slash's DRCV shock and its proprietary mounting configuration are a turn-off for some, and while Slash owners won't be able to swap it out for a different shock, I don't see why they would ever want to. The shock's design allows for extreme sensitivity at the upper end of its stroke where one notices such things, and it isn't hard to believe how that's the sort of thing that helps in low-traction situations. One thing is for sure in my mind: it does a great job of erasing much of the small but high-speed chop that air shocks very often struggle with.
• Handlebars are as personal as it gets, but Bontrager Rhythm Pro Carbon bar does look at bit odd at first sight. It's nearly flat, and the bar's shape is a little different than what a standard riser looks like from above, but your grips do end up exactly where they belong. Trek is likely going to take some heat due to spec'ing their own house-brand Bontrager parts on the Slash, and that's too bad - the stuff is good, and I'd run much of it on any of my personal bikes, the Rhythm Pro Carbon bar included.
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| The bike can be pushed hard with its fork lowered and shock set up firm, enough so that we spent a lot of time riding it like that on our home trails. |
• Another test bike, another SRAM eleven-speed drivetrain. What can I say that I haven't said before? The bike's gearing range, with its 32 tooth 'ring, felt wide enough for everything from the steep, short climbs that make you wince when you see them, to high-speed singletrack that will have you wishing you had some goggles on. The key, as always I always say with any of SRAM's single 'ring setups, is to simply choose the chain ring size that works for you. Unfortunately, I did experience the annoying issue of the derailleur's upper X-Sync pulley wheel coming out of time with the chain, meaning the its alternating narrow and wide teeth became aligned with the wide and narrow sections of the chain. It results in a rough feeling through the pedals, and requires you to manually re-set the pulley wheel's position.
• There's plenty of power on tap from the Avid X0 Trail four piston brakes, and their easy to use reach and contact point adjustments are very effective. That said, during the first month of use they made noises that resembled a large bird fighting for its life. The bird eventually must have died because they stopped screeching after awhile, leaving us with quiet brakes that offered loads of power and modulation. Could they have been contaminated from day one? Maybe, but power and feel were never an issue.
• The Bontrager XR4 Team Issue tires are much like the bike that they come spec'd on: confidence inspiring enough to roll into anything without worry, but relatively light so as not to have you feeling like you're trying to climb a fatbike up your local mountain. I'd almost say that the XR4s are all around badasses, but they do tend to float across muddy trail rather than find any sort of sharp bite. You can't ever have it all, can you?
Pinkbike's take:
| The Slash is going to be a lot of bike for most riders, and it might feel like overkill unless you have some properly serious terrain in your backyard. Having said that, finding yourself under-biked and on a burly trail can be a scary proposition, and there certainly aren't many trails around where that would happen if you were on the Slash. This is where I'd usually go on about the bike maybe not being for you unless you fit that cliched ''downhiller on a trail bike" mold that also includes dismounting for most climbs or wearing knee pads on a four hour cross-country ride, but the 160mm Slash is different in that it's almost two bikes in one. Of course, having to rely on changing the bike's suspension to get the most out of it on less demanding terrain isn't ideal, but the differences between the long-legged Slash and the Slash that's been shot by a shrinking ray gun are so drastic that it's really a tale of two bikes, and a less aggressive rider could ride it in the latter mode the majority of the time until they felt they needed some extra margin for error under them.- Mike Levy |
www.trekbikes.com
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stock version pike, www.fibica.com/images/50206228/6.jpg
RCT3, static.bike-components.de/cache/Rock-Shox-Pike-RCT3-Solo-Air-Federgabel-Modell-201-3adbb26ccbc91bd125ed35e2ca5865f0.jpeg
That flaw aside, Mike's review is spot-on - leave it in long travel and this bike is an absolute demon on the downhills, like a mini-DH ride; drop the Talas fork and Propedal/CTD the shock, and you've got a not too overweight trailbike that climbs with reasonable manners. My regular rides are from bottom to top and back down again - for me it's the perfect quiver-killer.
