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 Schurter 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. Schurter 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 Schurter's final race.
Like Geraint Thomas' final custom-painted Pinarello Dogma F that we covered recently, there are nods to Schurter'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.
Schurter 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.