Scott Gambler Review

From the first time I saw the Scott Gambler until now. Having finally had the opportunity to ride one, my opinion remains the same. I will own one, at some point. Hopefully soon, if all works out.

Build: Being that this bike is owned by a sram rep, it was decked out with all the recent goodies from Sram, Rockshox etc. The drive train was XO carbon crank, shifter and type 2 derailleur. All preformed flawlessly through the testing. Brakes were dual piston XO trails. I weight like 150 give or take, so they were spot on. They had the best modulation of any brake I've used, which lead to holding better traction while hitting corners and they could still stop on a dime. The controls were a generic Truvativ direct mount(nothing special here) and a Stevie Smith blackbox bar. I have always liked the feel of a boobar, so the Smith bar felt great. Suspension was a Boxxer Worldcup and a Vivid R2C. The fork preformed just as I would expect from a boxxer. Now the shock was what got me stoked. After the launch that the shock had, I was very curious to see how it felt. I thought that the shock preformed up to par; it tracks insanely well, takes big hits like a champ and stayed solid throughout the testing. Also, I gotta hand it to rockshox for the counter measure, it is surpirsing how little force is required to activate the shock. Wheels were covered by Novatec demon dowmhill wheelset. They had stout rims at  a decent weight and very quick egaging hubs which made pedaling out of corners noticeably faster due to quick power transfer. Overall, it was a very solid build that I had no complaints about. 

The Ride: The first thing I noticed in the parking lot is how damn aggressive this bike feels. With a low bottom bracket, short chain stays and a head angle that might leave some scratching their heads. I was pumped to get it on the trail. The first place I rode the bike was a steep loamy trail that I am very familiar with. I was stoked on how the bike rode. It would hold a corner like a bobsled,  something I dont do well. In addition to good corners, the trail has a solid huck to test on. The bike aced that one too, it was astounding how well this bike takes big hits. The next test was at Squaw Valley to race the beast; It was a 10 minute run, that a trailbike would have been ideal for, but it was a test for the pedal-ability of this bike. Seriously, this bike scoots under pedals, I was beyond impressed. Aside from the pedaling, Squaw had some awesome real downhill. The top was an awkward  rockgarden similar to Fontana; features like these usually are challenging because it can be hard to carry speed. The gambler floated through the rocks where it could and felt incredibly solid while plowing when it had to be done. The last place I tested the Gambler was at Northtstar at Tahoe the closet lift access I have. What Northstar gave me was a great place to test the bikes jumping ability. Honestly, this bike is almost too good at jumping. I never had to really preload a jump to clear it. Whenever I preloaded the suspension hard, I over jumped whatever I was jumping. After riding the bike, I can conclude that this bike has a very confidence inspiring feeling. It stayed stable in 99% of situations and there wasn't anything that it wasn't good at at or a characteristic that made it not fun.  


Here is a vid of some testing



Scott Gambler test + shredding on Pinkbike

SCHLADMING!!!!

RAW: Adam Brayton Crushing Schladming - More Mountain Bike Videos

Uk has the goods

NEW OLD from Tom Grundy on Vimeo.

LOVE SQUATS

just click it.....

great form I must add.

Slap to yo face!

This is a fucking dope edit. However, after watching it. I was left wondering something. Who, the fuck, filmed, and edited it?? It was posted on pinkbike and the only credit is devinci cycles. I personally, think it was Anthill or the Costa Crew, but who the fuck cares it was a dope video.

  
Steve Smith on Devinci on Pinkbike

Tyrone!!

This shits original! So funny and so good

Now this is dope

Brycland blowing minds in whistler. 

 

Adam Hauck being really gnarly

entertaining

This makes me really want to go to whistler.

Austrailians kill it.

All of these chillen edits are dope, so here is episode 1. Whats I think makes these better than most edits around these days, is that it seems all the riders ride a bunch of different disciplines. That shows diversity and real skill.   



Chillen ep1 on Pinkbike