Barak Obama becomes US president, Britney Spears has a nervous breakdown, financial crisis is the word of the year, film of the year is Slumdog Millionaire and the enduro Trek Remedy gets top marks in our comparison test - all this happened in 2008. 17 years ago now. And now my brother Laurin and I are standing in front of that very Trek Remedy from back then.
Me: "The bike was the epitome of an enduro bike, light and potent, a game changer."
He: "It's an outdated box, as old-school as Ingemar Stenmark's skis."
Me: "Bet you can still have fun with it?"
He: "Forget it, you don't want to drive that thing any more, I bet!"
We bet on a sundae and arrange to meet at Bikepark Leogang.
A little later, I pump up the old Conti tyres on the Trek - they are called "Mountainking" and have become hard and brittle over the years. I scrutinise the superbike from back then and inevitably go back in time. The Trek Remedy captured my biker heart in the summer of 2008. I liked it so much that I got hold of the aluminium enduro with its angular hydroformed tubes (hydroforming was hip back then!) as a so-called long-term test bike and did a lot of things with it.
For example, I travelled through the Romanian Carpathians on the Remedy, rode volcanic trails in Iceland and went trail hunting in Abruzzo. Of course, I also tuned the bike: I gave the orange speedster colour-matching € 1000 wheels from Crankbrothers, converted it to a 2x chainring and added a dropper post (dropper posts are all the rage in 2008!) and occasionally fitted the premium 180 mm Idylle fork from BOS to make the 160cc enduro bike even more of a freerider. But at some point it just stood around, then I gave it to a friend as a permanent loan.
My outcry was loud when the friend said years later that he had traded it in at the bike shop for 100 euros. It was old and could no longer be saved. "Are you crazy? Get it back - the bike was a test winner and still rides great!" I said. But is that really true?
The data of the Trek Remedy
- Suspension travel: 160/160 mm
- Steering angle: 66.5°
- Wheelbase: 1134 mm
- Bottom bracket height: 360 mm
- Weight: 12.9 kg
- Reach: No way, you don't even measure that in 2008. We measure now - it is: 392 mm (!).
Yes, it's a 26-inch bike, but reach is reach and 392 millimetres seems so tight that the handlebars seem to touch my belly button. How could we ride it before? Even more: have fun? Because in the 2008 test letter we attested to the bike: "it conveys an enormous amount of confidence downhill... a real light rider".
Laurin chooses a Commencal Tempo trail bike as his duel opponent.
The data of the Commencal Tempo
- Suspension travel: 140/125 mm
- Steering angle: 65.5°
- Wheelbase: 1212 mm
- Bottom bracket height: 350 mm
- Weight: 14.5 kg
- Reach: 450 mm
Here we go!
Laurin: What an old box. I hope the guy doesn't break his neck with his Remedy. I would at least have put on new, fat, buttery-soft enduro tyres and not the Conti "Trailking" tyres that have already turned grey. After all these years, the rubber must be as hard as wood. Grip? Zero!
Dimitri: I start to have doubts in the gondola. Now my good old Trek Remedy just looks old. What looked particularly chic in 2008 - the frame shape, the paintwork, the anodised wheels - now doesn't even look "retro", just "out". Even the cockpit. At some point I had combined a wider Renthal handlebar with a Thomson stubby stem. But the Thomson squeezed the riding position even more, so I swapped back to the original from Bontrager for this duel. It now pushes the handlebars far over the front wheel. Was that a good idea? Laurin sits next to me and is amused. No wonder! With him in the cabin: the brand-new 29-inch Tempo trail bike from Commencal.
Now it's time to go down!
Laurin: The guy is full of adrealin. "Why don't you check that everything's tightened up on the old buck first," I say to him. But he's already rolling off. The Remedy still has quick-releases as delicate as peacock feathers. But let him go ahead - I'll catch up with him straight away anyway.
