Previewed: The Gary Fisher Roscoe

// A Front End Like No Other
Disclaimer: there is a lot going on in the front end of this bike. First off, it uses Fisher's "G2" geometry, which changes the steering geometry of the bike to give it less "flop" while climbing at lower speeds, but still maintains stability at high speeds by keeping the same wheelbase. Fisher accomplishes this by using a custom fork-crown with a 46-millimeter offset, which pushes the fork legs an 7 millimeters further in front of your steering axis than conventional forks. (To maintain the same wheelbase, G2 bikes' top tubes are shortened accordingly.)

Shrugging the crown/stanchions of the fork forward reduces the fork's "trail" figure, which is the measure on the ground of the distance between the contact patch of the front tire and the spot that your steering axis points to.

As the theory goes, reduced trail gives you less of the slow-speed front end "flop" that the original genesis geometry suffered from (which is what you get with a long top tube/short stem combo). But the point of the original genesis geometry is maintained – to keep the rider perched further back over the rear wheel for better traction while not stretching them out unduly.

What you're left with is a traction-loving rear end and a non-flopping front end that's easy to weight on climbs and sticks to the trail. Gary Fisher is the only brand experimenting with altering steering geometry via custom fork crowns, and it can be a hard concept to immediately grasp. This video demonstration might help you wrap your noodle around the idea.

The fork has a few other and thankfully easier-to-understand tricks up its sleeve, too. The Roscoe uses an E2 head tube, with a standard 1 1/8-inch steerer tube on top that flares to a beefy 1.5-inch steerer at the bottom. This creates an extra stiff front end that actually weighs less than a standard 1 1/8-inch system.

Not content with just custom crown and steerer options, Roscoe's developers pushed for one more custom bit from Fox on their TALAS 15QR forks, a feature they call RP24. Found only on the high-end Roscoe III model, the feature is essentially a simplified version the lockout/blow-off valve feature used on standard TALAS RLC forks, but with simplified blow-off adjustment ranges (instead of the standard 14 positions the RP24 uses just four clicks.)

For added stiffness, the Roscoe uses an E2 headtube with 1 1/8-inch steerer up top and a beefy 1.5-inch headtube on the bottom.

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Reader Comments

Posted Sun Sep21, 2008, 8:17 PM — By Drew

I rode a Roscoe III for about an hour, and it didn't disappoint. Worked well over roots, climbed well over rocks, weaved through tight trees and handled a couple short drops. I chickened out of a handlebar-high drop, but that wasn't the bike's fault. It seemed pretty easy to set up the shock, too (a Trek/GF mechanic set it up for me).

Posted Sun Sep21, 2008, 11:59 PM — By bertsy

gary fisher bikes are the kinds of bikes that will not turn your head everytime you see them on the trails. nothing so special on the designs of the bike.i mean look at that picture of the roscoe suspension design.it is so less engineering. its like ,oh lets just hang the suspension on the upper tube then thats it.the bike is not so tough and brave to look at.bikes whose suspension are hung on the upper tube is just not appealing.the design is so unmanly.

Posted Mon Sep22, 2008, 9:27 AM — By Paul

'I don't know what you just said, little kid....but you special man.....you reach out....and touch a brother's heart.....'

Posted Mon Sep22, 2008, 6:58 PM — By Mike Vandeman, Ph.D.

Bicycles should not be allowed in any natural area. They are inanimate objects and have no rights. There is also no right to mountain bike. That was settled in federal court in 1994: http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mtb10 . It's dishonest of mountain bikers to say that they don't have access to trails closed to bikes. They have EXACTLY the same access as everyone else -- ON FOOT! Why isn't that good enough for mountain bikers? They are all capable of walking.... A favorite myth of mountain bikers is that mountain biking is no more harmful to wildlife, people, and the environment than hiking, and that science supports that view. Of course, it's not true. To settle the matter once and for all, I read all of the research they cited, and wrote a review of the research on mountain biking impacts (see http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/scb7 ). See also http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/mtbfaq.

