Nukeproof Scout Review (2022 Gen 3 )
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Cons:
- Still a good value
- All parts swap over from previous scout (and other Nukeproof models)
- Excellent cable routing
- Not extremely modern or extremely outdated geometry
- Happy on most trails
- Threaded BB
- External Cable Routing (except for the dropper, of course)
Cons:
- Not as great a value as prior models
- Stiff riding frame
- Vanilla ride
- Could use a longer reach
- Not very playful
Who it's for:
- people looking for an all-rounder that's up for anything
- people who are on a tight budget but still want modern components
- people who want to get the most bang for their buck
- heavier riders who don't want a flexy frame
Who it's NOT for
- xc racers
- enduro shredders
- riders under 160 lbs due to its stiff ride
- people who are looking for a bike with a ride feel that really stands out from the crowd
My full thoughts on the 2022 Nukeproof Scout Hardtail
today we are reviewing the rsd middle child v2 aluminum
the rc middle child is one of my favorite bikes and the v2 has some updates we've got a straighter seat tube for longer that means more dropper insertion we've got a shorter seat tube right here so that means i can run a longer dropper as well and there's more standover height all of these are welcome additions and make it easier for people like me to size up this is a size medium i'm five foot six with short legs and a long torso i'm able to just barely fit on it and it works well for me i like the sizing for where i live i'm super super familiar with this geometry it's one of the most ridden bikes i've written on the channel but i'm curious to see how the aluminum frame rides in comparison to the others we've got it set up 27.5 by 3.0 that's more than recommended and there's not a lot of clearance but it works it has a 40mm bottom bracket drop and to me that's ideal for 27.5 and 27.5 plus it's a little bit high when you run 29ers so if you like a higher bottom bracket run it in 29er mode you're going to be super happy and in fact it says it's rated up to 2.6s but i have fit 29 by 2.8 which is pretty special there aren't very many bikes out there these days that are modern with modern geo they can run 29 by two eight now we'll have that higher bottom bracket which means a little bit less planted in corners a little bit less glue to the ground but you'll have more clearance to get over rocks and have less pedal strikes this bike was designed around 27.5 plus wheels it will fit 29s but if you want a true dedicated 29 shred machine check out their rs 291 as that was designed with 29 in mind like all the other middle children this has sliding dropouts i've got a slid all the way forward because i like a short playful chainstay but you can run it single speed you can run it geared you can run it 27.5 27.5 plus 29 and even 29 plus and you can adjust that rear end to be the length you want from 415 to 430. we've got a 140 mil dvo diamond d3 on it and the rest are my parts this whole build came in at 30.3 pounds and the frame came in at 6.2 pounds that's a little bit heavier than we see on some aluminum models so you're not going to build this to be an xc weight weenie this is more of a bruiser more of a cruiser more of a bike that is sturdy that can handle really heavy really big riders it can handle big hits it can handle big jumps rsd builds their frames to be super strong so if you're worried about a flimsy feel or a noodly frame or you're a bigger rider or heavier you put down a lot of power take a look at their frames they're a lot beefier and burlier than most i love the big tube look some people love the small steel tube look but i think this thing just looks like a bruiser in the big thick tubes i have pre-production graphics so yours will look slightly different but the frame is the same and we're going to have a fun time riding this rsd uses a very high end factory to build their bikes and i love the quality of their frame builds at the end of this video i'll give you a comparison between the rsd middle child steel titanium and aluminum and which one i recommend for who all right let's get on the trail so this bike has a 64.5 degree head angle really modern this bike was way ahead of its time when it came out and it's still on cutting edge of what a good modern hardtail is oh such a playful rear end i forgot how good these short chain stays are i've been riding long chain stays lately and man these are fun for manuals wheelies bunny hops slow trials e technical moves really fun this bike is poppy and so playful i love it with the big tires it has a very bmxy feel to it it reminds me as a perfect blend between the old chameleon and the new one this bike feels light underfoot and a lot of that these night carbon wheels
thank you all by myself have a great day
so yeah it reminds me of
a slacker a little bit sportier 2018 to 2021 chameleon
it can get rowdier but it doesn't need to be ridden hard to come alive like the new chameleon some bikes you gotta ride eight tenths to ten tenths to make it come alive this bike's fun whether you're going one tenth and just trundling along or ten tenths just charging down the trail one of the few hardtails those are big 30-inch holes one of the few hardtails that's at home being pushed or just just pedaling along
