Dangerholm's Scott Spark RC Neon Project

Words: Dangerholm

Fourth time's a charm. While I do have to admit to having a lot of bikes, as in a lot, it is perhaps still not as many bikes as you would think. This is simply because I often re-use frames and components, disassembling them into molecules in order to then create what appears to be a brand new bike.

Now you might think, why not "just" get a new bike? And why even rebuild a perfectly fine custom dream bike to begin with?

Starting with the latter, I guess it comes down to me having a somewhat restless mind. Thinking about bikes pretty much day and night, no matter how many I build I always seem to have more ideas than bikes. It's like a creative itch, always wanting to improve and make new visions come to life. So with many of my bikes, there comes a day when I look at it and suddenly go: time for a change.

As for not just starting with a new bike from scratch, it's often quite time consuming to sell a bike and arrange new stuff. And perhaps more importantly, there's just something about the feeling of quite literally destroying your own hard work and making something new out of the pieces. It somehow feels more real and honest, especially in an artistic sense, than the usual out with the old and in with the new.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, the bike featured here is actually the fourth bike built using the very same frame. So before we dig into the latest and greatest, let's have a quick look in the rearview mirror.

Version One, Two and Three
In the autumn of 2021 I finally received my first Scott Spark RC World Cup frame of the current generation, with its updated spec and integrated rear shock. The plan was to spend the winter building it into a lightweight XC weapon, but at this point I was more than eager to just get it up and running before the snow. It's always good to spend some time getting to know a bike model, in order to later be able to optimize it for your riding style and preferences.

So essentially I slapped on whatever parts I had laying around. This included what I suspect once was Nino Schurter's spare handlebar, as it arrived from the Scott-SRAM team with its -40 degree angle and pre-cut to 680mm, along with a Minion DHF shod full carbon front wheel and double 4000 lumen lights.


With the excitement of the first rides out of the way, I decided to turn it into something a little more sensible and closer to what I imagined would be the final version. Since I was planning to strip the frame down to bare carbon anyway, I slapped on a quick rattle can paint job just for fun and equipped it with some more XC specific details.


Winter was then spent customizing components and painstakingly stripping the frame down to bare carbon, in order to build the Spark RC "Hypersonic" which you can read the full Pinkbike feature about.



The Final Build
As amazing as the bike was to ride, deep down I wasn't 100% happy with the looks and that's never a good sign knowing myself. There just wasn't enough pop or contrast between the light pink and the raw carbon fiber, so I just couldn't resist thinking about doing another rebuild.

In the autumn of 2023, two years after first laying my hands on the frame, I found myself with a Jagwire Elite Link cable housing kit in limited edition purple sitting on the workbench. I had been wanting this super cool style of aluminium link housing since forever, and this little thing is what finally ignited the spark (pun intended) to tear the bike down one last time. I started to look for other parts to tie in with the purple, and seeing an old grey and neon yellow Scott "Team Racing" MTB from the 90's while visiting the Roc d'Azur event in France served as inspiration for new paint.

As this is a rebuild of a previously presented project, I won't dive fully into every single detail about it. If you find yourself wondering about something after reading this article, perhaps it's a good idea to revisit the 2022 Hypersonic story linked above to learn more. But with that said, there's plenty of cool updates here worth a closer look.


Frame Set
The Spark RC World Cup frame had been absolutely flawless, but it was time to go glossy carbon. Considering how precisely I had stripped the frame from paint and primer previously, it was actually quite a bit of work to put it back on. Carbon fiber frames are always a bit uneven in areas such as joints, which is taken care of at the factory using various types of filler and leveling primer. Having earlier removed all that, I now needed to use plenty of layers of primer in some spots to restore the nice, smooth and even finish.

While servicing and painting the Intend Samurai XC fork, I also changed the forks cartridge to the updated RockShox Charger RaceDay 2 with much improved reliability and lock-out performance.


Cockpit
The Syncros Fraser iC SL one-piece carbon handlebars I had been using on the bike are great and integrate so easily with the Spark frame. But in this update, I wanted to push integration further, and try to go for a cleaner overall look. Planning a purple and polished theme I also wanted the stem to match the appearance of the fork crown, tying the two together.

By using an Acros headset cover, it's possible to use any stem on these frames, allowing me to run a custom polished Intend Grace CC in 90mm length with a RadoxX Dangerholm Signature Series top cap. Aside from low weight and absolutely beautiful looks, the best part about this stem is that with a little sanding it's possible to fit a SRAM BlipBox inside. Paired with a custom made in Germany Schmolke Carbon TLO handlebar in 730mm width, I could then run cables internally from the BlipBox to the brand new Zirbel ZShift 01 controller.


This is a little piece of tech that I've actually been hoping for since the AXS system first saw the light of day. As good as the stock controllers are, now we finally have a 3-function option that allows you to also use an AXS dropper - all in one place on your right hand side.

Not only does this clean things up, but perhaps most importantly it means that you can run any trigger style suspension remote on your left hand side if you wish. In this case though I still opted for the RockShox Twistloc remote, just because of its minimalistic design.

