First Ride: Trek Remedy 8 Review - BikeRadar

All-mountain all-rounders with six inches of travel are hard to do well. Instead of just bumping an inch of travel on to a lighter frame and sticking on some thicker gauge tubing, Trek has rewritten the rules with the fantastic Remedy.

This would be an ideal machine for the Mega Avalanche downhill run or any amount of similar Alpine shenanigans. The frame design is stunning and it looks good too but most importantly the unique suspension design is wonderfully effective.

Ride & handling: planted & capable

Getting the right set-up for the Remedy is crucial – too soft and it’s wallowy, too firm and you won’t feel the benefits. With correct sag, the rear end is very active throughout the stroke.

With a low main pivot, the Remedy uses a four-bar system to keep the bike as active as possible, but it doesn’t use a Horst Link. Instead there is Trek’s new Active Braking Pivot, which keeps the rear suspension working even if the wheel is fully locked.

A custom Fox RP23 shock with a big can offers supple action on small hits, with enough ramp-up for big hits.

The cockpit is long enough for efficient climbing, even with the 80mm stem, and the back end is short enough to flick the bike around – combination keeps the bike feeling planted. It’s low too – 14in centre-to-floor with huge 2.35in Kenda tyres – but not so low you bash your feet.

The frame was very stiff and tracked well. This was also noticeable under braking where the fore/aft rigidity of the fork through the E2 steerer prevailed – it feels better than a 1.125in set-up.

At 14.15kg (31.2lb) in a size large, you could knock a couple of pounds off with some mods, but as it is, the Remedy 8 is a very good bike.

Frame: roomy & low

The frame is made from Trek’s Alpha Red 7000 series aluminium, and features heavy hydroforming on the down and top tubes, but keeps a fairly traditional double diamond design.

The extremely low top tube (in relation to the size of the bike) allows a good standover height and the roomy 24in effective length lets you use a short stem without cramping your riding position.

Up front is a huge formed head tube that houses the E2 headset system, Trek’s unique design with a 1.5in lower race, a 1.125in upper race and a tapered fork steerer. This keeps weight down on the headset and stem and provides support for the 6in travel forks.

The head angle is nice and slack at 66.6 degrees, but the Rockshox Lyrik 2-Step fork allows a climbing-friendly 68.5 degrees in its short setting. 

Equipment: effective gear

The Remedy is offered in three builds. Our mid-range model uses the excellent Rockshox Lyrik 2-Step fork with a Shimano Deore XT drivetrain and brake set, Bontrager Rhythm Comp wheels and Kenda Nevegal Dual Compound tyres. 

The finishing kit includes a full width King Earl bar (we grumbled about the shorter 26in bar on pre-production bikes), an 80mm stem that’s both stiff and light, and a comfy Bontrager post and saddle combo. We ran a Crank Brothers Joplin seatpost on our bike, and it worked perfectly.

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