Nukeproof Owners Club

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Nukeproof Owners Club
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flag brigand
Posted: Aug 12, 2017 at 0:39 Quote
Makes the bike slacker and lowers the bb.
flag rorypeterquinn
Posted: Aug 12, 2017 at 1:09 Quote
Off set the HA somewhere between 0.5 - 0.8 degrees. Suits the Mega
flag euroford
Posted: Aug 17, 2017 at 8:11 Quote
photo

soooooo much want!

Looks pretty dialed, despite no official work from NP I have to imagine these aren't too far from hitting the market.
flag marko369
Posted: Aug 28, 2017 at 8:09 Quote
rorypeterquinn wrote:
Monarch removed as not very good. Replaced with CC DB Coil IL. Some difference. Offset bushing on coil on seat post end.

photo

How come you went inline pal, does the normal CCDB hit? What size fits? Is the upgrade worth it? How does it climb now with no clockout and how does it feel with the extra weight(neither a priority for me anyway tbh)

I'm not getting on with my shock at the moment and considering a cool upgrade Smile
flag Danny-marms
Posted: Aug 31, 2017 at 2:37 Quote
marko369 wrote:
rorypeterquinn wrote:
Monarch removed as not very good. Replaced with CC DB Coil IL. Some difference. Offset bushing on coil on seat post end.

photo

How come you went inline pal, does the normal CCDB hit? What size fits? Is the upgrade worth it? How does it climb now with no clockout and how does it feel with the extra weight(neither a priority for me anyway tbh)

I'm not getting on with my shock at the moment and considering a cool upgrade Smile

I've an inline on my mega too, I think it's worth the upgrade, definitely an improvement other the monarch. I had to go up a spring rate beyond what CC recommended and need nearly all the high speed compression to stop it bottoming out. Mine has a lockout and climbs well, more effective than the RS lockout.

Dan
flag Ordoadchao
Posted: Sep 1, 2017 at 16:30 Quote
Only just put 5 miles down on my new mega 290 and the monarch gave up the ghost, clicking and sucking and grating noise, rebound adjust not working and leaking oil. Not good. Its off for warranty and in the meantime I'm looking at ccdb coils. Anyone confirm its a straight swap with bushings and hardware and doesn't foul the frame anywhere on a medium?
flag Ed284
O+
Posted: Sep 1, 2017 at 22:17 Quote
I run a CCDB coil on my large mega 290. No issues with fitment and same hardware is compatible.
flag Ordoadchao
Posted: Sep 2, 2017 at 0:37 Quote
Ed284 wrote:
I run a CCDB coil on my large mega 290. No issues with fitment and same hardware is compatible.

Good to know, thanks for the info man
flag browner
Posted: Sep 4, 2017 at 0:25 Quote
Does anyone like the Monarch on the Mega 290? 4 volume spacers, and too much air later and its still lacking in midstroke support. Some say the debonair should work better on paper, but they ditched that version early on in the bike's release? Seriously, has anyone had the magic custom tune there or something?

- CC inline?
- Ohlins?

Spring weight for a 72kg
flag mizzter-b
Posted: Sep 4, 2017 at 1:14 Quote
browner wrote:
Does anyone like the Monarch on the Mega 290? 4 volume spacers, and too much air later and its still lacking in midstroke support. Some say the debonair should work better on paper, but they ditched that version early on in the bike's release? Seriously, has anyone had the magic custom tune there or something?

- CC inline?
- Ohlins?

Spring weight for a 72kg

You should be able to get a decent set up for your weight using a Monarch plus. Use the HV can if you want more support and improving peddling/pop and find a sag level that works for you.
IMO you can adjust the suspension massively on this bike to suit your riding (DH through to light trail) but this does make it difficult to get sag set given this and the nature of the suspension design.
I find it easier to set sag by sitting down hard on seat than being in the attack position.
flag marko369
Posted: Sep 4, 2017 at 6:49 Quote
I'm at 35% sag, with 4 volume bands and I'm almost happy with mid stroke support but only use around 90% travel Frown

I've just spent the weekend at Golfie/Thornielee/Inners and still have over 10mm not used.

