I’ll miss the Remedy. It’s a lot of bike for the money, and a ton of fun to ride.

After few months in the saddle of Trek’s Remedy 9, few of my first impressions have changed. I’m not going to repeat what I said in December, so you might want to read that if you’re interested in the Remedy. This bike offers an almost ideal ride for the average British MTB enthusiast. Not so porky that it can’t handle fast flowing XC and tight trails, but with 150mm of extremely useful travel that means it can handle even the most extreme trail centres. This is a bike that loves rocky Peak District downhills, but goes up them with as much aplomb as it descends. Although I’m something of a Carbon whore, I’m still smarting that this compares well in every respect with my Ibis Mojo HD160 while costing a whole £2K less. In fairness to Ibis (and to make me feel a bit better), a full carbon Remedy is over £6K. And if you are planning to spend that kind of money, you probably won’t be looking at the Remedy 9 anyway.

Getting your suspension tuned on the trail has never been easier. Fox’s CTD has three positions, and an clearly labelled adjustment dial. Kashima coated Fox Floats have Trek’s proprietary DRCV system to increase volume as the terrain gets bumpier.

In the “first look” article I wrote when I took delivery of this bike back before Christmas, I made much of the DRCV (Dual Rate Control Valve) fork and shock. This proprietary Trek technology, developed in conjunction with Fox, progressively turns the small chamber shock into a high volume shock as the hits get bigger. This means that you get fast acting small oscillation response when you need it, and plush long travel when you need that too.

As someone who often feels that I’m not getting the best from my suspension, no matter how I tune it – this has been a revelation. The Remedy seems to have the right amount of bounce in any terrain. It’s taut on rough, but basically even surfaces, enabling you to turn and brake with confidence, yet when you head downhill, or on technical climbs, it offers the full 150mm of travel without ever seeming vague or saggy. If I set my other bikes to get the maximum travel, they seem to nose dive under braking – but the Remedy stays firm and true. I love it!

The RockShox Reverb dropper is a welcome addition although there are a lot of cables flapping around!

A feature that is not unique to Trek, but is new to this year’s Fox suspension is CTD, which makes setting and using your suspension much easier. There are three platform settings: The firmest is marked C (Climb), the middle T (Trail) and the fully open setting D (Descend) – and while you may not always use them for the activity they are labelled for – they do act as a useful mnemonic – I personally can never remember which is which of the 1, 2 and 3 options on my old RP-23s.

In C mode, the equivalent of lock-out, you can stomp on the pedals without compressing the suspension much. So little of your power is lost, and you can speed along the flat, and power up smooth climbs. T lets you progress along rough ground without the suspension going into full sag, though if the going gets rough, then you have the bounce you need, and D mode puts you into full travel suspension – and it’s here you reap the full benefits of the DRCV system. In reality, technical climbs are better in descend mode too – you lose some power due to compressing the springs – but you more than make up for any lost climbing ability in increased control and traction as the bike keeps the rear wheel firmly planted over every rock and root. I’ve managed technical climbs more successfully on this bike than any other.

Bontrager XR3 tyres are excellent in dry conditions, but can’t handle the very wet nearly as well.

Trek has kitted the Remedy out with a nice selection of Bontrager finishing gear: Rhythm Elite wheels, Race Lite Low Rise handlebars, and the Evoke saddle. Parts that don’t look out of place on a £3K bike. XT drivetrain and brakes and a RockShox Reverb dropper post complete the desirable package, and leave you in no doubt that you’re getting good bang for your buck. But no amount of tasty gear makes up for a lacklustre ride. No fear though! The Remedy’s Aluminium frame combines with their Full Floater suspension to deliver a ride that inspires confidence at every turn.

Early weeks with the Remedy were blissful. We’d spend times rolling around in the countryside, laughing and looking so fine. Then the rain came, and the Remedy’s demeanour changed. From a bike that could handle anything to a bike that could be unnerved by the slight depression you get in the middle of a well trodden dirt path. Seriously. You had to plan and de-weight to be able to get the front wheel out of what was basically a muddy inch-deep rut. Failing to do so could see me canting to turn, and the front wheel ploughing straight on as I tipped over and slammed. The simple yet ruinous problem: clearly the XR3 tyres which had inspired so much confidence on drier days.

