Back in a time before the enduro moniker existed the Ransom used to be Scott’s do-it-all bike that had an impressive 160mm of travel for a low, even by today's standards, 30lbs weight. You’ll probably remember the old Ransom thanks to its rather funky looking system dubbed the Equalizer. Thankfully, the 2019 version doesn't mark the rebirth of the Equalizer system, the bike hasn’t put on much weight and the only thing it shares with the old model is its name. The new Ransom has modern geometry, a spattering of top-spec parts and a 'faster is better' ethos to riding.
With 170mm front and rear wheel travel and 29-inch wheels, the new Ransom blurs the boundaries between enduro, freeride, and downhill, and Scott are very keen to note that it's a range-topping enduro-winning race bike that can handle big hits, fast riding and wild trails. With all of that in mind, it firmly demotes their 150mm travel Genius platform to trail use, and until the Ransom was released, Scott was officially 'missing' a full-on enduro bike.
Scott reckons you should be able to ride the gnarliest of trails any mountain or enduro race track can throw at you, but you might want to consider moving up a model range to either the Voltage or Gambler if you’re going to be tackling massive jumps in the park all day long.
Scott Ransom 900 Tuned Details
• Intended use: Enduro
• Wheel size: 29" or 27.5" (700 Tuned bike)
• Rear wheel travel: 170mm (29" & 27.5")
• Boost 12x148
• Carbon frame (aluminium build options)
• Size: S - XL
• Weight: 30.53 lb / 13.85 kg
• Price: 900 (tested)/700 Tuned - £6,999 / 910 - £5,099 / 920/720 - £3,599 / 930 - £2,799
• scott-sports.com Frame Details The bike has internally routed cables that, unlike the old Genius LT bike, run next to the main pivot rather than under the bottom bracket which helps reduce cable pull. A ribbed chainstay protector does a really good job of deadening chain slap and other noises that are produced by the rear end of the bike when you're thrashing it. There's a built-in downtube protector, too, should any rocks head towards the underside of the carbon frame.
There’s enough tire clearance, even with the stock 29 x2.6" Maxxis fitted and plenty more if you fit narrower rubber. The fork runs a 44mm offset, which is claimed to help reduce handlebar or steering flop out on the trail compared to the 51mm of offset that used to be the norm.
The new Ransom’s frame is built around the premise of being flexy and stiff in the most appropriate areas. The lower half of the frame, from the headtube down the downtube and then to the rear axle along the chainstays is built for stiffness thanks to the chunky bottom bracket and main pivot area, while the top half of the bike that runs from the headtube to the seat tube along the top tube and then down the seat stays is lightweight and has an amount of inbuilt compliance. Scott claims this makes the bike less jarring and also lowers the center of gravity. Scott has opted to unify their range of trail, all mountain and enduro bikes’ suspension designs and the new Ransom features a Horst-link that uses a pivot on the chainstay located slightly below and in front of the rear axle.
Geometry With a 64.5° headtube angle in the slack setting and a 75° effective seat-tube angle on the size large, the Ransom's numbers are modern but not boundary-pushing for a bike with this amount of travel. It would have been nice to see a sub 64-degree HA and a steeper STA given how much travel and how light the bike is, but the stock figures certainly aren't deal breakers.
In the low setting, the chainstays sit at 437.9mm and 436 for the high position. Bikes are getting longer to make them more stable at speed, and the reach numbers on the Ransom are now pretty standard for a large bike. The large comes in at 466.5mm in low and 472mm in high and at 5ft 11inches (178cm) tall, the large was spot on for me.
The new Ransom’s wheelbase is 1249.2mm in low and 1247.8mm in the high setting which is refreshingly long, although not the longest for a bike of this nature. The 29er version we’re testing is available from sizes S to XL, but it would be great if they added an XXL size in the future for the really tall riders out there.
SuspensionScott prides themselves on their TwinLoc system that simultaneously adjusts both the fork and rear shock through three modes and this system makes an appearance on their new Ransom. The remote actuator is mounted beneath the bar on the left-hand side and they claim that this quick-to-activate adjustment makes the bike sit up in its travel (in climb mode), which is something a rider can use on short, sharp climbs commonly seen on enduro race tracks or helps it climb both on and off-road.
On the 900 Tuned model, Scott's Fox Nude TR proprietary shock has an additional lever to adjust the volume of the air can. This can be changed on the fly to make the shock behave in a more linear or more progressive way depending on how you’ve got the lever set. The shock is also compatible with tokens should you wish to further adjust its progression.
