Scott’s latest Ransom is a monster of an enduro or even all-mountain bike. Available in either 29″ or 27.5″ wheel builds it packs in a long 170mm of travel while still being light & efficient enough to pedal to the top for the next timed stage.
All-new 2019 Scott Ransom 170mm carbon enduro bike
Scott says the new Ransom is built for versatility, but it’s hard to ignore the trail capability of a modern 170mm travel 29er. Sure this thing promises to pedal uphill – but with big wheels, meaty 2.6″ tires, a slack headtube, and that much four-bar travel – the new Ransom begs to be set free bombing down the most technical trails you can find.
But the Ransom to go fast up too, with light weight being one of its core design goals. Scott says that the full carbon Ransom is the strongest carbon frame they’ve built to date.
And it still comes in a claimed 2.65kg/5.84lb for the frame, shock & all hardware. And with that the top end 29er complete build claims a weight of just 13.2kg/29.1lb.
At more affordable pricing levels a custom butted 6011 aluminum alloy frame saves you coin, with mid range builds sharing the carbon front end with an alloy rear.
2019 Scott Ransom Adjustable Geometry & Suspension
The classic Horst-link 4-bar design Ransom uses the same fast geometry switching design of the Genius trail bike to go from 29″ to 27.5″ wheels and back. A lot of its versatility is based of that shorter travel trail bike. Just flip the chip at the upper shock mount, swap wheels, and ride away.
Geometry updates over the pervious generation Ransom were mostly about increasing descending capabilities – ie. longer, lower & slacker. In its low bottom bracket setting that amounts to a 64.5° headtube angle, with a 44mm offset fork. But steepening the seattube to 75 or 75.5° also helped get you weight back forward for improved climbing ability as well.
The Ransom carries over the same TwinLoc suspension remote as Scott’s shorter travel XC and trail bikes with three modes – lockout, traction control & descend. Traction control mode cuts rear wheel travel down to 120mm lifting the BB 20mm, while simply increasing compression damping on the fork.
It’s not robot controlled Fox Live Valve, but for $2000 less or tech, you get an easy to flip remote that mean you can always be in the right suspension mode, as fast as you can flip the switch. And from our experience it’s one of the easier remotes to use on the trail in the real world.
Ransom’s new Fox Nude TR adjustable progression
The Ransom does get some unique Fox tech though. It features a new, proprietary Fox Nude TR rear shock with a ramp adjust flip switch that opens & closes and auxiliary air chamber (plus it also gets a trunnion mount).
That actually allows you to adjust the progressive nature of the shock on the go, much like you would normally do by rebuilding the shock with an internal spacer stacks. That means you can set the bike up with more linear suspension movement for general trail riding, then flip to more progressive when the trail shifts into big hits.
That might not seem like such a big deal. But for a bike that might pull double duty as a technical all-mountain trail bike one day, and then get tasked with a weekend jumping around in the bike park, it would give riders the chance to get much more out of their suspension without needing to open up and adjust their shock.
2019 Scott Ransom Tech Details
A big part of the bike’s versatility is the ability to run two different wheel sizes, but that also comes down to improved tire clearance.
A big part of the bike’s versatility is the ability to run two different wheel sizes, but that also comes down to improved tire clearance. In 27.5 mode it will fit near-plus 2.8″ tires, or up to 2.6″ wide 29er tires.
The new Ransom also gets new integrated downtube, chainstay & seatstay protectors to add to the frame’s overall durability. Thee chainstay guard even gets a special raised, ridged design that significantly quiets down the inevitable chain slap when tossing the bike through rocks & roots.
Cables on the new bike are internally routed, but pop out to go above the bottom bracket. That both keeps them out of the way of impacts, and limits the effect of movement of the long travel rear end.
Of course the bike is 1x-specific (getting an integrated chain guide), uses Boost 148mm hub spacing, and gets dropper seatposts with stealth routing. It also features a PressFit BB92 bottom bracket, tapered 1.5″ headset, and 31.6mm seatpost.
Much like aero road bikes these days (haha, I love that this is true) Ransoms also come with the unique all-mountain-specific one-piece bar+stem cockpit. The new Syncros Hixon Rise bar and stem is full-carbon, and promises increased strength & stiffness. First debuted on the Genius last year, the bar and stem combo now gets wider and more rise for more aggressive enduro and trail riding.
Pricing & Availability
The new 2019 Scott Ransom is available in six complete bike builds – four 29er & two 27.5 – all available in four frames sizes (S-XL). Pricing starts at 3000€ and climbs to 7500€. Check out our follow-up post for detailed complete bike specs, pricing & claimed weights.