I’m not criticising Trek specifically for this. Every bike manufacturer faces the same problem. How to spec a tyre that will work in arid Arizona as well as wet Wetherby. And clearly they can’t. As a result, most off-the-peg bikes sport a tyre that is OK in all conditions, but doesn’t excel in any. This is more of a problem for us Brits, where factory fits are often woefully incapable of dealing with the mud and wet roots that we have to deal with, though they’ll handle dry slickrock perfectly well.

But if you are dropping £3K on a bike, it’s galling that you have to put your hand in your pocket to the tune of another £60 to make it ride-able. Galling, but an inescapable fact of life. The only thing that disappoints me is that Bontrager (part of the Trek Empire) has the XR4 tyre in its stable, and it’s a far more capable beast for Britain’s soggy and boggy trails, arguably a better tyre for this bike in the UK market.

Tyres aside it’s very difficult to find anything to dislike about the Remedy. I’m not saying it’s perfect – what is after all? It could be lighter – but then it could (and would) cost more too. But it’s far from heavy. It could be stiffer – but you’d not really want it to be, and certainly not need it to be. In fact its only real failing is mud clearance… and that’s not a failing that is unique to this bike. Giving good mud clearance means changing the geometry in a way that is not kind to either handling, stiffness or cost – and it’s very rarely at the forefront of Californian bike designers’ minds, after all they get 350 good days a year, and don’t bother riding on the other fortnight.

But although the mud clearance is not good, it was never a problem either, and the build-up never caused any problems with the gear changes, or with wheel rotation. And despite being ridden hard in punishing peat bogs and covered repeatedly in grinding abrasive gritstone sand, the Remedy never displayed the slightest bit of chain suck – which plagues both my Mojo and my Tallboy.

A few months with the Remedy 9 has taught me one thing – I want a Remedy 9.9 bad! Look out for a Mojo HD-160 on the Bike Magic Classifieds.

Pros

Handling
Pliant and responsive suspension
Dropper post included
Tuneable geometry

Cons

Comes in any colour as long as it’s green
Factory fit tyres not up to UK winters
Mud clearance could be better

Verdict

If you want to ride a wide variety of terrain, you’d be hard pressed to find a better bike on which to do it. Stiff and sure-footed, the Remedy is light and responsive enough to put through XC paces, and burly enough for the bigger hits and landings of trail centres. Despite the fairly light weight it’s rigid enough to put the power down, and spectacular suspension makes it effective on the ascents and fast and fluid on the descents. One bike to ride them all!

Price: £3100
More Information: Trek Remedy 9

What Trek says about the Remedy 

Remedy is the ultimate trail ride. Light frame, plush 150mm suspension, and precise handling all add up to a stellar technical trail bike that goes up, goes down, goes everywhere.

All photos in this article © Ben Winder

Older riders like me remember when there was one kind of mountain bike. Fully rigid, steel framed and it went everywhere. If you rode off-road, that’s what you rode. Initially front, then full-suspension bikes and aluminium and carbon fibre frames became popular and suspension led to segmentation as manufacturers aimed to give us the perfect bike for each kind of riding.

But further advances in suspension and frame technology have begun to blur the lines, and manufacturers are beginning to realise that most riders’ wallets – and garages! – won’t accommodate a stable of steeds.

Plus, no matter what we enjoy riding most, we typically ride ‘most everything else as well, even if it’s just to get to our favourite trails. With the exception of hardcore gravity riders, who use uplift exclusively – and let’s face it, that’s not a scenario in most of the UK – we need a bike that can go uphill at least adequately. And one that can handle single-track as well as technical descents. As a result, Trek is pushing their Fuel EX as a bike that can deal damage on both the singletrack and the trail. I think they have the right idea. I just think they chose the wrong bike.

This shot contains a glittering array of the tech that makes the Remedy special. The Full Floater system, Magnesium single-piece EVO link, and the DRCV combine to deliver silky plush suspension. XT Drivetrain delivers the power smoothly, and the Mino Link lets you tweak the geometry.

The surprisingly svelte-feeling Remedy is the bike I’d choose if I was looking for one bike to rule them all. Sure the Fuel is a very capable bike, and in the trail centres I ride most often – Dalby, Sherwood Pines and Gisburn, which primarily comprise hardpack singletrack trails – the Fuel has what it takes. But then, so do most lithe, lean cross-country bikes these days. You’d probably put in your fastest time around Dalby on the Rumblefish of all of Trek’s bikes.