hello
just me okay thank you have a good one this thing's a great climber especially on technical stuff i wouldn't mind the seat tube angle being a full degree steeper i have to slide my seat pretty far forward on the seat rails to get it where i like it i love plus tires on a hardtail especially
they give you monster traction they're fun they can act as some of your suspension all right here we go 28 inch move no problem this thing's real easy to bunny hop trials hop manual lift around up crazy things
man it's crazy what this thing will hop up
such a little play bike but it has a serious side too man it's a special bike i do think it's best suited for 27.5 plus wheels this is a monster climb let's think about this and pick our line all right i think i see the lineup
this is a tough climb but i've got great geometry nice short chain stays floaty 3.0 tires for maximum traction here we go
oh yeah yeah baby
this bike is so special
yeah there aren't a whole lot of bikes i can clean that on i absolutely love this bike it really is surprising how fun this is
whether you're just inching along doing trials moves or cruising
and it manuals so well this thing feels like a dirt jumper with the dropper whoa that was sketchy without a sketchy head tube such a play bike and i'm loving the aluminum one it's lighter than the steel one and not significantly harsher i feel a snappier acceleration on it the frame's stiff but with these 29 by 3.0 tires it's not beating me up in the slightest
so fun getting drifty on those corners and i'm having a blast it's still a hard tail but man with the big tires it's not super super stiff even though i'm on the rocks
man trying to think where this would be bad xc race
i don't think
that wouldn't be my first choice but if you just like to smile on your hardtail man what a bike i've had this out bike packing taking it to jumps i've taken it down double black diamonds it really is a wonderful all-rounder got modern geometry it really benefits from modern riding position
that's so fun it feels like a short compact wheelbase that's just really fun to ride i love it
you can just fling it around and place it wherever you want so i put a lot of new riders on this in the past and new riders don't have great technique and whenever i put a new rider on a bike it kind of helps me see if you really need modern technique to ride it or not everyone i put on one of these has just been able to pick it up and ride it immediately
other bikes like the salsa timber jack for example even experienced riders i have loaned that out to them and they crash all the time on it this is just a great blend of geometry there's a reason i've owned three of these they are so much fun this bike isn't supple by any means but it's not rattling my fillings out i really expected it to be bone jarring but it's not i love it for where i live technical climbs technical descents i run it as a plus mullet with 29 plus 27.5 in the rear i've run it as a 29er i've run them as a 29er 27.5 mullet i think 27.5 plus front rear is my favorite if i'm doing a lot of spicy downhill 29 plus up front is pretty fun too i run my titanium one with a 130 fork even though it's specked with the 140
that's just personal preference i've got a 140 on it right now and it feels real balanced i'm not using all of the 140 but i think for its intentions 140 is about right i run my titanium middle child as a single speed i got that thing down to 22 pounds it's just so versatile and you can build it in to be just about whatever kind of hardtail you want it to be at the time of this review they were all in stock which is pretty exciting i'm impressed with how well the aluminum one rides it is not harsh because of the tires but i've had other aluminum bikes that even with big plus tires they beat me up so maybe we got lucky on the design of this and it's not overly harsh
i don't know i hope plus tires stay alive because they're fantastic on a hard tail they smooth out all the micro bumps they absorb a lot of the jolts to your spine and your ankles and wrists they have monster traction you can ride your hardtail a little bit harder in the chunk and this bike feels light rsd also has fantastic build kits for the price
a lot of people will say hey i've got 2 500 budget for a bike howdy i'll wait for you uh oh we got an audience
the right way's easier but i think i'll give you a little show see if i can't crash not crash
there we go have a good one
this bike is so special that was pretty fun the locals wanted to see if i could ride up it first try on this baby anyway i'll expect these bikes extremely well a lot of people will tell me i've got a 2 000 budget what should i buy and then they buy it then they email me and say okay what upgrades should i do and i'm like wait a minute if you had budget for upgrades you should have just put them into a better bike from the get-go
not all bikes need to be upgraded from the factory and this is one of them i'd change the grips
