Nukeproof Scout Comp Hardtail

Hardtail Knowledge

It‘s obvious that Nukeproof ‘gets’ hardtails. For proof, look no further than the geometry chart and tire spec. The geometry chart shows both sagged and un-sagged numbers with the 140mm fork sagged 35mm (or 25%) to present a more accurate snapshot of reach, stack, head tube angle (HTA), seat tube angle (STA), wheelbase, etc. when riding.

For the tire choice, the Scout Comp runs a harder compound, faster rolling rear tire with a heavier duty casing and a softer rubber front tire with a suppler sidewall. I could whinge that an Addix Soft rear and Addix Ultra Soft front would be a much better choice for this time of year on the North Shore, but I'm too busy being stoked on the mix-and-matched sidewall setup to stress about it.

Fine, I'll whinge a little. Nukeproof went with Schwalbe 29x2.35" rubber and I'd really prefer to ride 2.6" tires on this bike. The 27" version (the Scout 275) sports 2.6" rubber while this 29" version (the Scout 290) does not.

Nukeproof makes the Scout hardtail at four price points starting with the 1600 USD Race, followed by the 2300 USD Comp, the 3000 USD Elite, and finally the 3800 USD RS. The Comp is far and away the most interesting build, with a min-maxed mix from a number of brands.

At this time Nukeproof USA is not shipping to Canada nor do they currently have Canadian dealers. But in addition to online sales in the USA, they have a growing brick-and-mortar dealer list. Hopefully they add us Canucks online and in person soon.

Nukeproof also sells a limited edition frame-only version of the Scout in both wheel sizes that includes a headset, axle, and seat collar for 500 USD. The key question here is whether it'd be better to mullet the 27" or 29" version. My napkin math says the 29" version, but I'm open to debate.

It's a nice-looking frame for the price. I'm quite fond of how the seat stays tie into the top tube on this size large, and the bridge-less seat and chainstays will hopefully combine to deliver a modern aluminum ride quality. Nukeproof claims the Scout frame, designed around a 140-150mm fork, weighs 5.1 lbs. for a medium.

Min-To-The-Max

Looking at the four models, the second tier Scout Comp immediately caught my attention. The product manager was clearly let out of their cage for this model and went min-to-the-max to deliver a creative best-spec-for-the-budget parts mix. This is the only one that isn't a cookie-cutter Shimano or SRAM bike.

The drivetrain is comprised of a Shimano Deore M6100 12-speed shifter, derailleur and chain, a SunRace 11-51t cassette, and a Race Face Ride Cinch crankset with a steel Shimano 12 ring. The SRAM brakes thrown into the mix are the most interesting feature.

The DB8 is SRAM's mineral oil brake that combines their ubiquitous Code brake pads with a significantly more positive braking action than the least expensive Code R brakes. This isn't down to the fluid being used, but rather the fact that the DB8 is a next generation SRAM brake. It makes me look forward to riding their soon-to-be-released new DH brakes.

Continuing to talk about the DB8 brakes, these aren't just a score for the price of the Scout Comp, they're a score relative to the higher cost Scout models as well. I'd actively choose the DB8 on the $2,300 Comp over the SLX 4-piston brakes on Nukeproof's 3,000-dollar Elite model and the Guide RE brakes on their $3,800 RS model.

The brakes get a 200mm rotor up front and a 180mm rotor in the rear, which is a standard 20mm size discrepancy on hardtails that most folks run to better balance braking.

The choice to go with Marzocchi's Z2 fork on the Comp is a bit strange as it's a 130mm travel fork as opposed to the 140mm Fox 36 on the Elite model and the 150mm RockShox Lyrik Select+ on the RS. The lower end Race model uses a 140mm RockShox Recon.

Personally, I would have made this an all-RockShox bike lineup. Recon on the Race, Revelation on the Comp, Yari on the Elite, and the Lyrik on the RS. Might as well make them all 150mm forks at the same time and keep everything consistent.

It's not that the Z2 is a bad fork, though. It's actually very good for the price, after a basic lower service that this one needs fairly desperately. It would love some SKF low-friction seals as well, but I'm just going to drop the lowers.

In any event, in addition to riding the bike with the Z2, I'm planning to ride it with the high-end 140mm Manitou Mattoc Pro, then over-fork it with a 160mm SR Suntour Aion, and then run it with the RSD Rigid Fork. Hardtails are all about options.

Rather than the Race Face bottom bracket and FSA loose ball or basic cartridge bearing headset, the Scout Comp sports house brand parts in both these areas. I'm sure these products will be at least as good as those options. The 64.5° HTA quickly becomes a 66° HTA with sag and that has me thinking I'd be dropping a -2° headset into the 44/56 headtube if it was my bike.

Nukeproof also sells its bottom brackets as aftermarket replacements in a range of colours in both 24mm and BSA sizes. Actually, they have a whole line of interesting, potentially high value components. I quite like their Horizon Pro flat pedals (111x99x18mm) and they do a good-looking kid's model, the Urchin, as well (94x76.5x17mm).

