Scor bikes came to life in the design studios and R&D workshops of Swiss bike brand BMC, when a group of employees decided to create their own ideal play bike to fill a gap in the BMC range. Knowing a non-race focused machine didn’t fit their podium centered company profile (Tom Pidcock rides a logo free BMC and so did legendary French champions Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Julien Absalon), the BMC top brass gave them the go ahead to start their own brand ‘under the roof’ of BMC.
Six years after the idea started, Scor now operates independently with a team of just seven pushing their ‘play the mountains’ agenda forward through ambassadors like Josh ‘Loose Dog’ Lewis and an “Honest, authentic, no bullsh*t” agenda. The 4060 was launched two years ago and uses the same full carbon frame but different shocks and forks to create long and short travel versions which are also mullet wheel and coil spring compatible. I spent a day in Tuscany at the Bike Connection Agency media camp getting loose on the 150/140mm travel ST version with air-shock and twin 29er wheels and I had an absolute blast.
Design and geometry
The Scor frame is a strikingly neat design straight away. The big head tube has a subtle logo molded into the big head tube and there’s a metal plate on the back of the seat tube, but otherwise the only logos you choose to add are from the Slicey frame protection sticker pack that comes with every bike. Scor offer a range of suggested alternative options or you can design your own fully custom skins to stick over the matt salmon ‘Yum Gum’ or sparkly black ‘Midnight Disco’ paint options.
The slim top tube slopes steeply to a short seat tube for easy sizing up or long dropper compatibility with an accessory mount on the underside leaving room for a downtube bottle ahead of the upper linkage. The suspension is all centered low in the bike, with the lower linkage driving a 205mm long trunnion mount shock with either a 57.5 or 65mm stroke depending on whether you want 140 or 160mm of rear wheel travel. There’s a flip-chip on the rear shock mount too. The bearings are the excellent Enduro Max for hard life longevity.
Other notable features include ‘blind’ junctions between the swingarm and the upper linkage, tool storage (including a spare UDH gear hanger) built into the removable protective belly pan. Another neat ‘real’ feature is that the rubber chain stay protector is shaped like the jump line of the Chaumont Park where a lot of the bike development was done. The only obvious issue is that the rear of the shock is at risk of being buried under rear wheel roost/mud but Scor are looking at ways to extend the existing fender for full coverage and one of their team had just butchered a front spray guard to sit in front of the rear wheel which seemed to work fine. Scor also fit a block of ‘motocross foam’ under the shock to stop if filling it up with dirt and debris too.
While control routing is all external, the oversized head tube allows you to remove (it’s a proper headset press job, not a trailside switch) and rotate the ovalised headset cups to switch between 65.5 and 64-degree head angle settings on the ST bike and 64.5 and 63 degrees on the LT version. Reach is relatively long at 459mm for a medium and 480mm for a large, which contrasts with a short 432mm chain stay length. This limits clearance to a 29 x 2.5in tire but you can go wider with a 27.5in wheel. Effective seat angle varies with size but it was 76.5 degrees at my 745mm saddle height on a medium.
In terms of warranty, you’re covered for material faults for all riding including racing but only for three years (five when registered) and the warranty doesn’t cover “damage caused by crashes, external influences, or inappropriate use”.
Components and build
Scor offer two standard builds of each travel option and I tested the SRAM GX (cable) version of the ST. That gets you a RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork and Super Deluxe Ultimate shock a full set of cable operated SRAM GX with carbon cranks. Wheels are DT Swiss XM1700s with a Maxxis Assegai up front and a Dissector rear, the 800mm carbon bars are Scor’s own, held in a super short, top spec Burgtec stem and the dropper post is the super reliable and easily serviceable Bike Yoke. The WTB saddle gets titanium rails for lightweight toughness and the whole build on a 2.9kg claimed weight frame is a reasonable if not remarkable 14.7kg. There's an NX/RockShox Select level build for €4,699 too
Ride, handling and performance
When asked to define how they designed a bike to ‘play the mountains’ the Scor team pointed us to a suspension setup and custom shock tune with “plenty of pop”. On the trail that means suspension that floats on a super supple start with 30 percent sag, but then firms up noticeably mid stroke. Getting full stroke proved impossible with that sag and the hydraulic bottom out of the SDU damper even when hammering super hard. The shock comes with two ‘Bottomless Tokens’ though so there’s a more linear, generous with the end stroke behavior to be had in a couple of minutes if you unscrew the can and remove those volume spacers.
