Conclusion
Testing bikes at different price points is always a tricky proposition. After all, how do you determine which bike offers the best value when the playing field isn’t level? Do you look at the specification alone? Hardly, because that just tells you which parts you’re getting and it’s a relatively easy calculation to make on your own. It says nothing of how the specification interacts with the frame, geometry and suspension however, and that’s where reading reviews like this one can be really helpful.
Take the Focus Jam 8.9 for example. On paper it shares a similar build kit to the alloy Jam 6.9. So you could look at it and ask if the carbon front-end with integrated storage, the lighter wheelset and 10-51t cassette are worth the extra £1,600, especially given that the bike isn’t that much lighter. That depends on what you value, right? In fact, we found that the greatest benefit of the higher specced Jam 8.9 wasn’t the carbon front-end, it was the Fox Float X shock, as it works much better with the progressive FOLD linkage than the inline Fox Float DPS shock on the Jam 6.9.
The Jam 8.9 is also the cheapest bike in this test by quite some margin. So does that make it the best value? In short, no. It desperately needs a longer dropper post, a GRIP 2 damped Fox 36 fork, ideally with 10mm extra travel, a faster rolling front tyre, a regular stem and the Acros headset bearing cover to route the cables directly into the head tube. Add all of those upgrades together, plus the cost of labour and the real price of the Focus Jam 8.9 is very close to the Specialized. In fact the most cost effective way to get these upgrades would be if Focus offered a more expensive model with them fitted as standard. Currently it does not, but hopefully that will change.
Now the question is, all things considered, is the Focus better than the Stumpy Evo? In terms of ride quality there’s not a massive amount in it. Both bikes feel good with gravity on your side. When it comes to pedalling, the Focus sprints better, the Specialized is better at winching up steep gradients. So what about as a package? Even with the suggested upgrades to the Focus, the Specialized will still be over 1kg lighter, is infinitely more adjustable and the SWAT storage is also superior. So it clearly has the upper hand in this test, and not just because it’s more expensive.
So that just leaves the Trek Slash 9.8 XT. At £6k it’s the most expensive bike here. But in many ways it’s also the most accomplished. Nothing needs upgrading out of the box and even though it has 10mm extra travel than the Stumpy
Evo, this doesn’t hold it back at all on mellower trails. If anything, it’s faster as the bike feels tight and efficient, both in how it dishes out the travel and in response to hard pedalling efforts. Point the Slash down anything steep and everything feels reassuringly solid, from the beefy Rockshox Zeb fork to the way the concentric rear axle pivot is held together at the rear. Yes, Trek’s storage compartment is nothing like as generous as the one on the Stumpy Evo, but you could probably cram a second tool wrap in to occupy the lower position of the downtube. You could even run the Specialized SWAT one and no one would ever know.
The Trek Slash 9.8 XT is a great option for UK enduro racing, hardcore trail riding and if the marketing is anything to go by, even a spot of jibbing. And in a world where everything seems to be getting divided into sub categories, it’s refreshing to ride a bike that does everything well. No tweaking required.