SCOTT GAMBLER 910 - £4,399 A bike park-ready budget beater worth taking a chance on

This latest iteration of Scott's long-standing Gambler launched in 2019.

While the top 900 Tuned version has a carbon fibre chassis and high-spec parts, this midrange 910 model has a more durable aluminium frame and lower-tier kit to keep costs down. It's a common sight on chairlifts across Europe, but can it keep up with newer competition?

THE FRAME

The Gambler 910 is built from sleek, hydroformed 6061 alloy tubing. It delivers 200mm of rear-wheel travel via a four-bar, Horst-link design. A flipchip at the lower shock mount lets you tune the suspension for specific tracks and adjust the bottom bracket (BB) height by 12mm. It also allows the fitting of a smaller rear wheel, should you prefer a 'mullet' set-up (29in front 650b rear) to the stock full-29er configuration. Another chip at the rear axle changes the chainstay length by 15mm. You can also tweak the head angle by 0.3 degrees, by fitting the supplied alternative headset cups.

With the frame in its lowest, slackest and longest setting, it has a 62.9-degree head angle, 367mm BB height and 450mm chainstays. Reach figures span from 400.2mm to 495mm across the five-size range, and measure in at 460mm on our large frame. The bike's geometry is unapologetically downhill race-focused.

Cables are routed internally via ports on the down tube, which has plenty of rock strike and chain-slap protection.

There's an integrated, bespoke chain guide, with Scott eschewing the usual ISCG mounts. The Gambler doesn't use SRAM's universal derailleur hanger (UDH), but has the standard downhill 12x157mm rear-dropout width.