If it’s tight, you can win back a wee bit of extra room by removing the stupid connectamajig and fitting a plain hose instead, I had to do that in the trailfox. TBH it’ll be a massive black mark if it doesn’t fit, it’s something all enduro bikes should be planning for now

Sadly these are about as common as unicorns unless you’ve ~£5k to spend on top of the range. IMO manufacturers are still making miniature enduro bikes where what Mr Average really needs is a slacker XC bike.
Until then, i’d find it pretty hard to recommend a 130-140mm bike as they carry all the disadvantages of a full enduro bike and none of the advantages of an XC bike.

Whilst I agree, it’s not just about the weight, it’s a combination of all the elements. I have a 160mm bike, which weighs 28/29lbs & is bang on trend & ‘enduro approved’ (joke), it rides very differently to a 28lb short travel bike like a 5010/Scout blah.

Most people are probably overbiked in reality, me included. I have often said if I didn’t race I wouldn’t be riding a 160mm bike, I guess i’ll put my money where my mouth is next year as i’m going race a shorter travel 29″ bike.

The other benefit is it should make all of my other riding a bit more entertaining too. 🙂

If it’s tight, you can win back a wee bit of extra room by removing the stupid connectamajig and fitting a plain hose instead, I had to do that in the trailfox.

I had to do the same on my Spitfire. The post fitted fine but the stealth port was too high up otherwise.

Until then, i’d find it pretty hard to recommend a 130-140mm bike as they carry all the disadvantages of a full enduro bike and none of the advantages of an XC bike.

This is cobblers mate.

Have you ridden a 130mm 29er? Much more versatile than a 160mm enduro bike and more fun on the majority of trails.

Have you ridden a 130mm 29er?

Not a 29er, but yes I own a 140mm trail bike.
I don’t regret buying it at all, but with couple more years of riding/experience under my belt, I wouldn’t buy again without it being significantly lighter and with remote locking rear sus.
Tyres are of course up to personal preference, but like with suspension travel, Mr Average is prone to having way more tyre than needed.

130-140mm bikes are supposed to be all day up/down versatile bikes, but as they stand currently, they make very hard work of going up – which given the nature of average speeds, is what we find ourselves doing for the majority of each ride.

I reckon the thing that sets a good bike apart from a great bike is mostly how well they tackle varied jobs- it’s not that hard to make a bike that’ll batter down a hill but harder to make one that’s also a good climber and fun on a blue trail. Remains to be seen which the Slash is but it can be done. Not all about travel basically.

(the Slash seems mostly an evolution of the Remedy tbh and mine makes for a very good allroundy trailbike- if I wanted a trailcentre/gentler use bike exclusively it’d be built lighter, but that’s not so much the bike as just me making it do 2 jobs. But I’m not sure you can really make this call without riding… The Five 29, Mega 290, Remedy and others show you can be a longer travel 29er and not just become a rockplough.

But just look at the 9.8…..

Too many chainrings and shifters and stuff. Definitely looks useable but there’s much more stuff I’d like to change. It’s been very well reviewed by the handful of websites that have ridden it.

Trek’s just have zero sex appeal! Which maybe why that Slash is the first one I’ve ever seriously looked at.

I know a shop that has a Slash AND an Ex29 demo bikes (both large) with some great riding from the door.And for haribo I’ll tell you which one.

BPW?

know a shop that has a Slash AND an Ex29 demo bikes (both large) with some great riding from the door.And for haribo I’ll tell you which one

My mate picked up his 2017 slash 29 9.9 today, looks nice from the pics I’ve seen, he’s getting it in invisiframed this weekend and a fairly gruesome injury means he won’t be riding it in earnest until next year

My mate picked up his slash 9.9 today, looks nice from the pics I’ve seen, he’s getting it in case invisiframed this weekend and a fairly gruesome injury means he won’t be riding it in earnest until next year

Bummer. That happened to me when I worked in a Trek dealer and bought a half price Session 9.9 when carbon DH bikes were strange and exciting.
Before it arrived I dislocated my elbow and had a useless arm for about 18 months.

Still…get some pictures of it up!

It would be great if someone who has or owns a large slash can see what the distance between the collar and the BB is when a 150 or 170 post is inserted as far as it can go.

Wonder if that is why they come with a bontraegar 125mm post.

I’m checking tomorrow if a 170mm reverb will fit, I’ll let you know.

Wonder if that is why they come with a bontraegar 125mm post.

The 2017 Fuel EX’s I’ve seen in 2 different shops have Reverbs, not sure what length though sorry.

my mates large came with the 125 post hes getting a 150 for it

with the 125 in its got a lot of outer post showing on the pic ive seen

large bikes really should come with at least a 150 drop post (ive got one on my medium process and id even consider a 170!)

do bonty do a 150 drop post tho?