But if you’re planning to loop off the red routes, and track through Sherwood’s Downhill Zone, or ride down Gisburn’s Black Slab, or try the rock drops on the right about 1km after Dixon’s Hollow at Dalby – the Remedy is the bike you want to be riding. When the hits get bigger, the surface rougher or the climbs more technical, the Remedy’s quite remarkable combination of suspension technologies really delivers.

Shimano XT throughout the drivetrain delivers smooth reliable gear changes.

Trek combines the Trek’s full floater suspension which sees both the chain stay and the seat stay on pivot with a shock connection them both between the seat tube, Trek/Fox’s innovative DRCV pistons at both front and rear (a first for this year) and their ABP, active braking pivot system, which stops suspension response dulling when you’re hard on the brakes. Clearly, it’s difficult to tell exactly which of these technologies is delivering what benefit, but in trandem, the result is simply stellar.

The DRCV system combines the big hit advantages of a large volume shock with the small bump benefits of a low volume one. Indeed it transitions from being one to the other as the impacts get bigger, by means of having two suspension chambers and a valve that progressively opens the second one as the hits get bigger. The results are simply spectacular on technical climbs. On the rock strewn ascent from the Derwent Inn towards Cutthroat Bridge, the Remedy kept the rear wheel firmly planted on the ground, delivering the traction and power needed to make this tricky climb manageable.

Hydroformed aluminium frames have brought an astonishing amount of rigidity without the formerly associated weight. And the Remedy has an interesting array of burly frame sections. A 15mm quick release at the front and 142×42 rear hub attach the perfectly acceptable Bontrager XR3 wheels while keeping everything rigid. The result is a bike that transmits your steering and power input to the wheels effectively, yet never feels heavy.

In fact, the Remedy 9 weighs in at almost exactly one kilogram heavier than my similarly specced Ibis Mojo HD 160, but costs a whole £2K less, which I think most people would find an acceptable trade off.

A Rock Shox Reverb dropper post adds a little flexibility to your descending options. It features a rather nifty little cable management loop at the top of the seat tube that neatly guides the cable during height changes. While we’re in that area of the bike, one distinctive feature of the Remedy is the Mino Link, a small cam-like wedge at the rear of the Evo link upper suspension linkage. If this is loosened and rotated, it changes the bike’s geometry, raising the bottom bracket height by 10mm and tightening the head angle by 0.5 degrees. I liked the bike just fine with the factory settings, but the option’s always there.

The benefits of DRCV are carried through to the fork. While the performance benefits are not so obvious here, they certainly don’t hurt. The Remedy’s DRCV Float 32 delivers smooth suspension actionacross the full rang of compression. This was particularly obvious on low amplitude, high frequency oscillation.

Internal routing of the just the seatpost cable is an idiosyncratic choice. It works fine, but external routing would have too, and cost less.

The bottom of the route from Derwent Edge to Ladybower via Grindle Clough ends on a steep path of rough Yorkshire stone slabs. Not your nicely faced and levelled garden variety, but moorland path style. Invariably this last section is taken fast, as a fun finale to a rapid descent. But it’s usually punishing on the hands and arms.

On Sunday as we reached the bottom, my buddy Jonathan was just bemoaning how his arms felt as I was reflecting on how well the Remedy had smoothed out the usually teeth-chattering lower section. You can use every last bit of the Remedy’s 150mm of suspension, yet it never feels wallowy or imprecise.

As a visual package, the Remedy 9 took some getting to love. In fact love is too strong a word. A green theme carries throughout the bike, which lead some of my fellow riders to make “where’s it gone” comments when I set it down in grass or against bushes. All that prevents its camouflage being too effective are some garish lime highlights, most notably on the suspension EVO links, and the fork legs.

Because Trek has unparalleled access to the Bontrager finishing parts catalogue these lime hints are carried throughout the bike, which results in a nicely cohesive bike – as long as you like green. I hate it, and would possibly pay the extra £900 for the Remedy 9.8 just to avoid it.

If unlike me you choose your bike for its value and performance rather than its colour, this is possibly the pick of the bunch, because north of here, prices rise steeply for marginal falls in a weight and componentry improvements.

As a result of riding the Remedy, I’m going to be looking long and hard at the suspension settings of my existing bikes. And if I can’t eke a few performance improvements out of them, I’ll be getting a Trek.

Price: £3100
More information: Trek Remedy 9 

The somewhat garish lime green hints prove helpful finding the bike when in the wilds. The otherwise subdued green colour scheme makes it blend in with bushes and trees surprisingly well. A splash of mud helps.