and then i'd ride it to death and see what fails first he does a good job specking these for the price oh what a climber this thing is so good love it one of the best climbing heart deals i've ever had and definitely one of the most playful it's extremely rare to be able to balance playful and confident on the descending they're usually contradictory characteristics usually the more playful a bike is the less planted it is this has such a slack head angle that it's able to just push through chunk man this thing's fun it's fun fast it's fun slow if you want a more planted bike run the chain stays longer still quite playful love this aluminum frame i like it over the steel one if you are a bmxer and you love the way your bmx rode this is the closest thing i felt to it on a mountain bike i even believe you could size down on one of these and run an angle set to make it 1.5 degrees steeper and it'd be a fantastic bike packing bike as is it's a little bit slack for what i like for bike packing but for everything else it is dialed
so easy to lock that front wheel if you struggle with manuals you cannot lift the front wheel up man get one of these things easiest manually bike i've come across all right let's break this thing down climbing 9.5 out of 10. they've had a one degree steeper seat angle i think it'd be perfect but that's easily fixed by sliding your seat rails forward
and not everybody likes seat angles as steep as i do but man technical climbing this thing is a beast sitting and spinning does really well i really think this bike should be 27.5 plus for most people it's just so balanced that way so yes it'll fit 29 but yeah i i much prefer it as a 27.5 plus cornering 9.5 out of 10. especially with these big tires it's just so fun hello oh thank you it's just me have a good day it's not quite as world-class cornering as like the new chameleon mx or even the stanton sherpa downhill i'm going to give this a 9.5 out of 10. if you're doing like slow technical trials you move 10 out of 10. it is just so good at that stuff real easy to place the bike where you want to easy to hop it up and over things it feels light and small
on jumps and stuff playfulness 10 out of 10. this is probably the most playful bike i've ever ridden it's right up there with the older gen santa cruz chameleon but it's slacker so you can party harder so who's this knot for it's not for xc weight weenies it's not for people who just want to crush out the fastest pedaling lap time on flat trails it's for people who are willing to sacrifice two to five percent of speed for a huge grin and just a really fun ride experience this thing has so much secret sauce it is so much fun i'm trying to put into words what it's like
it's like the best elements of so many bikes and even though it's a 64 and a half degree head angle i don't feel like it'd be out of place somewhere like the midwest and i think it'd be great back east with all the roots that you guys have these 27.5 plus tires do really well so huge props rse for being able to fit huge tires including huge 29ers for having sliding dropouts for having short chain stays modern geo long reach slack head angle thank you they've done what so many people can't seem to do it's real hard to tuck big tires in with a short chainstay and they've done it and it it really behaves well this thing does not ride like a barge it doesn't feel like a short reach it feels like the front's right where it needs to be to party so you guys know i like to be brutally honest in my reviews what is this bike not great at it's a little bit heavy a little bit overbuilt it's direct to consumer only so you're not going to be able to throw a leg over one and those are about the only complaints i can have with it i wish the seat angle was one degree steeper and that's it this is such a special bike i have so much fun on the middle child and the middle child aluminum is surprisingly well suited for these tires i did not feel like it was harsh it wasn't beating me up i have massive tires on here and they're doing their job but i don't know what it is about it i actually feel like the steel one is not any more supple than this the steel one might take out the tiny tiny micro vibrations i like that this this one feels a little bit stiffer under acceleration like when you stand up and mash on the pedals it just rockets forward these make super fun rowdy single speeds super fun like i said it could be a great bike packing bike if you steep in the head angle by a degree and a half they're so versatile with the tires you can run with the sliding dropouts amazing geometry so who's this bike for this bike's for people who love flow trails it's for people who like 27.5 plus tires it's for people who have a bmx playful bunny hop trials background and want to bring that into their mountain biking it does great on the chunk here in sedona the plus tires can be a little bit cumbersome if you're doing super long days in the saddle and like marathon epic race type events plus tires aren't the right tires there uh 29er a light 29er setup will roll faster it'll keep its momentum better it'll be more of a xc race zippy machine this isn't super zippy but when the trail points downhill that grin just gets huge and you just have a blast it turns the whole trail into a playground it makes me feel like a kid again back when we were building