Even without full stroke the Scor still carries speed through stutter sections, rock gardens and braking bumps really well. The sensitivity of the SDU damper is enhanced even further by the stiction free trunnion mount, Enduro Max bearings and short rear end. That keeps the rear tire super reactive so even the fast rolling Dissector tread feels glued down at all times.
The fact the Scor – at least in a medium size with the head angle at 65.5 degrees – absolutely thrives on flicking from one extreme angle to the other on snaking trails also brings out the best of the 'lean it or lose it' character of the Dissector. With suspension weight low in the belly and impeccable mid stroke support from both rear end and fork, I also found myself naturally loading the benchmark grippy Assegai tire up front tire super hard. The super short stem and big bars are all about riving every bit of control out of the front end or just lifting and lofting it to manual through chunky trouble or send off lips for extra speed or just extra grins. The cleanly separated low and high speed damping control of RockShox latest suspension makes it really easy to micro manage the character of your connection to the ground. That gives you clear grip or skip, suck down or stand taller options even before you start switching shock and fork strokes to increase travel or changing air cans for coils. I had no spiking issues with the Lyrik either although it’s definitely a tightly controlled fork for fighter pilots rather than a pillowy comforter for business class passengers.
And while the short back end will always make it lively, if you want a more stable, chaos crusher than a rabid jive bunny then go larger on the frame and maybe longer on the travel. Steep seat angle, stiff back end and stable suspension means the Scor isn’t a chore to climb on either. While I did flick the shock closed on long fire road spins, it didn’t bounce or wallow in open mode, it just gripped and charged or cruised over roots and rocks just fine depending how tired my legs were. If you’re legs feel tired before you even start you might be pleased to hear there’s a 4060Z full power Shimano e-MTB which shares basically the same geometry (the back end is fractionally longer), suspension design/options and overall vibe.
Verdict
I’d like to spend more time on the Scor – partly to check that removing the shock tokens gives me full travel, but mostly because I want to party as hard again as I did on those Tuscan trails. Despite riding on flat pedals which I’m not used to and a previous bike crash inflicted cankle the color of an aubergine and the size of a marrow, I was dropping into blind trails with clearly more gifted riders. And thanks to the Scor I wasn’t just keeping up but I was riding out of my skin, shimmying my elderly hips like Shakira, hooking turn stacks like a hooligan and genuinely laughing out loud with how the 4060 was making me ride.
While it’s relatively expensive for cable GX, the rest of the spec is top quality with a welcome reliability focus and the Swiss designed build quality and detailing first class. You can buy complete bikes or frame and shock through dealers or a click and collect service, and bare frames direct from Scor – which is currently the only option for the UK. If you like a bike that’ll feel like you took a massive happy handling pill before every ride, then the Scor is well worth tracking down a dealer for.
Test conditions
- Location: Purpose built blue, red and black trails in Massima Maritima
- Surfaces: Loam, loose rock and slippery limestone, roots and clay
- Terrain: Fast and technical switchback and freeride trails with singletrack and fire road climbs
Tech specs: Scor 4060 ST GX
- Discipline: Trail/enduro/fun
- Price: $7,199 / €6,899
- Head angle: 65.5 / 63.8 degrees
- Frame material: SCOR 4060 full carbon frame
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate RC2 150mm travel
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Air 140mm travel
- Size: S, M (tested), L, XL
- Weight: 14.7kg (medium without pedals)
- Wheel size: 29in
- Chainset: SRAM GX Eagle Carbon Lunar 32T with DUB bottom bracket
- Gears: SRAM GX rear mech, shifter and 10-52T cassette
- Brakes: SRAM Code RSC hydraulic with 200mm front and rear rotors
- Tires: Maxxis Assegai 3C Maxx Terra EXO 29 x 2.5in front and Maxxis Dissector 3C Maxx Terra EXO+ 29 x 2.4
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM1700 30 29er
- Handlebar: SCOR Carbon 800 x 31.8mm
- Stem: Burgtec Enduro MK3 35mm
- Seatpost: BikeYoke Divine 160mm dropper
- Saddle: WTB Silverado Ti
- Extras: Spare UDH hanger in stash box and Slicy ‘MySublimistick’ Frame Protector
- Available from: www.scor-mtb.com
