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- Not extremely modern or extremely outdated geometry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
good morning we are in moab utah reviewing the brand new 2022 santa cruz chameleon
at the time of filming it's pre-release date so we have the chameleon logos taped up i have to keep this bike under wraps but you guys know what it is by now several years ago i reviewed the previous generation chameleon on this same exact trail captain ahab and i thought it only fitting that today we come back on the same exact trail with the new version of this bike if you haven't already seen the first look video where i go over the geometry and the specs and what makes this bike different go watch that first because this video will make a lot more sense i'm riding with some of my favorite buddies from the sedona area awesome to have them all with me they're gonna help me film this video i've been at outer bike in moab the last week riding a whole bunch of full suspensions demoing them and nothing climbs like a hard tail while this trail's super fun on a 160 170 enduro bike it's also fun on a hardtail you just have to go slower i know this isn't the case but it seems like santa cruz watched my last review video and gave me everything i wanted we've got a longer reach 445 mil reach we got a 65 degree head angle that's right in the sweet spot we kept it 130 mil it's now only available in aluminum there will be no carbon models we still have sliding dropouts pretty awesome let's see if it rides like i'd hoped i also really like that this bike can still fit plus tires even though plus tires aren't in vogue right now they're not very popular i love them on a hardtail so one thing i'm missing on this bike is a high engagement hub most stock bikes have poor engaging hubs but i wish this came with like a dt350 so i could swap out the star ratchet if this were my bike i would buy a new hub and lace it on the back i just like half ratcheting in this technical stuff and it's really hard with this hub once you get used to a high engagement hub it's really hard to ride anything else this bike's a comfortable climber the head angle is noticeably slacker than the last one and the seat angle is noticeably steeper that means xc bike packing flatter stuff is going to feel a little bit floppier the steering on this model so mx bikes or mixed wheels or mullets i find a little bit harder in steppy stuff like this to keep momentum on the back wheel up stuff it's only like three quarters of an inch smaller radius it is noticeable though you get a little more hung up and stuff than full 29ers all right little downhill
i was worried this frame would be stiffer than the old one if it is it's only slightly stiffer
oh man it's fun this bike is so playful the stack is so tall i love it first time i got on it i was like holy cow i almost feel like i'm on a pogo stick that front end is so tall i love it there's moby dick rock looks like the big whale from moby dick pretty cool i have much more confidence on this thing than i do on the old one
this bike's a comfortable climber i like the riding position tall stack not super long reach steeper seat tube puts me in a comfortable spot to ride all day sitting up it's not quite as comfortable for all day like bike packing rides as the older one that had a shorter reach but it also had a slacker seat tube angle but you just felt a little more centered in the bike this one you feel a little more over the front we're gonna reveal this i'm tired of leaving it covered up on this video
new font pretty cool this bike is a fantastic climber i feel like this is the perfect trail for it punchy steep ledgey technical climbs man it excels on this stuff and despite the 425 mil chainstay being 10 mil longer than last year's it still feels short in the back in a good way i feel like the frame does not beat me up for an aluminum frame kind of feels like the ragley big al still a great all-arounder trail bike though it lost some of its zippiness on flat trails but it's gained confidence in the chunk and steep stuff and for where i ride that's a compromise it's totally worth it but for some people i think the old model is going to be the better fit still so it is different from the old chameleon it's less of a all-day spinny bike packing bike i wish i had an old chameleon still for that use and for like northern california and for flatter flowier trails but for where i live this new version is the better choice you do feel on a mullet or mixed wheel bike the smaller rear wheel doesn't roll through uh abrupt changes quite as easily as a 29er but it does have its benefits when you're doing technical stuff and you want to be able to move around you got a little bit more room back there and i like the way that they fall and initiate into corners a little better now we're at the top of captain ahab let's go take it down some spicy double black diamond stuff to see how it does
excellent nice work grayson here's our gatekeeper entrance move
yeah no problem super smooth even with the 134 all right let's have some fun
this is such a good trail
once you're on this it's easy it's just scary getting across that
beautiful this is one of the hardest climbs and it might be hard on a mullet let's see
nope we got it it wasn't graceful but we got it
oh man this bike is awesome
i love being able to manual when i need to
i love this little bike it doesn't feel as smooth as that steel stanton sherpa i have or even the switch niner but it feels good
yeah man this thing is awesome
so good
this thing corners so well with the mullet set up
oh man what a play bike but it's still fast on this stuff fast for me
this bike seems equally happy whether i'm riding off the back of it manually off of everything or over the front punching through all the chunk components feel great except for that rear hub that's the only thing i'd upgrade at the moment this dropper lever is in a weird position and i can't adjust it i wish it could swing forward a little more but man what an experience this bike is so fun i feel like i can charge on this trail harder than normal i should probably have cush core in here probably pushing my luck
darn
i think i need one gear harder my pedals are just in the wrong place when i get there
