I’m in Durango where Gary Fisher bikes is introducing their all-new Roscoe—140mm of front/rear travel trail bike sweetness—to journalists from around the world. Roscoe is designed to be a versatile machine, suited for a bit more aggressive riding than Fisher’s 120mm travel HiFi. After my two-day press camp, I’ll post a full-blow report, but let me spill a few of the beans based this morning’s short indoctrination and this afternoon’s couple-hour ride atop the Roscoe 2.

• As with all bikes in Fisher’s 2009 lineup, the Roscoe features G2 geometry.
• The fork is a custom G2 Fox 140mm travel model that features TALAS and a a custom RP24 damper that brings Pro Pedal performance to the front of the bike.
• Front wheel has 15mm QR thru-axle for improved stifness.
• The rear shock features a Dual Rate Control Valve (DRCV) technology that was developed in cooperation with Fox and is exclusive to Trek Corp bikes. In a nutshell the DRCV has a position sensitive valve that opens a passage way to a second air chamber at a predetermined point in the travel—with the goal being to produce a coil–like spring rate curve with a lightweight air shock.
• Features Active Brake Pivot (ABP), where the rear pivot is concentric with the rear wheel axle, which was introduced last year on Trek’s Fuel EX lineup.
• E2 head tube tapers from 1 1/8″ upper to 1 1/2″ lower head tube diameter, for increased front end stiffness and steering precision.

Today’s couple-hour ride is a far cry from a full-blown bike test, but I will say that I was instantly comfortable with the Roscoe’s handling—rather agile for a 140mm travel steed. Middle ring climbing was a well-behaved affair and bombing downhil rock gardens put a smile on my face. I’ll have more to say, after the epic ride that’s on tap for tomorrow.

In the meantime, click on the thumbnails below for detail shots.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Fresh Dirt, New! Cool!, On The Road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.