So popped to wheelbase to check if my 170mm reverb would go far enough into the frame to get it right for me. Answer is only just. With the connectamajig on and no hose attached to it, it sit at exactly the right height for me, so going to do Northwinds trick of removing the connectamajig to give myself some leeway in the frame. Photo of the seatpost at max insertion below

[url=https://flic.kr/p/P7acR7]Untitled[/url] by IanPriddle, on Flickr

Thanks for the image ian, do you think you could drop the post as low into the seat tube as possible and raise the post and measure the distance from the bb to the frame rails?

I’m interested in using a similar post (9point8) but im not sure about the sizing. What frame size do you have?

With the post all the way into the frame and the post fully extended it measures 797mm to the top of the saddle from the centre of the BB, as that the measurement i do. Bike is still at the shop so cant measure anything else til i pick it up on Sunday

thanks for the reply, you’ve got me optimistic now.

Pridds, what size frame was it?

19.5 frame

Thanks, I’d also want to run a 170, so would be right on the limit (distance from the BB to centre line of the saddle is 30″)

Once i’ve got it set up with a normal reverb barb ill let you know what differnce it makes to the length

ummm. It is tempting and does look nice. But I already have a now old spec enduro 29er that is probably too similar. As for weight If it was over 30lbs in the real world then I would be a no. My enduro weighs 29lbs with pedals and proper tyres ready to go.

For folks that are unsure whether to go for Slash or Fuel EX – doesn’t the Remedy sit right in the middle of the two?

doesn’t the Remedy sit right in the middle of the two?

Apart from having 27.5 wheels…..sort of.

For folks that are unsure whether to go for Slash or Fuel EX – doesn’t the Remedy sit right in the middle of the two?

The Remedy 29 no longer exists.

Basically the Fuel EX in 29″ form has essentially replaced it, but dropped 10mm travel on the rear, I guess to make the difference between it & the slash more apparent.

That said the new Fuel is longer, lower & slacker than the Remedy 29″ anyway.

Pridds – Member
With the post all the way into the frame and the post fully extended it measures 797mm to the top of the saddle from the centre of the BB, as that the measurement i do. Bike is still at the shop so cant measure anything else til i pick it up on Sunday

Thanks for that! Think I would run 150 reverb which would definitely fit me. Please give us a ride report when you have tested it in action.

As it’s semi on topic, I picked up the Fuel EX 29 i’ve got for a trial to help me decide what I want to ride – I also have now at least rolled around on a Slash 29 (large). Firstly at 6’1″ i’d need an XL for sure, it felt like my old Nomad, but with bigger wheels (basically a point & shoot bruiser).

I’ve pretty much discounted it. For me it will be between the Remedy 27.5 or the Fuel EX 29.

The Fuel I have at the moment started life as a 9.8 + bike, so has a 140 fork on it. The rest is gone. It has a mix of SRAM 1×11 stuff, the OE Fox 34 Grip fork, stock shock etc. It does have a nice Bontrager carbon wheelset which is mega light, but we do have some 1kg SE5 tyres on there.

As it stands, with my spare Vaults it comes in at 27.3lbs.

I took a load of measurements off my Patrol for reference points to start with a setup. Bar height with the 140mm fork is easily adjustable to +/- 10mm where I currently have mine set at. Reach is slightly longer than the Patrol. Seat angle in real life, is comparable (no silly slack angles here). In the low setting, this bike is seriously low. Real world 325mm BB height low. The head angle with my angle finder is bang on 66 degrees (nice surprise).

How does it ride then? Well trails at home are trashed now, and will be for winter. But it’s a whole lot more fun than the last 29″ I rode (Enduro29). It still carries speed like they do, but it was super lively, changed direction quickly, absolutely smashes corners with huge amounts of grip & when it does go it just drifts in a surprisingly controlled manner. That’s where the low BB comes in to play. Hit up some of the jump trails, doubles it deals with fine, nice & balanced in the air, stepdowns the same – it feels very stable when hitting stuff like that.

Climbing wise it’s efficient. goes uphill very well, noticably better than my Patrol here. Flat singletrack stuff has become more interesting & faster. I’m fairly convinced it’s as fast as my Patrol on the downward pointing stuff too.

Given the spec of the bike I have, i’m sure a 9.9 (lighter frame) can be built to ~25lbs. I’m going to give it a few more rides, but it’s a big thumbs up from me for it. I would have no issue with trail riding, racing enduro & still racing local DH on it at all. Hell at 25lbs I could probably go & race XC on it. A seriously impressive bike.

