Welcome to the future on two knobby – tyred wheels. The Scott Spark 29RC is, for the next 12 months the bike that will define the new school, trail capable crosscountry bikes.
Ready to race, ready to ride and definitely ready to rumble, the top of the line null carbon 29RC model is peppered with every worthwhile new technology, concept and idea, to give the rider every possible advantage, on any given trail.
Unlike almost all other 29er full suspension bikes that largely continue to look steep and timid – a hangover from the thought that 29ers are for lumbering technically incompetent riders – the lOOmm travel 29RC by comparison looks long, low and slammed.
Its obvious that experienced riders had a hand in the design, the 69.5 – degree head angle encourages a sit behind the bar, steer from the hip carving style of cornering. You could call it aggressive; wed opt for engaging, fun even. Traits that we want in any bike we ride.So, its a bike for 2012, a bike for now, but what of the future? With design moving quickly will your 29RC age well like a fine wine, or still be relevant? Scott has sorted that one by making it one of the most future proofed bikes weve ever seen. From the tapered steerer head tube, integrated hose routing, bottom bracket height and head angle adjustable travel chip to its collaboration with RockShox to bring the Traction Control system to front and rear shocks and the light but stiff Syntace X – l 2 rear axle system out back, the Spark 29RC is proof that crystal balls exist and that Scott owns a big one.

The travel might only be 100mm, but the important thing is how that can be applied. Thanks to a 69.5 – degree starting point with a 0.5 – degree option either way, due to the Travel chip, you can have your RC29er ride rough trail or smooth track, the way you want it. Tapered steerers mean more precise steering, which is a no – brainer. In the past integrated hoses were more trouble than they were worth, but Scotts added full internal routing to make new hose fitting a breeze, offering a cleaner chassis, fewer snags and less finish – destroying rub. Interchangeable drop – outs mean a 9mm or stiffer, chassis enhancing thru – axle 12mm, can be used.

Add all these together, along with Scotts flair for tube shaping, graphic design and component specifying for the ultimate riders bike.
Scott has an unnerving ability to boil down the tech, the trends and design cues and strip away the hype. Every couple of years it simply nails the bulls – eye with all three darts. It did it with the hardtail Scale, the full suss carbon Ransom ail – mountain bike, the original Spark and the Genius. All these bikes pushed the boundaries of what was thought achievable, right thinking even. Look at what Scott is doing this year to see what others will be doing next.

Scotts management believes its designers and engineers are the best and if they say something is a good idea, light enough, strong enough and frankly sexy enough then it gets made. No hedging of bets, toning down or fattening up for safety. Thats why the Spark 29RC is the genuine leading edge.

RacaFaca Next SL cranks
After 12 months of financial turmoil that saw the brand all but vanish from the radar, the great news is that 2012 sees Canadas RaceFace return to business. If youd been asleep and just woken you wouldnt think anything had happened, as its new 2012 products look as sharp as ever.
Signalling its intent to dominate the likes of SRAM and Shimano – at least in terms of technology – are its featherweight 595g Next SL twin ring hollow carbon arm cross – country cranks.
Weighing a full lOOg lighter than Shimanos elite level XTR twin ring crank, and because theyre using the same construction process as the all – mountain Six С cranks, which won our latest cranks test for stiffness, we know you can rely on this lightweight crank. These are going to be stomp – proof arms combined with some of the most meticulously researched and machined alloy Turbine chainrings weve seen, and you know youve got super – fast shifting too. Not cheap, but theyre beautiful in every respect.

Tunability
Micro chips, no, not the Silicon Valley type – though that is a hot topic of behind the scenes discussion among transmission and frame manufacturers, the fruits of which well have to wait until 2012 to see bear genuinely ready to ride products – but the new and increasingly popular travel, bottom bracket height and angle adjusting variety.
If youre in the market for a full suspension bike in 2012 you ought to seek out one that will offer you some ride tuning adjustment. Its practically weightless, simple to adjust and usually makes a discernible difference, so youll know where you are.

