The Remedy is without doubt one of Trek's most successful models and has been rolling down the trails for six years now. The bike has already shown many faces. Initially equipped with a potent 160 mm fork and playful geometry, it was then trimmed down to a sportier all-mountain size. And what does the new vintage do? Apart from the distribution of black and white and the larger wheels, little seems to have changed on the Remedy models we tested in 2013 and 2014. The spec, tyre model and components hardly differ. There is only a major leap to the new 2014 version with 29-inch tyres and 140 millimetres of travel. 140 millimetres? Exactly. Compared to the 2013 Remedy with 150 millimetres at the front and 157 millimetres at the rear, both 2014 models have been cut back further due to the larger wheels. We measured 140 millimetres at the front and 150 millimetres at the rear for the new Remedy with 27.5-inch wheels. In addition, the steering angle has been steepened by 1.5 degrees.
This makes the new Remedy stand out more from the longer-travel Slash, but noticeably loses some of its enduro qualities. Despite the shorter travel, Trek has given the bike a stiffer but 300 gram heavier 34 mm Fox fork instead of the 32 mm fork. The fork alone offers more reserves downhill and doesn't rush through its travel as quickly as the 32 mm DRCV Fox on the 2013 model, even when ridden in a sporty manner. However, due to the travel and geometry, the 34 mm Fox would suit the 2013 Remedy better. The heavy fork ensures that the new model still weighs 13.9 kilos, which is not really light despite the absence of a dropper post. In a direct comparison on the trail, the rear suspension of the old Remedy offers slightly less reserves for hard landings, but works noticeably more sensitively overall and thus ensures better ground contact. The different characteristics of the rear triangle may be due to the different rocker lengths.
Also noticeable is the significantly lower frame stiffness of the new Remedy, despite the almost unchanged frame weight. As a result, the 2014 model loses a whole three points in the overall ranking and thus lags behind the old model. In addition to the lower stiffness, the mediocre paint quality, the lack of a dropper post and the rather high weight are responsible for the very low Very Good rating.
