Scott’s long-travel enduro-ready Ransom eRide 910, one of our eMTB Bike of the Year contenders, runs on 29in wheels front and rear, backed up by a bump-munching 180mm of travel, controlled by Scott’s Virtual 4 Link Kinematic (VLK) suspension. Its aluminium frame features adjustable geometry, while it’s specced with some top-performing parts, including Fox’s 38 Performance Elite fork, Float X2 Performance shock and a SRAM drivetrain. Given its spec, the Ransom eRide is reasonable value for money at £6,499 / €7,199 / AU$14,500. It’s driven by Bosch’s Performance Line CX motor with 85Nm of torque that’s powered by Bosch’s 625Wh-capacity PowerTube battery, the same as is fitted to Whyte’s E-180 RS v3, another of our Bike of the Year machines.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 frame and suspension

The Ransom uses a trunnion-mounted rear shock. The silhouette of the aluminium Ransom eRide frame resembles the current Scott Genius and Scott Ransom bikes, and the previous-generation Spark, featuring a vertically mounted rear shock. Its cables are routed internally from the headset to their exit points at the rear of the chainstays, and it has in-built chain slap protection on the driveside stay. It has a straight, uninterrupted seat tube that means increased dropper post insertion is possible.

The chainstay figure, even for an electric mountain bike, is long at 465mm. Although it’s factory-specced with 29in wheels front and back, it’s compatible with 27.5in wheels set up as either a mullet (29in front, 27.5in rear) or 27.5in front and rear thanks to a geometry flip chip on the shock mount. This flip chip can also be used with 29in wheels to swap between a high and low setting. It’s fitted with Syncro’s Fork Stop Headset that limits fork rotation to 60 degrees to avoid the fork crown and down tube damaging each other.

Suspension kinematics

There’s 180mm of rear-wheel travel, with a Horst-link suspension design. The Ransom eRide’s 180mm of rear-wheel travel is driven by a Horst-link suspension design, where the rear wheel axle sits behind the chainstay/seatstay pivot. Scott says it has made the first part of the suspension’s travel sensitive to improve small-bump compliance and it then gets firmer towards bottom-out, claiming these kinematics are tailored to the needs of an electric enduro bike.

In terms of numbers, the Ransom is roughly 23 per cent progressive through its travel. This means it isn’t the most or least progressive bike in its category and is best suited to air-sprung shocks, where volume-reducer spacers can be added to increase progression. The frame uses a metric trunnion-mounted shock. Unusually, the trunnion mount is attached to the frame rather than the rocker linkage. This means the linkage drives the shock via DU eyelet bushings, and as the linkage compresses it rotates around the shock’s eyelet.

The bearings in a trunnion-mounted shock – if the trunnion mount is on the linkage end – reduce the wear and friction associated with that rotation, resulting in smoother suspension and longer service intervals. Unfortunately, this major benefit of a trunnion shock isn’t applicable to the Ransom eRide because the main frame trunnion mount undergoes limited rotation during compression.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 battery and motor

Bosch’s Performance Line CX motor and Purion controller is fitted to the Ransom. The Ransom is fitted with Bosch’s Performance Line CX motor with 85Nm of torque and 250w of assistance, equalling that provided by Shimano’s EP8 but trailing just behind the Specialized/Brose unit. The Ransom’s motor is paired with a 625Wh battery and uses the Purion display and controller that lacks any form of Bluetooth or smartphone connectivity. It has four riding modes: Eco, Tour, eMTB and Turbo, as well as a walk mode.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 geometry

It has high and low geometry settings. Scott claims the Ransom’s geometry is “long, slack and stable at speed”, and is ready to tame the descents. The brand also says seat tube angles haven’t been compromised, understanding the importance of seated pedalling comfort. It’s available in four sizes, from small to extra-large. For my 178cm height, I picked the size large Ransom. With 29in wheels and in the low setting, it has an average-sized 470mm reach, a 353.5mm bottom bracket height and a long 1,285.6mm wheelbase.

Its head angle sits at 64 degrees, while the seat tube is 76.1 degrees. The chainstay figure, even for an electric mountain bike, is long at 465mm. All good so far, however there is an outlier: the seat tube length. Although it has good insertion depth, it is very long at 470mm. This has the potential to limit shorter riders sizing up to get longer reach figures.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 specifications

It features a SRAM Eagle drivetrain. In terms of components, the Ransom represents good value for money, with Scott speccing high-performance parts in crucial areas. The Performance Elite Fox 38 has both low- and high-speed rebound and compression adjustment thanks to the GRIP2 damper, while its marginally less sophisticated X2 Performance shock still has plenty of adjustment and damper control. Rounding out the Fox stable is a Transfer dropper post with 175mm of travel.

