Trek Slash 9.8 2018 Review

This bike is a top end carbon enduro bike with 160mm of travel and 29 inch wheels. Personally I am short so found it quite difficult to turn round tight switchbacks but I definitely noticed a difference on the climbs and descents. It was much faster then 27.5 wheels up the hills I even felt the bumps way less on the 29 wheels. I had this bike for one week and enjoyed riding it at Pitmedden and Comrie Croft. I chose these two different places because Pittmeden is not a full on bike park like Comrie Croft is which makes it more raw. I chose the trail ‘tow ball’ to test the downhill capability of the slash. Tow ball is a roamy steep jump trail which includes a small road gap and some doubles. I was a bit skeptical pf the 29 wheel but they jump just as well as 27.5. The trail I chose at Comrie was the black which includes slippy rock rolls and big drops. The suspension on this bike is incredible with a Fox 36 Elite on the front and Trek's exclusive RE:aktiv with Thru Shaft shock. This when adjusted properly is an incredible combo! I had no trouble on the steep rolls despite the wheels and I also did some riding at local spots which was where I really saw the difference to my normal bike. I found this bike to be much faster even besting my old Strava records - the bike accelerates much faster then my day to day bike. I also took it to a local spot with drops which was also no problem for the bike. In concision I think this is the best enduro bike I have ever ridden, i can’t complain about anything apart from the seat post angle which trek could of angled forward a bit. I believe they have addressed this on the 2019 Slash 8 as well as the up and coming 2020 bikes.  that’s my review - if there’s any questions about the bike leave them in the comments. This bike and many other trek products can be purchased in store or at fifecycles.co.uk

Thanks for reading. 

Innes Bell

Thanks for reading.