We’ve now seen Scott’s new Genius in the flesh carbon thanks to a day at the company’s annual dealer roadshow, and jolly fine it looks too. We’ve already had all the techy lowdown from Dave the other week, so we won’t go through it all again, although we have a couple of observations to add. One is that this is very much a marathon/enduro bike, despite its 150mm of travel. The angles and setup all mark it out as a bike for covering substantial distances on.

There’ll probably be a bit of a shock setup learning curve with the new DT-made Equalizer 2 shock, which features separate air valves for the positive and negative air chambers (which do the opposite of what you’d expect, this being a pull-shock) and an unprecedented two rebound dials, one on each of the piggyback chambers. Scott’s preliminary setup advice is that both should be set the same (they’re numbered for easy repeatability), but if we’re understanding how it all works correctly there may be scope for varying them a bit so you can get a nice fast action over the pattery stuff but a slower, anti-launch feel on the big hits. This is just idle pontification from looking at cutaways, though – for all we know it probably works just fine set up as suggested.

The new Tracloc lever gives you access to 150mm, 100mm or locked-out travel modes, which also deliver a considerable variation in stance – sat up when locked out, down on the haunches fully open. The lever itself is a rather fine-looking all-alloy device with a Rapidfire-style action – one lever to go from 150, through 100 to locked out and a release lever to come back the other way.

Yes, £7,149 is a considerable amount of money, although the Limited does pack a wealth of high-end kit – Formula R1 Carbon brakes, DT Swiss EXC fork and carbon fibre XRC rims, Crank Brothers Egg Beater Ti pedals and so on. Or you could save yourself £2,600, get a full XTR Genius 10 with exactly the same frame (and another really smart bike with the change). The next two models down use cheaper (and slightly heavier) HMF carbon instead of the Limited and 10’s HMX, with the 30 also getting an aluminium swingarm. There’s an all-aluminium frame on the “low end” bikes, with the range kicking off at a quid under two grand for the Genius 50 (XT/LX/Deore transmission, Avid Juicy 3.5 brakes, Revelation 409 fork).

While we’re in the real world, Scott’s Spark range has been extended to include a bunch of cheaper, aluminium-framed models. Pictured is the entry-level Spark 60 which comes in at a very reasonable £1,199. You might not even notice it’s aluminium at first, thanks to the smoothed welds around the head tube. Geometry and layout is the same as the posher Sparks, so the handling should be spot on. You don’t get the adjustable-travel cleverness at this price, though – there’s a Manitou Radium RL shock out back. You have to go up to the Spark 30 at £2,629 to get the DT Swiss-made Nude shock which appears at the same price point as the full-carbon frame. There’s now a hefty nine Spark models, topping out with the £6,559 Limited.

Just spec and colour changes for the Scale racey hardtails, plus the introduction of a gap-filling Scale 35 model. Similarly, the popular Ransom all-mountain beastie carries over for 2009 albeit with funky new graphics. There’s also the notable inclusion of Truvativ’s much-rumoured Hammerschmidt two-speed planetary drive crankset on the Ransom 10. This front-derailleur-avoiding gizmo is set for an official launch at the autumn trade shows, but it’s started to appear in bike manufacturer’s catalogues. Rumour has it that there’s a stock 24t chainring with the whirly internal cog gubbinses giving a second gear equivalent to a 36. Should be interesting.

Several of the cheaper Scotts are available now, with the posh stuff (including the Genius) slated for November. We expect that www.scottusa.com will have all the 2009 stuff pretty shortly…