Pete has been testing Scott’s top of the line, long travel, 29er ebike, the Ransom eRide 910 to see where it can and can’t go.
Scott’s Ransom eRide 910 is an awful lot of bike and promises some serious range and mountain-swallowing performance, but does it live up to the hype on the trail? Pete has been finding out.
Key features:
- Fox Float 38 Performance Elite 180mm fork
- Fox Float X2 Performance Elite shock
- SRAM NX/XO1 Eagle 12-speed drive
- Shimano XT 4-piston brakes
- Bosch Line CX motor
- Bosch PowerTube 625Wh battery
- Formula hubs on Syncros X-30S rims
- Fox Performance Transfer dropper
- £6,899.00 RRP
- Scott-Sports.com
Frame and build
The Ransom eRide is an all alloy frame, with a chunky downtube containing the 625Wh battery and a serious kink in the top tube to allow for increased standover. Out the back, the rocker and rear triangle look minimal when compared to the front end of the bike.
I tested a medium Ransom eRide, which has a mix of the modern and not ground-breaking geometry. At 440mm, the reach was spot on, combined with a just short enough seat tube for me with the dropper slammed. Head angle is a sensible 64.2 degrees, combined with a 74.6 degree seat tube angle.
Chainstays were a large part of what effected my ability to ride the Ransom eRide the way I wanted to. At 465mm fixed across the sizes, they’re likely long enough on the large and extra large, but longer than anything I have ever ridden on a medium sized bike by some way. You can run a 27.5″ wheel in the back of the Ransom, but that won’t bring the rear axle any closer to the BB.
Build is solid across the board, with dampers coming in the form of Fox’s excellent Float Performance Elite 38 and X2 shocks. I am definitely a fan of dampers with high and low speed adjustments, and once fine-tuned, these were some of the best out there. Fox’s Transfer dropper handles the seat height.
Drive train is a mix of SRAM XO1 and NX units, doing the job of handling the power coming through the Bosch Line CX motor seamlessly throughout. I would have expected a Code brake but instead Shimano’s venerable XT 4-piston units were hauling the bike in.
Syncros finishing kit rounds out the package, including the cockpit, and the X-30 rims, mated to Formula hubs. Some hefty 2.6″ Maxxis Assegai and Dissector tyres dealing with the dirt.
Up Hills
The Ransom eRide made the hills a breeze, and I’d be happy enough cruising in Eco, as climbs are something I relish as part of a ride. Rarely did I feel the need to bump the motor up to even Tour, even less so eMTB or Turbo.
I’m still not entirely convinced by the Dissector as a rear tyre, especially on an ebike. While they do roll fast, I’d prefer to go with something grippier, especially when grip is paramount and the weight is already almost on the 25kg mark.
The long chainstays made popping the front wheel up steps in any climb hard, and low speed manoeuvring hampered by a reasonably tall BB. I’d struggle to muscle the bike around too, the bike weighing not far off half my 58kg.
That said, on my massive hill missions, with the upper reaches going over rough ground a lot of the time, the long rear end kept my weight over both wheels, meaning I’d get a dabless run to almost 900m above the sea from my house.
Down hills
This is where I expected the Ransom eRide to shine. The dampers definitely made it easy for me to find the sweet spot, and I’d eventually just give up trying to get the front wheel off the ground and just plough a more obvious line, allowing the large volume tyres and excellent suspension to deal with the less subtle approach.
In the woods above the house, the tyres felt somewhat tortured when it came to finding grip, especially on the rear, the Dissector simply not having enough bite. The weight of the bike also meant that on trails I could normally crack on with, I’d simply find myself trying to slow down a runaway train.
With that, I opted to use the Ransom for massive hill missions from the front door. 31 miles and 4800ft of up and down certainly would be a test of any bike. With my penchant for just using the motor to give me a bit of help and a low overall system weight, six hour rides saw me rarely dipping below two bars of battery.
I’d clean the climb to Ben Ledi’s 879m summit from 50m above sea level on the Ransom eRide. Rarely did I struggle for traction, power or room to shift my bodyweight around. The few times I had to walk sections though, the Walk mode on the motor felt like more of a hindrance than a help, leaving me to have a good wrestle with a bike knocking on the door of half my weight.
The descents off the top didn’t take long to remind me just how much mass I had between my legs, and probably the only time I have felt an XT 4-pot fully overwhelmed. Granted, the Ledi descent is long and has few places where you’re not going downhill hard, but if any bike needed IceTech rotors instead of the stamped steel numbers on the eRide, this was it. This is likely not an experience that would be unique to the Ransom eRide though, as most ebikes in this category are upwards of the 20kg mark, and will play havoc with anything trying to throw an anchor out.
Longer descents did prove just how dialled the Fox dampers were though, and left me wondering just how good an acoustic Ransom would be with the same spec. Despite some treacherous winter conditions, the SRAM gears never did anything but shift when I told them to, and I never suffered a puncture or any other mechanicals.
What do we think?
If you’ve the heft to throw the Ransom eRide about, then it is a strong contender for massive days out on any terrain. You will have to accept that the front wheel isn’t going to want to come off the ground and adjust your riding accordingly.
Rarely have I enjoyed a damper tune as good as that on the Ransom eRide.
A dedicated Mullet Ransom eRide would likely solve a lot of the niggles with the bike, namely the high BB and long chainstays.
We love:
- A true go anywhere bike
- Dialled suspension
- Solid component package
Could do better:
- Dissector not a great rear tyre option
- Excessive chainstays
- High BB
