Trek has now announced details of its latest enduro-ready ripper, the Slash 29. Taking up where the Remedy 29 left off, this new bike pairs an all-new 150mm frame with a 160mm fork in a slack carbon package that joins the ever-increasing ranks of long-travel big wheelers.
Slash 29 highlights
- 150mm rear / 160mm front travel
- 1x specific
- Adjustable geometry
- Two complete models and a frame-only option
- Four sizes available
- Available this fall
Anyone who’s familiar with Trek’s recently announced Remedy and Fuel EX models will see similarities to these and the new Slash, the most obvious being that oversized ‘Straight Shot’ down tube. Another feature inherited from Trek’s other 2017 bikes is the Knock Block system - a headset-integrated frame defense solution that keeps the fork crown from making contact with the Slash frame.
In order to get its chainstays down to 433/434mm in length, the new Slash was made 1x-specific while Boost110 & Boost148 hub spacing should get the most out of those 29in wheels.
Unlike the shorter travel Remedy and Fuel EX, the Slash goes without Trek’s full-floater system and instead mounts its shock at a fixed mount on the front triangle. This allowed Trek to create a stiffer overall structure, apparently its stiffest outside of any of its downhill bikes. However, the Slash still retains the ABP concentric axle pivot of Trek’s other full suspension designs.
A chip at the frame’s chainstays can be flipped in order to slacken or steepen the geometry of the Slash. The result is a bike that sits proudly with a properly slack 65.1 degree head angle in its lower setting or half a degree steeper at 65.6 degrees for the high setting.
The Slash will be available in four sizes, the smallest of which is just 15.5in, quite an achievement for a long-travel 29er.
The Trek Slash 9.8 is the cheaper of two complete models, at US$5,500 it packs RockShox’ switchable 130/160mm Pike RC fork, a Super Deluxe RC3 shock and SRAM’s X1 11-speed drivetrain. The other option is the US$9,000 9.9 RSL (race shop limited) as photographed which - along with Trek’s factory colour scheme - gets a 160mm Fox 36 TALAS fork, Float X2 shock, SRAM's 12-speed Eagle drivetrain, and Bontrager's top end Line Elite wheelset.