Like the Spark 29RC weve already discussed, you can sharpen it up for an old school nervy front end, run it neutral in stock form or take more out of the front end to give it a more trail – centric, aggressive stance.

Usually the tuning method is shock mount hardware with off – centre bolts, which can be turned to create a different ride feel. This one is on the new Trek Remedy, but check Scott and Specialized among others for bikes that put your ride first.

Control
RockShox Monarch XX Carbon rear shack
Because were highly trained tech hounds we sniffed prototype versions of this new – for – 2012 product out nearly two years ago, but RockShox decided to keep tinkering until now.
Adding the full hydraulic X – Loc remote bar control to the updated and revised 2012 Monarch now means that riders are able to tune their ride without releasing their grip from the bar. With travel increasing across genres as riders reap the benefits of better suspension technologies the requirement to be able to control the rear shock performance has come into sharp focus.

Colour
It might seem like a superficial thing to get excited about perhaps, but the continued and intense use of colour right across our sport is having a knock on effect with design.
With as many graphic designers employed in the bike industry in the last few years as engineers the move has been towards products that effectively blend shape and colour in a way that makes both the bikes and components more desirable.

Better looking and better performing products from helmets, to shoes, bags, jackets, and, well everything else bike related that you can think of just make the experience of being on your bike even more enjoyable. You can express yourself in colour when riding your bike in a way that simply wasnt possible to do before.
Of course, there are fashions, as with anything thats related to style, and there are better and worse looks depending on your point of view. One thing thats not up for debate though is the fact that we love it.

Just for the record we saw a lot of green and orange appearing on 2012 hardware and software. From muted earth tones to retina wrenching hues, you get to decide which way you want to go.
Look 920i CR, 920i

One bike that stopped us dead in our tracks at the Eurobike show was the new two – bike pairing from French manufacturer. Look. Its 920 full suspension and 986 hardtail models are exquisitely made carbon fibre creations, which follow the somewhat quirky design cues that over the years have defined the image of the Look range as much as their category defining performances.
The 920 really got our attention and elbowed its way onto the list. Everything is business as usual right up until the head tube when it all goes a bit Renault Megane boot. Hear the sound of the rule book being torn in two and relish the sight of a new idea finding its way off the concept model and into production.

If you dont immediately warm to the design, thats fine. We heard people describe it as the bike a 14 – year – old would draw if asked to draw a futuristic off – road machine. Its true, there is a freedom from traditional bike design conformity and an almost naive approach to the shape, which is really refreshing. We freely admit to not getting it to begin with, but with every new look it seems ever more attractive.
One reason is the A stem, an integrated stem that blends seamlessly into the head tube. Its an arresting sight. In order to make the frame flow into the back of the stem the frame has a distinct hump in its top tube. Its a Marmite shape for sure, but when we wheeled the bike through the show it caused a Moses like parting of the crowds who oohd and ahd in lustful appreciation of its futuristic form.
Function is still a topic were holding off on commenting about until weve ridden it in anger, which should be very soon. Look says with 120mm of travel its a competition – ready XC bike that nudges the boundaries of the all – mountain genre. We think itll float the boat of marathoners who are looking for a bike that can dispatch both groomed racetrack and rough trails in the same stride.
The bikes not just a funky stem stuck on a so – so chassis, the high modulus carbon 920 sports a fair handful of the 2012 must – have tech features like a 12/15mm rear/front axle format, taper steerer and a pivotless rocker activated rear suspension.

The stem is available in a variety of lengths from 80 – 120mm and in rises +/-5 degrees in 80 and 100mm lengths, as well as +/-15 degrees in the 100 – 120mm lengths. Your Look dealer will have a range of the stems to fit you, which will be sorted in store. A built – in steering stop means the frame is safe from top tube crush damage before you wince. We think Look has missed a trick in not using this technology to harness the popularity of the new 29er trend and create a big wheel version that might be able to address the tall front – end issues that hamper the fit of many 29ers.

