2012 Trek Slash 8 - it's a whole lot of bike!

With the arrival of the all new Trek Slash 8 I was excited to see how the changes would feel from the amazing Scratch Air 9 that we had the pleasure of riding throughout 2011.  The clever guys at Trek had decided to almost start again and design an all-mountain rig with a specific purpose in mind.  Avalanche style DH races.  Their reasoning was sound, as Trek always design bikes with specific purposes in mind, which in turn drives development.  So for 2012 the all new Trek Slash 8 comes with a redesigned rear-end that includes a DRCV shock and tweaked geometry,  a mino-link that allows riders to adjust the head angle by ½ a degree and raise the bottom bracket by 8mm, and the very neat Rockshox stealth dropper seat-post.

Around this time last year we un-packed our Scratch demo bike in time for a trip to Mt Bulla where some true all mountain riding could be had, and 2012 would see history repeating itself with Mt Bulla the destination to put the Trek Slash 8 through its paces. Without riding the bikes back to back it is very hard to pinpoint the improvements or differences between the two, so instead I can only write about how the Slash felt and performed as a standalone all new all-mountain steed.

Having not been on bigger travel bikes for a little while it took the first couple of hours to settle into the Slash’s full capability, while the bike itself took some time to get going with the suspension and brakes needing to heat up, and bed-in making everything work together seamlessly. It has to be said that Fox 36 forks really do need a descent flogging before they will run smooth, but once the Talas 160 Kashima coated forks did settle in, they became plush, direct, and most importantly felt good through the bottom 3^rd of their travel, which I was using very regularly down the Glen Jacobs designed Stonefly trail at My Bulla.  The only thing that makes the Fox Talas forks seem not as smooth and plush as they could be, is the rear suspension on the Slash, with the new DRCV shock performing so well it defies logic.  

With a trail like stonefly where you are hitting big G-out  type dips and humps one after another for an extended time, air based suspension can have a habit of getting too hot and dramatically loose performance over the course of the run.  But the Fox DRCV shock just seems to recover hit after hit without complaint.  It would probably suffer on some of the epic descents found in Canada, but for our Australian big mountain trails the DRCV equipped Slash is right at home and will take anything you, or the trail can throw at it.

Of course the other advantage of the Trek's propriety suspension is at the top end of the travel.  With DRCV the shock behaves like a short-travel, standard Fox float, allowing you to put the power down to maintain some speed on flat sections as well as climb quite well.  Sure you aren't going to win the next short-course XC event on this beast, but it does go up hill with remarkable efficiency.  With some effort you should be able to keep up with your riding mates on  short travel XC bikes on the up-hills, then completely smoke them on the descents.  You will be the one with the big smile, trust me.

Apart from the major jump to a DRCV suspension platform, the other changes that come as a welcome improvement is the internally routed cabling for the shifting and Rockshox Reverb post.  Both not really performance upgrades, but rather a neater more aesthetically pleasing look that for many will be a nice touch.  So who out there will want the 2012 Trek Slash 8 ?  Anyone who wants to have the most amount of fun possible on a mountain bike, with access to some more technical trail networks that will give them  the opportunity to use the bike to at least some of it’s potential.  And it has a lot of potential!