Genius

You’ve already had a sneak preview of Scott’s Genius full suspension bikes, but now we’ve got details of the full range. Entry level for the triple mode, remote switchable, no bob boingy cleverness is £1,549. That gets you a Genius MC-50 with 125mm of rear travel, 120mm Manitou Black Comp fork, LX/XT transmission and Avid V-brakes – the hubs are disc-ready for easy upgrading. There are four bikes above that in the long-travel MC range, with the MC-20 and 10 getting lighter frame tubing. The top of the range 10 is fully loaded with a Fox TALAS RLC fork, Mavic Crossmax wheels and XTR everything for the princely sum of £3,499.

The more XC race-oriented RC series, with 90mm of rear travel, kicks off at £1,899 with the RC-30. That gets you a Manitou Skareb Super Air fork, Shimano LX/XT transmission and XT discs all hung off an eye-catching yellow frame. The RC-20, with Scott’s new Scan 2 tubing, Fox F80RLT fork and XT/XTR bits will set you back £2,449, while the sub-24lb RC-10 (Fox F80X, XTR, DT Swiss hubs) costs £3,599.

There’s also the women-specific Genius Contessa at £1,599 with Manitou Axel Comp fork and LX/XT bits.

Hardtails

With all the excitement over the Genius range, it’d be easy for Scott’s hardtail range to slip in unnoticed under the radar. That’d be a pity, because they’re all well-specced, clean looking bikes. Entry level ‘Performance’ MTB is the £339 Montana, with a disc-ready 6061 alu frame, Suntour fork and Alivio/Acera group. The same frame is carried through the Performance range with the Yecora, Yecora Disc, Tampico and Aspen getting ever-increasing equipment levels up to the top of the range Boulder. At £699 the Boulder gets LX/XT parts and a Manitou Axel Comp fork.

Those looking for something a little more racy will want to look at the appropriately-named Racing range. Pricewise the range overlaps with the Performance bikes, with the 7005-framed, Judy XC/Deore/LX equipped Expert Racing coming in at £599. The same frame is found on the Elite Racing (£889, Axel Comp/LX/Deore discs), while the Comp (£1149, Axel Elite/LX/XT discs) and Team Racing (£1,699, Skareb Comp/full XT) share a lighter version. Things start getting really serious with the £2,099 Pro Racing, complete with even lighter frame, Fox F80RLT fork and XT/XTR parts. If you’re after the ultimate race hardtail, though, take a look at the Team Issue. Scott’s Scan 2 tubing builds into a scary-light 2.6lb frame, adorned with Fox F80X fork, full XTR and £3,399 price tag.

At the other end of the riding style spectrum is the Voltage range of small, burly hardtails kicking off with the £229 YZ4 and running all the way up to the &1,209 YZ0 Limited Timo Pritzel signature bike. The Limited is actually twice the price of the next bike down, the £549 YZ0, with the extra cash upgrading the YZ0’s Marzocchi EXR Comp fork, Truvativ Hussefelt crank and mechanical discs to a ‘zocchi DJ3 fork with 20mm through-axle, FSA three-piece cranks and Deore Hydraulic discs.

Then there’s the women’s Contessa range, all featuring Solution geometry (shorter top tube, steeper seat angle), 7005 alu frames and specially-tuned forks. Prices range from £429 for the Contessa 30 to £799 for the Contessa 10.

Progressive

That’s “freeride” in Scott-speak. For 2004 the G-Zero bikes have all but disappeared with the exception of the £899 G-Zero FX that sits at the bottom of the range. In its place is the new Nitrous platform, a rather more overtly freeridey chassis with 1.5in-compatible headtube, “Octagon” squared-off tubing, monocoque seat mast and 150 or 170mm of meaty single-pivot travel. A particularly neat touch on the Nitrous bikes is the two-piece telescopic seatpost, allowing you to get a full range of seat height adjustment without any nasty shock fouling going on.

