Nino Schurter captured another rainbow jersey at the XCO World Championships this weekend in Nové Mesto, Czech Republic. Arguably one of the most entertaining XCO courses on the Elite circuit, the Nové Mesto track connects flowing, rooty single track, technical rock portions and jumps. The crowds were thick and the racing was close with the Top 3 Elite Men only being separated by 30 seconds after nearly 90 minutes of racing. Nino Schurter, like many riders, chose full suspension over hardtail and his choice proved to be the right one as he took the gold medal and rainbow stripes by 17 seconds.
The Spark Nino rode is part of the 2017 Scott Racing Concept, or RC, collection; dedicated race bikes comprised of the lightest SCOTT mountain bikes ever built. The Spark weighs of only 1749g (incl. shock and hardware) and is optimized for 1x drivetrain systems. Nino used the new SRAM Eagle 1x drivetrain at World Champs.
Differences from the previous generation Scott Spark
- 140 grams lighter
- New suspension platform
- 1.3-degrees slacker headtube angle, now 68.5-degrees
- 13mm shorter chainstay length, now 435mm
- 17mm longer reach, now 429.5mm
- 17mm lower stack, now 586.9mm
- Lower standover and shorter stem length, now 70mm
Nino said, "The new bike is not only unbelievably light and stiff, but it also pedals like a hardtail. I feel like the pedal efficiency is even better than on the old Spark. It really feels much more compact and easier to handle. What really suits my riding style is the much better kinematic of the new frame, which results in much better suspension. The bike is more sensitive at the beginning of travel but becomes more supportive from sag point onward, with end stroke progression tuned for cross country riding.
