roscoe 8 review

This is less of a bike review and more of a review of bikes. I feel like most bike reviews come from people who are blessed to ride lots and lots of different kinds of bikes in the most epic trails in the world and can really take the time to deduce the nuance of small changes in bike geometry, materiality, and suspension kinematics and compare to past experiences on other bikes and trails and situations. There is SO MUCH value to this and I am happy to spend, probably too much time, reading these reviews but I am a bike nerd, it’s what I do. 

Such a bike nerd, in fact, that this past year we opened a bike shop. Having been in the industry for over a decade, I was under no false pretense that that would mean that I would actually be able to ride bikes. Quite the contrary. The first 8 months of the year, all of my free time was devoted to opening a new business and if I had a moment in between, I would spend as much time with my family as I could. Outside of a few quick jaunts around the neighborhood, most of my time in contact with a bike meant it was in a repair stand.

I really love riding bikes of all kinds pretty much anywhere but riding trail bikes on singletrack away from cars and preferably buildings, pavement, and other people is where I really love to spend my time. Full disclosure, I have plenty of bikes in the garage; too many some would argue. For the better part of a year, though, I didn’t have a “proper” mountain bike. Finally in August I was able to pull the trigger on a bike capable of riding the singletrack trails I love so much and Trek just so happened to release a new version of their hardtail trail bike, the Roscoe. I was really excited about the looks and spec’s of this bike. I opted for the Roscoe 8, which at the time was the highest level spec available of the Roscoe. It is a really solid build with not too many frills. Full Shimano Deore groupset and 4-piston brakes, a Fox Rhythm 36 fork with 150mm (!) of travel, a solid dropper post with 200mm (!) of travel on my size large, and a solid wheelset and tires by Trek’s house brand Bontrager, round out the build that didn’t have me thinking: “what can I upgrade?”... at least too much. It even came with a bolt on frame bag designed specifically for this bike.

My previous mountain bike was a 5th generation Trek Fuel EX 9.8. Such an awesome bike. Definitely the nicest most advanced bike I was ever lucky enough to ride. I thought for sure I would be ruined from riding anything “less than” that forever. My notoriously troublesome lower back was so much less troublesome when I started riding that bike and the performance of that bike was WAY underutilized by my skillset, but it was there. I thought, for sure, that downgrading my bike would have me spending a lot of time on the trail wishing for more.

There is a term in the rock climbing community that is a tongue-in-cheek gesture contrary to the inherent danger of the activity which is “super good enough”. It is used in the context of placing a piece of protection that maybe can’t hold up a bus, but also doesn’t need to, so it is said: “super good enough”. I think the bike industry could use a bit more of this sentiment and that could attract (or at least not dissuade) lots and lots of potential riders. Of course riding bikes can also be dangerous and using equipment that is not up to the task can only increase that risk. In my experience, however, for probably 90% of the people who come into our shop, it’s the difference between a bike purchased on Amazon that is just not safe and is destined for a landfill to a bike that could last a lifetime even if it’s not the newest shiniest tech. The bike I am reviewing is definitely shinier and fancier than necessary, but also not high end by a lot of people’s standards which, I guess, is kind of the point. You can definitely spend a lot more or a lot less on a bike and still have a great experience.In the rock climbing world, there’s a tongue-in-cheek saying people use called “super good enough.” It’s what climbers say when they place a piece of safety gear that might not be strong enough to hold up a bus…but it doesn’t need to be. It’s solid, it’ll do the job (holds up a person), and that’s what matters.

I think the bike industry could use a bit more of that mindset. Of course, cycling can be risky too, and using unsafe gear only makes that worse. But for most of the people who come into our shop, probably 90%, the real difference is between an unsafe bike from Amazon that’s destined for the landfill and a well-built bike that could last a lifetime.

The bike I’m reviewing here is definitely on the shinier, fancier side, but it’s not over-the-top high-end either- and that’s kind of the point. You can spend a lot more or a lot less and still have an amazing time on two wheels.

So I finally had some time to assemble my new Roscoe 8 and it went together great. Tubeless out of the box is a no-brainer for a bike like this and I still had the same touchpoints (pedals, saddle, and grips) from my old bike and I immediately used them instead of the stock ones. I am a huge fan of the Chromag Trailmaster saddle (especially the brown leather LTD one!) and larger diameter grips. I also choose to clip in using Shimano SPD pedals because I, personally, feel more confident clipped in on the trail. I’m a little surprised that this bike actually came with very basic nylon pedals, but that is probably the only thing I would recommend to a customer, who is new to riding, upgrades. Something with a bit more grip would be a significant, and not too expensive, improvement.

My first few minutes on the trail was a combination of euphoria and tranquility. I am confident I could’ve been riding literally any bicycle in that moment and nothing would’ve been different. I really missed this! As I got further down the trail and settled into the new bike to the very familiar trails, I think what surprised me most was how similar this bike felt. Granted, it had been awhile and I’m sure the engineers who designed this bike also had lots of experience riding full suspension trail bikes just like the one I had and wanted to recreate a lot of the same experience, but all I kept coming back to in my brain was, mountain biking is awesome! And it really is. More people should do it. It’s awesome. Did I mention that riding bikes in the woods with friends (or sometimes alone) is awesome? The further I got into my first ride, the more comfortable I felt laying off the brakes on the downhills and after the ride, I was pleasantly surprised that my old back felt about as good as it has in a long time!

There are some very small limitations to some of the things on the bike with regards to adjustability, but I would consider these very small gripes in the grand scheme of things. I eventually replaced the handlebars on this bike with some PNW Loam carbon handlebars with a bit more rise and width which really helped my wrists and shoulders after riding for a couple hours at a time. I think this was more of a fit issue than anything, but carbon bars do really seem to take some more of the edge off of those smaller vibrations that suspension can’t really soak up. I also really wanted a purple Paul Boxcar stem. It’s so purple. The bike rides awesome and very infrequently has me wishing for rear suspension on our local trails. Shoutout to CAMBR for all of the hard work making the Palos trail system what it is today. I have been riding these trails since the 90’s and what they are now is just amazing. The volunteer hours, not just digging, but also working with the Forest Preserves to make things happen is very obviously a labor of love for so many and something that I appreciate so much. I recommend joining CAMBR if you can and, if you don’t work a bike shop schedule, volunteering on a workday. One of these days I need to play hooky from the shop and go help out.

There are 2 things I would change on this bike though and I guess I would consider these complaints. I do not like wearing a pack while I ride. Any ride under 3 hours, I should be able to store all of my stuff on the bike. First of all, every bike should have mounts for a bolt-on top tube bag. There is no reason for there not to be other than cost and weight savings, but those have got to be very minimal in the grand scheme and such a nice thing to have. Secondly, the idea of the frame bag, which I do appreciate that it comes with the bike, just misses the mark. The locations of the bolt on are set just a bit too far forward on the bag which makes zipping the bag very cumbersome. Without a strap on the back end where the zipper ends, the bag folds over when you try to zip it up. Also, this bike in a size large is SO CLOSE to fitting 2 water bottles, but the location and size and shape of the frame bag make it tough. I currently have mine set up with a full 27oz bottle on the down tube and I bought a mini 15oz bottle which is designed for kids to put on the top tube. It works ok, but I just really think with some small changes, this bike could’ve had a nice sized frame bag and 2 full bottles in the main triangle which paired with a top tube bag could fit enough for all but the longest all day trail rides without having to use a pack.

I’m not really sure I have too much else to say about the bike. It is super good enough. I have really enjoyed getting out and riding it this fall. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the bike or getting into mountain biking in general.