Curiously, despite having big headtubes, all three Nitrous bikes are specced with 1-1/8in Marzocchi forks, with a Drop-Off Comp on the £1,329 30, a Z1 on the £1,599 20 and a Z150FR on the £2,099 10. They’ve all got disc brakes, although perhaps surprisingly there’s no sign of Shimano’s heavy-duty Saint group. The Nitrous 10 runs XT transmission with RapidFire pods and Hayes discs.

Top of the Progressive tree are the High Octane and High Octane FR, both at £2,599. The High Octane is an out-and-out downhill racer with rear travel options up to a massive 240mm. Scott’s unique adjustable head angle is there, with a 180mm Boxxer fork plugged into it. Race Face cranks and XT transmission make it go, Hayes Mag HD discs with 205mm rotors make it stop. The FR edition is a very similar frame, complete with carbon fibre seat tower, but with shorter travel (140-180mm) and a little more versatility courtesy of a triple-chainring set-up, Manitou Swinger shock, telescopic seatpost and single-crown Manitou Breakout fork. It’s not going to fly up hills but you’re not going to be reliant on lifts either…

Kids

We’ve got to show you these, because they’re ace. Scott’s new Kids line covers everyone from pre-schoolers to 12 year olds. The icklest bike is the £109, 12in wheel Radical 120, followed by the £129, 16in wheel Radical 160. Both bikes have coaster brakes on the rear to avoid the problems of small hands being unable to pull brake levers sufficiently hard (although both bikes have front caliper brakes too). Moving up, the Radical 200 and 240 with 20 and 24in wheels respectively are available in two versions, with a choice of road tyres, mudguards and racks or in an MX edition with knobbly tyres and suspension forks. They’re between £219 and £239.

Then there’s a couple of full-suspension G-Zero Juniors, and a pair of 24in wheel race replicas. The Racing Jr at £279 features a 6061 alu frame, 24in wheels, 21 Shimano gears and a 50mm travel fork. The one that parents will have to drag their children away from, though, is the fantastic Racing Jr Team Issue, complete with double butted frame tubes, 22lb weight, 70mm suspension fork, 27 gears from a Deore/XT mix, clipless pedals and a £699 price tag.

Road

As well as all the MTBs, Scott have a huge range of Tarmac-friendly steeds of all sorts of persuasions. The Evo full-suspension, 26in wheel tourers are fairly unique, with the Evo TR1 coming complete with front lowerider racks, XT transmission and Magura rim brakes at £ 1,549. There’s also the Nomad range, also 26in wheel but hardtails. Then there’s the more stripped-down 700c-wheeled Sportsters with slightly knobbly tyres for a degree of off-road capability or the comfort-oriented Atacama range. The Nomad, Sportster and Atacama bikes are all available with women’s frames, too.

If you’re looking for something for pure road use but don’t want to put your back out with drop bars, the Roadsters (£399 to 799) should fit the bill. They’re essentially flat-barred road bikes, teaming road-style frames (complete with integrated headsets), transmission and brakes with MTB-style flat bars and shifters.

And of course there’s a full range of “proper” road bikes. The range now starts at £499 with the 7005 aluminium, Shimano 2200/Sora equipped AFD Sport. More cash gets you progressively lighter frames and better bits right up to the shiny AFD Pro, with a 3lb frame, carbon fork and Ultegra bits at £1,129. That’s not the top of the range, though. Scott have taken the knowledge gained from the Strike carbon fibre MTBs and applied it to their CR1 road frames. They’re claimed to be ultra-stiff yet comfortable, thanks to cunning lay-up of the carbon tubes so they’re stiff sideways and in torsion but have a degree of flex vertically. And the frames are exceptionally light. The cheaper of the two, the CR1 Pro, features a 2.2lb frame adorned with a Shimano Ultegra group and Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels at £1,999. Or for £3,599 you can get the CR1 Team Issue. The differences you can see include the Ksrium SL wheels and Dura-Ace 10sp transmission. The difference you can’t is an even lighter frame. Scott say it’s the world’s lightest, and at 895g (1.97lb) who are we to argue?