dirt jumps behind the school and just playing around after school it it brings that out in your writing and it's so much fun so aluminum steel or titanium now these only apply to the middle child model if i was ordering one for myself and i was on a tight budget i'd get an aluminum one if i was ordering one for myself and i was on a medium budget i'd get an aluminum one with the steel build kit has a little bit better fork a little bit better uh drivetrain and stuff and if i had a high budget i would get the titanium one the titanium one is so special it's super light it's supple but it's still the same geo it's still rowdy and it's a stunner man when you pull up with that bike and people see it they're just jaw on the floor they love that thing and i do too that titanium middle child is one of my all-time favorite hardtails it's so special but this bike is i'm gonna say 92 is good so that's more than double the price of this frame so value the aluminum one wins where would i want the steel one personally i wouldn't i'd pick the aluminum one every time over the steel one because i don't feel the steel one does anything better and it's heavier and yeah i'm a big fan of the aluminum one i like the big thick chunky look i think it's a beautiful bike i like that the gusset's real small and the updates for v2 are awesome with the shorter seat tube the straighter seat tube that makes a world of a difference for guys like me who like to size up one one other really cool thing about rsd bikes is their chat feature there are so many companies i reach out to and try to get in touch with someone and talk to a human being and i get a voicemail or an email and i never hear back from them with rsdbikes.com at the bottom there's a little chat function and over 50 percent of the time when i click on that i'm talking to alex the owner the ceo of the company and i'm picking his brain on how does this ride versus that or i've got a client who's six foot three should he be on a large or an extra large and i'll just pick his brain and talk to him how does the sergeant ride compared to this and he'll give me his feedback that is second to none customer service i haven't found that with any other company so huge props to rsd if you are the type that likes to connect with the owner connect with the business and ask them questions definitely try that now if you're interested in an rsd bike or one of their rigid forks or anything that they sell really use coupon code party alex is a big fan of the channel he's a friend and he's willing to hook you guys up with a discount for watching this channel and being part of the hardtail party as always thanks for watching alex thank you for sending this bike in this is such a fun bike it really surprised me with how much fun this aluminum frame is it didn't surprise me that i had a blast on it just like all my other middle children middle childs anyway i want to hear from you guys what would you get would you get the aluminum one the steel one or the titanium one thanks for watching there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
the rc middle child is one of my favorite bikes and the v2 has some updates we've got a straighter seat tube for longer that means more dropper insertion we've got a shorter seat tube right here so that means i can run a longer dropper as well and there's more standover height all of these are welcome additions and make it easier for people like me to size up this is a size medium i'm five foot six with short legs and a long torso i'm able to just barely fit on it and it works well for me i like the sizing for where i live i'm super super familiar with this geometry it's one of the most ridden bikes i've written on the channel but i'm curious to see how the aluminum frame rides in comparison to the others we've got it set up 27.5 by 3.0 that's more than recommended and there's not a lot of clearance but it works it has a 40mm bottom bracket drop and to me that's ideal for 27.5 and 27.5 plus it's a little bit high when you run 29ers so if you like a higher bottom bracket run it in 29er mode you're going to be super happy and in fact it says it's rated up to 2.6s but i have fit 29 by 2.8 which is pretty special there aren't very many bikes out there these days that are modern with modern geo they can run 29 by two eight now we'll have that higher bottom bracket which means a little bit less planted in corners a little bit less glue to the ground but you'll have more clearance to get over rocks and have less pedal strikes this bike was designed around 27.5 plus wheels it will fit 29s but if you want a true dedicated 29 shred machine check out their rs 291 as that was designed with 29 in mind like all the other middle children this has sliding dropouts i've got a slid all the way forward because i like a short playful chainstay but you can run it single speed you can run it geared you can run it 27.5 27.5 plus 29 and even 29 plus and you can adjust that rear end to be the length you want from 415 to 430. we've got a 140 mil dvo diamond d3 on it and the rest are my parts this whole build came in at 30.3 pounds and the frame came in at 6.2 pounds that's a little bit heavier than we see on some aluminum models