Elite-level cross-country racing isn't just a platform for the best riders in the world to test their mettle, but also a melting pot of advanced technologies, some of which come to dominate the sport. Tom Pidock's Pinarello Dogma XC is but one, however, few bikes and components are quite as well represented as the Scott Spark RC and RockShox's Flight Attendant. 

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The Scott Spark is one eye-catching machine with a rear shock that hides inside the frame. For RockShox's Spark-equipped athletes, that poses a rather serious issue in that the brand's traditionally chunkier Flight Attendant shocks couldn't fit within the cavity reserved for rear dampers. Where a fumbled suspension lockout could cost fractions of seconds, the luxury of automatically adjusting compression settings could make or break a rider's race.

2024 nino schurter nove mesto.jpg, by Liam Mercer

That was until Nino took his 34th World Cup victory running a SIDLuxe Ultimate Flight Attendant that has been rearranged to fit inside his Scott Spark. During that epic 90 minutes where Nino further cemented himself as the greatest of all time, RockShox states that his Flight Attendant-controlled suspension made 1,325 changes.

As we all know, the Scott Spark RC's rear shock is accessible through a small door that's located just in front of the bottom bracket, so the new Scott Spark-specific SIDLuxe Ultimate Flight Attendant features a repositioned air valve and an easier method of accessing its battery. Then, the shock benefits from all of the tech that was unveiled earlier this year.

Those include new Adaptive Ride Dynamics which allows the system to learn from how the rider rides and a host of personalisation features. This shock then uses the RL3 Flight Attendant damper with either a SoloAir or DebonAir air spring. RockShox claims it weighs 371g and it's only available on the Scott Spark RC with no aftermarket purchase options.

• www.sram.com

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