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- Not extremely modern or extremely outdated geometry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're reviewing the 2021 kona hanzo st
this is my buddy kenny's bike whenever he gets a rad bike he calls me up and says hey do you want to take this out and review it and i said absolutely so here we are we've got a 140 mil dvo diamond d3 on the front gx eagle we've got i9 trail s wheels which are super light xt4 piston ice tech disc brakes so some of the things i really like about this new model we've got a much smaller gusset much smaller seat tube we've still got the sliding drop out so you can still run it single speed and we've got that slacker 66 degree head angle and we still have that long 450ml reach fortunately we have external headset cups so that you can put in angle changing headsets which is really awesome unfortunately the price shot up a ton on this bike it's now 6.99 for the frame so it's less of an every man's budget hardtail and it's pushing that boundary of affordable hardtail into the boutique category everything's getting more expensive that's just the name of the game these days all right let's go hit the trail and see what a ride's like this bike feels incredibly light a lot of that's the wheel set wheel sets are probably the most overlooked component on a hard tail on a full suspension doesn't matter quite as much but man on a hard tail changing wheels will completely change how the bike rides man there's room for big droppers on this with that short c tube i love it feels much similar to the older hanzo st than the new esd still feels a little bit steep up front for my neck of the woods if you told me the head angle was 67 degrees i'd believe you yep a negative 1.5 degree works angle set would do the trick it'd still be a light zippy bike but it calmed the front end down just a tad
now not everyone wants a calm front end a lot of people like
a responsive front end especially those with the more traditional riding style that like to steer at the bars and this bike prefers to steer with the bars reminds me a lot of the niner sur9 a little bit more modern definitely longer reach a little more stable
slightly stiffer ride than the niner
you can still toss this around though
i need to get off this trail and get something a little bit flowier where this thing will really come alive this is a little too much trail for this bike's intended purpose just a whole bunch of brick-sized rocks in the middle of the trail
man it feels like a 460 reach even though it's not something about it just feels long all right now we're back into the flow hello thank you just me
this is where this bike is meant and most people are gonna like this
it definitely feels more at home on this flowier calmer less chunky less steep stuff
and let's be honest that's where hardtails really thrive is on twisty flowy petally fun trails all right let's go have some fun oh yeah now it's coming alive i think this would make a fantastic bike packer i don't feel like kona's quality is quite there on their frames to match the 700 price tag i'd rather have the nimble 9 at that price
i know nimble line's a little more but not much and i feel like the build quality the nimble nines head and shoulders above this it's got that same feeling the last one did it's a tad bit too long a tad bit too steep in the head angle so to me there's not just one perfect reach measurement that suits all bikes on my trail bikes like something like this i like a shorter reach i like a 435 to 440. i feel like they're a little zippier that way so i should probably size down on this on a long slack bike like the hanzo esd i had no problem with this 465mm reach which is 15 mils longer than this it reminds me of a smoother hanzo dl i like that dl for trail and xc riding does feel a little bit slacker than the hanzo dl i found the hanzo dl a little more exciting to ride for some reason
man it's not as playful as it should be with those short chainstays for some reason
this bike just feels really long to me
that's okay just not very exciting to me easy to control but i have to hold back and calm down with that little bit steeper head angle hello thanks a lot have a good day
hello sorry to startle you have a have a great day just me
it can be jumped but it just feels a little old-school when you jump it it's a zippy bike though especially with these wheels i think the stanton sherpa does everything better than this bike there's no place i'd rather have this bike than the sherpa except this has sliding dropouts which is pretty cool i hear the sherpas are going to get those we'll see still this bike is leaps and bounds above bikes from 10 years ago but my philosophy is if you're going to spend 700 on a frame and build it up spend 800 or 900 and get something truly magical it's sad my buddy kenny loves his bikes and he gives them to me for review and i just kind of don't click with them i feel bad because kenny's a good dude and a nice friend one of these days he's gonna have the bike that we both just fall in love with and if not who cares what i think kenny loves it that's all that matters don't let me talk you out of loving a bike that you've got so i'm glad i took it on a variety of trails it's definitely more at home on this flowier smoother stuff something's a little off on the geometry though for me but this frame is zippy it likes to carve corners especially on flatter more mellow terrain that's really where it comes into its own
