SCOTT SPARK 900 TUNED AXS
Swiss brand’s new speed machine turns heads on the trail
Scott’s purchase of ‘hidden shock’ maestros Bold Cycles has clearly influenced the design of the new Spark. This Tuned version gets the ‘downcountry’ treatment with a 130mm-travel fork and more ‘grrr’ from the spec list.
THE FRAME
The Spark’s 120mm of rear wheel travel is provided by a single-pivot swingarm, which connects to the mainframe just behind the chainring. A little flex in the carbon fibre seatstays helps Scott control the suspension kinematics. The shock is concealed at the base of the seat tube, where it’s protected from the elements, but can be accessed via a door in the down tube. This design gives cleaner lines, extra bearing real estate and more room in the front triangle. A nifty shock linkage hidden inside the seat tube helps to portion out the travel.
An adjustable headset can be used to steepen up the slack 65.8-degree head angle by 0.6 degrees. This is matched to a 76.4-degree effective seat tube angle – but note that the actual seat tube angle is fairly slack, so the higher you extend the seatpost, the slacker the effective angle will become. The reach on the large size we tested is a healthy 470mm, while the chainstays are a moderate 437.5mm.
THE KIT
A proprietary Fox Nude 5T shock is paired with a matching Factory-level 34 fork. Both are controlled by Scott’s TwinLoc on-bar levers, which toggle between ‘Lockout’, ‘Traction Control’ and ‘Descend’ modes. With the remote for the Fox Transfer dropper post hung off the bottom, there’s a trio of levers to navigate, which takes a ride or two to get used to. You get a wireless SRAM Eagle AXS drivetrain, while the brakes are Shimano XTR four-pots. In-house brand Syncros provide the all-in-one Fraser iC carbon cockpit and Silverton carbon wheels, which roll on DT Swiss 370 hubs, with a slightly slow pick-up.
THE RIDE
With pure race-bred DNA, the Spark, even in its ‘downcountry’ form, is a fast bike. The way it picks up speed is almost alarming – before you know it, you’re reaching for the punchy brakes to temper your speed. This is partly thanks to Schwalbe’s new Wicked Will tyres, which have a great blend of predictable grip and low rolling resistance. On groomed or hardpack trails, they’re some of the fastest we’ve ridden. It’s also down to the smooth suspension, though. With the rear wheel unimpeded in its ability to track the ground, the Spark has an incredibly plush ride, which keeps
the chassis stable and you able to concentrate on the trail ahead.
It’s one of those bikes that encourages you to keep pedalling, never choking over stutter bumps or kicking back through the pedals. On flatter tracks, though, it’s not as reactive to pumping through the terrain as some in this category. Here, there’s a slight bias towards your bodyweight compressing the suspension, rather than driving the bike forward.
With the head tube at its slackest, the geometry is on-par with our favourite downcountry rigs. The long front centre aids stability at higher speeds, but it’s still easy to get the bike pirouetting through corners. Concentration is needed, though. With all that speed, it’s possible to overwhelm the tyres, especially on loose or dusty trails – and when the rear goes, it really goes. When slamming the bike into a berm, there’s a little more flex between bar and rear tyre than we’d ideally like, which occasionally caused us to miss lines.
This bit of twang was also noticeable on crux uphill moves – as you power out of a corner, the Spark seems to uncoil and sit up a touch. We reckon this is due to a combination of the lightweight tyre casings, skinny-ish wheels and some flex from the frame.
Outside of this situation, the Spark Tuned is one of the best climbers we’ve ridden. In Descend, the level of traction generated is incredible – on loose, rocky, steppy climbs we could clear more sections on this bike than pretty much any other. Left in this mode on smoother ascents, the shock moves more than it might on other bikes – a result of that incredible suppleness. However, if you use the TwinLoc lever, the bike surges forward with every pedal stroke. TOM
VERDICT
Fast and furious, but can feel a bit like a coiled spring at times when you’re really hauling
The Ripley AF (which stands for aluminium frame) is Ibis’s 29in-wheeled, short-travel trail bike, almost identical to its more expensive carbon fibre stablemate, bar a slacker head angle.
THE FRAME
Ibis have given the Ripley AF internallyrouted cables, inbuilt stay protection and a threaded BB shell with ISCG-05 chain guide tabs. Its 120mm of rear squish is doled out by Dave Weagle’s twin-link DW-link platform. Geometry figures include a 65.5-degree head angle and 76-degree effective seat tube angle, along with a reasonable 475mm reach and snappy-feeling 432mm chainstays on the large size we tested.
THE KIT
This is the pricier of the two Ripley AF builds. The bike we tested wasn’t totally stock, due to supply constraints. Ibis say that if customers’ bikes require similar parts swaps, they’ll receive these free of charge. A Fox 34 fork with 130mm of travel is paired with a matching Float DPS Performance shock. The spec lists a mainly SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain, but ours was full GX Eagle. We also had an upgraded BikeYoke REVIVE dropper post and Shimano SLX brakes instead of SRAM G2s. The wheelset was stock, though – 35mm Ibis rims wrapped in Maxxis Minion tyres.
THE RIDE
The DW-link rear end provides an impressively taut pedalling platform, especially when cranking out of the saddle. This lack of suspension movement makes the Ripley an efficient and rewarding climber. In fact, it feels more akin to a hardtail than a full-sus, and we never used the lockout lever. Grip and bump absorption are pretty good, too, given the amount of travel on tap – the Ripley isn’t longtravel supple or coil-shock responsive, but takes the sting out of the trail and gets you up steeper, looser climbs. The seated position is well-balanced and the seat tube angle feels spot-on for a bike of this ilk, placing you over the BB, rather than rearwards of it.
With enormous amounts of pop and zest, the Ibis is masses of fun to ride. The mid stroke is brilliantly supportive and there’s plenty of bottom-out resistance too, making it easy to push hard through turns and generate speed. It has a smooth ride, considering its limited travel, and performs well on steeper, gnarlier terrain. The suspension isn’t superactive and can’t absorb every little bump, but damps the bigger hits well and rarely becomes overwhelmed. It was only on flatter, bumpier trails where it was too rough to pedal that we found ourselves wanting a little more travel and suppleness, to help with maintaining speed and grip. ALEX
VERDICT
A trail-centre slayer that’s a heap of fun to ride