all right i can do that i love puzzling and picking new lines
hit my dropper halfway through
man
that was ugly that's one of those moves where i think a plus tire or a 29er makes it a lot easier for me wasn't pretty but we got it
this bike is incredible what 130 can do with the geometry
i think i'm having even more fun on this than last time i was here on a chameleon this bike is so good
you cannot just plow through trunk mindlessly like a 150 enduro full suspension but if you pick your lines well and you're a good smooth rider who's light on their feet man you can have a blast even on some of the chunkiest trails around like this i love this bike i really want to experiment with the 29er to see what it feels like i'm liking the mullet for this trail i just have some great maneuverability on it especially the way it corners and manuals i feel like for longer days and more xc stuff i think the 29er is going to be more my job but we'll see man this bike's special it took some getting used to when i wrote it it doesn't feel like other bikes it feels significantly different in the geo and riding position what a bike
i do feel that littler rear wheel falling into holes a little bit more
this fork is incredible
it is so smooth i've not bottomed it out once i really get along well with this older damper i like it simple damper works really well for me
spy corner so well just easy to manhandle
oh so good
that almost scary
one day i'm gonna hit that roll but not today
man what a bike
i try not to ride hardtails like plow bikes but that did surprisingly well
my arms are noodles i'm beat
all right we're right back where we started to wrap this thing up what a bike i had an absolute blast on this thing it's super fun i feel like i could take this on any trail now and just enjoy the heck out of it i don't think it's as fun on green trails as the last model but that suits me well because i don't have any green trails where i live but if you live in northern california or pennsylvania or east coast where there's roots and flow and you're not like smashing brick sized rocks or cinder block size rocks you might like the old one a little bit better i totally forgot to flip the chainstays in the long position so i'm gonna have to save that for another video another day i'm gonna get experimental i'm gonna get a set of 29er dropouts try it with 29. so make sure you're subscribed to this so you don't miss that also if you need help deciding which bike to buy i offer a bike consultation service over on patreon we work together and chat about what your needs are what bike you've got what you like what you don't like about it what you're looking for in your next one what your budget is what your trails are like what you want a bike optimized for and we work together if you're interested in picking my brain about components or bikes or how different things ride hardtail parties where you can find it and i'll be able to make personalized recommendations for you so you can save thousands of dollars from buying the wrong bike so many people have told me i wished i'd used your bike service before i bought this bike that was a great deal but the wrong bike for me so i love helping people over there and that's how i support this channel all right let's wrap it up on this bike climbing
9 out of 10. the mullet just fell in a little bit of holes and didn't quite keep its momentum through but i eventually got up everything some things took a few more tries in on my full 29ers but we are willing to sacrifice a little bit of that climbing for the descending descending i'm gonna give this a 9.5 out of 10. it was fantastic and i do like the mixed wheel size i felt like it would whip around stuff a little bit better a lot of people don't feel that on the mullets but i sure do cornering i'm going to give this bike a 10 out of 10. i love the way it corners it was easy to lean over and kind of flop onto the cornering rails there was just something about it that really clicked with me with where your body is balancing between the front and the rear i think the mullet setup worked really well for that trail the compliance was good especially for an aluminum frame i feel like it's softer than a lot of the chromag steels that i've ridden but not nearly as soft as those stantons that i've ridden playfulness i'm going to give it a 9.5 out of 10. this thing loves to manual i love to wheelie i have really good slow speed balance trials moves feel really good on it and this thing has special sauce in spades it's just that little extra something that makes a bike special that makes it exciting and fun to ride that i can't pinpoint down to why but this bike's got it and i have a blast on this thing this would be a great all-rounder for so many different riders overall this bike maximizes fun while still being extremely capable without being an overbuilt over forked enduro smash bike it's a great balance of fun playfulness especially for modern riders who like to get a little rowdy who have a more modern riding position but it's not so modern that older riders aren't going to adapt well to it so i'm so glad to see this bike updated the old one still has a soft spot in my heart and i wish i actually still had one for bike packing longer days mellow trails this gives up a little bit on the mellower flatter stuff if you like steering with the bars more than leaning you'll actually like the old one more but as trails get faster and built a little bit better and as our skills get better to adapt to these more modern bikes with slacker head angles longer reach steeper seat angles man this bike is so much fun i feel like some of the bikes that i ride are just on the bleeding edge of aggressive and most people don't have the technique to ride them this is not one of those bikes this bike will encourage you to push it a little bit and it'll keep up and it'll handle it but it doesn't require a drastic change in your riding style if you're not used to the super long super aggressive bikes i'm super thrilled with santa cruz for keeping this in the line and modernizing the chameleon it was due for a refresh and it sounds like they did everything i wanted them to do except the internal cable routing and i wish i had a better hub and if those are the only two things i can nitpick that's saying something thanks for watching everybody there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
