Brendan Fairclough's Prototype Scott Gambler 15

A new design, BOS suspension and TRP brakes. Brendan Fairclough and the SCOTT-Velosolutions squad get a full refresh that we sort of get to see.

Once upon a very early team rumors thread there were some grainy photos revealing that Brendan Fairclough may have different suspension and brakes on his Scott trail bike. Brendan has historically been a social media tease (which we whole-heartedly endorse), so we were skeptical. Did he just throw some random bike into the background of a photo to troll the masses? We assumed so. Then the "leaks" kept coming and it appeared the long-time FOX/Shimano-sponsored SCOTT-Velosolutions squad would be riding BOS suspension and TRP brakes in 2018. A press release in mid-February confirmed the news of the component switch for the team which also included DMR cranks.

Photos and interview by @maddogboris

Then, out of nowhere, some trackside photos of new franken-Gambler emerged from a race in Portugal a few weeks ago. The bike appeared to use the stock Gambler front triangle with a very common looking four-bar Horst/FSR suspension design out back. The long, low, linkage-heavy Gambler now looked like a (insert brand of your choice here). A flood of disappointed Scott fans mourned the loss of the Gambler's unique aesthetic.

Brendan Fairclough on His Prototype Gambler

With just a few days before the opening round of the 2018 UCI World Cup Downhill season, Brendan Fairclough is at the iXS round in Maribor, Slovenia, getting some time on this new bike. In typical Brendog fashion, he was professional-but-coy about the new bike, not really revealing any details. It's an early prototype and the reason for the design change was chasing speed. Will it be raced in Croatia? No clue. Is it close to production? No idea. We do always love a Brendog tease though and really don't care what he's riding, as long as he's foot-out, sideways and loose.

Brendan's prototype (which we weren't allowed to shoot in full) has the BOS Syors coil shock in place and inverted Obsys fork covering the suspension duties with the TRP G-Spec Quadiem brakes in their shining silver. Looking at the rear end, there are two options for axle location and possibly a concentric interface which would fine-tune things like head angle, bottom bracket height and wheelbase. The Deity cockpit, Scwhalbe tires, Syncros wheels and DMR pedals and grips are in place for another season of shredding. That's about all we have at this stage. We'll probably learn more as the days unfold and the racing heats up, but until then, drop your knowledge about what you see in the comments.


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