so you're not going to build this to be an xc weight weenie this is more of a bruiser more of a cruiser more of a bike that is sturdy that can handle really heavy really big riders it can handle big hits it can handle big jumps rsd builds their frames to be super strong so if you're worried about a flimsy feel or a noodly frame or you're a bigger rider or heavier you put down a lot of power take a look at their frames they're a lot beefier and burlier than most i love the big tube look some people love the small steel tube look but i think this thing just looks like a bruiser in the big thick tubes i have pre-production graphics so yours will look slightly different but the frame is the same and we're going to have a fun time riding this rsd uses a very high end factory to build their bikes and i love the quality of their frame builds at the end of this video i'll give you a comparison between the rsd middle child steel titanium and aluminum and which one i recommend for who all right let's get on the trail so this bike has a 64.5 degree head angle really modern this bike was way ahead of its time when it came out and it's still on cutting edge of what a good modern hardtail is oh such a playful rear end i forgot how good these short chain stays are i've been riding long chain stays lately and man these are fun for manuals wheelies bunny hops slow trials e technical moves really fun this bike is poppy and so playful i love it with the big tires it has a very bmxy feel to it it reminds me as a perfect blend between the old chameleon and the new one this bike feels light underfoot and a lot of that these night carbon wheels
thank you all by myself have a great day
so yeah it reminds me of
a slacker a little bit sportier 2018 to 2021 chameleon
it can get rowdier but it doesn't need to be ridden hard to come alive like the new chameleon some bikes you gotta ride eight tenths to ten tenths to make it come alive this bike's fun whether you're going one tenth and just trundling along or ten tenths just charging down the trail one of the few hardtails those are big 30-inch holes one of the few hardtails that's at home being pushed or just just pedaling along
hello
just me okay thank you have a good one this thing's a great climber especially on technical stuff i wouldn't mind the seat tube angle being a full degree steeper i have to slide my seat pretty far forward on the seat rails to get it where i like it i love plus tires on a hardtail especially
they give you monster traction they're fun they can act as some of your suspension all right here we go 28 inch move no problem this thing's real easy to bunny hop trials hop manual lift around up crazy things
man it's crazy what this thing will hop up
such a little play bike but it has a serious side too man it's a special bike i do think it's best suited for 27.5 plus wheels this is a monster climb let's think about this and pick our line all right i think i see the lineup
this is a tough climb but i've got great geometry nice short chain stays floaty 3.0 tires for maximum traction here we go
oh yeah yeah baby
this bike is so special
yeah there aren't a whole lot of bikes i can clean that on i absolutely love this bike it really is surprising how fun this is
whether you're just inching along doing trials moves or cruising
and it manuals so well this thing feels like a dirt jumper with the dropper whoa that was sketchy without a sketchy head tube such a play bike and i'm loving the aluminum one it's lighter than the steel one and not significantly harsher i feel a snappier acceleration on it the frame's stiff but with these 29 by 3.0 tires it's not beating me up in the slightest
so fun getting drifty on those corners and i'm having a blast it's still a hard tail but man with the big tires it's not super super stiff even though i'm on the rocks
man trying to think where this would be bad xc race
i don't think
that wouldn't be my first choice but if you just like to smile on your hardtail man what a bike i've had this out bike packing taking it to jumps i've taken it down double black diamonds it really is a wonderful all-rounder got modern geometry it really benefits from modern riding position
that's so fun it feels like a short compact wheelbase that's just really fun to ride i love it
you can just fling it around and place it wherever you want so i put a lot of new riders on this in the past and new riders don't have great technique and whenever i put a new rider on a bike it kind of helps me see if you really need modern technique to ride it or not everyone i put on one of these has just been able to pick it up and ride it immediately
other bikes like the salsa timber jack for example even experienced riders i have loaned that out to them and they crash all the time on it this is just a great blend of geometry there's a reason i've owned three of these they are so much fun this bike isn't supple by any means but it's not rattling my fillings out i really expected it to be bone jarring but it's not i love it for where i live technical climbs technical descents i run it as a plus mullet with 29 plus 27.5 in the rear i've run it as a 29er i've run them as a 29er 27.5 mullet i think 27.5 plus front rear is my favorite if i'm doing a lot of spicy downhill 29 plus up front is pretty fun too i run my titanium one with a 130 fork even though it's specked with the 140