Posted Mon Sep22, 2008, 8:01 PM — By mountain biker

I wasted a good 15 minutes reading your "research paper" and I found your conclusions to be totally irrelevant to anything. Separating "mountain bikers" and "bicycles" is just like saying that hikers don't cause damage....only their boots do. Riding on trails doesn't kill small animals, or plants. It might take out an ant hill or two, or the occasional beatle...but where do you draw the line? A lizard? A mole? You can continue to extrapolate spurious data from these studies, or you could just remember that one bad apple doesn't ruin the whole bunch. Also, a bike review is not the place to start your revolution. Try the forum page...I'm embarrassed that I even responded right here.

Posted Tue Sep23, 2008, 12:00 AM — By Downhilldoug

You had to go there Mr PHD lets do this buddy. Forget about the 30 billion cars spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and the thousands of factory's polluting gods green earth with toxic poison (USA cycling had masks in china).In the scope of things a few mountain bikes going down a hill has very little to do with environmental impact. It is just about some people that had a bad experience with cycling they have nothing else to do but kill everyone’s fun. The real truth is cycling is just good clean fun, terrific exercise and environmentally friendly. By the way Gary Fisher is a really cool dude; Fisher was my first mountain bike.

Posted Tue Sep23, 2008, 6:33 AM — By jon steel

Mr Vanderman, you are a turkey who hates bikers so be honest about it and say what you mean, what about horses.It is people like you who would have access banned so no one can go into the wilderness. Who benefits then?

Posted Tue Sep23, 2008, 1:49 PM — By Xd

vandeman lives up to the Ph.D acronym: Piled higher, deeper.

Posted Fri Sep26, 2008, 8:44 AM — By Paul

US Forest Service issues guidance pertaining to mountain bikers The US Forest Service issued an agency memo that could benefit mountain biking in American National Forests. The memo, written by Deputy Chief Joel Holtrop, "clearly defines mountain biking as similar to hiking and equestrian use, and activity to be managed separately from motorized travel," according to IMBA. Previous studies have shown similar impact among hikers and mountain bikers and both user groups share many common objectives. Forest Service director for recreation, heritage and volunteers Jim Bedwell, made the announcement. "I want to emphasize that mountain biking is a non-motorized use of National Forest System trails, along with hiking and horseback riding. In our planning and policy documents, a distinction between mountain biking and motorized uses...should be made," said Holtrop in the memo. http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=news/2008/sep08/sep26mtbnews

Posted Sat Sep27, 2008, 10:27 PM — By Jim

What is the purpose of posting a remark about trail access in this area? It is not germane to the topic here. I would like to hear more about the bike. Thanks!

Posted Mon Sep29, 2008, 12:18 PM — By mike d.

Good call, Jim. Moving past the trolls.. The bike looks great! I have not ridden one yet, but it looks like another winner from GF. And *finally* it appears that someone in the graphics department got the memo that previous years of GF graphics have left a lot to be desired.. Any one else with ride time on this one? I'm curious as to how just a couple years ago the HiFi was the best bike GF has ever made, now this one is--am I to assume that they are speaking relative to specific platforms i.e. CC, All-Mountain, etc?

Posted Wed Oct 1, 2008, 5:12 PM — By Sandor

Dear Mike Vandeman, Ph. D., I am sorry your girlfriend would not have sex with you after she saw me. Please don't take it out on ALL Mountain Bikers. Thank You, Sandor

Posted Thu Oct 2, 2008, 10:27 AM — By E-Rock from Jersey

Dear Ms. Vander-dork, PHd: You make me sick. You have been dominated your entire life. Nothing changed. Bikes have no rights? You are a genius. You have no rights. I own you. Bikes dont damage the environment nearly as much as you have damaged your privates with your round the clock dolphin flogging to free asian tranny porn. You like to be dominated by 16 inch Dominican dongs that resemble black whiffleball bats. Take a report. You're Done. E-Rock.