Matching the fork and shock brand is Fox’s Transfer dropper post. It’s fitted with a SRAM X01/SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain mix with single-click shifting. It has Shimano’s XT M8120 brakes with 203mm rotors and Scott house-brand finishing kit from Syncros, including bar, stem, saddle and rims. Its wheels are wrapped in 29×2.6in wide Maxxis rubber, but both tyres feature the lighter EXO+ casing and less sticky MaxxTerra compounds. The front Assegai is matched with a Dissector rear; an unusual back tyre for such an aggressive enduro bike. Without pedals, my size-large test bike weighed 24.87kg.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 ride impressions

It was more playful than its large amount of travel would suggest. I tested the Scott Ransom on the trails used for the UK’s round of the Enduro World Series, with terrain ranging from flat-out DH runs, to steep on-the-brakes secret singletracks hidden deep in the woods. Conditions ranged from dry and dusty through to muddy gloop and seriously wet-as-a-river trails.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 setup

The Fox 38 was easy to set up. The Fox suspension fitted to the Ransom was easy to set up. I installed three volume-reducer spacers in the fork’s air spring and initially inflated it to 98psi. During testing, I reduced pressure to 93psi, which gave me 37mm/20.5 per cent sag, and didn’t change it for the remainder of the test period. After initially trying the shock with no volume-reducer spacers, I added a single volume spacer during testing because I found the bike used its mid- and end-stroke too easily. Inflated to 195psi, the shock had 18mm or 27.6 per cent sag.

I ran both the fork and shock’s rebound and compression-damping adjusters in the fully open position for the duration of the test. Once I’d tried the high-geometry position, I set the Ransom in its low position for the duration of the test period. I inflated the tyres according to the trail conditions, but the high volume EXO+ casings required higher pressures than lower-volume versions or ones with a thicker casing. The increased pressure protected me against punctures and also provided increased sidewall stability.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 climbing performance

The Ransom felt comfortable and neutral on the climbs. Heading uphill, the Ransom’s position is comfortably neutral thanks to its relatively steep seat tube angle and stout top tube figures. This meant my weight felt evenly distributed between the front and back wheels, with the lengthy chainstays accentuating the feeling of sitting in the middle of the bike. Thanks to the seat tube angle, the bottom bracket didn’t feel as though it was in front of my hips, which helped improve comfort and pedalling efficiency.

Not only did most of my body’s weight feel as though it was concentrated through my sit bones rather than through my hands, I also didn’t need to shift onto the saddle’s nose or lower my shoulder towards the bars to stop the front wheel lifting, even on very steep climbs. The same was true for stopping or limiting wheelspin, where drive was easy to control with subtle weight shifts that meant my position barely deviated from its central point.

The Shimano XT brakes have masses of power. The long-travel, impressively supple suspension meant the rear shock was able to keep the back wheel in contact with the ground even over the choppiest of terrain, and the rear end remained impressively active when I was pedalling. At 353.3mm, the bottom bracket height didn’t cause any unexpected rock strikes, and I was able to stay on the gas even through chunky, rocky terrain. Frustratingly, the weakest link in the Ransom’s ability to climb is its speed-focused rear Dissector tyre. It was easy to wheelspin on soft or damp mud, where its tread pattern didn’t dig into the ground.

The Dissector tyre didn’t have much bite on soft terrain. Equally, the high-volume but thin-casing carcass suffered from a lack of smoothness on rough ground, further decreasing grip. Finally, because the tread isn’t well-spaced or very aggressive, and the 3C MaxxTerra compound is quite tough, it tended to slip and slide on wet roots and rocks rather than chew onto them. This was the most disappointing aspect of the Ransom on the climbs, but also contributed to how it rode on the downs.

Battery life

The Purion controller doesn’t have Bluetooth connectivity. Using the bike in its eMTB or Turbo modes reduced battery life significantly, where I was lucky to hit 1,200m of ascending on a single charge. However, in those modes the immense power on offer from the Bosch Performance Line CX motor is addictive, and it feels massively natural. Coupled with the Ransom’s long-travel chassis, the two are a very good match. In Eco mode, it was possible to exceed 2,000m of climbing on a single charge, which is similar to other Bosch-powered electric bikes.

