{"id":153227,"date":"2025-09-22T14:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T14:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153227\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T14:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T14:06:14","slug":"new-sram-xc-drivetrain-spotted-on-nino-schurters-retiring-race-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153227\/","title":{"rendered":"New SRAM XC drivetrain spotted on Nino Schurter’s retiring race bike"},"content":{"rendered":"

SRAM appears to be working on a new cross-country drivetrain, with Nino Schurter’s custom Scott Spark at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Lenzerheide sporting a Blackbox derailleur and blacked-out crankset.<\/p>\n

It appears the new derailleur is using SRAM’s GX AXS Transmission architecture, with the battery sitting protected in the UDH<\/a> mount rather than hanging off the rear on XX SL AXS.<\/p>\n

This weekend marked the end of Schurter\u2019s illustrious career, with the Swiss rider choosing to retire at his home venue.<\/p>\n

With a career spanning back to 2007, when he turned professional, Schurter has been a dominant force in cross-country mountain biking<\/a>, winning 36 World Cup races and taking the overall title nine times.<\/p>\n

If this were football, it would be like Leonel Messi hanging up his boots, with many regarding Schurter as the GOAT (greatest of all time) in the sport.<\/p>\n

In support of one of mountain biking’s greatest athletes, Swiss fans were out in full force to cheer Schurter on one last time.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he couldn\u2019t quite pull off the fairytale ending, finishing in 24th place, but he still crossed the line to a shower of champagne.<\/p>\n

New SRAM XC drivetrain
\n\"NinoThe new tech could be being tested in a GX AXS mule body. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Blackbox is SRAM and RockShox’s prototype testing platform, similar to Fox\u2019s RAD development programme.<\/p>\n

Under closer inspection, the derailleur appears to share its architecture with the current GX AXS Transmission<\/a>, with the battery sitting inside the UDH mount rather than hanging out of the rear as seen on the X0, XX and XX SL Transmissions.<\/p>\n

The only difference we can see is that the derailleur on Schurter\u2019s bike uses a different cage from that on GX, although it\u2019s hard to tell if this is carbon fibre due to the paintjob.<\/p>\n

\"NinoThe crankset is understated, but looks to be from SRAM’s RED XPLR AXS drivetrain. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the crankset looks very similar to the power-meter equipped version of SRAM’s gravel-specific RED XPLR AXS<\/a> drivetrain.<\/p>\n

Whether these are final designs is hard to tell, with SRAM possibly using current equipment as testing mules for new technology.<\/p>\n

Either way, it looks as though SRAM has something in the oven.<\/p>\n

\"NinoSchurter’s bike blends the white and red of the Swiss flag. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

For his last race, Scott honoured Schurter with a custom bike that shares some of the Swiss rider’s story.<\/p>\n

\"NinoSchurter last won the world champs in 2022. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

There are nods to Schurter\u2019s career throughout the bike, with rainbow stripes and flakes of gold representing his various world championship successes and 2016 Olympic Gold medal.<\/p>\n

His SRAM Motive Ultimate brakes<\/a> combine both, with the levers painted white with stripes and the caliper featuring the red and gold design.<\/p>\n

\"NinoThe rear caliper almost disappears into the rest of the paintjob. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

SRAM’s Motive brakes were released earlier this year and replaced the Level and Guide line-up, with improved braking power and a shift to mineral oil as braking fluid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some have complained that the brakes are heavier than the previous Level options, but this doesn’t seem to be holding riders back.<\/p>\n

\"NinoThe gold chain is a nod to Schurter’s gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Running through the new derailleur is a custom gold chain that has been stamped with the words ‘Nino’ and ‘Goat’.<\/p>\n

\"NinoRockShox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant has 120mm of travel. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the bike, Schurter is using RockShox suspension in the form of the SID Ultimate fork and SID Luxe rear shock.<\/p>\n

Both components are Flight Attendant<\/a> models, meaning the bike should be able to sense automatically when Schurter needs open suspension for descents, firm suspension for better pedalling and locked-out for smooth sections of the track.<\/p>\n

\"NinoSchurter also had custom crank arms on his chainring. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

The Scott Spark cleverly hides the rear suspension inside the frame, keeping it safely away from water and dust ingress.<\/p>\n

\"NinoSchurter uses a Syncros Tofino saddle atop his Reverb dropper. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Schurter also uses a Reverb AXS B1<\/a> dropper post from RockShox, which is lighter than the previous generation.<\/p>\n

\"NinoSyncros uses DT Swiss internals or hubs on the majority of its Silverton line-up. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

The bike rolls on Syncros Silverton carbon rims with DT Swiss 180 hubs booted in Maxxis Aspen ST rubber \u2013 well suited to the dry, fast-rolling course.<\/p>\n

\"NinoTo add even more gold to the bike, HT Components has gilded the mechanism on Schurter’s pedals. Nick Clark \/ Our Media<\/p>\n

Carrying on the celebrations, Schurter’s custom HT Component pedals commemorate his last world championships win in 2022.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Bike Kingdom<\/a> for supporting us with accommodation and travel for Lenzerheide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SRAM appears to be working on a new cross-country drivetrain, with Nino Schurter’s custom Scott Spark at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-153227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}