As a sidenote, the bike has a 150 drop Magura Vyron wireless post. What an impressive bit of kit that is! Amazing. Only one problem. The remote is total garbage. Once someone designs/redesigns that so it’s properly functional (trying to hit a button the size of a pea on a flimsy remote wobbling around whilst riding hard is almost impossible) I’ll be first in the queue.

Thanks for that. I have to admit the Fuel EX is looking more and more tempting. The 9.9 is stunning. Also not out of the question price wise given that I’ve been sucked back into the bike trade.

There’s some very high praise HERE, but still no in depth reviews.

I think the Fuel would be the best choice for where I live and the kind of riding I’ll be doing. I remember years ago when I thought I needed a Specialized Enduro so rode it back to back with a Stumpjumper and ended up very happy with a Stumpy Evo. As sexy as the Slash is I think it’s probably like taking a machine gun to a knife fight.

Does anyone have any idea on sizing for the new slash? I’ve ordered a 17.5 – I’m about 5’7″ and a bit it my height comes from my legs mostly. I ride a medium in Santa Cruz and ibis. I sat on a 17.5 and 18.5 2017 remedy today and the 18.5 was definitely the best fit however the slash only comes in a 17.5 and 19.5.

If I change my order I won’t get one as next years stock is apparently all sold for the U.K.

I’m 178cm and ride the 19.5 slash and its perfect for me. Could go a touch lower on the post but not a lot.

Bringing this thread back from the dead. Why? Because I’m still badly turned on by the Slash! And I still haven’t seen one out in the wild. So I thought there might be some owners with new bikes by now with pictures and opinions.

Oh, and it didn’t help when this appeared on the front page of my Youtubes
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0TJoSSZZg[/video]

There’s also this…
LINK

I’ve got some demo bikes lined up but don’t know where I could find one of these to ride. I can’t get a cycleshceme voucher until April anyway by which time they’ll probably be sold out.

One of my mates has got his now – bit of a delay with the shock issue on them with Fox.

He was a little bit disappointed with the weights, it’s over 30lbs when it should be 28 apparently. Also the Bontrager post lasted about 2 rides before it died…

I think he likes it for going down, it’s a brute of a bike that’s just smashes everything. I would say he climbs noticeably slower on it though – it is not a good climber.

He has mentioned a few times now he wonders if he bought the right bike compared to the Fuel. Having had a spin on it, it’s a bit on the small side for me, but I wouldn’t want something as big as the XL.

I don’t know though – it seems an awful lot of bike still. For me, it’s too much, and I race DH and Enduro – I don’t want a bike that big, cumbersome & heavy for my non racing riding. As an only bike, I’d end up getting hacked off with it for my local riding.

Again, for me, the Fuel made more sense. It turned out better as well as Trek seemed to be a bit conservative with the numbers – with a 140 fork my bike is substantially slacker than they state. I’m really enjoying it as a bike.

Picture of the pair of them last week!

Thanks for that Hob Nob, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. The Fuel is clearly the more versatile bike for those of us stuck in the UK.

It’s hard to get opinions from DH riders on STW. As a DH rider myself I thought the Slash could possibly replace both my Bfe and YT Tues. I love the idea of smashing it down the Alps but that’s only 2 or 3 weeks a year.

I can imagine me cursing it when I’m in the Lakes or the Peaks trying to tag along with a group of fit riders.

So, if anyone near Sheffield has a Fuel EX 29 that I can have a play on that would be great 😉

I loved the idea of the Slash 29er when I first heard about it, but unsurprisingly it seems I’m not alone in thinking it might be too much for me most of the time! I mainly ride a 140f/127r 29er (SB95 with Pikes) and it’s (almost) all the bike I need. It runs my Enduro 29 (160f/155r) very close in descending while being less effort on anything else. But I wouldn’t be without my Enduro: on the right stuff it beats the Yeti for fun hands-down – and that’s not just in the Alps. Part of me wants to take my Yeti to Les Arcs but the Enduro just gives me a bigger safety net when I cock things up.

Don’t know why I’m even looking as I’m happy with both my bikes and have been for a while now.

My mates had his slash29 a while now

looking at his strava he seems to be hitting PRs on the climbs as much as the descents

even if he was overbiked hed never admit it

(endurofactory are you reading this 🙂 )

Trek’s are so boring and conservative looking that I’m actually drawn to this one,

Just because it has some character, rather than zero.

Undoubtably a mint bike to ride though. That one up there next to the Slash looks every bit as nice as the bigger bike.

It turned out better as well as Trek seemed to be a bit conservative with the numbers – with a 140 fork my bike is substantially slacker than they state. I’m really enjoying it as a bike.

Your Fuel EX looks slacker than the Slash! What does it measure with an angle thingy on the stanchion?