Scott Spark Plus 700 Tuned

Fit and Geometry

In years past, many of Scott’s bikes have had fairly conservative geometry numbers, but the Spark Plus has caught up to industry trends. The sizing and angles are progressive without going overboard.

Fit on the Spark Plus is right in the middle of what I’d call average these days. I’m 5’9” (175 cm), and I felt entirely comfortable on a Medium. With a reach measurement of 426.4 mm on a Medium, the Spark is right in line with what most of the major manufacturers are doing in terms of sizing. A 607 mm top tube length on the Medium is long enough to be comfortable on climbs and not feel cramped, but it’s not so long that I felt stretched out. I’d probably put the size break at around 5’7” (168 cm) for bumping down to a Small, and around 5’11” (180 cm) for bumping up to a large, which is more or less in line with Scott’s sizing suggestions.

A 66.9° head angle is fairly slack for a shorter travel bike like this, but it strikes a nice balance of stability and maneuverability. Despite the slack-ish head angle, I never found the bike to feel overly floppy on climbs, and I think the slightly longer than average chainstays helped with that.

The Ride

Plus tires have a bunch of things working in their favor: they offer up gobs of traction in all respects, they hook up in corners, they dig in on climbs, and they’re fantastic under hard braking. And along those same lines, they’re great for wrapping around roots and rocks on the trail, gripping in places where smaller, higher-pressure tires go skittering off to the side. They also smooth out the ride pretty nicely; all manner of small bumps in the trail are quietly absorbed by the tires.

Noah Bodman reviews the Scott Spark Plus 700 Tuned for Blister Gear Review
Noah Bodman on the Scott Spark Plus 700 Tuned.

But in my view, plus tires have a few significant downsides. The first issue, that I’ll just go ahead and get out of the way at the outset, is that the tires have durability issues. Reinforcing the tires makes them really heavy, so most plus tires are a bit lighter-duty than their narrower siblings. That’s just a fact of life with Plus tires, and the Spark Plus hasn’t found a way around that.

But the main issue I’ve had in the past with plus tires is how they ride. They accelerate pretty slowly due to the extra weight, they tend to feel heavy in corners, and the large volume tires can act like big, undamped springs, which makes it harder to be precise in where I’m placing them on the trail.

What the Spark Plus brings to the table is a frame that does an incredibly good job of minimizing the downsides of plus tires, while accentuating the upsides.

Taking the plus tires out of the equation, the Spark is a short-travel frame with decently slack geometry and a moderately progressive suspension. All of that stuck together makes for a super fun, poppy, playful bike that loves to carve through tight corners and pop off of any little bump in the trail. In other words, the frame does really well at the things that plus tires are kinda terrible at.

And what that means is, with the plus tires mixed back into the equation, you have a bike that hits a fantastic blend of whippy playfulness (from the frame) and grippy steamroller-ability (from the tires). And more importantly, it hits that blend in a pretty short-travel package that feels snappy and efficient when you need it to. The Spark Plus has a lot of attributes that I’d associate with a longer-travel enduro bike, but it still retains the benefit of not being a big, mushy couch with a lot of suspension. And, of course, the plus tires mean that the bike floats through sand pits, can rock crawl up techy climbs, and makes the general bumpiness of Moab trails at lot less jarring.

Now I should note, I’m sure at least some of the reason this bike felt light and poppy and playful was the fact that I was riding the super over-the-top $8000 version that didn’t weigh much (although on my scale, it was about a pound heavier than Scott’s published weight). The more reasonably-priced versions that are undoubtedly a bit heavier (4-5 lbs heavier for the aluminum framed Spark 730 Plus) will probably feel a bit less spritely, but at their root, all of the Spark Plus frames have the same geometry, the same amount of travel, and the same suspension kinematics. So yes, there will be differences. But I also think the basic essence of the bike will be the same throughout the lineup.

Bottom Line

The Spark Plus is the first plus bike I’ve ridden where I came away thinking “Huh. I could actually see myself buying one of these.” The frame design plays perfectly to the upsides, and more importantly, the downsides of plus tires. The combination of a maneuverable, quick frame with the big traction and forgiveness of plus tires makes for a damn fun bike.

Now, if my main goal is to get from point A to point B as fast as possible, I wouldn’t consider the Spark Plus to be a contender. Not that it felt slow, but it also didn’t feel racy. Rather, it felt like a bike that was just a bunch of fun everywhere I rode it, ranging from slow-speed chunky tech, to faster, flowier jump trails.

So if you were already considering a bike with plus tires, I’d definitely put the Spark Plus on the list. And if you were considering a trail bike, but weren’t looking specifically at plus bikes, I’d still put the Spark Plus on the list. And if you’ve already ridden some plus bikes and decided they weren’t for you, see if you can find a Scott demo and take a spin on the Spark Plus. It might just change your mind.

7 comments on “Scott Spark Plus 700 Tuned”

    • i would agree that the twin loc is not a must on such a bike unless you’re racing.
      i think its better suited to “real trail bikes” and enduro bikes ie 140 to 160mm of travel.
      I also like the original fox system better (3pos – which works on recent shock/forks with the fit4 damper too) since you

      don’t hit it by mistake and well, has 3 pos (pretty-much-locked-out for certain climbs and … road, quite firm (good for big descents) and open (for everything else).

  1. What trail did you ride this on? I tried the same bike at Captain Ahab on the last day of Outerbike and I found the BB to be un-enjoyably low. I shaved more than a few grams off the ends of those Eagle crank arms.

    Otherwise, I liked the bike. I think it’d be a better fit for me personally with 29″ wheels though.

    • I rode the Spark Plus on the Brand trails and didn’t run into any clearance issues, but I tend to get along pretty well with lower bottom brackets. I also wouldn’t call the Spark Plus overly low – it has about the same BB height (or higher) as some other bikes in this travel class like a Specialized Camber 650 and Trek Fuel Ex. Notably, it’s also a bit higher than the Scott Spark with 29″ wheels.

  2. Well, according to Ibis (see the new Ripley LS promo info), doesn’t Maxxis, Schwalbe and others have some new sizes this year to alleviate the durability and sidewall needing to be thicker for better cornering issues of the older 2.8 / 3.0 plus tires? Did you mention what tires you were running – I think the new sizes are 2.6 (Knobby Nics) and 2.5 Maxxis, to name a couple – wouldn’t these seem to be the perfect match for this bike (?)

    • Hi Ralph,

      I was running the stock 2.8″ Maxxis Rekons on the Spark Plus – they have Maxxis’ Exo reinforced sidewalls, but they have a 120tpi casing, which is a bit less durable than the 60tpi casing found on lots of narrower tires.

      A few companies are putting out 2.6″ tires and Maxxis is doing their Wide Trail series of tires, but none of those are really considered “Plus” tires. So you could put them on the Spark Plus, but they’d be a bit narrower and definitely lower volume than the stock 2.8’s, and the bike would sit a bit lower.

      The long and short of it is, there are a bunch of options on the market, but at the end of the day, none of the tire companies have found a magical combination of light + burly. If you want the tire to hold up well, it’ll be heavy. And since big wide tires are already kinda heavy, making them durable means they’re extra heavy.

  3. Noah, you gotta see or read the info on the 2.5/2.6 tires – they really do think they have found the magic combination of “light + burly” – see Ibis Owner Chris’s interview on the new Ripley LS coming with Schwalbe 2.6 29’er tires (also to be available in 27.5) – its at least worth checking out….your info may be a little dated.

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