I'm now in the market for a CCDB coil which will hopefully sort my first world problems Big Grin
flag browner
Posted: Sep 4, 2017 at 12:09 Quote
marko369 wrote:
I'm at 35% sag, with 4 volume bands and I'm almost happy with mid stroke support but only use around 90% travel Frown

I've just spent the weekend at Golfie/Thornielee/Inners and still have over 10mm not used.

I'm now in the market for a CCDB coil which will hopefully sort my first world problems Big Grin

Wow yeah this just happened today too. Tested the increased pressure and 10% going unused. For golfy type stuff this is valuable travel. Think I will look at the inline cc coil because I'm trying to make a weight weenie mega - but it has to work. Will start on a 350/ 400 spring by the sounds of it for 72kg
flag euroford
Posted: Sep 11, 2017 at 12:25 Quote
I thought i'd post sort of a "mission accomplished" follow-up review on my Mega 290.

In a nutshell, last year we spent a week in the PNW, and though I had a fantastic time I decided I was officially done ridding my DH bike and went on a mission to find a bike that I felt I could ride DH just as hard, while also being happy to do big climbs and all day rides.

Obviously we have a lot of choices out there in the aggressive do-it-all category. To start narrowing it down I realized that I was quite happy to ride my Hardtail 29er XC bike pretty aggressively, so I began focusing on aggressive 29" wheel bikes and initially based my budget and desire around either the Yeti SB5.5 or an Evil Wreckening. I demo'd both of these bikes, and checked out several others, additionally I of course read tons of reviews, trolled the forums and chatted up everybody I could.

In the course of all of this I kept finding myself drawn to the Mega 290, and despite not being able to demo one the geometry looked to be the best of the bunch. Nukeproof clearly being willing to push it just that much more aggressive than most of the rest. I was also highly attracted to the swooping hydroformed lines, awesome black/bronze color combo, excellent build kit, reasonably lite weight, practical frame design (threaded BB, external cables, standard headset, etc.) and the fact that I would pretty well assured to have the only one at almost any given trailhead.

Scoring the 2016 model on clearance sealed the deal. Despite the fact that I was willing to shell out full retail for an Evil or a Yeti, i'm no dummy and I was pretty stoked to score what I considered to be a dream bike for just over $2,500. Knowing full well that no build kit would be perfect, it was nice to have funds remaining to swap out any parts as necessary to dial it all in.

Upon receipt of my machine (in only three days from Ireland to Colorado!), I did swap out several parts to make it more suitable for me and my ridding including a 200mm front rotor, sintered pads, Deity 800mm low rise bars, a One-Up 30 tooth oval ring and guide, some ESI grips, a and I immediately ditched the knobby nick rear tire for a matching magic marry.

In this configuration I proceeded to flog the heck out of it all summer, including trips to Michigan (city forest trails in Midland), Chicago (Palos), a three day trip to Sedona, a rip down the Full Enchilada in Moab, 18 days worth of ridding on my local Front Range trails (Deer Creek, White Ranch, Heil, Hall, Table Mountian, Apex, and others) and 27 days of lift service ridding at Trestle Bike Park where i've kept a season pass for 9 years.

The Mega has been flawless shredder at all of these locations, being more than willing to climb as much as necessary and it descends with reckless abandon, gobs of confidence and a huge amount of margin for error. Up or down, I've PR'd everything I've previously ridden, whether its the climbs on my XC bike or the bike park on my DH bike, the Mega has exceeded them all.

One issue I've wrangled with, like many others is the supposed "lack of mid-stroke support" from the factory shock. I'm running three bands and 30% sag, and honestly have always been quite happy with the way it performed. For sake of comparison I did swap in a Push tuned Fox DHX coil and put in a couple of trail and park days. Though I can say it did have more mid-stroke support, I never felt that the bike performed any better on the trail and have gone back to the air shock.


