One of the themes at this years mountain bike launch from Trek (incorporating the Gary Fisher and Bontrager brands)  was the aptly named Trek Freeride Scratch, their entry into slopestyle / freeride riding (interestingly dropping the Session FH). Other things catching the eye were two new drop dead gorgeous Trek Remedy's both fully carbon!! They have also taken the forward thinking step and introduced a new line altogether capturing the urban / dirt / street market and bought in the Trek Tickets.

Trek Bikes

Trek have bought in a couple of new excellent lines in the Scratch and the Ticket but have also put alot of effort into making their core range that much better with new variants and upgrades. Lets take a look first at what is new i.e the Trek Scratch and the the Trek Ticket.

The Trek Scratch

So the Scratch is awesome. At £4000 it needs to be! It has a Session skin and a Remedy soul. What does that mean? Well.. learnings from building the the Session to take the hits were combined with learnings from the Remedy with it's ease of pedalling to create a ligthweight pedalable freeride rig that was at home with big mountain traversing as at the bike park.

Elite freeriders and North Shore riders are whom this is positioned at and to play the wordsmithing a tad more they now have a bike to scratch their niche The Session FH is being discontinued and this bike is far more targeted at this niche most of us enjoy watching in wonder at. It has 170mm rear travel, Active Braking Pivot (ABP) so the suspension stays active whilst pedaling, braking and of course dropping.

I used to look at these type of bikes with a glint in my eye, a dream to tomorrow. More now I just think they are cool than would ever actually consider owning one. A sure sign I'm getting ready for the nackers yard hey

The Trek Ticket

As iBikeRide are just in the process of buidling an urban dirt park in North London these new range of pavement bikes the Trek Ticket really caught my thankful eye.

It appeals to me as it is a more affordable hardtail for the dirt park. Saying that they are more affordable compared to the rest of the range but compared to Halfords then they are still a way to go (but close).

There is the Ticket 10, 20 and 30 ranging from £400 to £650. As an after school play in the pocket parks of urban riding this is the business.

To all intents and purposes they are an entry level mountain bikes intended to give riders the look and feel of a dirt jump style "heavy duty" mountain bike but without the price tag. A good move from Trek.

The Trek Remedy

Two brand new models for the existing 6 inch Remedy range came out this year. The Remedy Carbon Armour 9.9 and 9.8. They are a perfect addition to this exciting range that offers undue punishment whilst cycling uphill as well as true stability whilst taking all the drops and rocks going down. They are the pinnacle for the all mountain rider.

These new models have carbon armour and they also come with DRCV.

This is a two stage air spring that takes the pedal efficient small bump sensitivity of a single air shock and combines it with the big impact performance of a second chamber.

Nearly forgot to say...The carbon armour gives increased resisitance to damage from flying rocks and debris as well as increased stiffness where needed.

A magnesium evo link drops the weight down and the forks have got lighter too.

The new BB95 addition allows for a wider bottom bracket stance. It comes from it's success on the the Trek Fuel EX 9.9. It means there is less bottom bracket movement and creaking giving better pedaling stiffness and so efficiency.

God it sounds lovely!

Trek - Top Fuel, Fuel Ex, Session

As regards the rest. Not many changes to their top racing steed the Top Fuel except for a new Race Cam RP23 rear shock custom version for the range. The Fuel Ex their quintessential trail bike and where most buyers will be placed this year has gone from strength to strength. It comes in more variants and sizes than any other Trek which reflects it's well earned populist appeal.

The Fuel Ex carbon has a carbon seatstay, and the carbon and aluminium ranges both benefit from DRCV (see above) and lighter forks.

My money is on the Fuel Ex 5 at £1250 to be the big market winner this year as to me it maximises both performance and value for most riders looking to spend a bit more and move their game forward.

As mentioned Trek have dropped the Session FH in favour of the Session DH 88 which is doing really well as the gaining downhill yardstick especially across given it's exposure frm the new Trek Racing team..

There is also a Session 8 DH with a lower cost of entry. Neat!

Just to end I wanted to say that the changes at Trek and Gary Fisher are really beginning to bear fruit in the quality of engineering coming through this year. They have struck the right balance between consumer led innovation with new models as well as the right upgrades and tweaks to their existing range. As a team what really comes across is how much they truly love the trails.

What is there not to love mind!

You can check out all the Trek range at Trek Bikes