The Factory 36 fork is the FIT4 variant with low-speed compression adjustment that's linked to their TwinLoc lever, not a full-fat GRIP2 damper with both high- and low-speed compression adjustment.
Frame Options / Build KitsThe new Ransom comes in 6 models, two of which are 650b bikes the rest 29ers. The top-of-the-range 900 Tuned comes with a 27.5 counterpart - the 700 Tuned. The middle of the of the range bike - the 920 - also has a 27.5 model, the 720. The bottom of the range bike only comes with 29-inch wheels. All bikes come in four sizes; from S to XL.
The lowest-specced 930 bike has an alloy front and rear triangle, costs £2,799 and is equipped with NX Eagle, a Yari fork and X-Fusion shock. The 920 and 720 bikes are identically specced and feature an NX Eagle drivetrain but come with Fox 36 forks and a Fox shock. The entire frameset is made from aluminum and costs £3,599 for both versions. The 910 bike is the first model to get a carbon front end, the drivetrain is upgraded to GX Eagle and the Fox forks now feature the FIT4 damper and will set you back £5,099. The range-topping 700/900 Tuned gets both a carbon front triangle and swingarm, X01 Eagle drivetrain and Kashima coated Factory suspension, but costs £6,999.
To get to grips with how this bike rides, I put in plenty of Whistler bike park laps on trails ranging from Dirt Merchant and A-Line’s senders all the way through to the techy and slower paced hole-filled gnarliness of BC’s Trail, Delayed Fuse and Ride Don’t Slide. It would be fair to say I’ve ridden this bike on the types of terrain I think a modern enduro race machine should be able to handle with competence.
During testing, the conditions had been exceptionally dry, hard and fast which pushed my body and the bike to the limits. With the amount of traffic the park gets, particularly after Whistler's round of the Crankworx World Tour, it suffers from impressive amounts of braking bumps, holes and bagged out conditions. Despite the gallant efforts of the trail crew, the insanely dry weather Canada experienced this summer meant that the park was pretty rough when I tested the bike. These conditions proved to be ideal to do some initial testing on new Ransom.
Alex EvansLocation: Bath, United Kingdom
Age: 31
Height: 178 cm
Inseam: 82 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Industry affiliations / sponsors: None
The first thing you notice when you point the Ransom downhill is how well it eats up massive holes - whether they're braking bumps or naturally formed holes, the rear end of the bike has an uncanny ability to turn rough and wild into smooth and controlled. Couple this with bottomless-feeling rear suspension and it's possible to go fast and ride confidently from the get-go. That extra speed comes with more risk, though, and I found myself pushing out of my comfort zone quite quickly - luckily the bike's rear suspension is sorted enough to be forgiving when I inevitably started to make mistakes. Unlike on some bikes, I didn't feel like I was being punished when I got off-line or ended up making a dog's dinner out of the track.
In lockout mode, the bikes climbs exceptionally well, but comfort is sacrificed and this mode is best suited to road or smooth gravel. In traction control mode, compliance and comfort are improved but you don’t get the benefits of the suspension sitting un-sagged into its stroke. the middle mode simply reduces the bike's usable travel to 120mm. Although it does firm up the suspension somewhat, I didn't see any obvious advantage over the fully open mode given how supportive the bike felt unless you were pedalling in a choppy way along flat ground.
The Ransom was smooth and forgiving on the roughest of trails, but the FIT4 equipped Fox 36 wasn't as capable as I would have liked. While it has enough end stroke support when fitted with the correct number of tokens and set to my preferred pressure, it lacks most of the meaningful adjustments normally found on forks spec'd on bikes at this price point. On top of that, there was a lack of beginning stroke suppleness that caused braking bumps to resonate through my hands, and in some instances resulted in the fork 'twanging' back and forth as it flexed rather than compressed to absorb the bumps.
The overall feel of the bike is one of compliance and forgiveness - most likely a combined product of the rims, bars, inherent frame flex and rear shock function. This translates to mountains of off-camber grip where the bike tracks and absorbs bumps like rocks and roots with a willing ease, really helping you to maintain your intended line without needing to be overly boisterous or lose speed helping you to conserve precious energy.
The Enduros/ Trailbikes are not that breathtaking
Yup. Out of all the bikes Ive owned my 2014 gambler is the only bike I dont want to sell.
Great bike to ride and look at. Pain to clean linkages though
That's the main reason they don't appeal to me and I'd never own one.