This is also where the Jagwire Elite Link cable housing came into use. However, I ended up running a slightly customized setup. I wanted to assure there was no risk of any rubbing issues with the internal routing, so just before the cable enters the headset there's a splitter and it continues inside with traditional plastic coated cable housing.


Seat Post Combo
The bike will mainly be used with a custom polished RockShox Reverb AXS in 125mm drop, but I also have a super light rigid Björn Glagol seat post for it. Made in Slovenia and coming in at just 118g, the latter saves around 500g over the dropper. Thanks to the wireless AXS system with the remote always installed it's quick work switching between the two.

It's worth noting that on this area of the bike, you really do clearly feel the weight saving. Because any time you're out of the saddle pedalling, swinging the bike from side to side, this is the highest point and you get a big pendulum effect.

The saddle is also new, and it's a really interesting one. The Björn Setka is most likely the lightest saddle in the world with 3D printed padding and different density in different areas to maximize comfort. One detail I quickly noticed that is bound to further increase comfort, is that the carbon shell itself is super flexible. This means that the saddle will flex and take the edge of big hits effectively, not having to rely mostly on just the padding.

Speaking of Björn, the Skoba 20g bottle cage is also made by them and in this case fastened with purple Kogel titanium bolts.

As a finishing touch in this area of the bike, I used my favorite seat post clamp of all time, the Tune Würger Skyline. Unfortunately it was discontinued a few years back, but it's still as minimalistic and cool looking as ever.


Brakes
No changes to my trusty Trickstuff Piccola Carbon brakes or the Trickstuff Dächle UL brake discs, but to go with the purple theme, I added some matching titanium brake disc bolts from Kogel.


Drivetrain
Having previously used a mechanical SRAM XX1 Eagle rear derailleur, the biggest change was moving to a tuned SRAM Red AXS XPLR derailleur. Not only is it wireless to work with the Zirbel ZShift controller, but being the brand's gravel derailleur, it has different specs too.

It's made for 10-44T cassettes, but also works with the 11-46T Rotor cassette pictured here or the 9-45T e.13 Helix Race Gravel cassette. The latter provides a 500% range, just as much as the original Eagle systems. So there are a few options depending on what gearing ratio you want to run, and also in gearing steps. Being a bit smaller it is of course also a bit lighter.

Red XPLR uses a different clutch compared to its MTB counterparts, the Orbit fluid clutch. While it's perhaps not as heavy duty as the clutch mechanisms seen on Eagle/Transmission, it seems to do the job well enough for XC at least. One has to remember that the shorter cage also helps a bit with the chain slap.

I polished the b-knuckle and parallelogram, and also opted for the Kogel Kolossos cage and pulley wheel system. There is of course a performance aspect to it, with ceramic bearings and lower overall chain friction, but let's be honest here - it comes in purple and silver which is equally important this time around. To top things off I got myself some purple anodized limit screws from r2-bike.

The crank set is once again a Garbaruk XC with a 40T ring spinning on Kogel ceramic bearings, but this was just a wonderful vanity upgrade to match the new colors as my old silver preproduction Garbaruk crank set was still going strong.


Wheels
I'm re-using the 1039g wheel set from the Hypersonic version, with their beautiful Extralite HyperBoost 3 hubs and custom polished Sapim CX Super spokes. Of course, I needed new tires and this time I went for the Schwalbe Racing Ralph and Racing Ray combo in 2,35 inch width. Not the lightest option out there, but one of my absolute favorite XC tires as they strike such a nice balance between predictable grip and good speed.

I also have a second wheel set I can use on this bike, as previously seen on the world's lightest e-MTB. The Pi Rope Light wheel set features their Vectran synthetic fiber spokes, which have crazy high tensile strength while still being extremely light. Combined with NonPlus hubs and Duke Lucky Jack SLS4 Ultra 28mm rims the wheels weigh just 945g.

Together with Kenda Rush Pro TR 2,4" tires and Revoloop MTB.Ultra tubes this becomes a super light option, turning the bike into the "SL" version together with the rigid seat post.


Scott Spark RC Neon - Weight: 9,67kg / 21,32lbs




Scott Spark RC Neon SL - Weight: 8,82kg / 19,44lbs



How many Scott Spark's can you fit into a single story? As it turns out - one more!

If the full on weight weenie XC and Marathon weapon style of the bike above isn't your style, perhaps you will enjoy another Spark rebuild more that I did a few months ago. This bike takes a different approach, with the goal of being more of a XC light trail bike with its burlier build kit. Simply bringing a bit more fun on the downhills or to inspire you to pop some manuals wherever you have the chance.

For example, it features the new Zipp 1Zero HiTop SW wheels along with a SRAM XX SL Transmission drivetrain and a Moonlight Mountain Gear 4000 lumen light for winter or evening rides. Is it a crazy luxury to have two Spark RC bikes from each end of the spectrum? Yes. But these bikes sure bring me a lot of fun, and the frames are versatile enough for it to make sense with two different builds.




Does it feel like you've had enough of XC bikes for a while now after that Spark bombardment? No worries, next up here on Pinkbike is my Scott Genius ST 150/160mm trail bike to change things up a bit. Since I'm truly going "full Dangerholm" on that one, make sure to keep your eyes peeled.