SCOTT SPARK PLUS
SCOTT SPARK SERIES

Seatpost: A dropper seat post is a must for any trail bike and the 125mm Fox Transfer operated superbly throughout testing. That said, if you’re the upgrading type, the wheelset is probably the one place on this bike where you can make meaningful improvements. The wheels arrived with tubes but with the rims are already taped for tubeless, meaning you just need two tubeless valves and some sealant to make the conversion. They were reliable and had good feel on the trail. Wheelset: I was impressed with the Syncros X-23 rims and Shimano Deore hubs. In fact, when first writing this review, I assumed they matched the XT drivetrain until I checked again. However it is relatively easy and inexpensive to upsize the chainring.īrakes: The Deore brakes are excellent, especially considering Shimano have three brakes above it in their hierarchy. On my own bike, I often run my 1x11 setup with a 34 tooth so with two chainrings, I would have expected a bit more extension down the range than I have on my single chainring setup.

SCOTT SPARK SERIES

My only gripe was the 34 tooth big chainring fitted on the 900 series bikes. Shimano’s drivetrains are well-proven to be reliable and I had no problems during the testing of the bike. The Twinloc changes the setting of both the fork and shock at the same time using the single lever and is a well-functioning system.ĭrivetrain: The Spark 940 is kitted with a Shimano XT 2x drivetrain (with the exception of an SLX cassette). Lock-out: Scott's Twinloc remote lockout system controls the compression damper with 3 settings: Lockout- Traction Control- Descend. The shock worked flawlessly and felt super smooth in all conditions. Shock: The Fox Nude DPS shock was relatively easy to setup using the plastic clip-on sag meters that came with the bike. The fork tracked well with sufficient stiffness to remain true even through rough sections. The benefit of this is a stiffer wheel, great clearance for big tyres, and the ability to tweak the wheel position to shorten the chainstay length.įork: The 120mm Fox 34 Float Performance is a good match for the capabilities of the Scott Spark. The new Scott Spark also incorporates Boost 148 axle spacing into the frame design with the forks fitted also having the Boost 110 axle spacing. These figures are firmly in line with most modern trail bikes. Our Large test bike had a 67.2 degree head tube angle with a 460 mm reach and 438 mm chainstays. A slacker head angle improves handling on the descents as the fork is better placed to absorb impacts and is less likely to see the rider topple over the handlebars. Riders now have more room in the cockpit allowing for a shorter stem and more direct steering. With the new Spark platform, Scott have embraced modern geometry with a longer bike and slacker angles. Practically, this means better small bump absorption with some support in the middle of the travel and the ability to soak up the bigger hits without needlessly bottoming out. Scott say that all these changes to the suspension design have allowed them to follow the modern trend of a softer initial travel with support ramping up progressively through the stroke. To assist the rear end when the suspension compresses, Scott have placed part of the brake mount on the wheel axle. This means reduced weight and easier maintenance. The previous design had 18 parts, while the new Spark has only three. Scott have designed the new rear triangle to have fewer parts. A downside of the rocker link design is that there is now space for just one bottle cage. This means a smaller shock allowing engineers to create a more compact suspension design without out losing any shock stroke. A metric shock with Trunnion mounts is used on the Spark range. The design remains a single pivot but with a rocker link instead of the previous top link, which means a lighter top tube. The shock is now vertically mounted to the bottom bracket area. Visually, the most obvious change is to the suspension. The Scott Spark frame has seen major changes to the suspension design, geometry, and the adoption of the Boost axle standard. We tested the Scott Spark 940 which is the top specced 29er aluminium model. In South Africa, the in stock range will favour the 29” models. Both the Spark and Spark RC are available as 29” (900 models) or 27.5” (700 models). The Scott Spark model lined up is 120 mm with modern trail inspired geometry.

SCOTT SPARK PLUS

The trail focussed Scott Spark Plus features 2.8' tyres and boasts a 130 mm fork. Jenny Rissveds and Nino Schurter rode this bike to gold in Rio.

The all-new Scott Spark platform will be used on three distinct models (with very similar names it can get confusing): The Scott Spark RC is a 100 mm aggressive cross-country bike.

Scott spark