We don't tend to cover too much mountain bike tech here on Cyclingnews, but at times, we make an exception.
Today is one of those days, because in just a few short days, Swiss cross-country mountain bike legend Nino Shurter will race his final ever World Cup XC event in his native Switzerland. His bike sponsor, Scott, has created a seriously special custom bike to honour the former Olympic XC and 10-time world champion.
Scott is calling this bike the Spark RC X N1NO. The Spark is a full suspension XC bike that's all about speed. Shurter has raced on Scott bikes for the entirety of his career, and the brand, plus long-time sponsors SRAM, have teamed up to create a custom bike to honour Shurter's final race.
Like Geraint Thomas' final custom-painted Pinarello Dogma F that we covered recently, there are nods to Shurter's biggest wins, and there are a lot of them. The Swiss rider has Olympic medals in all three colours, ten world championships, nine overall world cup titles, 36 individual world cup wins, seven national championships and a European title to his name. You have a palmares like that, you get off the charts custom bikes to ride.
Shurter rides his last World Cup XC race in Lenzerheide this Sunday, after competing in his final ever World Championships last weekend. We don't know yet whether he will continue to race outside of World Cups, but the legacy he leaves in MTB XC racing is assured forever.
Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
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