Scott Ransom eRide 910 descending performance

High-volume, thin-casing tyres contribute to the Ransom’s raw ride. The Ransom’s ride was distinctly raw in feel. Small bumps such as rocks and roots embedded in the trail were frequently reverberated through the chassis into my hands and feet, which caused early fatigue compared to smoother-feeling bikes. I pinpointed the undamped and taut feel to the tyre carcasses, where more air pressure was needed to retain their shape and support in high-load corners or compressions.

Furthermore, this was compounded by a lack of chemical traction on wet roots and rocks, where the tyres would slide across their surface or be deflected by the bump’s leading edge. Frequently, the tyres would make a ‘thrumping’ noise down the trail as they caught the edge of rocks but were unable to deform around them, and instead were getting pinged off them.

Because of the EXO+ casing, we had to inflate the tyres to higher pressures to help protect against punctures and reduce carcass deformation. Equally, on rough hardpack and greasy off cambers, the lack of tyre damping meant that holding a line was tricky, where the tyres frequently scrabbled to gain traction and lacked grip.

This meant the bike’s limits were much lower and quicker to find than they would have been with thicker-casing tyres and corresponding lower air pressures. Essentially, they reduced control and in certain conditions made descending unnecessarily hectic. The final nail in the Ransom’s tyre coffin was the lack of braking traction the Dissector offered. Shimano’s 4-pot brakes were quick to overwhelm its grip, locking up the rear wheel.

Despite there being plenty of braking power, the rear Dissector tyre meant we had to rely on the front wheel to slow us down more than we wanted. This meant more braking happened with the front brake, upsetting the bike’s balance and further inhibiting flow. It wasn’t all bad though. Looking beyond the tyres, the Ransom has plenty of redeeming qualities. It displays an impressively poppy and lively ride characteristic, where changing direction down the trail is both easy and intuitive. This liveliness defies the headline suspension-travel figure, and it tended to feel as agile as a lighter-weight trail bike rather than the long-travel monster it looks like.

This eagerness to manoeuvre meant muscling it around on flat and steep tighter trails was a breeze. This made it much easier to ride quicker, where compared to bikes such as the Whyte E-180, less commitment was required to get it to ride any chosen line. The hand-to-feet relationship was also very easy to get along with. The reach isn’t overly long, meaning I didn’t need a mental recalibration when hopping on the Ransom, and neither is it so short that the front of the bike felt cramped. This helped me ride quickly right away.

It felt eager to change direction, which gave it a playful ride. The 64-degree head tube angle could have been slightly slacker, especially given the bike’s relative low weight and its other figures. Riding steep, on-the-brakes turns, the front wheel tended to tuck or steer harder when it was loaded up in the apex of the turn. Slackening the head angle would shift the front wheel further away from the centre of the bike and better preserve its dynamic geometry. An added benefit would be increased stability at higher speeds.

The motor and battery’s positions make the Ransom a tall bike. Its standover height and seat tube length are both big. Overall, this won’t be a problem for people with longer legs, but shorter riders wanting longer reach figures are unlikely to fit the next size up.

How does the Scott Ransom eRide 910 compare?

YT’s Decoy Core 4 MX tops out the brand’s enduro-focused electric mountain bike range, and is designed around a mullet wheel setup, with a 29in wheel up front matched with a 27.5in rear. The Ransom is as intuitive to ride as the Nukeproof Megawatt or YT Decoy, but has distinct disadvantages against both. Compared to the Megawatt, it’s not as stable at speed or on steeper trails and its tyres are much less grippy. It also feels a lot taller – thanks to the standover height and seat tube – especially when seated.

The Decoy, on the other hand, despite also having a long seat tube, squats down in the turns and doesn’t feel as easily pinged off-line as the Scott. That’s mostly thanks to the Synthesis wheels, because the tyres are the same in terms of compound, casing and size.

Shimano’s EP8 is arguably more frugal than the Bosch. This highlights the importance of certain spec choices, where one issue – in this case traction and control – can be well mitigated against by another component. The Bosch motor is fantastic, and in Eco mode is frugal enough compared to Shimano’s EP8. Although the higher assistance modes drain battery quicker than the Shimano equivalent, the extra grin-inducing power is well worth it.