Kicking off a new series of Bike Checks, here’s a friendly freelance fotographer’s Not Yellow Bicycle.
This is Sim Mainey and his custom built Scor 2030.
Who are you then?
Sim Mainey: “I’m a freelance photographer, writer and marketing type person. I’m also Communications Manager at Italian engineering firm Formula, which blends all those elements together. And to answer your next two questions, my Italian is rubbish and no, I still don’t know what all the hand actions mean.”
What size is the bike?
SM: “M/L”
What’s your favourite part?
SM: “Riding it.”
Where does this bike excel?
SM: “I built it to be the ideal bike for the trails on my door, so it feels right at home on moorland singletrack and the steep stuff in and around West Yorkshire.”
What’s the next tweak for the bike?
SM: “t some point I’d like a longer travel seatpost. But, the 150mm X-Fusion keeps on soldiering on, so it stays on.”
Fork setup
SM: “Gold CTSvalve run wide open. This is the valve that comes fitted as standard as it works for most people. Turns out I am most people. There’s also a Neopos token in the air chamber. This gives a bit more mid-stroke support and lets me drop the pressure by about 5psi for more initial sensitivity.”
Shock setup
SM: “Orange CTS. This is the medium compression tune and works well with the 2030’s suspension design.”
How is the suspension set-up generally?
SM: “20% sag front, 28% sag rear. I’m more of a poppy rider, preferring to try and jump the bike over trouble than smash through it. The 2030 encourages that riding style anyway, so setting it up quite taught plays to its, and my, strengths.”
What did you think it weighed?
SM: “Not a clue. The last time I weighed one of my own bikes was when I worked at Singletrack! Which was a long time ago.”
Optional waffle
SM: “SCOR were one of my clients. I did a lot of copywriting for them and when they started briefing me about the 2030 I thought it sounded like my perfect bike. By the time I’d finished writing the copy for the bike I knew I had to have one. I was slightly worried I’d bought into my own hype, but it turns out the bike was every bit as good as I hoped it would be. I picked the bike up from SCOR HQ in Switzerland stripped it and rebuilt it with my favourite parts. I could have just bought a frameset but I wanted a yellow frame (it’s actually called Not Yellow) so I had to buy the full bike.”
Specification & geometry
Frame // SCOR 2030
Shock // Formula Nebbia – 120mm travel (can be run with 130mm too, hence 2030)
Fork // Formula Selva V – 150mm travel
Wheels // Hunt somethingorothers. Long since discontinued, still holding up.
Front Tyre // Maxxis Minion DHR II EXO+ 3C MaxxGrip 29×2.4
Rear Tyre // Maxxis Forecaster EXO+ MaxxTerra 29×2.4
Chainset // SRAM XX, 30t ring
Brakes // Formula Curas, 203mm rotors, sintered pads
Drivetrain // SRAM GX Eagle (with cables!)
Stem // Burgtec Enduro Mk3 – 40mm
Handlebar // Burgtec Ride High – 770mm wide, 38mm rise
Grips // Renthal Ultra Tacky Push Ons
Seat Post // X Fusion Manic – 150mm
Saddle // WTB Silverado
Head angle // 64.5º
Effective seat angle // 77.6º
Seat tube length // 430mm
Head tube length // 108mm
Chainstay // 430mm
Wheelbase // 1227mm
Reach // 477mm
Weight // 15.16kg
Bike checks are my favourite articles
The response to “What size is the bike” was initially confusing.!
I love a good bike check ?
150mm forks paired with 120mm rear travel is probably what most of us could do with for UK riding. Surprisingly few options though (no doubt a long list will now appear… this is the Singletrack forum after all).
Can confirm the 2030 is a very nice bike to ride, this is mine. 140/120 here (it does allow 130 with a longer stroke shock)
very nice!
Are Scor available in the UK these days? I remember looking previously but it was hard to get one, so went with something else.
The 2 that I can name off the top off my head are the Banshee Phantom (115mm out back, 120-140mm up front and Chromag Darco (120mm out back and 150-160mm up front).
Not sure on the UK, odd choice to sponsor some of the 50:01 folks if not. I’m in Ireland, bought a frame on sale from bike24.com
I like that. Was surprised to read the effective STA is as steep as 77.6 as the actual STA looks to be quite slack in the pics – obviously depends what the saddle was when the effective is measured.
Agree with that. In a singletrack forum style, an almost-matching bike is a Tallboy V5: 140 fork, 120 rear, 65.0 HA and 76.4 STA (with 140 fork). TBH it’s all the bike I need 95% of the time.
Ordered a Dawley T16 which is similar in intent if not construction.
very nice! I enquired about one of those fairly recently, but didnt get a reply back. which probably did me a favour and saved a fair few quid!
Odd – Thom’s been great so far for me.
I know he’s been busy restructuring his offering and developing that collaborative enduro frame. Maybe worth a nudge. It’s only money after all…
I’m also interested in if there’s UK distribution yet?
Seen a couple out and about but they were bought from Euro sellers online.
J’s Cycles (various locations) are listed as stockists for Scor.