that's just personal preference i've got a 140 on it right now and it feels real balanced i'm not using all of the 140 but i think for its intentions 140 is about right i run my titanium middle child as a single speed i got that thing down to 22 pounds it's just so versatile and you can build it in to be just about whatever kind of hardtail you want it to be at the time of this review they were all in stock which is pretty exciting i'm impressed with how well the aluminum one rides it is not harsh because of the tires but i've had other aluminum bikes that even with big plus tires they beat me up so maybe we got lucky on the design of this and it's not overly harsh
i don't know i hope plus tires stay alive because they're fantastic on a hard tail they smooth out all the micro bumps they absorb a lot of the jolts to your spine and your ankles and wrists they have monster traction you can ride your hardtail a little bit harder in the chunk and this bike feels light rsd also has fantastic build kits for the price
a lot of people will say hey i've got 2 500 budget for a bike howdy i'll wait for you uh oh we got an audience
the right way's easier but i think i'll give you a little show see if i can't crash not crash
there we go have a good one
this bike is so special that was pretty fun the locals wanted to see if i could ride up it first try on this baby anyway i'll expect these bikes extremely well a lot of people will tell me i've got a 2 000 budget what should i buy and then they buy it then they email me and say okay what upgrades should i do and i'm like wait a minute if you had budget for upgrades you should have just put them into a better bike from the get-go
not all bikes need to be upgraded from the factory and this is one of them i'd change the grips
and then i'd ride it to death and see what fails first he does a good job specking these for the price oh what a climber this thing is so good love it one of the best climbing heart deals i've ever had and definitely one of the most playful it's extremely rare to be able to balance playful and confident on the descending they're usually contradictory characteristics usually the more playful a bike is the less planted it is this has such a slack head angle that it's able to just push through chunk man this thing's fun it's fun fast it's fun slow if you want a more planted bike run the chain stays longer still quite playful love this aluminum frame i like it over the steel one if you are a bmxer and you love the way your bmx rode this is the closest thing i felt to it on a mountain bike i even believe you could size down on one of these and run an angle set to make it 1.5 degrees steeper and it'd be a fantastic bike packing bike as is it's a little bit slack for what i like for bike packing but for everything else it is dialed
so easy to lock that front wheel if you struggle with manuals you cannot lift the front wheel up man get one of these things easiest manually bike i've come across all right let's break this thing down climbing 9.5 out of 10. they've had a one degree steeper seat angle i think it'd be perfect but that's easily fixed by sliding your seat rails forward
and not everybody likes seat angles as steep as i do but man technical climbing this thing is a beast sitting and spinning does really well i really think this bike should be 27.5 plus for most people it's just so balanced that way so yes it'll fit 29 but yeah i i much prefer it as a 27.5 plus cornering 9.5 out of 10. especially with these big tires it's just so fun hello oh thank you it's just me have a good day it's not quite as world-class cornering as like the new chameleon mx or even the stanton sherpa downhill i'm going to give this a 9.5 out of 10. if you're doing like slow technical trials you move 10 out of 10. it is just so good at that stuff real easy to place the bike where you want to easy to hop it up and over things it feels light and small
on jumps and stuff playfulness 10 out of 10. this is probably the most playful bike i've ever ridden it's right up there with the older gen santa cruz chameleon but it's slacker so you can party harder so who's this knot for it's not for xc weight weenies it's not for people who just want to crush out the fastest pedaling lap time on flat trails it's for people who are willing to sacrifice two to five percent of speed for a huge grin and just a really fun ride experience this thing has so much secret sauce it is so much fun i'm trying to put into words what it's like
