Ransom - Make Mountains Move

The Ransom is the long travel all mountain bike to rule them all. From stage racing at the highest level to traversing the world’s most demanding mountains, this bike was designed to help you ride like you never have before. Progressive geometry, 170mm of suspension travel front and rear in unison with the TwinLoc Suspension System and our strongest carbon construction to date gives you a mountain bike that will surely give you plenty of rewards when taking risks. Make mountains move.

Built for Speed
Versatile
lightweight

History

When the ransom was originally launched in 2006, it probably came as a bit of a surprise for the mtb industry. It was unusual to have a bike with 160mm of travel front and rear with great descending capability and that pedaled so well. At the time, the equalizer shock was leading the pack. Now, almost 13 years later, the ransom is back, and again hopes to shake the tree. 170mm of travel front and rear, up mountains, down them even faster, and as light as can be, the ransom is ready to turn heads once more.

Make Mountains Move

Carbon Construction

While we always aim to have lightweight carbon bikes here at SCOTT, we never compromise frame strength when doing so. Taking into consideration the riding this bike is designed for, we have created our strongest carbon frame to date. Through clever layering and reinforcement in certain zones we obtain the stiffness wanted between the head tube and the rear wheel axle via a path following the downtube and the chainstays - we call this the stiffness backbone.

The Ransom being a 1x only bike allowed us to optimize the width of the main pivot which is normally the weak point on this stiffness path. Additionally, the Trunnion mount on the DT close to the BB allows us to obtain great stiffness at the bottom of the bike and lightweight construction up top for compliance and for having the center of gravity as low as possible.

Suspension

FOX NUDE TR EVOL

On several Ransom and Genius models, you’ll find the all new FOX NUDE TR EVOL. What the TR allows you to do is to select what sort of progression you would like in Descend mode: more linear, or more progressive. By flipping the Ramp Adjust Lever, you can decide how your shock behaves while descending.

A more progressive shock will offer more support towards the end of travel, and is harder to bottom out. These settings are really linked to riding speed. When it is wet, techy, or when impacts are small and riding tends to be slower, one might favor the more linear setting. When the conditions are dry and fast, or when bigger impacts are in play (jumps for instance), then the progressive mode is ideal. With the NUDE TR Evol, choosing and changing is easy.

More Linear, All AIR Chambers open

More Progressive, Additional air Chamber closed off

Twinloc Suspension System

While we also find the TwinLoc Suspension System on our XC and Trail bikes, it is just as important on a long travel All Mountain/Enduro bike. Firstly, for big days out in the mountains, you can never be quite sure what you’ll encounter. While a 170mm MTB is great for descending, it needs to be a good climber if you’re going to enjoy the full day. The Ransom can climb perfectly well in Descend mode, but with the flick of the thumb, it performs with the efficiency of a lightweight XC bike – this is invaluable for saving energy throughout the day. Switching into Traction Control mode also changes the dynamic geometry of the bike, raising the BB and putting you into a more comfortable climbing position. Traction control makes the bike more agile and nimble. This is perfect for quick accelerations or sudden changes in the trail that force you to put the hammer down, whether mid all-day epic, or mid race. Should you encounter and steep gravel climbs, or smooth riding between trailheads, throw it into our Lockout mode to make sure you’re getting the most out of each pedal stroke.

Learn more about Twinloc

In figure one, we have the bike at rest in descend mode - so full open.

In figure two, we have a “rider” on the bike, and the bike’s compression compresses to the sag point at rest.

In figure 3, the rider puts the bike into Traction Control Mode. This changes the bikes geometry, raising the BB and steepening the head angle and seat angle.

In figure 4, we go from Traction Control Mode to Lockout. This further raises the BB, and stiffens the suspension.

In Figure 5, it is important to note that the bikes angles when in Traction Control mode and Lockout mode are very similar. When climbing in either of those modes, you are always in the most efficient position on the bike.

In figure 6, we compare Lockout mode, or traction control mode, to compare the bikes geometry for going uphil to that of open mode. Here we see a drastic difference in BB height, seat tube angle and head tube angle. The red bike would be similar to a competitors bike without our TwinLoc Suspension System. We can see that without the system, the bike is in a much less efficient position for pedaling uphill.

Built For Speed

When designing the Ransom, speed was a topic that was always at the forefront of discussion. What can be done to make sure that this bike will not only be fast, but also to make sure that it performs at speed? In addition to carbon construction, several details were put into place to make sure that you can forget about the bike as you fly down the mountain.

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Syncros Components

Hixon iC 1.0 Rise

In conjunction with the Ransom release, for 2019 we’ve expanded our much lauded lightweight Hixon integrated bar and stem combo that debuted on the Genius to include a wider and higher rise for the extra demands of the All-Mountain / Enduro rider. We boosted the rise up to 20mm to allow for the higher position favored by such riders and our full Hixon integrated cockpit range is now available in an 800mm width allowing the option to run it at 800, 780 or 760mm width. The Hixon iC Rise bar features a 6 degree upsweep and 8 degree backsweep. The Ransom comes specc’d with a 50mm virtual stem length but the bar is also available in a 40mm virtual stem length.

Tofino

For MY19 we’ve redesigned our saddle program. Working with leading German bike fit company Gebeomized our engineers analysed data from thousands of rider pressure maps identifying commonalities. From this data our engineers created two distinct shapes that addressed rider needs in these crucial areas along with two options for channel and cut out.

The regular saddle will fit the majority of riders, marked by a more upright position, seated more towards the middle to back of the saddle. These riders sit primarily on the sit bones and therefore the wider part of the saddle. Our V-Concept performance saddle was developed for the more flexible rider, particularly in the pelvis and lumbar spine, who tend to ride a more aggressive position. These riders sit towards the front of the saddle. The riding position is lower in general and requires a slightly different shaped saddle.