at the time of filming it's pre-release date so we have the chameleon logos taped up i have to keep this bike under wraps but you guys know what it is by now several years ago i reviewed the previous generation chameleon on this same exact trail captain ahab and i thought it only fitting that today we come back on the same exact trail with the new version of this bike if you haven't already seen the first look video where i go over the geometry and the specs and what makes this bike different go watch that first because this video will make a lot more sense i'm riding with some of my favorite buddies from the sedona area awesome to have them all with me they're gonna help me film this video i've been at outer bike in moab the last week riding a whole bunch of full suspensions demoing them and nothing climbs like a hard tail while this trail's super fun on a 160 170 enduro bike it's also fun on a hardtail you just have to go slower i know this isn't the case but it seems like santa cruz watched my last review video and gave me everything i wanted we've got a longer reach 445 mil reach we got a 65 degree head angle that's right in the sweet spot we kept it 130 mil it's now only available in aluminum there will be no carbon models we still have sliding dropouts pretty awesome let's see if it rides like i'd hoped i also really like that this bike can still fit plus tires even though plus tires aren't in vogue right now they're not very popular i love them on a hardtail so one thing i'm missing on this bike is a high engagement hub most stock bikes have poor engaging hubs but i wish this came with like a dt350 so i could swap out the star ratchet if this were my bike i would buy a new hub and lace it on the back i just like half ratcheting in this technical stuff and it's really hard with this hub once you get used to a high engagement hub it's really hard to ride anything else this bike's a comfortable climber the head angle is noticeably slacker than the last one and the seat angle is noticeably steeper that means xc bike packing flatter stuff is going to feel a little bit floppier the steering on this model so mx bikes or mixed wheels or mullets i find a little bit harder in steppy stuff like this to keep momentum on the back wheel up stuff it's only like three quarters of an inch smaller radius it is noticeable though you get a little more hung up and stuff than full 29ers all right little downhill
i was worried this frame would be stiffer than the old one if it is it's only slightly stiffer
oh man it's fun this bike is so playful the stack is so tall i love it first time i got on it i was like holy cow i almost feel like i'm on a pogo stick that front end is so tall i love it there's moby dick rock looks like the big whale from moby dick pretty cool i have much more confidence on this thing than i do on the old one
this bike's a comfortable climber i like the riding position tall stack not super long reach steeper seat tube puts me in a comfortable spot to ride all day sitting up it's not quite as comfortable for all day like bike packing rides as the older one that had a shorter reach but it also had a slacker seat tube angle but you just felt a little more centered in the bike this one you feel a little more over the front we're gonna reveal this i'm tired of leaving it covered up on this video
new font pretty cool this bike is a fantastic climber i feel like this is the perfect trail for it punchy steep ledgey technical climbs man it excels on this stuff and despite the 425 mil chainstay being 10 mil longer than last year's it still feels short in the back in a good way i feel like the frame does not beat me up for an aluminum frame kind of feels like the ragley big al still a great all-arounder trail bike though it lost some of its zippiness on flat trails but it's gained confidence in the chunk and steep stuff and for where i ride that's a compromise it's totally worth it but for some people i think the old model is going to be the better fit still so it is different from the old chameleon it's less of a all-day spinny bike packing bike i wish i had an old chameleon still for that use and for like northern california and for flatter flowier trails but for where i live this new version is the better choice you do feel on a mullet or mixed wheel bike the smaller rear wheel doesn't roll through uh abrupt changes quite as easily as a 29er but it does have its benefits when you're doing technical stuff and you want to be able to move around you got a little bit more room back there and i like the way that they fall and initiate into corners a little better now we're at the top of captain ahab let's go take it down some spicy double black diamond stuff to see how it does
excellent nice work grayson here's our gatekeeper entrance move
yeah no problem super smooth even with the 134 all right let's have some fun
this is such a good trail
once you're on this it's easy it's just scary getting across that
beautiful this is one of the hardest climbs and it might be hard on a mullet let's see
nope we got it it wasn't graceful but we got it
oh man this bike is awesome
i love being able to manual when i need to
i love this little bike it doesn't feel as smooth as that steel stanton sherpa i have or even the switch niner but it feels good
yeah man this thing is awesome
so good
this thing corners so well with the mullet set up
oh man what a play bike but it's still fast on this stuff fast for me
this bike seems equally happy whether i'm riding off the back of it manually off of everything or over the front punching through all the chunk components feel great except for that rear hub that's the only thing i'd upgrade at the moment this dropper lever is in a weird position and i can't adjust it i wish it could swing forward a little more but man what an experience this bike is so fun i feel like i can charge on this trail harder than normal i should probably have cush core in here probably pushing my luck
darn
i think i need one gear harder my pedals are just in the wrong place when i get there
all right i can do that i love puzzling and picking new lines
hit my dropper halfway through
man
