The Scott Scale RC, pushed to victory by none apart from Nino Schurter, has been a mainstay on the cross-country World Cup and World Champion podiums. Scott has up to date their quickest XC hardtail bike, which isn’t shocking on condition that the UCI World Championships will probably be held in Scotland in 2023.
The 2023 Scott Scale RC sheds lots of weight whereas introducing some intelligent new design parts. That is completed by halving the burden of the {hardware}, rerouting cables extra successfully, and decreasing the variety of individually molded body items.
The Geometry
Bikes have improved as XC programs have gotten extra technical. On some, if not all, programs, many riders are actually selecting a dropper submit full suspension bike as a result of these provide suspension and geometry higher suited to the bigger drops, jumps, and options that are actually commonplace.
So it ought to come as no shock that the Scott Spark RC, Scott’s high-performance XC full suspension bike, served because the mannequin for the Scale’s new geometry, which was modified for a hardtail.
The built-in handlebar might be disassembled, the headset cups might be rotated 180 levels, after which the system might be put again collectively to regulate the pinnacle angle by 0.6 levels. This makes it potential to vary the steering angle from steep to lax with out slicing cables or bleeding brakes.
The Body
As anticipated, the Scott Scale RC is constructed on a high-quality carbon body. A mixture of carbon fibers tailor-made to every part of the bike has been used within the monocoque building chosen by Scott. Resulting from this process, the bike is just composed of three discrete components which might be later joined collectively.
As a result of there are fewer items, there are fewer joints or joints, which ends up in much less materials getting used, much less weight, and better energy. For simpler entry to the within of the body for upkeep, Scott included a “service hatch” that sits behind the downtube guard. Cables are routed internally.
The Handlebar
The Scale additionally consists of the brand-new Fraser iC Combo built-in handlebar from Syncros. It’s made to permit cables to be fed into the body by way of the headset’s built-in plastic parts after being routed beneath the bar and across the aspect of the stem.
The Weight
Talking of much less weight, this newly up to date Scott Scale RC’s essential promoting level is that it’s an XC race bike, which isn’t shocking. Along with the newly constructed body talked about above, the Scale RC now weighs lower than it did in its earlier iteration because of various different building and design options.
The axle head can clamp towards the internal floor of the dropout on these bicycles due to the hole building of the dropout. This, based on Scott, saves 7.5g of weight and makes it potential to have a rear triangle space that’s 20g smaller.
Moreover, Scott has been capable of scale back the burden of the {hardware}—an important element of the bike’s building—through the use of fewer metallic components and, each time potential, swapping them out for polymer ones. As an illustration, bottle cage inserts, cable information parts, and chain guides.
Extra particularly, a built-in clip mechanism permits the bottle cage inserts, that are manufactured from polymer, to plug in fully flush with the body. Due to this design technique, broken threads are additionally simply replaceable and don’t want any particular instruments. In response to Scott, this ends in a {hardware} weight discount of just about 50% on the HMX-SL mannequin in comparison with the earlier Scott Scale RC (from 82g to 35g).
Pricing And Availability
There are 24 completely different Scott fashions in complete, together with 4 Contessa fashions particularly for girls, with the top-tier Scale RC body (ranging in worth from $3,499 to $13,999, although not all are the “SL” model).
The Verdict
It’s extra succesful than ever because of slacker, extra up to date geometry, all with out detracting from the journey’s concentrate on racing and the chassis’ extremely tuned, efficient design. The way in which it rides will enchantment to riders who love to maneuver shortly and wish to dash on the ups and (most of) the downs.
You’ll nonetheless get pleasure from driving the Scale even should you’re not addicted to hurry. With a number of sensible upgrades, like a dropper submit, it could be nicely suited to a wider vary of terrain sorts. That geometry expands its vary into gentle path driving. Regardless that this mannequin will probably be out of attain for some individuals, those that can afford it ought to take into account it due to its low weight, intensive components listing, and spectacular journey.
For a listing of all out there fashions and costs, go to their web site.
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