We’ve just had a look at Trek’s new Scratch full-sus, which aims to bridge the gap between the company’s Session downhill bike and Remedy all-mountain machine.
With 160mm of travel up front and 170mm of rear bounce, it’s aimed at riders who want to blast downhill and then pedal back up the mountain.
The Scratch uses Trek’s E2 tapered head tube system (1.5in lower and 1 1/8in upper), which is designed to be stiffer than a 1 1/8in head tube but lighter than the 1.5in alternative.
It has adjustable geometry – the head tube angle and bottom bracket height can be altered from 66.5° and 14.4in to 66° and 14.1in respectively – so you can slacken the angles for high-speed riding and steepen them for more technical terrain.
The rear dropout can take 135mm or 142mm hubs and has a tabbed guide for ease of installation.
Starting at £2,700, the base model has a RockShox Lyrik fork, Fox Float RP2 rear shock, Shimano SLX crankset and Bontrager Cousin Earl Disc wheelset.
The top-end model (pictured) will set you back £4,000 and has a Fox Vanilla RC2 fork and DHX RC-4 shock, RaceFace Atlas crankset and SRAM XO rear mech.
We’ll bring you news from the Trek Scratch’s official launch in October, and you can get your hands on the new bike from mid-December 2009.