GOING FOR GOLD CUTTING EDGE XC RACE BIKES

Following Tom Pidcock’s gold medal ride at the Tokyo Games we test two XC bikes which, with a bit of training, are good enough to go wheel-to-wheel with Tom

- Alan Muldoon

With Tom Pidcock winning gold for Team GB in Tokyo, XC racing is centre stage in the UK right now. But bike companies don’t wait for the spotlight of the Olympics to shine once every four years to develop new XC race bikes.

Two brands that launched state-of-the-art XC race machines in the run-up to the Games were Scott and Santa Cruz. In terms of timing, the unfortunate delay to the Tokyo Olympics worked in their favour, even if the race results did not. Swiss legend Nino Schurter narrowly missed out on a medal in fourth on the new Scott Spark RC, while 2020 Italian national champion Luca Braidot finished back in 25th spot on the Santa Cruz Blur CC.

So we have two full carbon bikes on test with very different approaches. The Scott has an internal shock and one-piece bar/stem combo for a futuristic look, while the latest Santa Cruz Blur XC is pure retro-chic in its simplicity. Make no mistake though, both bikes are designed for one thing, and one thing only. And that’s winning elite-level XC races.

But that’s not the only thing that the Santa Cruz and Scott have in common, as both bikes are also available in more trail-friendly versions. For Scott, it drops the RC tag, ups the fork travel from 120 to 130mm and swaps out select components to further enhance its trail capability. Santa Cruz takes a different approach, increasing the travel from 100mm front and rear to 120 front and 115mm on the rear while tweaking the geometry to give more than a one-degree slacker head angle. It also gets a full-length dropper and bigger brakes.

But those aren’t the models we’re testing here – our focus is firmly fixed on XC racing. So let’s start with the one metric XC racers are obsessed with – weight. Or more specifically, the lack of it. At the weigh-in, the size L Santa Cruz Blur CC was a scant 10.41kg, 710g lighter than the Scott Spark RC.