all right let's wrap this one up i've ridden over 70 modern hardtails so i have a pretty wide spectrum of what an exciting bike can be and what a whole hum bike can be and this bike fits squarely in the ho-hum category for me unfortunately i was hoping it would be like a little bit zippier esd it wasn't that if you need help picking your next bike and you want to pick my brain on how this compares to all the other 70 hardtails i've written i have a consultation service over on patreon you sign up and you stay a member for as long as you need the service and you cancel it when you're done we work together and we talk about what your needs are what your budget is what you're looking for on your next bike and i'm able to offer suggestions i've got no skin in the game doesn't matter to me which bike you buy so i'm not trying to push a certain bike i'm trying to help you find the right bike for you to save a whole bunch of money by buying the wrong bike anyway if you're interested in that sign up over on patreon.com hardtailparty climbing gonna give it an 8 out of 10. if you don't have any technical climbs and you're just kind of flowing along it'll be just fine cornering i'm going to give it a 7 out of 10. it was fine it just was not inspiring if it's flat twisty high speed you're like you're pedaling a lot like a lot of the videos i see in the midwest and some of the easier stuff back east it really came into its own on that stuff but blue with some black diamond features it wasn't super inspiring there i hate to do this because i know a lot of you hanzo guys love these things and you think i hate hanzos i don't hate them i'm just waiting for them to be great not mediocre and this bike was mediocre to me it wasn't as stiff as the old ones it is a softer ride feel than the dl it's softer than the older hanzo st it's about where the canfield nimble 9 is but it's nowhere near that stanton sherpa i would much rather have a stanton sherpa 4130 stanton sherpa i would much rather have the nimble 9 the nimble 9 was far more exciting to ride i'd much rather have a 9 or sir 9. there's just a lot of other bikes in this category that were far more exciting for me i feel like it needs to be a degree and a half slacker for where i live or a size smaller if i were to ride it in the midwest descending i'm going to give it a 7 out of 10. it just didn't quite click with me i struggled to get along with this bike until i took it on the blue and green trails then it kind of woke up to me there's no real special sauce on this bike it wasn't exciting it's not the bike that i'm gonna go home and text my buddies and be like oh i just rode the new hanzo and it blew me away i do think this would be a good bike for a lot of people but for a little bit more money i would rather have the canfield nimble nine i think the nimble nine's way more beautiful i think it's better built the paint's better the nimble9 just had more excitement to it it was it was a fun bike it was a thrilling bike to ride and this bike can be thrilling on the right trails but it's pretty narrow in its focus of what it's good at so who's this bike for this bike is for somebody who really wants a steel frame who's on a budget someone who's not afraid to build it up because you can't buy this as a complete bike you can only buy it as a frame this is good for someone who lives in terrain where there's a lot of blue and green terrain it was best at home there but it still didn't really excite me there are far more bikes that excite me for that type of terrain so who's this bike not for this bike is not for people who are shredding this is not for people who like black diamonds on their hard tail to me this bike is not for xc racers it kind of fits squarely in the middle of trail but it's not quite as exciting as an xc bike like xc bikes are exciting on green and blues this was just kind of mediocre on everything and i hate to say that i really wanted to love this bike i wanted this to be the hanzo that made me fall in love with hanzo's it's not quite there i think with some experimentation i could get it there namely that negative one and a half degree head angle i think that would do it and maybe running a little bit shorter fork i think kenny did the right thing to build it up lightweight to keep it zippy to keep it fun on the flatter stuff i can't put my finger on what i'm not gelling with but it just didn't quite feel right when i wrote it and i know that's a lousy way to end a review because a lot of you have this bike and you are excited about it and you want me to see the excitement that you see in it if you have this bike and you love it that's all that matters it doesn't matter what i think about it so enjoy it ride it that's all that matters the best bike is the bike you have and the one that gets you outdoors and gets you connecting with nature kenny you're the man thanks for letting me borrow your bike i love taking your bikes out you guys are awesome thanks for watching thanks for loving hardtails hardtails are amazing they're so much fun and don't let anyone tell you otherwise there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
