Scott Ransom 920

The enduro rig will help you rip down trails and climb up them well, too

The enduro rig will help you rip down trails and climb up them well, too

Ihave always enjoyed the Swiss engineering and attention to detail that Scott puts into its bikes. Often, it’s the first brand to introduce new bike technologies or features to the market, such as the inverted trunnion-type mounting of the shock, introduced on the Scott Spark in 2016 and later the Genius before also being used on the enduro-focused Ransom. I had a chance to ride the Spark when it first came out, so I was excited to try its bigger, longer-travel brother on the mild steeps of Blue Mountain.

Out on the trail, the Ransom is a real brawler. With 170 mm of travel there isn’t much to complain about when it comes to pushing speeds going downhill, especially on the Ontario trails I was riding. The Ransom soaked up all the rocks and roots I could throw at it and even saved me from a few poor line choices that may have seen me careening into the woods on a lesser bike. The Fox 36 fork kept me going in my intended direction, while the rear shock did a good job of helping me stay planted through rough sections. I did have to play with the suspension a bit to get it to feel balanced. I ended up running a bit more pressure than recommended in the rear to keep the bike from sinking into its travel through hard berms and corners. With extra air in the shock, the bike felt more balanced, but I feel like the real solution would be to try a piggyback shock, such as the Fox X2.

For me, the standout feature of the Ransom is the Twinloc remote and suspension. Scott’s proprietary Twinloc system allows you to change the suspension dynamics with the flip of a switch. Full open mode gives you all 170 mm of plush track-eating travel; the middle mode only offers the top 120 mm of travel in the rear and significantly firms up the front. Twinloc is a great feature for technical climbs, where you need the pedalling efficiency to keep moving but also need a bit of travel to soak up small bumps to maintain momentum. The third setting is a full lockout for all those fire-road climbs.

I ended up using the climb mode on all but one of my ascents to the top of Blue Mountain. The setting was able to transform the bike from a big-travel beast into a more tame and manageable climber. Not only was the Twinloc great for switching on and off for climbs, it was convenient to switch quickly into climb mode for flatter sections of sprinting on enduro stages. The one downfall of the Twinloc is that it puts your dropper-post remote on top of the bars, which could be a deal breaker for some. In enduro racing, where you are usually going up or down, I see the mounting as less of a hindrance. With a price tag of $5,600, the bike may seem a bit expensive for an aluminum-frame machine. The Ransom, however, comes packed with technology and features that make it a bargain for the price.

“It’s a real brawler.”