INTERBIKE 2009 – Scott had a full range of mountain bikes on display, from their transforming Genius full susser to the hardtail Scale 29er and Voltage dirt jump and freeride bikes.
The Genius, above, comes in a range of trims and price levels, from $2,199 up to $9,899, with four carbon and three aluminum models. The trick with the Genius is its rear shock. It’s a twin-chamber magician that goes from 95mm to 150mm of travel without altering the quality of suspension. How? The Dual Air Equalizer shock has the same amount of travel per chamber, but when one’s closed off, the reduced air volume limits travel to 95mm. Open it up, and you instantly have the full 150mm travel ready to work the bumps.
Shown above is the “20” model ($5,499), which comes with a Fox TALAS fork (so you can adjust the front end to match the rear’s travel) and special edition white DT Swiss XR wheels.
Hit ‘more’ for specs, details, weights and info on the Scale and Voltage…
Here’s what makes the Genius so smart. Put air in and it automatically balances it between each chamber. Add negative air, then use the handlebar-mounted remote to change your travel as necessary. It also has rebound adjustments for each chamber, letting you dial in the ride characteristics for each travel setting. Rider weight and recommended air pressure settings are printed on the shock.
The TwinLoc is dialed into both the rear shock and the front fork, so you can lockout both at once. Click it once and the rear shock switches to “Traction” mode at 95mm without affecting the fork. Click it further and it locks out both shock and fork.
The seat tube is mounted far forward on the downtube and angled way back to make room for the shock. This pushes the chainstay length out to 16.9″ (428mm), which is on the long side of things, but not unreasonable. It certainly looks longer than that.
Alloy bits at the pivots and dropouts bond together the otherwise all-carbon frame.
It’s hard to tell here, but the Genius uses carbon dropouts with a replaceable alloy derailleur hanger. The brake mount is alloy to help dissipate heat.
The Front pivot on the rocker arm is molded into the front of the seat tube without interrupting the tube. This allows for a full range of seatpost adjustment.
All of the main tubes on the Genius are rather large and use Scott’s IMP4 (Integrated Molding Process) carbon layup. This creates the head-, top- and downtubes as a single piece to increase strength while reducing the amount of material needed (lighter). They also do away with a cosmetic external layer of carbon, further reducing weight. The end result:
A 28lb 5oz trail bike with a wide range of travel adjustment for XC to light freeriding. This weight is for the “20” with XT drivetrain and Avid Elixir R hydraulic disc brakes.
2010 SCOTT SCALE 29er HARDTAIL
The Scott Scale 29er debuted earlier this year, but this was our first chance to get some up close pics and actual weights. It’s a hydroformed 7005 aluminum hardtail with 100mm travel fork, and it only comes in one trim level. What you see is what you get.
Based on their Scale 26″ racing hardtail, the Scale 29er comes in four sizes and retails for a reasonable $1,649.99. It’s spec’d with a mix of Shimano Deore with XT rear derailleur, RockShox Reba SL 100mm fork, Avid Elixir 5 disc brakes and DT Swiss 485D rims and spokes on Scott/Shimano hubs. Scott stem, bar, seat and post and a Ritchey headset round out the package. Surprisingly, it includes Shimano SPD pedals, too.
Like many of the larger companies that are finally dipping their toes into the 29er market, Scott’s starting small and acting very non-committal when asked if there are any full suspension 29ers in the works.
At 27lb 7oz, it’s not setting any records, but it could very easily drop down to 25lbs without a lot of work. For the price, it’s a good way to get into a 29er from a reputable brand, and upgrade as you grow with it.
Head tube uses an integrated 1-1/8″ headset with straight steerer tube.
A bent seat tube keeps the wheel tucked under the rider and keeps the wheelbase shorter for tighter handling.
Standard bottom bracket area.
2010 SCOTT VOLTAGE DJ and FR MOUNTAIN BIKES
Scott’s Voltage line of Dirt Jump and Freeride bikes are made to take abuse, as evidenced by the stunts pulled by sponsored rider James Doerfling.
Shown above is the Voltage FR 20. There’s also a 10 and a 30 trim level available. The Voltage FR has an adjustable travel and geometry linkage, letting you run from 130 to 180mm of travel and positions for slopestyle and park riding. It also comes with interchangeable dropouts with three different lengths yielding chainstay lengths from 415 to 435mm. They also allow for the use of standard QR, Maxle or 12mm thru axles.
The FR 10 gets the gray/purple color scheme. Above and below, you can see the various shock and link mounts that allow for the various travel and geometries. The bikes come with an E-Thirteen chainguide and the frames have ISCG and ISCG05 mounting tabs.
A three-bolt attachment secures the interchangeable dropouts.
The fork on the Voltage FR 20 is a 180mm travel RockShox Domain 302 coil with 20mm Maxle. It uses 203mm disc rotors in the front and rear. MSRP is $2,199.99.
The Voltage FR 10 steps up to a Fox 36 Vanilla R coil and gets other spec upgrades. MSRP is $3,799.99.
For the dirt jumpers, the Voltage YZ hardtails are available in six trim levels. Shown here is the 0.1, which is just below the top-of-the-line Limited (which matches the silver/purple color scheme of the FR 10).
The YZ’s have a heavily hydroformed and shaped tubeset that looks strong. The headtube uses straight welds and a unique junction forging that gives the frames a very strong front end (same on the FR versions).
For 2010, the Voltage YZ is a chainguide specific frame and comes standard with ISCG and ISCG05 tabs.
The 0.1 gets nice color-matched gold chain, ring and graphics, and it comes with Wellgo flat pedals, too.
The YZ has very short chianstays (385mm) for better control in the air. Scott claims these are the shortest chainstays on the market.
RELATED: Check out Scott’s new CR-1 road bike in this post.
