Trek Scratch Air 9 lands @ MMHQ!

Ohhhh yes!

Possibly the hottest bike in the 2011 Trek lineup has arrived @ MMHQ in Brunswick and is sure to shake up the All Mountain and DH scene with its killer looks and versatile suspension.

And if that's not enticing enough, you'll be happy to know that this beast is now part of our official Demo Bike Fleet for 2011!

If you don't know the Trek Scratch Air 9, here's the bones;

- 170mm of ABP suspension

- Custom valved Fox RP23 Boost Valve rear shock

- Fox 36 Talas RLC forks with adjustable travel

- Adjustable geometry

- E2 Tapered head tube

- RockShox Maxle 142 x 12mm rear Thru-Axle

All of this adds up to an incredibly versatile mountain bike that has the balls of a DH bike, with the pedalling efficiency and climbing ability of far lighter trail bikes. Sure, you won't win any XC races on it, but for everything else out there, this machine is designed to be pure two-wheeled fun.
Just ask our part timer, Greg, who picked up his 2011 Trek Scratch Air 9 2 weeks ago and has been smashing it everywhere from local DH tracks and even on the Wednesday night shop rides down at the Yarra trails!

The custom valved Fox RP23 is the result of the close relationship between Fox Racing Shox, Trek R&D and the Trek World Racing team. Far from off-the-shelf, the RP23 Boost Valve is configured to work with the ABP and Full Floater suspension design, providing an incredibly linear feel to the rear suspension with the last 30% ramping up nicely to brace for the bigger hits and jumps.
Sharing the same suspension design as the Fuel EX, the Session, Remedy and Top Fuel, the Scratch platform has the same bottomless feel to its suspension, while having minimal input from braking due to the ABP design.

Read more about the Trek Scratch Air 9 here.

As a testament to this bikes versatility, the Scratch Air 9 features a Crank Brothers Joplin droppable seatpost that allows you to raise and lower the saddle with a flick of the lever that's positioned next to your shifter. Climb with the saddle at maximum extension, then hit the lever and drop the saddle out of harms way for the downhill.

Combined with the Fox 36 Talas fork up front that allows you to drop the travel from 160mm down to 120mm, the Scratch climbs surprisingly well given it's DH capability. In fact, the more technical the ascent, the better the Scratch becomes due to it's terrain-hugging suspension that will have you leaping uphill faster than most XC bikes.

After we built up our Scratch Air 9 last week, someone had to be dealt with the terrible task of taking the bike out for it's maiden ride to bed everything in. As Crusty was heading up to Mt Buller for the weekends State DH Round, he reluctantly volunteered to take the Scratch with him.

Spending Saturday shuttling on some of the DH tracks with a couple of our customers, Sunday was the day for XC riding as they made the 30km return journey out to Mt Stirling on the brand new Glen Jacobs designed XC loop.

The verdict from Crusty? Well I don't think I can actually write that down, it was mostly babble, though the general gist was: "This is possibly the best thing since wheels were invented!".

Riding the black diamond tracks was just like being on a DH bike; confidence, plushness, cornering stability and composure in the air. Though when it came to XC tracks, with the saddle up and the fork lowered, Crusty was out-climbing other riders on Giant Anthems and carbon hardtails on the loose, steep switchback climbs up Mt Stirling.

You could comfortably ride all day on the Scratch, as it isn't that much heavier than most trail bikes, but as Crusty will testify - you'll have way more fun than on any XC bike out there!

If you're in the market for a do-it-all bike like the Scratch Air, you really owe it to yourself to check one of these machines out in the flesh. Come into MMHQ and chat to Crusty, Greg, Jerry or Wil about booking a test ride on this incredible bike.

In the meantime, here's a couple of sweet videos on the Scratch Air and Scratch Coil.