I have rode both the spark and genius and really like the ride characteristics but they are over priced and I absolutely don’t want the silly TwinLoc. I have tried to get use to it but hate it more every time I use it. Also with the shock upside down, it holds a lot of mud and water if you ride in wet conditions and it makes it a lot harder to clean.
took a lap on the sb130 over the weekend. damn. i think yeti's gonna have a ripmo situation on their hands and sell out and be backordered for months. that bike is almost too good. and the sprawling wheelbase on the XL didn't feel unmanageable at all. sick bike.
The SCOTT bikes always look pretty clean kit but don't inspire myself to empty my bank account on one.
LOL @ the rear shock and FIT4 on a 170mm Enduro bike.
I'm not in the market yet, but always keeping an eye open and doing the occasional demo. Yeah I heard about the production problems, but I also heard that they're flying off the shelves. And I rode my buddy's ripmo and liked it. Alot of good bikes out there. Also considering the Scott Genius, just a parking lot test so far, but really like that bike too.
Finally, and here is my biggest question:
What types of rides do you guys usually go for ? I mean how long and how much elevation change ?
On this side of the pond, at least in the french Alps, we climb. Quite a lot. So yes, it makes sense to think about the weight if you want to do more than 3000ft of vertical drop.
If they could do TwinLoc on a GRIP2 damper with a DPX2 or X2, then it wouldn't bother me at all. It may not be my cup of tea, but I can deal with it. What I can't deal with is use of suspension components that don't really suit the purpose of the bike.
The GRIP2 damper is a lot better than the FIT4, plus there is a lot more adjustment for more aggressive riding. The DPS shock is not really suited for enduro racing, either, and it should be a piggyback. I don't mind TwinLoc, but sacrificing those things in order to keep TwinLoc is, IMO, a poor decision. I can spend the 2 seconds to swap the shock and fork to a climb mode over needing a bar on the levers to have better performing suspension components. The TwinLoc system requires sacrifices that just aren't worth it.
The problem is that this is a bike meant to pedal you to the top of the hill and just get you there so you can rip the downhills. Using an inline shock with less performance going downhill in favor of a geometry shift to climb better puts you in the "jack of all trades, master of none" category IMO.
This is a 170mm enduro bike, let's face it, it's not a bike meant for climbing performance. Why sacrifice downhill performance in favor of better climbing on a bike that will always climb poorly and isn't meant for efficient climbing in the first place?
The first bolt snapped at 7 nm when it needs to be 11nm lucky we had a second bolt in that pack.
I don't sell scott anymore we replaced them with Gt. I have a new 2019 force elite here in 4 days.
But I totally agree. Specing the bike with twin-loc caused them to use a Fox 36 that isn't what most people want in their 36.
Mixed feelings about the twin-lock...
losing adjustments on the fork sucks
but for fire road grinds and enduro stages with sprinty pedally bits, it does seem handy.
Reach should be put into context of ESTA/ETT. Pole Machine has a 535mm reach but the ETT is shorter than Ransom's.
BTW are even we allowed to use road bike puns in here??
I don't think Scott wants you to ride the Voltage anymore since they quit making it... ha
I personally own one Genius 29er and getting another Scott roadie and while there are not that spectacular choices as with Intense or Cannondale in the past, I feel like I'm betting my money right. If one word would describe Scott brand, it's "Confidence".
(TBH flying into a festival sounds like more hassle that I'm looking for, I should really just identify a dealer who stocks and fly in, ride, and fly out, although I guess if I want to do a proper demo on dirt I guess that means chasing the demo truck as no dealers willl probably have dirt demo's available).
And to think I set this article aside this morning looking forward to reading it after a long day, figuring it was going to be a full fledged in-depth thrash session from Levy or Kazimer... but they gave the assignment to the cub reporter.
This bike is at the very top of a very short list.
I find the design super sexy, but the paint too loud / dated (just give me some version of black).
Now that you mention it, Scott name is a kinda weird brand to have plastered along the entire downtube... might as well be Dave or Steve. But I can be ok with it (or repaint it) if the bike shreds.
Love the concept and execution (and weight) of the Hixon, but I run my bars with the... end sweep(?) exactly horizontal, i.e. "rolled back" for most people. Will I be able to adjust to the feel, though it's biomechanicaly incorrect?
Potential deal breakers (and trying to discern how much they matter):
Fit4 instead of Grip 2
No ISCG05 mounts
Should I be OK with "this" PressFit? This (BB92?) does seem to be the best / least worst / most well engineered press fit design. Anybody have experience with it?
With all the nonsense that is supposed to make it easier to get over a mountain i dont see how this ransom could ever be pedaled to 40 mph on any race course.
The average joe who buys into marketing has ruined the industry for those who killtrail.
Many people even threw out the garbage the it was and put a monarch on it to get the bike working.