First, it was the XC Spark, subsequent the path Genius, then final yr’s enduro Ransom, and now lastly a prototype Scott Gambler DH bike will get its personal Daring redesign, with the rear shock fully hidden contained in the body. The final of the Scott full-suspension mountain bikes to get the built-in redesign.
Apparently, Scott has an all-new full-carbon Gambler downhill bike within the works. And it appears fairly near production-ready. Though we nonetheless seen just a few in-development tweaks being examined. We noticed it racing the moist and muddy DH World Cup in Bielsko-Biała World Cup beneath the Scott Downhill Manufacturing unit staff. They weren’t particularly hiding the prototype Scott Gambler, and we’ve bought a reasonably good thought of what’s happening inside…
Prototype Scott Gambler carbon 6-bar World Cup DH bike
Whereas we’d usually say we don’t know an excessive amount of concerning the particulars of an unreleased prototype bike with a lot of its tech hidden inside, I occur to experience the newest Ransom. And this new Gambler body appears an terrible lot like my enduro bike. That’s not a large shock, as Scott mainly described their new Ransom to me as a DH-ready bike you could nonetheless pedal uphill. A sentiment backed up by my very own customized tremendous enduro construct, you will have noticed in my Maxima brake & Eagle 90 drivetrain critiques.
So the brand new Gambler will share the identical 6-bar suspension format with only a few DH tweaks. That’s almost definitely to get 200mm of rear wheel journey, to mount 200mm journey double crown forks, and so as to add totally different geometry and suspension adjustability than I discover on my enduro bike.
So what’s new?
Longer journey
Past the easy logical assumption that this prototype 6-bar Scott Gambler DH bike is almost definitely getting about 200mm of journey entrance and rear, there are just a few apparent variations when in comparison with the similar-looking Ransom.
First off, the prototype bike I noticed Benoit Coulanges racing includes a for much longer uncooked aluminum rocker hyperlink. His rocker hyperlinks even have three further bolt holes in them, which permits Scott to hitch the left & proper rocker arms with a connecting bridge for added stiffness. Examine that to the separate white and barely shorter rocker hyperlinks on the bike beneath, or the separate, even shorter rockers on the prevailing Ransoms.
One other new function is the diamond-shaped bolt cowl simply in entrance of Coulanges’ ankle. This may be a flip-chip for the ahead shock mount, giving the rider the likelihood to regulate the shock curve.
The bikes additionally forego absolutely inside cable routing (presumably in favor of simpler Angleset headset geometry adjustment) and transfer cable routing to the edges of the headtube the place Scott has positioned a few bumpers for the higher tube of the double crown forks.
Modern UDH & dropout flip-chip mixed!
One other large distinction that I see is transferring chainstay size adjustment right here to the dropout, as an alternative of on the entrance of the chainstays on the Ransom. I’ll say that it is vitally troublesome to flip that chip on my enduro bike with out eradicating the chainring, so maybe that is meant to make it simpler for DH race groups to vary chainstay size to go well with various monitor circumstances.
Curiously, this new Gambler solely will get a detachable/replaceable black aluminum dropout on the driveside, bolted into the in any other case carbon right-side seatstay. On the non-driveside, the keep is absolutely carbon, and simply will get a flip-chip insert on the dropout. The bolt on the derailleur hanger is labeled UDH, which indicators a novel answer. The UDH normal doesn’t enable sufficient motion for a flip-chip on the axle concurrently sustaining direct Full Mount connection for T-type derailleurs, so it appears Scott simply created two separate UDH-compatible driveside dropouts – 1 for the brief & 1 for the lengthy chainstay place.
Presumably, there’s sufficient chainstay adjustment to run both a 27.5″ or 29″ rear wheel. However I solely noticed mullet setups being raced.
And what’s the identical?
Usually talking, the general suspension format is similar 6-bar because the Ransom. There’s the identical brief decrease hyperlink that rotates across the backside bracket and drives the shock hidden contained in the body. The identical chainstay pivot simply in entrance of the rear axle. And the identical principal rocker hyperlink up high, linked to the decrease hyperlink with a set of vertical dogbone management hyperlinks.
Plus, the carbon entrance triangle appears quite a bit just like the Ransom, with the shock hidden inside. And once more, Scott provides the bike a quick-release, detachable decrease cowl for simple entry to the shock, and nonetheless safety for the shock from mud, mud, and impacts.
What’s a 6-bar suspension once more?
A 6-bar suspension format at all times feels tougher to visualise or clarify. Scott engineers beforehand defined to me why they used it, saying it provides them extra high quality management over efficiency modifications like shock price, axle path, chain development, and braking affect all through the bike’s journey.
I really feel like colour helps higher clarify it. If it weren’t for that (blue) dogbone, it could have 5 hyperlinks (simpler to think about its unstable motion with simply an additional hyperlink splitting the Horst 4-bar). However then, with that further management hyperlink (blue) connecting the 2 entrance brief hyperlinks (yellow & inexperienced), it guides their relative rotation halfway via its journey. Mainly, it makes for a next-gen digital pivot answer, letting the suspension designers choose & select efficiency traits that they need independently, at totally different factors within the bike’s journey.
On the Ransom that meant: Supple early journey with a extra rearward axle path for an opulent really feel. Much less chain development within the center to finish of journey. And a flatter anti-rise curve for a constant really feel on the pedals via tough sections. Plus, restricted pedal kickback on large hits. All of these would sound nice for a DH bike, too.
A more in-depth 6-bar sneak peek within the World Cup pits
Linkage-wise, a sneak peek into the pits for pre-race service, and it appears just like the Gambler answer is just about similar to the Ransom, simply larger. (To elucidate, let’s examine the photograph above proper; after which reference again to the colours in my 6-bar explainer.)
Greater means an extended higher rocker hyperlink (backside center silver hyperlink; yellow), a principal inside hyperlink with barely longer lever arms (center proper black hyperlink; inexperienced however hidden), an extended decrease chainstay lever for the exterior a part of the decrease hyperlink (middle in silver with the underside bracket bearing pressed into it; inexperienced) that’s nonetheless linked to the dogbone management hyperlink (silver within the center; blue).
So what’s subsequent?
When will this new prototype Scott Gambler launch?
Nicely, for now Scott Downhill Manufacturing unit staff are racing prototype bikes, and dialing within the aluminum rocker hyperlinks. It does appear to be the bike we noticed within the pits with a barely shorter white rocker hyperlink seemed just about production-ready. However solely time will inform.
There are nonetheless 9 extra DH World Cup races on the UCY MTB World Collection schedule for the remainder of the yr, so Scott has loads of alternatives to dial within the new bike, stretching into October.
Plus, the DH World Championships shall be determined in Champéry, Switzerland within the first week of September, simply an hour’s drive from Scott’s personal Swiss HQ. If I needed to guess, I’d wager that may be the proper spot to formally debut the brand new DH bike.
We’ll mark our calendars.