Foldable Bikes Party: Gear of the year: Jon Woodhouse's 2016 MTB picks

Tuesday, 27 December 2016

Gear of the year: Jon Woodhouse's 2016 MTB picks

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While 2016 has been a bit of an odd year when it comes down to various political upheavals, it's actually been a pretty calm one for mountain bike tech, with an almost complete lack of strange new standards to keep the fires of internet comment hatred burning bright. That's not to say there's been nothing new and exciting, far from it. Here are the things I really enjoyed over the past year...

Scott Spark

It might seem like a bit of a cop-out to choose a range of bikes rather than just a single one, but the new Scott Spark platform happens to be a mightily impressive piece of design that happens to come in a huge range of wheel size and spec options. All-out cross-country racers can go for the rollover of 29” wheels or the more agile handling of 27.5” items, while anyone that enjoys their riding a little more relaxed can opt for a Plus tyre option.

Whichever way you want to cut it, the attention to detail is extraordinary. The top line models have carbon fibre frames that are some of the lightest in the business, while the revised, more progressive suspension design means they perform much better out on the trail too. It’s not surprising that the top-end 29er race bike took a gold medal under Nino Schurter at the Rio Olympics, while the 27.5” machine did exactly the same in the women’s race with Jenny Rissveds.

Even if racing means little to you, the Spark is still an impressive piece of work. I’ve been riding the hugely capable and entertaining Spark Plus 700 Tuned for a fair while now and it’s an amazingly flattering bike, both uphill and down. The fat plus tyres mean there’s enough grip to let you steamroller rocks and roots, while the incredibly low 11.4kg weight and on-the-fly shock adjusting system means it skips merrily up the hills too.

Scott Spark 700 Plus Tuned review

Trek Remedy 9.9 RSL

I’ve always had a bit of a strange relationship with Trek’s trail bike range. While they’re invariably well made and always feature innovative new technology, I’ve always felt that they’ve struggled to live up to the hype on the trail. The new Remedy has totally changed my mind however. It’s got much improved geometry for a 150mm trail bike, with much more reach and a slacker head angle, the latter being adjustable via flippable chips in the seatstay.