We’ve seen a flurry of cross-country race bike launches this spring, with the new Scott Spark – the latest in a long line of bikes bearing the Spark name – the most recent to be unveiled.
What marks the Spark RC out from pretty much every other XC bike launch of 2026 is that, quite simply, it doesn’t look like a Specialized Epic World Cup.
But with most XC bikes now centred around a few key themes – and evolution, rather than revolution, very much the name of the game – it got me thinking: have we reached peak 29er? And, with 32in bikes seemingly on the rise, does it even matter?
XC convergence
The XC world seems to have converged on the shock-nestled-in-the-top-tube silhouette that both the Epic World Cup and Trek Supercaliber have since their respective launches.
The new Specialized Epic 9, Orbea Oiz (launched last week) and Unno Horn all pack in 110-120mm travel under the top tube, leaving the main triangle open for a pair of bottles and the shocks sitting high and dry. Were it not for differing colour schemes, you’d be hard-pressed to tell them apart.
The design isn’t dissimilar from what we’ve seen on the recently released Giant Anthem and Canyon Lux.
Flex-stay linkages are now commonplace, doing away with rear physical pivots and relying on engineered flex in the rear triangle.
Rather than a large rocker driving the horizontally or vertically mounted shock, a short link – hidden in the top tube – offers the weight, stiffness and kinematic control required to make bikes go fast.
Brands such as Giant, Specialized and Trek – the biggest in the business – don’t change up their chassis design wholesale without good reason, so it’s fair to assume this layout is as close to optimal as possible.
The latest generation of XC race rigs, with their identikit templates, are likely as good as things are going to get.
Enter the Scott Spark
There are, of course, exceptions that prove the rule when it comes to design convergence, and the new Spark RC is one of those.
The Spark has long hidden the shock in the lower portions of the frame, and so it would take a keen eye to spot the difference between the new bike and its predecessor.
Rather than being mounted vertically, the shock is now even lower in the chassis, running horizontally over the bottom bracket, with a new link that pivots concentric to the bottom bracket, compressing the shock.
The reason for this new design is twofold, according to Scott. Firstly, it positions the weight even lower in the chassis – improving weight distribution.
Secondly, the bottom bracket area is already built to withstand pedalling forces. Adding the strength needed to provide a solid base for the suspension linkages has far less of a weight penalty than locating pivots and links in a separate area of the frame, according to Scott’s engineers.
I suspect a third reason might be that hiding the shock is Scott’s ‘thing’ and it's a design language the brand is wedded to. At this stage in the game, it would look pretty odd inverting the design to encase a shock up by the top tube.
While we’re on the subject of brands doing things a bit differently, a quick word should go to Lapierre, whose new XR race bike also eschews the Epic World Cup aesthetic.
Its low-down vertical shock harks back to the likes of the previous Anthem, BMC Fourstroke and Pivot Mach 4 SL, and looks, dare I say it, almost retro in comparison.
If anything, the older XRM model fits the mould somewhat.
Long-live big wheels
Regardless of frame layout, one thing unites all of these bikes – 29in wheels.
The new Spark RC rolls, as you would expect, on 29in wheels, as the Spark has since 2012. Look back through the history books and you’d be hard-pressed to find any XC bike launch since around 2012 that hasn’t been a 29er.
The breadth of 29in XC race bike launches this year has surprised me, though. The current discourse in XC development is focused very much on 32in wheels.
Much like the shift from 26 to 29in, the larger wheels should roll over bumps more smoothly, maintaining speed easier and reducing fatigue.
The increase in weight of the bigger rim and tyre should, in most situations, be overcome by the additional rolling speed.
That’s the theory, anyway.
And it’s no secret that pretty much every brand out there is playing with the concept on prototype XC bikes currently in development.
BMC was first to the party, rocking its 32in prototype through a few practice laps in the 2025 World Cup season.
But I’ve also seen 32in prototype race bikes in brand HQs, discussed development of bigger-wheeled bikes with product managers, and chatted pros and cons with current World Cup athletes. 32in wheels were also a key talking point at this year’s Taipei International Cycle Show, which always serves as a window to what’s coming next in the world of bike tech.
Seeing all these 29in bikes being launched in 2026 leaves me with more questions than answers.
Questions, questions…
Product development cycles take a few years, so were these brands too deep into the development of their latest bikes when the 32in ‘thing’ kicked off?
Were (or are) they hedging their bets that the UCI – not shy of implementing banal rules at the drop of a hat – might legislate against larger wheels (or using mixed wheel sizes) in XC racing?
Or, are the 32in products we’re seeing trickling onto the market a bit of a red herring, a fad that will pass, and 29ers will continue to rule the roost?
Time will tell, of course, but mark my words: the minute a World Cup is won on a 32in-wheeled bike, the conversation will shift up a gear and the industry will be scrabbling to catch up.
One thing’s for sure, though. I’d put money on the big wheels being shoehorned into the very same Epic World Cup silhouette that dominates in 2026.
