It was one of the most successful product launches in mountain bike history. In 2016, Scott developed a completely new fully for Nino Schurter and Jenny Rissveds. The new Spark was unveiled shortly before the Olympic Games in Rio and then received its glorious accolade with two Olympic gold medals. Now Schurter's racing machine is ready for the 2017 season. Much is already familiar, but there are some interesting new features to discover.

The deeper, the faster

Schurter, Rissveds and the entire Scott-Sram team will tackle the 2017 season on this bike. The new Spark is visually familiar thanks to the positioning of the shock parallel to the seat tube, the triple spring adjustment via the handlebar lever and the 29er wheels. A striking feature is the stem, which is angled sharply downwards to provide Schurter with the necessary pressure on the front wheel. In some cases, the team rides in the identical riding position, in others a little more upright - depending on the physique of the respective athlete.

New on board: Rock Shox

The changes to Schurter's bike compared to last year are in the details. This includes the suspension in particular, where Scott and Schurter now rely entirely on Rock Shox. The suspension fork and shock can be locked out, switched to trail mode or fully opened via a handlebar lever.

Unchanged: the golden eagle provides propulsion

Schurter's bike remains unchanged in terms of gearing, the Eagle groupset from Sram with twelve gears on the cassette and a chainring on the crank. Depending on the route, different sprockets are fitted to the crank.

Maxxis sets the profile

A key innovation on Schurter's racing machine is the tires. He no longer relies on tubulars (Colle tires) but on tubeless tires from Maxxis. The tire developers are now so far advanced that the advantages of tubulars are no longer so significant. Thanks to the wide rims, the tire looks rounder and more massive, and for Schurter the days of thin racing tires are a thing of the past. The tread pattern is selected specifically depending on the route and weather.

DT Swiss turns the 29er wheel

Yes, even Nino Schurter, the pioneer of 27.5-inch, is now riding a 29er. He has already won the Olympic title with this wheel size, and from now on the Spark from Scott will be designed entirely for it. Hubs, rims and spokes will continue to be produced by DT Swiss as in previous years.

The vario support is coming

While many "normal" mountain bikers can no longer do without dropper seatposts, racing continues to struggle with them. Difficult is the right keyword, as only very few are prepared to pay for the undisputed advantages with an additional weight of up to 500 grams. Schurter will also rely on a fixed Syncros seatpost for his cross-country races. However, in the run-up to the Cape Epic, Jenny Rissveds' bike was fitted with a Rock Shox Vario seatpost, and Nino Schurter will also be using one for multi-stage races. Slowly and selectively, racers are also getting a taste for it.