Suspension
This is the Ripley, a 120mm full suspension frame built for 29in wheels. It comes up with some jaw – droppingly simple and elegant answers to age old questions, putting this about – to – be – put – into – production test mule at the top of our list of darn clever things in the suspension category.
Only Ibis with its addiction to form going toe to toe with its Brian Lopes driven need for perfect performance would give the concept of hidden pivots the time of day. What about the thought to turn the rear mounting for the rear shock through 90 degrees? What about chassis flex? Theres always some knackered shock mounts because the flex movement swells the bolt hole. The move to a vertical bolt reduces this, giving you better performing suspension for longer.

The pivot turns on Dave Weagles latest creation, which uses eccentric pivots running on bushings. Bushings are used instead of bearings because cartridge bearings wouldnt fit. The result is one of the cleanest looking and hopefully best riding 29er full suspension bikes built to date.

Helmets
The number of new helmets on show confirmed that we like wearing them and that the perfect mountain bike helmet hasnt yet been made. That said, were getting close. Scott has been quietly making some standout helmets for sensible money and recently had a clutch of new designs, blending rounded ergonomics with the sharp looks that keep us wanting. Methods of controlling impact forces, separation of those forces from our heads as well as ways to keep the helmets firmly on our heads during the ride without recourse to wrenching on the straps, are all areas where progress is being made.
Aside from the new Feature all – mountain helmet. Giro was without a new XC helmet, though the new acid yellow colourway seems to pep up the existing line. Price seems to be a factor in these hard economic times, not that there were any shortage of ?100+ models from all quarters, but there was a refreshing focus on the entry level and particularly the mid – range ?40-60 price bracket. For 2012 if you dont want to spend a ton on a helmet just to get the features you want and the looks you crave, then you really dont have to.

Integration
Right across the Eurobike show we were reminded that products must coexist, blending colour, form and function with each other.
One of the areas where a lot of work has been done in the past year is integrating control cables and hoses into the frame. Tucking these lines inside the frame poses more than a few technical headaches but expect almost all carbon frames to have hidden cable next year.
Scott and Trek, in association with RockShox, have been working on internal routing for dropper posts. Its very neat and is sure to be copied by loads of others in the coming years.

Protection
Evoc protection vest
Riding just might be getting safer. Actually, we mean crashing might be getting safer. Protection continues to be a growth area, which means lots of stuff like this super – light, padded undervest made by Canadian bag meister, Evoc.

Designed to be worn under a jersey for those heavy – duty trails where you need to have unencumbered breathing to pedal up but something more than a thin layer of polyester if it all goes wrong on the way down.

The emphasis is on lightweight and airflow and we think these will become popular with hard charging riders everywhere.

Clothing
The concept of baggy bike wear that is also closer to the efficiency of traditional Lycra road clothing is one that is getting a lot of interest for 2012. One of the best efforts to capture this fast n loose trail bike wear has been Royal Racings work with world famous trail rider and Downieville classic winner Mark Weir. He wanted kit he could pedal at XC race speeds in and also looked cool. This is the first fruits of that labour. With lots of coo! tech clothing on the cards. Weir Wear is going to be big in 2012.

Specialized Renegade
This is the tyre that has been performing minor miracles on the World Cup crosscountry circuit this season for 2011 world champion, Jaroslav Kulhavy on his Specialized Epic 29er. Its a tyre that many might consider too lightly treaded for anything other than bone dry conditions, but the fact is that 29ers use their tread differently than 26ers and you can get a lot further in testing conditions on a lot less tread when on the big wheels. Just keep the cranks turning and theyll claw you up the hill.

Specialized has got its rubber compounds dialled to offer the optimum in light weight, grip and puncture resistance. Try some, youll like them.