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Reviewer: Justin English
Date: 9-15-2008
Model: 2008 Trek Remedy 9
MSRP: $4729.99
Note: Justin would like to thank his awesome bike shop, Ray's Cycle in Vacaville, CA

Trek makes a comeback? (skip lower for review)
Earlier this year Trek released a couple of new designs into the full suspension market. This was very much needed to revamp their mountain bike product line. Trek used to have a strong MTB market presence back in the days of OLCV and the Y bike. However, with so many companies coming out with new designs getting lighter and longer travel every year it seemed that Trek fell a little behind. After all they had Lance Armstrong racing their road bikes and creating a huge market known as the "Lance effect" for road bikes. Perhaps they forgot about us crusty mountain dudes? Now with Trek's new efforts in technology it seems they are looking to recapture some of the magic they had back in the Y bike days.

ABP and Full Floater Marketing hype?

Ever since seeing the release of the Remedy 9, I was intrigued. Just take one look at that bike and you can see it has some nice lines. However, I was still hesitant to buy a bike based on looks and new marketing acronyms. I have been riding FSR's ever since buying my first DH bike in 99 and haven't ridden anything else since, so switching to the Trek was a somewhat scary idea. The idea behind the Active Braking Pivot is that it will act as a floating brake allowing the rear wheel to move independently of the braking forces reducing "brake jack". This is better described here. Another concept that is included in this design is a full floating rear end. Instead of mounting the bottom of the rear shock to the frame, the Full Floater technology allows the rear shock to "float" between two independent linkages. This gives the Remedy a bottomless feel you normally only get with a coil shock. More on Full Floater here. The suspension in action:

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SdOpsYa_36Y/SKHXnv2pCnI/AAAAAAAAAHc/yEcM1cmj79U/s1600-h/IMG_1228.JPGhttp://xflive.mtbr.com//rtsp-youtube.l.google.com/video.3gp?app=blogger&fmt=13&cid=f6e5eacdc12101e7

What is a Remedy 9?
The Remedy line of bikes is the next generation of Mountain bikes commonly referred as "All Mountain" category, long travel for the super-gnar descents and light and nimble for huge climbs. Basically, it's a do it all bike. I think it was Scott's release of the Ransom which started this trend of light six inch travel bikes. Specialized jumped into the mix with the Enduro SL and now Canonndale has the Moto lineup. Unlike the Moto, Enduro or Ransom the Remedy is not currently offered in a carbon frame option. The Remedy 9 comes in an aluminum alloy frame. The first glance at the Remedy you notice the elegant shape of the main tubes. A couple taps on the frame and you can hear that the walls must be fairly thin. The fork is a Fox Float 36 RC2. The rear shock is a RP23 XV. More on the stock Remedy 9. A key feature of the Remedy is its slack head tube angle. 67 degrees is spec'd while still maintaining quick steering. Trek states that with the custom E2 Fox fork has a tapered steer tube that has a 1.5" bottom diameter and a 1.125" top diameter. This makes the steering noticeably stiffer since there is more material at the bottom of the steer tube where needed. The top of the headtube still uses the standard 1.125" diameter to optimize for weight and component availability.

For my Remedy I changed the brakes to Avid Juicy Ultimate (about 50 grams lighter than thestock Juicy Carbon), tires to Kenda Nevegal 2.35 folding tires, the stem to a Point One, bars to carbon Easton Monkey Lite XC, and I slapped on a pair of Shimano XT clipless pedals. Total weight= 28.82lbs

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To race it or not to race it?
When I saw this bike I thought it would be good as my All Mountain Dville race bike. I really took a look at the geometry for the Medium and decided that it should work great for my preferences which, suspension design aside, geometry and fit are what is most important to me in a bike. So the only problem was that they weren't available and Trek, through my local bike shop Ray's Cycle, was quoting July for an available date. I decided that it was best for me to race the Stumpjumper at Dville cause if I got the Remedy only a few weeks before the race I just wouldn't have enough time to get used to it. As I've said before, seeing Ross Schnell win on the bike I was eyeballing made me pull the trigger. I guess I'm a sucker for the race proven type of marketing. Santa Cruz has been selling bikes like that at Dville for years. I marched down to Ray's Cycle in Vacaville and they ordered the bike and got it to me in two days. Great service from Ray's and Trek. The day before my bike arrived I injured my knee wakeboarding so I had to wait a little before really getting to try this thing out.