Posted Wed Oct 8, 2008, 4:13 AM — By PhDless

Dear Dr. Vanderman You advocate closing off wildlife areas to human access in your papers, amoung other things. How interesting. Mountian biking does indeed impact the environment, just like hiking or anything else would. And yes, anyone on earth right to hike. Unfortunately for your "case" of limiting access to the wilderness, hiking is an activity which is much more easily accessible to the people, because as you said WE ALL HAVE FEET. Therefore I would hedge that there are a lot more hikers in the world than mountain bikers, especially when you account for the fact that "mountian biking" is an activity of a wealthy few in a minority of nations. In that light I think you have bigger feet- er fish to fry. In your papers, you also cite the invalidity of several studies on MTBing. Unfotunately you claim to have degrees in math, physics, psycology, and computer science. Good for you, but would the opinion of an environmental science or geology major be more "valid". -A disgru

Posted Sun Nov 9, 2008, 12:32 PM — By mr potato

I wonder who Built Dr. Vanderman's hiking trails. It wasn't equestrians or hikers thats for sure... The bike, ahh yess... I have ridden one and i would like everyone to know that this is by far the best full suspension 26" wheeled bike to come out of a Fisher (trek really) factory. The bike is superb both in its climbing ability (think goat) and in its prowess on the descents. Ill also make it clear that i think this is the funnest (is that a word?) trail/light AM bikes to date. I really think Fisher has got a winner with the Roscoe

Posted Thu Dec 4, 2008, 1:53 PM — By Eddie Munster

I'm going to demo the Roscoe 1 at Turnbull Canyon CA soon looking foward to it as I'm seriously in the market for a good bike without a $5000+ price tag. My main concern is weight but I could live with 28pnd all mountain trail machine. Up close the bike is a bute with it's Fox shock set-up and ballon tires I'm sure the demo is ganna be a blast. Oh and for that tree hugging geek I'm going to run over some plants and animals just for you guy...

Posted Tue Dec23, 2008, 2:30 PM — By Peter Piper

I demo'd a Roscoe III. Awesome Bike!! Currently own a modified Cake and at an athletic 6'4" 250 lbs I constantly am breaking parts (i.e. frame, swing arm, etc...). I am trynig to ride more smoothly. The bike climbs amazing, tracks awesome and i felt zero flex while torqueing the thing through single track and smaller drops (+/- 2') Bitchin Ride!!!! I am currently saving money to buy one. I love academia... Idiots!

Posted Wed Jan28, 2009, 10:43 PM — By SoFlaBiker

I recently demoed a Roscoe 3 at my local park. I recently purchased a Fisher 09 hardtail in Nov. This bike is really "SWEET" and being 6ft tall & 235 lbs it made me feel like I weighed 165 lbs ! I tested a large frame and the Trek factory rep really dialed me into the bike. It felt custom built for me. Gotta start saving now for one, either the Roscoe 3 or 2 would be just fine with me.Outstanding job Fisher/Trek people !

Posted Fri Feb20, 2009, 7:16 PM — By David

I´m looking for a new bike and GF ROSCOE 1 it´s on my mind. However, I can´t know any about the weight. Please, could you help me? Thanks in advance from Spain. David

Posted Fri Apr 3, 2009, 1:23 AM — By 2ndGen

David, Beinvenido. I just bought a Roscoe I. It is incredible. It's tight, it's balanced, it carves corners. I'm building mine up (while keeping all it's original attributes) and will be posting pictures in a couple of weeks. Mine was personally signed by Gary Fisher himself at a Trek Demo Day I went to. Almost every article I've read on the Roscoe ends up the same. It's difficult to explain how it rides. Maybe it's because of all the new tech. This bike is creating a new niche in MTBing. And it's about time! Harder core than XC, but not as brutish as AM! It's exactly what I wanted. So far, it get's great reviews that only grow once the bike is allowed to stretch her legs a bit. It's going to take me weeks to learn on this bike. It simply is that much a tool. There is a learning curve. Only fear limits you because the bike itself has no limits for it's intended purpose. It's literally true...the bike is confidence inspiring. When I got off of

Posted Sat Jun 6, 2009, 6:56 AM — By koxp

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