On that last note, the Scout Comp does ship with some basic plastic flats and a pedal wrench, but I wish they'd put that money into the bike somewhere else.

Assembly Hits & Misses

Trust brown to let you down. I expected things to start off on the wrong foot after my wife watched the UPS driver flip the Scout bike box end-over-end up the (three) stairs to our apartment. So I'll start giving kudos to Nukeproof about their packaging efforts.

There was zero damage to the bike, although three of the reusable straps that Nukeproof uses in place of zip ties were sheered off and one of the plastic brake inserts had fallen out requiring me to reset the pistons as part of the assembly process.

The reusable straps in place of zip ties, including one Nukeproof-branded rubber ski strap that would be perfect for strapping a tube to the bike, are a nice touch, as is the general lack of plastic for packaging. There were soft plastic end caps for the wheels and otherwise, the only dead dinosaurs here were two clear sheets protecting the lock-on grips.

I've assembled a lot of bikes and I have to hand it to Nukeproof, the Scout Comp is right up there with the best. Out of the box, the gears shifted perfectly and, after resetting the front pads courtesy of UPS, the wheels spun infinitely with zero brake contact. Very nice.

Where I was disappointed is that all of the zip ties were chopped off haphazardly with sharp and pointed edges. Many of them weren't actually tight. It's lame to get a bike this dialed and then not flush-cut the zip ties. Normally I'd just shrug my shoulders here, but clearly Nukeproof gives a shit where some giant brands do not, so hopefully they can take this feedback and do just that little bit more.

They also get failing marks for the cable routing to the shifter. It was an easy fix to twin the rear brake and shifter housing together on the left side of the bike. I assume that the intention is to have the gear housing not cross the headtube, but that's weird too.

Immediate Upgrades

Slap on some pedals and ride, right? The Scout Comp build has no obvious shortcomings. I should just trim the 800mm handlebars to my preferred length and go.

Instead I’m making two obvious changes out of the box. First, no matter what rim came stock, it‘s a hardtail so there’s a tire insert going in. With the Schwalbe Double Defense tire the CushCore Pro I had on hand is probably overkill, so I’ll move over the CC Trail insert that‘s on the We Are One Arrival when that review wraps shortly.

I’ll also install my SQlab 30X bar with a 16° backsweep. There's something about hardtails, even with suspension forks, where my wrists are significantly happier with the alt-bar lever backsweep. In the process, I'll take advantage of the hinged dropper post lever clamp and the I-Spec to MatchMaker adapter on the shifter to run the push-on grips already installed on it. That said, for double clamp lock-ons, these Sam Hill grips are actually quite comfortable.

The stock Nukeproof-branded saddle works okay for me, as does the 170mm Brand-X dropper. On that note, the medium ships with a 150mm and both the XL and XXL use 200mm posts.

Future SKU Cutting

Chant it loud, chant it proud, 'Mullet, Mullet, Mullet!' It's easy enough to convert a mullet to a dual 27" bike by preserving geometry with a long fork and/or an extended lower headset cup. It's quite possible to use a mullet (MX) wheel configuration to chop SKUs.

If I was king of Nukeproof for a day, that small Scout would be a dual 27" rig, the medium and large models would be mullets, and the XL and XXL units would be dual 29er rigs. That chops five SKU numbers they currently have to babysit. Put another way, it cuts the number of Scout models in half.

Plans, Plans, Plans

I want to put some hours on the house-branded 36-point Neutron V2 hubs, but I plan to mullet this bike using my own wheelset, with its significantly faster engagement. I'll run the same wheels I currently have on the Banshee Enigma so that I can comment on any relative ride quality differences I can notice between the two frames.

Other than mullet-madness and multiple fork swaps, I also plan to single-speed the Nukeproof just to keep things interesting. Deore M6100 is awesome, but there's also not a whole heck of a lot to say there. The SunRace cassette doesn't shift as well as a Shimano Hyperglide+ under heavy pedaling loads, but I don't shift in those situations anyway.

I'm working on wrapping up my We Are One Arrival review series before I get too deeply involved with the Scout Comp, but I'm happy to answer any questions about the bike as best as I can now with the promise of a future follow-up when I have a pile of experience.

For now, I'll conclude by encouraging the folks at Nukeproof to unleash their product team to bring the same energy to the rest of the Scout lineup that they've used for the Scout Comp. The high value of the build aside, it is incongruous that the 2,300 USD Comp model is much more exciting than bikes that are 700 and $1,500 more expensive. Looking at the lineup, I'd be strategically upgrading a $2,300 Comp over buying a $3,800 RS every day.

For more information on the entire Scout 290 and 275 lineups check out Nukeproof. And be sure to check back in the future for a full ride review, including a variety of different configurations.