Dimitri: "Let's f*#cking go!" I want to know. It can't be that bad... ....ist bad! The noise alone is nerve-wracking. The chain whips over the aluminium bars - chain guides were still rare on enduro bikes back then. Clang, clang, clang - this sheet metal concert is demoralising my confidence. On the very first ridge ride on the Hangman I, the trail rodeo runs into my arms. On its small wheels, the Trek stumbles downhill and causes me to fear rollovers - the short wheel causes me to slide far backwards. Back then I had proclaimed: "Nobody needs bigger wheels, 26 inches 4ever!" - Now, at this moment, they seem ridiculously small.
Now it's getting rough!
Laurin: It was to be expected that I would be much faster on my bike. The large wheels roll and make up for the short suspension travel of the trail bike. The modern geometry provides control. Nevertheless, the motto is: hold on tight. The bike park tracks are also "too much" for the Commencal. I am all the more amazed at how Dimi shoots through the trail on his orange-coloured speedster.
Dimitri: I am also amazed. After the first moment of shock, I come to terms with the oldie. What the suspension doesn't swallow, the arms and legs have to swallow, when the wheels stumble, the eyes have to find a smoother line. Drops, jumps, steep sections - yes, I'm usually at the back. Perhaps the old geometries are to blame for the fact that even today I can't quite manage to get to the front in a central riding position.
Now it's time to settle up!
Laurin: Dimi may have got used to his "old love" again - but that doesn't change the fact that old bikes like the Trek Remedy from 2008 have had their day. In short: bet won, the sundae is on him.
Dimitri: Okay, I get it: Bet lost, I'll pay for the sundae. My conclusion: The "shrunken bike" did generate a certain fun factor in the end - but that was more due to the sporting challenge of making it down into the valley. We don't want to turn back the development screw - it's a good thing that we're rolling on bigger wheels today, sitting on bikes with modern geometries, dropper posts, wide handlebars and suspension elements that live up to their name. So dear Remedy, off you go into your well-deserved retirement!
Interview with Peter Denk, bike designer: "Unfortunately not!"
BIKE: Can old bikes like our Trek Remedy from 2008 be saved?
PETER DENK: Difficult. You can only save the bikes that have an extremely short seat tube and a low standover height. Provided you ride the frame one or even two sizes larger, because only then will you achieve a tolerable reach value.
Like me, most of us will have an old bike in our size in the garage - I don't want to buy a "new" old bike in XL. No, this Trek Remedy in Medium (Reach: 392 mm).
Then unfortunately it won't work. Because for the modern riding style you need a certain reach. You can only save the bike if you can achieve this, for example with a larger frame. Unless you get used to the old riding style again. But who wants that? I can't recommend that to anyone, because the centred, modern riding style is much more fun. Nobody wants to hang their arse as far back as they did back then.
So off to the scrapyard it goes?
Too much has happened since 2008. The riding style has changed completely. It used to be: arse behind the saddle. Today: centred on the bike and down! These two riding styles are not compatible and therefore neither are the bikes. It's like skis from the 1980s and carving skis.
With old skis you ski like the first man.
Exactly. And when I get on an old bike, it takes me a while to get to grips with it. It's not easy to get used to. You will have experienced the same thing on the Trek Remedy.
We couldn't believe how people used to cope with such a short reach.
That's exactly how I feel. I'm 1.80 metres tall and have now reached 475 millimetres. If you look at old film footage, even Worldcuppers look funny hanging on their bikes. It makes you wonder: "Tell me, how did they ride back then!" But they had to ride like that - they had to shift their centre of gravity backwards to avoid going over the handlebars. Today's bikes have much more reach and slacker steering angles, which means that the front wheel's centre of gravity is light years further forward.
What happens if I put a 27.5 mm fork in the Remedy and turn it into a Mullet?
This eats up even more reach and you're even more crowded on it. But I have a tip! An old bike like this, converted to a mullet, can be a really good bike for teenagers or small people. Even better than what you can currently buy for small people. Prerequisite: a very low seat tube.
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Dimitri Lehner
Editor
