I’m thinking of buying a Scott Ransom frame and sticking my Sram X0 bits on, XT cranks, XT cassette, very light saddle, EA70 bars, Juicy fives… possibly ultimates….. Fox F100 forks……

Could it be a light’ish bike?

Or is it gonna be a pig on the hills?

Current issue of ST has a review of the Genius which scored very highly with the testers saying it was as good at descending as the Ransom and better at climbing, maybe worth considering that instead?
But yes, the Ransom is also ace, I’ve seen one ridden up Jacobs Ladder in one go: no dabs, no stops. The guy was no slouch descending it again afterwards…open up the TracLock suspension thingy, drop the saddle and he was out of sight very quickly! It was light enough, <30lb.

Depends how many bits snap off it. Only person I know with one has had no end of problems…

‘ve seen one ridden up Jacobs Ladder in one go: no dabs, no stops

I’d be willing to wager that the rider was Nick Craig.

Scott Ransom with an F100 fork up front?
Why?!
For what riding?

Would you not be better with a frame suited to a 100mm fork? (Not 160mm)

[Wasn’t the genious in the previous issue?]

Scott Ransom, snaptastic, bag o’shite rear shock, avoid.

twohats what a load of s**t, i’ve had mine nearly a year now and i’ve had no problems at all, only ones that i’ve created by having offs (mech hanger ripped off). The shock has been floorless, just sent it away to get serviced before we do the mountain mayhem and then france in july. Awesome having the three adjustments.

I’ve ridden twice a week on it for 10 months without issue.

But someone made a point about fox float 100’s up front, thats not enough travel, the frame is designed to run with at least 140mm and really should be 150mm, i’ve got lyrics on the front of mine. As for the weight issue you won’t ever get it really light. I’ve got the LTD model with xtr/saint and its 30.5 lbs, but i don’t suffer because of it? And its awesome DH.

But if DH isn’t so much your thing then i’d go for the genius? Bit more of an all rounder? Hope this helps?

Only going on my experience having worked for a Scott dealer. Sorry if its burst your bubble…

And i’m only speaking from riding one personally for nearly a year, bubble still in tact though don’t worry 😉

The classic ‘all the gear and no idea’ bike. And the people who ride them properly break them.

I think a dealer is more likely to know the score than one person who’s had one for less than a year!

That seems like a really stupid idea to me, fit a 100mm fork and it’ll be super steep with a nice low bottom bracket to smash your pedals the whole time.

Even the Sparks (save for the RC and LTD) come with 120mm forks now! Don’t do it!

It’d be, ahem, ‘novel’ – possible unique even…

Its a popular bike thats sold world wide in numbers, every bike has its faults, every bike, I’m simply saying that they’re not a poor bike and you can’t dismiss every one for either a few problamatic production models or poor riders, the shock technology is the same throughout the scott range and is tried and tested on other models.

a mate hired one out for the day .. i rode it round glentress(after setting the shock and forks up for me) …. what a bag of spanners …

Headangle too steep to be a quick descender, seat angle too slack to be a good climber. bit like your local dodgy builder , jack of all trades and good at none.

quite a scary bike to ride actually. Nice idea poorly executed !

“after setting the shock and forks up for me”
“Headangle too steep to be a quick descender, seat angle too slack to be a good climber”

Are you sure he set it up right?

Ransoms are ace in my experience!

I had one as a demo bike from work, I rode it lots as did my collegues and many customers. I even used it to race xc on once just to prove a point (I was second!).

It would be unfair to say the model didn’t have the odd problem but our demo ran flawlessly for 12 months being used by a variety of people who where all giving it grief. Also sold plenty and didn’t experience any crazy comebacks.

I don’t work for a Scott dealer any more so I have nothing to gain by recommending them but if I could I’d another.

Olie

Oh yeah don’t put a 100mm fork on that would be daft!!

Particularly if they have a steep head angle anyway!

I have had one for almost 3 years.

Its a great bike for big riding. Its just a bit steep for full on DH but great for trail stuff. You can get it reasonably light and it does take a lot of abuse. I have ridden it a lot (2 years guiding in Verbier) and it became my friend.

However, that f****** rear shock. Pretty good when it works but its ability to lose Negative air is impressive.

Oh and the Aluminium chain stay. Twice snapped next to disc. Not big drop or anything just standard riding. Only 1.2 mm thick. Seems like a design flaw when the rest of the frame is pretty overbuilt.

I still think its a good bike. Know some hard riders who use it but in comparison to the likes of an Orange there was a lot of downtime/bad performance.

100mm forks? WTF? Designed for 150-160mm. Get a different bike

Pointless buying a bike like a Ransom then trying to make it light….

That sound like a daft idea to me, nothign wrong with the weight, but the angle…

Yes, the head angle will be too steep as well. I’d also imagine that you’d reduce the ground clearence way too much as well….. The pedals would be a lot closer to the floor!
Why not stick a 29er front wheel on whilst you’re at it? You might as well screw the bike up TOTALLY….!

One of our guys has a 07 Ransom 20, he’s 56 rides it up down no problems. I have only ever sat on it and pedal’d for a couple of hundred yards. I dind any bike strange after being on mine. Although he preferred his Scott Octane by a long way and he still has the Octane as a second bike.

“Why not stick a 29er front wheel on whilst you’re at it? You might as well screw the bike up TOTALLY….! “

That would probably work much better actually ..

Assuming the same size tyre
Given that a Lyric or Fox 36 have arch-to-crown height of 545mm
a F100 is 471mm arch – crown
60mm travel difference and 74mm arch – crown difference

A Reba 29 100mm is 510mm arch-to-crown
+ 1.5″ of extra wheel height ~ 38mm
= arch-crown+29er wheel of 548mm

So only 3mm taller? Could drop that with a slightly smaller front tyre
I think its a goer!
much more than an F100 26″er anyway ..

a F100 is 471mm arch – crown

think you mean axle-to-crown right?

all correct, although the amount of sag on the longer fork has to be accounted for too, not just static measurements. less sag on the 29er fork means a slacker av HA.

I’ve got to agree with the “snaptastic” quote… was really happy with mine for 2 1/2 years but it’s just too fragile as a package. The shock is superb when it works (which is about 95% of the time) but the -ve air does seem to leak at any opportunity.
A 100mm fork would make it plain scary.

I’d say a spark or a genius would be more appropriate.

sorry, getting my words mixed up. I did mean axle-to-crown height

Even taking sag into account, an F29 or Reba 29er would be a better bet than an F100?
Could always run an 80/90mm version

Realistically it needs a 150/160mm fork, perhaps with adjustable travel or some form of lockdown/eta for steeper climbs