it's like the best elements of so many bikes and even though it's a 64 and a half degree head angle i don't feel like it'd be out of place somewhere like the midwest and i think it'd be great back east with all the roots that you guys have these 27.5 plus tires do really well so huge props rse for being able to fit huge tires including huge 29ers for having sliding dropouts for having short chain stays modern geo long reach slack head angle thank you they've done what so many people can't seem to do it's real hard to tuck big tires in with a short chainstay and they've done it and it it really behaves well this thing does not ride like a barge it doesn't feel like a short reach it feels like the front's right where it needs to be to party so you guys know i like to be brutally honest in my reviews what is this bike not great at it's a little bit heavy a little bit overbuilt it's direct to consumer only so you're not going to be able to throw a leg over one and those are about the only complaints i can have with it i wish the seat angle was one degree steeper and that's it this is such a special bike i have so much fun on the middle child and the middle child aluminum is surprisingly well suited for these tires i did not feel like it was harsh it wasn't beating me up i have massive tires on here and they're doing their job but i don't know what it is about it i actually feel like the steel one is not any more supple than this the steel one might take out the tiny tiny micro vibrations i like that this this one feels a little bit stiffer under acceleration like when you stand up and mash on the pedals it just rockets forward these make super fun rowdy single speeds super fun like i said it could be a great bike packing bike if you steep in the head angle by a degree and a half they're so versatile with the tires you can run with the sliding dropouts amazing geometry so who's this bike for this bike's for people who love flow trails it's for people who like 27.5 plus tires it's for people who have a bmx playful bunny hop trials background and want to bring that into their mountain biking it does great on the chunk here in sedona the plus tires can be a little bit cumbersome if you're doing super long days in the saddle and like marathon epic race type events plus tires aren't the right tires there uh 29er a light 29er setup will roll faster it'll keep its momentum better it'll be more of a xc race zippy machine this isn't super zippy but when the trail points downhill that grin just gets huge and you just have a blast it turns the whole trail into a playground it makes me feel like a kid again back when we were building dirt jumps behind the school and just playing around after school it it brings that out in your writing and it's so much fun so aluminum steel or titanium now these only apply to the middle child model if i was ordering one for myself and i was on a tight budget i'd get an aluminum one if i was ordering one for myself and i was on a medium budget i'd get an aluminum one with the steel build kit has a little bit better fork a little bit better uh drivetrain and stuff and if i had a high budget i would get the titanium one the titanium one is so special it's super light it's supple but it's still the same geo it's still rowdy and it's a stunner man when you pull up with that bike and people see it they're just jaw on the floor they love that thing and i do too that titanium middle child is one of my all-time favorite hardtails it's so special but this bike is i'm gonna say 92 is good so that's more than double the price of this frame so value the aluminum one wins where would i want the steel one personally i wouldn't i'd pick the aluminum one every time over the steel one because i don't feel the steel one does anything better and it's heavier and yeah i'm a big fan of the aluminum one i like the big thick chunky look i think it's a beautiful bike i like that the gusset's real small and the updates for v2 are awesome with the shorter seat tube the straighter seat tube that makes a world of a difference for guys like me who like to size up one one other really cool thing about rsd bikes is their chat feature there are so many companies i reach out to and try to get in touch with someone and talk to a human being and i get a voicemail or an email and i never hear back from them with rsdbikes.com at the bottom there's a little chat function and over 50 percent of the time when i click on that i'm talking to alex the owner the ceo of the company and i'm picking his brain on how does this ride versus that or i've got a client who's six foot three should he be on a large or an extra large and i'll just pick his brain and talk to him how does the sergeant ride compared to this and he'll give me his feedback that is second to none customer service i haven't found that with any other company so huge props to rsd if you are the type that likes to connect with the owner connect with the business and ask them questions definitely try that now if you're interested in an rsd bike or one of their rigid forks or anything that they sell really use coupon code party alex is a big fan of the channel he's a friend and he's willing to hook you guys up with a discount for watching this channel and being part of the hardtail party as always thanks for watching alex thank you for sending this bike in this is such a fun bike it really surprised me with how much fun this aluminum frame is it didn't surprise me that i had a blast on it just like all my other middle children middle childs anyway i want to hear from you guys what would you get would you get the aluminum one the steel one or the titanium one thanks for watching there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
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