Gettin' her dirty (The review already)
The first few rides I did on this bike was a trip to Skyline Park, a fire road ride in Marin and a Rockville ride but I really couldn't test it to the full extent with my knee being still sore. The first real ride I did was Martis Peak to Brockway Summit to Tahoe City. This is an ass kicker of a ride with 5 large climbs and five large descents and not much flat. The bike ate this ride up! Felt great. The bike seemed to climb uphill fairly well and absolutely ripped the descents. It put smiles on my face the whole ride. The last ride I completed on the Remedy was an Auburn free ride loop. Start at Russell Road down Manzanita to Flood to Tinkers Cuttoff. Then up Clementine to fireroad to Fuelbreak then down Culvert to Clementine trails and Stagecoach trails back up to the cars. There are a lot of jumps on this ride including a 18' creek gap. I was real curious to see how the bike handled the jumps. The Remedy did not disappoint. Launching down Culvert I was able to execute every jump with near perfection. It did not feel like a 29 pound bike. I felt like I had the confidence normally only found on my big 45lbs DH sled. Absolutely amazing. I even hit the creek gap. The only issues I had with the bike are that it feels a little long and is a little difficult to navigate in the tight switchbacks on Tinkers. Also, the rear shock recommended pressure setting was a little light as it seemed blow through the travel a too easy. These were small issues in comparison the overall ride of the bike.

Modifications I'd like to try on the Remedy
This bike screams for an adjustable height seat post (such as a Joplin or Gravity Dropper) since it just as capable climbing as descending. I used the Joplin for Downieville and have gotten used to having it. Now I just get off my bike and lower and raise the post a lot. I will be adding this feature soon.

I may look into the option of a DHX air shock on the rear. As I mentioned the rear end seems to be plusher than the fork and it seems to bottom out when doing drops and jumps with the stock RP23. I think it would be nice to have both shocks to choose from depending upon what type of riding I am doing.

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Bottom Line
The bike rides great and has exceeded my expectations. It inspires confidence and has been putting a stupid **** eating grin on my face every ride. I believe this design is catching on as I'm starting to see more and more Treks out there on the trail, mostly the Fuel EX. I have also seen that Trek is adding the ABP design to the Top Fuel and the Sessions (Cross country full suspension and DH bike) leading me to believe that Trek is confident in the new design. Here is a sneak peak at some of the new bikes coming out from Trek in 2009:

Value Rating:

At $4700, it's a pricey bike with no XTR components at all. Also there are is no Thomson Post, Easton Bars and all the usual high-end components that we know and trust. Bontrager parts are found all around and although they work very well, it is hard to put a value on them and there is little cachet or bling factor to them.

4 out of 5 Stars


Overall Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars


Photos:



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2008 Trek Remedy Specifications
Frameset
Sizes15.5, 17.5, 19.5, 21.5"
FrameAlpha Red Aluminum w/R1i All-Mountain Tuned Suspension, ABP, Full Floater, Aluminum EVO Link, E2 tapered head tube, 150mm rear wheel travel
Front SuspensionFox 36 Float RC2 w/air pressure, E2 tapered steerer tube, high speed and low speed compression, rebound, 20mm QR thru axle, 160mm travel
Rear ShockFox RP23 XV
Wheels
WheelsBontrager Rhythm Elite
TiresBontrager Jones ACX, 26x2.35"; 120 tpi, folding
Drivetrain
ShiftersSRAM X-0, 9 speed w/MatchMaker
Front DerailleurShimano Deore XT
Rear DerailleurSRAM X-0
CrankShimano Deore XT M770 44/32/22
CassetteSRAM PG970 11-32, 9 speed
Pedalsn/a
Components
SaddleBontrager Rhythm Pro
Seat PostBontrager Race Lite
HandlebarsBontrager Race Lite, 40mm rise, 31.8mm
StemBontrager Race Lite, 7 degree, 31.8mm
HeadsetCustom Cane Creek E-2 Light Edition; 1.125" top, 1.5" bottom
BrakesetAvid Juicy Carbon, hydraulic disc; 203mm front, 185mm rear rotor

Technology

  • E2 is an integrated frame and fork technology. Both the fork's steerer and the frame's head tube taper from a lower 1 1/2" bearing and race to a 1 1/8" upper.
  • ABP (Active Braking Pivot) gives the best suspension performance at high speed braking.
  • Full Floater design places shock mounts on two moving linkages, creating better quality travel throughout the entire stroke.
  • One-piece EVO Link adds stiffness and reduces weight. Aluminum and magnesium links.
  • R1i builds on the R1 system of optimized single pivot rocker link and category-specific geometry. R1i is R1 plus E2, ABP, Full Floater, and EVO Link technologies.
  • 160mm front wheel and 150mm rear wheel travel.