Meet SCOR Bikes, the Swiss Mountain Bike That's All About Fun

BMC Bikes have a reputation for some exciting bikes. Their road bike are often at the top of the racing spectrum with their high-performance road and cross-country bikes. The story goes, however, that there were a few engineers at BMC that wanted a mountain bike for what they were daydreaming about the most. It would be a mountain bike for the steeper and technical trails of the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, and it would be named SCOR.

Borne From Restless BMC Engineers

Well, we maybe don’t want to call these BMC engineers restless. After all, they still designed and engineered bikes for BMC. Perhaps these engineers are better described as hungry for air, and you see it in the chainstay protector that comes with every SCOR bike.

The chainstay protector is one of the many little details that show a passion for this mountain bike. This protector follows a silhouette of part of the Chaumont jump trail in the Jura Mountains. The trails in the area are known for how loose they are, but it is the Chaumont that those engineers day-dreamed about.

BMC was in a lot of ways the ideal home to a tinkering set of engineers who wanted to work after hours. The company is famous for its research and development facility that allows the creation and prototyping of any manner of bikes. And the after-hours project drew so much attention that those same engineers were allowed to build their dream trail and enduro bikes.

So while SCOR in many ways is a new brand, the team behind it has years of experience in the industry designing bikes. They wanted a bike that could work well for trail riding and bike park sessions, but above all, they wanted a bike that would be fun to ride.

Four Bikes, Two Frames

Lots of prototyping resulted in four bikes: the 4060 ST, the 4060 LT, the 4060 Z ST, and the 4060 Z LT. 4060 denotes the rear suspension travel capability of each frame (and the ability to swap between 140mm and 160mm travel). ST and LT apply to the shock’s stroke length, meaning that any bike can be swapped to a different suspension setup and geometry thanks to a flip-chip in the shock mount and an angle set headset to adjust the head tube angle. Z refers to electric assist.

There are an array of interesting details that the SCOR bikes come with. The shock is mounted as low as can be, piercing the seat tube similar to that of most Santa Cruz mountain bikes. This is coupled to an all Enduro Max bearing linkage to keep things reliable and stiff. But just below that shock is a small storage compartment, accessible just below the bottom bracket. Most of the time this is just a bottom bracket area protector on a mountain bike, but here, it can be opened to find a slot for a C02 cartridge, a minitool, and a spare SRAM UDH derailleur hanger. Moving up is a downtube bottle cage mount as well as a top strap mount found underneath the top tube. And of course, SCOR designed their 4060 bikes with guided internal cable routing to make maintenance easier.

Every SCOR comes with the inclusion of custom frame protectors. These Slicy frame protectors are designed to specifically fit the 4060. When ordering the bike, the owner is given the opportunity to choose a clear frame protector, an array of template designs they have on deck, or even create your own design using their web configurator. 

There are a lot more frame and design-specific details that SCOR has built into their bikes, but the most interesting one has to be a free choice of sizing. Rather than traditional S to XL sizing and a height range for each frame, SCOR says their frame sizes are largely based on reach preference more than anything. As such you get sizes like 435, 460, 485, and 515, each with seattube short enough to accommodate long droppers regardless of leg length.

Meet the Lineup

SCOR 4060 ST

140mm shock, 150mm fork. The SCOR 4060 ST shares its frame with the 4060 LT, meaning riders can adjust head angles to slack it out and configure it as they please. Labeled "short-travel," this playful bike makes the absolute most of its 140mm of travel. Steeze over speed is the name of the game.

SCOR 4060 LT

160mm shock, 170mm fork. Long travel bikes have gotten pretty serious. The 4060 LT is seriously fun. The 4060 LT is made for those who point and shoot down big mountain trail looking for nothing more than to enjoy the ride.

SCOR 4060 Z ST

140mm shock, 150mm fork. Think of the 4060 Z ST Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival, with the core ingredients unchanged, just with an edge. A Shimano EP8 drive unit makes for a smooth, natural-feeling ride.

SCOR 4060 Z LT

160mm shock, 170mm fork. The reason we ride long-travel mountain bikes isn't for the climb, it is for the descent. Ride to the top of any and every climb with the 4060 Z LT, your shuttle buddy that can't wait for the next huck to flat.

Conclusion

SCOR might feel like a new bike brand, but their experience and backing courtesy of BMC means that these bikes sweat the details. You can see it not only in how it looks, but how you interact with them. These bikes are made to ride how the engineers wanted them to ride in the Jura hills of Switzerland, and it is clear that they ride great, be it in Jura or Jersey.

Stay tuned for our review of the 4060 and more. We're excited to put SCOR through the paces.