this is my buddy kenny's bike whenever he gets a rad bike he calls me up and says hey do you want to take this out and review it and i said absolutely so here we are we've got a 140 mil dvo diamond d3 on the front gx eagle we've got i9 trail s wheels which are super light xt4 piston ice tech disc brakes so some of the things i really like about this new model we've got a much smaller gusset much smaller seat tube we've still got the sliding drop out so you can still run it single speed and we've got that slacker 66 degree head angle and we still have that long 450ml reach fortunately we have external headset cups so that you can put in angle changing headsets which is really awesome unfortunately the price shot up a ton on this bike it's now 6.99 for the frame so it's less of an every man's budget hardtail and it's pushing that boundary of affordable hardtail into the boutique category everything's getting more expensive that's just the name of the game these days all right let's go hit the trail and see what a ride's like this bike feels incredibly light a lot of that's the wheel set wheel sets are probably the most overlooked component on a hard tail on a full suspension doesn't matter quite as much but man on a hard tail changing wheels will completely change how the bike rides man there's room for big droppers on this with that short c tube i love it feels much similar to the older hanzo st than the new esd still feels a little bit steep up front for my neck of the woods if you told me the head angle was 67 degrees i'd believe you yep a negative 1.5 degree works angle set would do the trick it'd still be a light zippy bike but it calmed the front end down just a tad
now not everyone wants a calm front end a lot of people like
a responsive front end especially those with the more traditional riding style that like to steer at the bars and this bike prefers to steer with the bars reminds me a lot of the niner sur9 a little bit more modern definitely longer reach a little more stable
slightly stiffer ride than the niner
you can still toss this around though
i need to get off this trail and get something a little bit flowier where this thing will really come alive this is a little too much trail for this bike's intended purpose just a whole bunch of brick-sized rocks in the middle of the trail
man it feels like a 460 reach even though it's not something about it just feels long all right now we're back into the flow hello thank you just me
this is where this bike is meant and most people are gonna like this
it definitely feels more at home on this flowier calmer less chunky less steep stuff
and let's be honest that's where hardtails really thrive is on twisty flowy petally fun trails all right let's go have some fun oh yeah now it's coming alive i think this would make a fantastic bike packer i don't feel like kona's quality is quite there on their frames to match the 700 price tag i'd rather have the nimble 9 at that price
i know nimble line's a little more but not much and i feel like the build quality the nimble nines head and shoulders above this it's got that same feeling the last one did it's a tad bit too long a tad bit too steep in the head angle so to me there's not just one perfect reach measurement that suits all bikes on my trail bikes like something like this i like a shorter reach i like a 435 to 440. i feel like they're a little zippier that way so i should probably size down on this on a long slack bike like the hanzo esd i had no problem with this 465mm reach which is 15 mils longer than this it reminds me of a smoother hanzo dl i like that dl for trail and xc riding does feel a little bit slacker than the hanzo dl i found the hanzo dl a little more exciting to ride for some reason
man it's not as playful as it should be with those short chainstays for some reason
this bike just feels really long to me
that's okay just not very exciting to me easy to control but i have to hold back and calm down with that little bit steeper head angle hello thanks a lot have a good day
hello sorry to startle you have a have a great day just me
it can be jumped but it just feels a little old-school when you jump it it's a zippy bike though especially with these wheels i think the stanton sherpa does everything better than this bike there's no place i'd rather have this bike than the sherpa except this has sliding dropouts which is pretty cool i hear the sherpas are going to get those we'll see still this bike is leaps and bounds above bikes from 10 years ago but my philosophy is if you're going to spend 700 on a frame and build it up spend 800 or 900 and get something truly magical it's sad my buddy kenny loves his bikes and he gives them to me for review and i just kind of don't click with them i feel bad because kenny's a good dude and a nice friend one of these days he's gonna have the bike that we both just fall in love with and if not who cares what i think kenny loves it that's all that matters don't let me talk you out of loving a bike that you've got so i'm glad i took it on a variety of trails it's definitely more at home on this flowier smoother stuff something's a little off on the geometry though for me but this frame is zippy it likes to carve corners especially on flatter more mellow terrain that's really where it comes into its own