that was ugly that's one of those moves where i think a plus tire or a 29er makes it a lot easier for me wasn't pretty but we got it
this bike is incredible what 130 can do with the geometry
i think i'm having even more fun on this than last time i was here on a chameleon this bike is so good
you cannot just plow through trunk mindlessly like a 150 enduro full suspension but if you pick your lines well and you're a good smooth rider who's light on their feet man you can have a blast even on some of the chunkiest trails around like this i love this bike i really want to experiment with the 29er to see what it feels like i'm liking the mullet for this trail i just have some great maneuverability on it especially the way it corners and manuals i feel like for longer days and more xc stuff i think the 29er is going to be more my job but we'll see man this bike's special it took some getting used to when i wrote it it doesn't feel like other bikes it feels significantly different in the geo and riding position what a bike
i do feel that littler rear wheel falling into holes a little bit more
this fork is incredible
it is so smooth i've not bottomed it out once i really get along well with this older damper i like it simple damper works really well for me
spy corner so well just easy to manhandle
oh so good
that almost scary
one day i'm gonna hit that roll but not today
man what a bike
i try not to ride hardtails like plow bikes but that did surprisingly well
my arms are noodles i'm beat
all right we're right back where we started to wrap this thing up what a bike i had an absolute blast on this thing it's super fun i feel like i could take this on any trail now and just enjoy the heck out of it i don't think it's as fun on green trails as the last model but that suits me well because i don't have any green trails where i live but if you live in northern california or pennsylvania or east coast where there's roots and flow and you're not like smashing brick sized rocks or cinder block size rocks you might like the old one a little bit better i totally forgot to flip the chainstays in the long position so i'm gonna have to save that for another video another day i'm gonna get experimental i'm gonna get a set of 29er dropouts try it with 29. so make sure you're subscribed to this so you don't miss that also if you need help deciding which bike to buy i offer a bike consultation service over on patreon we work together and chat about what your needs are what bike you've got what you like what you don't like about it what you're looking for in your next one what your budget is what your trails are like what you want a bike optimized for and we work together if you're interested in picking my brain about components or bikes or how different things ride hardtail parties where you can find it and i'll be able to make personalized recommendations for you so you can save thousands of dollars from buying the wrong bike so many people have told me i wished i'd used your bike service before i bought this bike that was a great deal but the wrong bike for me so i love helping people over there and that's how i support this channel all right let's wrap it up on this bike climbing
9 out of 10. the mullet just fell in a little bit of holes and didn't quite keep its momentum through but i eventually got up everything some things took a few more tries in on my full 29ers but we are willing to sacrifice a little bit of that climbing for the descending descending i'm gonna give this a 9.5 out of 10. it was fantastic and i do like the mixed wheel size i felt like it would whip around stuff a little bit better a lot of people don't feel that on the mullets but i sure do cornering i'm going to give this bike a 10 out of 10. i love the way it corners it was easy to lean over and kind of flop onto the cornering rails there was just something about it that really clicked with me with where your body is balancing between the front and the rear i think the mullet setup worked really well for that trail the compliance was good especially for an aluminum frame i feel like it's softer than a lot of the chromag steels that i've ridden but not nearly as soft as those stantons that i've ridden playfulness i'm going to give it a 9.5 out of 10. this thing loves to manual i love to wheelie i have really good slow speed balance trials moves feel really good on it and this thing has special sauce in spades it's just that little extra something that makes a bike special that makes it exciting and fun to ride that i can't pinpoint down to why but this bike's got it and i have a blast on this thing this would be a great all-rounder for so many different riders overall this bike maximizes fun while still being extremely capable without being an overbuilt over forked enduro smash bike it's a great balance of fun playfulness especially for modern riders who like to get a little rowdy who have a more modern riding position but it's not so modern that older riders aren't going to adapt well to it so i'm so glad to see this bike updated the old one still has a soft spot in my heart and i wish i actually still had one for bike packing longer days mellow trails this gives up a little bit on the mellower flatter stuff if you like steering with the bars more than leaning you'll actually like the old one more but as trails get faster and built a little bit better and as our skills get better to adapt to these more modern bikes with slacker head angles longer reach steeper seat angles man this bike is so much fun i feel like some of the bikes that i ride are just on the bleeding edge of aggressive and most people don't have the technique to ride them this is not one of those bikes this bike will encourage you to push it a little bit and it'll keep up and it'll handle it but it doesn't require a drastic change in your riding style if you're not used to the super long super aggressive bikes i'm super thrilled with santa cruz for keeping this in the line and modernizing the chameleon it was due for a refresh and it sounds like they did everything i wanted them to do except the internal cable routing and i wish i had a better hub and if those are the only two things i can nitpick that's saying something thanks for watching everybody there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
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