At home on technical trails and equipped to traverse continents, the Moots Scrambler could be 2026’s most versatile gravel bike.
The Scrambler is one of the most intriguing new gravel bikes we've seen this year. Moots, the legendary titanium builder, has created a bike that blends the brand’s trademark craftsmanship with a progressive design. It blends modern, adventurous gravel thinking with mountain bike tech, which makes for a very capable gravel bike.
With massive tyre clearances, stealth dropper-post routing and a 100mm-travel suspension fork, the Scrambler pays homage to Moots’ previous Routt ESC and Baxter models while incorporating 2026’s hottest gravel trends.
Moots Scrambler: what you need to know
- Available in a single build or frameset, with custom finish options
- Comes with a mechanical drivetrain and external routing for easy trailside repair
- Massive 60mm tyre clearance
- Geometry designed to keep you comfortable over distance
- Features SRAM’s UDH dropout standard
- Comes with a 100mm-travel RockShox SID fork
- Masses of mounts for bikepacking duties
Moots Scrambler ride impressions
The Scrambler is a fun place to spend plenty of time, with the shorter reach and tall stack making for an easy-going ride position. It won’t appeal to hardened racers, but it makes a lot of sense for bikepackers and those who like to explore.
The Scrambler’s geometry blends a relaxed 70-degree head angle with a steep 73.75-degree seat angle. The stack on my size-large test bike was a tall 654mm – not surprising because the frame is suspension-corrected for a 100mm-travel mountain bike fork.
A RockShox SID fork has a 506mm axle-to-crown length, whereas a rigid fork would be around 405mm. That means the fork will be at least 50mm longer, even when it’s compressed, so Moots has tailored the geometry to account for this.
The 389mm reach is on the short side compared to more road-derived gravel bikes and the chainstays are long at 444mm to account for the massive 60mm tyre clearance. The deeply sloping top tube gives plenty of standover clearance, mitigating the taller front end.
| Size | S | M | L | XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effective top tube (cm) | 53 | 56 | 58 | 60 |
| Seat tube (cm) | 43.18 | 50.8 | 55.88 | 58.42 |
| Head tube (cm) | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 |
| Head angle (degrees) | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| Seat angle (degrees) | 74.5 | 74.25 | 73.75 | 73.75 |
| BB Drop (mm) | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| Chainstay length (cm) | 44.4 | 44.4 | 44.4 | 44.4 |
| Stand over (in) | 28.9 | 28.9 | 34.1 | 34.9 |
| Stack (mm) | 626 | 645 | 654 | 664 |
| Reach (mm) | 354 | 375 | 389 | 404 |
The large 2.4in-wide WTB Mako tyres have a tread that's well suited to most conditions – they’re great on dry dirt and damp ground, although the tread’s centre gets packed very quickly in sticky mud. That said, they shed quickly once you’re out of thick gloop.
As you’d imagine beyond gravel, the Makos feel a little pedestrian on tarmac, but the comfort generated by the huge volume gives the Scrambler a cosseting and confident ride quality even on the most testing terrain.
Adding the 100mm-travel fork into the equation feel like overkill at times. Mountain bikers won’t see a 100mm fork as anything approaching ‘extreme’, but as someone more used to rigid bikes or a gravel suspension fork (which tend to come with about half as much travel), I felt there was too much travel at times.
Most of the time, I rode with the fork locked out – although bear in mind this doesn’t lock the fork out fully (there’ll still be a little bit of movement). On tougher, choppier terrain, I benefitted from the added squish, but I never once used the fully open setting, even on rocky, rooty singletrack.
The mechanical mix of Shimano’s GRX RX820 and XT M8100 drivetrains is good – shifts are quick, both up and down the cassette. Chain management was ample, preventing the chain from slapping the beautifully finished ‘Topo’-coloured chainstay, but I felt a little chain chatter and vibration through the pedals at the extremes of the 10-51 cassette.
I like that Moots specs a left-hand shifter, rather than settling for a left-hand brake unit from the GRX family. This opens the ability to add a dropper post and use the shifter to actuate it.
A dropper post is something I’d certainly choose to fit if the Scrambler were mine. The handling, tyres, ride position and 100mm-travel fork add up to a bike that can be pushed way beyond a regular gravel bike’s comfort zone.
The Scrambler indeed scrambles on technical singletrack, handling superbly here and feeling more akin to a hardtail mountain bike than a road-derived gravel bike. On more typical gravel terrain, byways and fire roads, the Scrambler feels quite reserved.
You can, of course, stiffen up the fork, get out of the saddle and put the power down, but the Scrambler never feels completely at home doing that. It’s much better to sit in, grab the hoods, tuck your elbows in and motor along, like a diesel-powered Land Rover rather than a turbo-charged rally car.
The complete bike is priced at £9,850, / $9,499, with the frame-only option at £4,750 / $5,399, but you can upgrade to either Moots’ premium polished or brushed finish for £1,220 / $1,000. The very limited-edition ‘Topo’ finish adds £1,725 / $1,500 to the price.
A custom-finished Moots bike is never going to be cheap, albeit the Scrambler is one of the less expensive Moots gravel options.
Compared to other titanium gravel bikes, the J.Laverack GRiT, with a Shimano GRX RX820 mechanical groupset, is much cheaper at £5,795, although that’s without a suspension fork. Ribble’s titanium AllGrit comes in at £5,599 with a RockShox Rudy Ultimate gravel fork.
If budget isn’t an issue, fellow US handmade titanium brand Mosaic offers its GT-1X priced at between $6,900 and $7,700.
Frequent Moots collaborator Chris King provides the colour-matched headset, seatpost clamp, bottom bracket and aluminium wheelset – attention to detail that shows the Scrambler isn’t an off-the-peg bike.
The Chris King MTN30 AL 29in Boost wheels are classy looking with colour-matched hubs, and that iconic RingDrive freehub buzz with 72 points of engagement. The cosseting nature of the bike is also aided by the comfortable Moots-branded WTB Silverado saddle.
How I tested the Moots Scrambler
I tested the Moots Scrambler on my usual trio of 50-mile routes on Wiltshire’s Salisbury Plain, taking in everything from wide gravel roads to twisting forest fire roads, heavily used bridleways and technical singletrack trails. I also headed onto tarmac to see how the larger-treaded tyres fared.
Moots Scrambler bottom line
The Scrambler is a beautifully finished bike, and one with a well-balanced outlook. It's a supremely comfortable rambler that's ideal for bikepacking, but can transform into a singletrack-slaying rival to a hardtail mountain bike in an instant.
However, the fork’s 100mm of travel is overkill – something like RockShox’s Rudy XL with 60mm of travel would be ample, especially given the large-volume tyres and vibration-quelling nature of this top titanium frame do a huge amount of the heavy lifting already.
In terms of value, the Scrambler isn’t cheap, but you have to remember this is a boutique brand with a flawless finish. I really admire the fun factor of a bike that’s relaxed and feels rewarding over distance, yet flighty and capable over technical terrain. As such, it's hard to put a price on those qualities.