all right let's wrap this one up i've ridden over 70 modern hardtails so i have a pretty wide spectrum of what an exciting bike can be and what a whole hum bike can be and this bike fits squarely in the ho-hum category for me unfortunately i was hoping it would be like a little bit zippier esd it wasn't that if you need help picking your next bike and you want to pick my brain on how this compares to all the other 70 hardtails i've written i have a consultation service over on patreon you sign up and you stay a member for as long as you need the service and you cancel it when you're done we work together and we talk about what your needs are what your budget is what you're looking for on your next bike and i'm able to offer suggestions i've got no skin in the game doesn't matter to me which bike you buy so i'm not trying to push a certain bike i'm trying to help you find the right bike for you to save a whole bunch of money by buying the wrong bike anyway if you're interested in that sign up over on patreon.com hardtailparty climbing gonna give it an 8 out of 10. if you don't have any technical climbs and you're just kind of flowing along it'll be just fine cornering i'm going to give it a 7 out of 10. it was fine it just was not inspiring if it's flat twisty high speed you're like you're pedaling a lot like a lot of the videos i see in the midwest and some of the easier stuff back east it really came into its own on that stuff but blue with some black diamond features it wasn't super inspiring there i hate to do this because i know a lot of you hanzo guys love these things and you think i hate hanzos i don't hate them i'm just waiting for them to be great not mediocre and this bike was mediocre to me it wasn't as stiff as the old ones it is a softer ride feel than the dl it's softer than the older hanzo st it's about where the canfield nimble 9 is but it's nowhere near that stanton sherpa i would much rather have a stanton sherpa 4130 stanton sherpa i would much rather have the nimble 9 the nimble 9 was far more exciting to ride i'd much rather have a 9 or sir 9. there's just a lot of other bikes in this category that were far more exciting for me i feel like it needs to be a degree and a half slacker for where i live or a size smaller if i were to ride it in the midwest descending i'm going to give it a 7 out of 10. it just didn't quite click with me i struggled to get along with this bike until i took it on the blue and green trails then it kind of woke up to me there's no real special sauce on this bike it wasn't exciting it's not the bike that i'm gonna go home and text my buddies and be like oh i just rode the new hanzo and it blew me away i do think this would be a good bike for a lot of people but for a little bit more money i would rather have the canfield nimble nine i think the nimble nine's way more beautiful i think it's better built the paint's better the nimble9 just had more excitement to it it was it was a fun bike it was a thrilling bike to ride and this bike can be thrilling on the right trails but it's pretty narrow in its focus of what it's good at so who's this bike for this bike is for somebody who really wants a steel frame who's on a budget someone who's not afraid to build it up because you can't buy this as a complete bike you can only buy it as a frame this is good for someone who lives in terrain where there's a lot of blue and green terrain it was best at home there but it still didn't really excite me there are far more bikes that excite me for that type of terrain so who's this bike not for this bike is not for people who are shredding this is not for people who like black diamonds on their hard tail to me this bike is not for xc racers it kind of fits squarely in the middle of trail but it's not quite as exciting as an xc bike like xc bikes are exciting on green and blues this was just kind of mediocre on everything and i hate to say that i really wanted to love this bike i wanted this to be the hanzo that made me fall in love with hanzo's it's not quite there i think with some experimentation i could get it there namely that negative one and a half degree head angle i think that would do it and maybe running a little bit shorter fork i think kenny did the right thing to build it up lightweight to keep it zippy to keep it fun on the flatter stuff i can't put my finger on what i'm not gelling with but it just didn't quite feel right when i wrote it and i know that's a lousy way to end a review because a lot of you have this bike and you are excited about it and you want me to see the excitement that you see in it if you have this bike and you love it that's all that matters it doesn't matter what i think about it so enjoy it ride it that's all that matters the best bike is the bike you have and the one that gets you outdoors and gets you connecting with nature kenny you're the man thanks for letting me borrow your bike i love taking your bikes out you guys are awesome thanks for watching thanks for loving hardtails hardtails are amazing they're so much fun and don't let anyone tell you otherwise there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
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