So.... with a good summer of dialing the steed in, we went back for the PNW re-match. This year I managed 8 straight days of ridding, no injuries, no mechanical problems (other than replacing a worn set of front brake pads). Managed to ride a day at Galbraith, a day at Chuckunut, two days in the bike park (including two laps of TOTW), three days in Squamish and we did the Pemberton heli-drop to the Tenquille Lake trail. The only change made to the bike was some fresh tires, this time going with a set of 2.5" DHF's which I had prior good luck with in BC.

All together, it was a totally successful mission and the Mega 290 was the perfect bike to bring along. Our large group was very well stacked with top of the line bikes and by comparison I always felt like I had one of the most capable machines in the crew. It was totally adequate for all of the climbing that we did (lots at squamish) and it was an absolute animal on all of the descending. Again, I set a slew of PR's compared to last year and in particular I smashed my prior time on TOTW and managed to ride the trail top to bottom full out without stopping.

In a nutshell, if I had an unlimited budget to pick any bike in the world to take on a PNW trip, I'd still pick the Mega 290. The geo is spot on, it climbs very well for such an aggressive bike, it descends like a DH bike while also being blessed with much more nimbleness, it looks freekin awesome and despite the impressive amount of hardware on display all over the PNW, I never saw another one.

***** Would recommend to a friend.

On a couple points of constructive criticism:

It climbs very very very well for a bike so clearly designed to lean way more towards the descent side of things. My initial build was just under 30 pounds, with the addition of a water bottle, tube, tire levers, pump and burly Maxxis tires it was closer to 32 on the trip. It grinds up hills great, on fireroad and trails, however the long wheelbase was an occasional drawback on tight switchbacks and its kind of sluggish on slow-speed super technical stuff, but thats not really my bag though. On the other hand, if you have some short/punch/super technical uphills and can carry some speed into them, the bike will just plow uphill. this was particularly awesome in Moab and Sedona.

I was VERY suspicious of the lightweight Sram Roam 40 wheels, but despite my suspicions they have remained true and solid with zero damage. I gave them a minor retension before the PNW trip, otherwise they have been flawless. Three other guys destroyed rear wheels on the trip, but the Srams are apparently more durable than you would think. 30psi in my Minions, don't care about your opinions.

The Sram GX drivetrain also performs better than expected, I was initially thinking about ripping it all off for Eagle, but its working well enough that I can't justify the investment. I did at many times envy my friends low gearing on the climbs, but instead I may try out a 28 tooth chainring. Or maybe just suck it up and get stronger.

The bottom bracket is REALLY low, I smash pedals all the time and regularly have to replace pins. I have a set of X0 carbon cranks in 165mm on my DH bike and may give those a shot on the Mega. I can also add a direct mount 28t to these cranks, which you cannot do with the stock GX cranks.

I'm not much of a jumper anymore, after many years of lapping Rainmaker at Trestle, I've swung my ridding more towards technical trails and now only occasionally take a jump trail lap. I find the nuke prefers life on the ground, hitting big jumps at high speed it scrubs and speed jumps really well, but I find it feels awkward trying to really boost off bigger jumps. But again, I don't have as much enthusiasm for that sort of thing as I used to, and that could be a factor.

Mr. Hill really should give the 29er version a go, probably would won the worlds if he'd gone for big wheel version Smile

photo
flag mgill
Posted: Sep 11, 2017 at 17:44 Quote
Thats the most, well written review ive ever read. Should be in a magazune.
flag mizzter-b
Posted: Sep 12, 2017 at 6:50 Quote
Good stuff, the HV can is the best choice for the Mega 290 IMO. You can get the set-up with this and spacers.

....and here's the solution everyone has been waiting for....how to put a bottle cage INSIDE the triangle!

https://www.wideopenmountainbike.com/2017/09/fit-bottle-cage-nukeproof-mega-similar

 


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