Also, my bike creaks like hell. After full service, 3 rides and it creaks like hell (pedaling and braking especially). Even when it was new, it creaked after the 2-3 ride.
But the bike feels so good on the ups and downs, but because of the creaks and not so good support from Trek (they did warranty the chainstay in 40 days but they don't answer e-mails and they have not so good dealers) probably won't be buying a Trek anymore in the future
Ive seen several conversions to better shocks. One requiring the shock bolts to be cut to length (some extra thread hanging off) to make the bolt not stick out of the rocker arm. The other did not require any cutting. I understand the whole issue of having to search high and low for a solution, its bullshit. Theres a good thread on mtbr as well as a blog by unclesombody on how to convert the shock although im sure you have already seen them.
With the proprietary shock stuff aside this bike is so capable. Climbs fast, suspension is lively and fun, and it's at its best when you point it down.
This is one example:
r2-bike.com/ROCK-SHOX-Rear-Shock-Monarch-Plus-RC3-DebonAir-2015-with-specially-Tune-from-325-g
m.vitalmtb.com/features/Formula-1-Meets-Mountain-Biking-in-Treks-New-RE-activ-Suspension,732
I'd like to see the slash as frame only and/or build it how u want it deal as u can other treks.
If you draw a straight line from the BB to the top of the saddle (at average pedaling height) it is 73. So nothing unusual there.
When slammed, and going over the steeps, I want my seat actually forward, away from my mid section in order to stay low/back.
When acsending steeps, I want my ass ahead of the bb.
Trust me when I say the frame was the worst part of the bike - and that was the same frame as their higher end Session 77.
Tire clearance is a very wrong way to describe a lower chainstay on the drive-side vs. NDS, if you really need that clearance, your derailleur and chain-ring would already be scraped off by the time you really get to the swingarm, and that's not even considering sag which would only push up the swingarm higher.
Who needs logic anyways?
Chainstay which is on the left (drive-side) is bent to create room for a front derailleur (it can't fit between tire and derailleur when suspension is in full travel, so it goes lower), also (as a bonus) that makes chainstay more equidistant from chain itself (top and bottom) so reduces slap. On the right side this arm is straight to minimize weight. I have very similar design on my 110 travel XC bike with Horst link.
I spent two weeks in Whistler on a 160mm bike (2011 Spesh Enduro Evo) and it was brilliant! and a day later I put an extra 5psi in the tires and did a 100km trail ride with some xc guys.
Of 'course a DH or XC bike would have been 'better' in each situation but I was extremely happy with my 'one bike to do it all'.
I wouldn't like a carbon Remedy at Whistler. It would be perfect for anything outside the park, but I would hire a DH bike when riding Whistler. (or pick up a cheap second hand DH bike).
Have a great trip!!!!
oh & killer bike, I'd like one
No thanks . You can purchase a specialized enduro comp with 3500.00 and comes with a pike fork.
i was not sold on the cheap feel of the enduro comp. i didnt like the feel of the geometry and my ridding position. the riding position is just a personal preference.
if you have a big bike at home like a dh or free ride bike go with the remedy i have seen big things done on that. dont just get the enduro put some seat time in on that you may like it. dont get the slash if you dont need the big bike feel and capability. i may not need the slash but for my aggressive riding and my dont care attitude about climbing bigger bikes i went for it. i could have got away with the remedy since i have an old dh bike sitting just for those random big mountain days.
I own the 8, and two friends own the 9. We're all super happy with the purchase. We all ride fairly aggressively (the other two a bit more than me) and fairly aggressive trails and these bikes will handle all you can throw at a trail. The lock out on the fork and shock in climb mode make this bike very climbable even with it's slack head tube angle. And when you point the bike down, all the effort it took to get up on this bike makes it more than worth it!