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What trails is the Scout made for?

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What trails is the Scout made for?

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flag JulesBri
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Posted: Aug 8, 2023 at 15:48 Quote
I currently ride a 2019 Smuggler and as I do enjoy the bike and have taken it on a wide variety of terrain my mind has been wandering to buying a new bike.
Where I live in Ontario I would say the trails are not extreme like out West or Quebec but we do have a great trail community and variety to choose from. I think a Spur would work well on my local trails.

But I do like to travel and that is where my question comes in, where does the Scout fit into all this? I see lots of love for the Sentinel and longer travel bikes. Would the Scout be a great back up to the Spur? I don’t do a lot of lift access barely at all but I do enjoy some down hill technical riding with medium jumps and drops.

Looking for some opinions and experiences!
flag Kruton
Posted: Aug 11, 2023 at 8:57 Quote
I owned a scout. I mainly bought it because my hightower was stolen during the peak pandemic bike shortage and another 29'er was hard to come by in my area.

It was a great bike in terms of build quality. It comes alive on flow trails and jump trails. It gets through the chucky sections of rock (I live in CO) but I honestly much prefer 29'ers on those types of trails. I'm also about 6', so bum clearance isn't too big of a deal for me.

Once things got better with the shortage, I sold for a 29'er. If you already have a spur, I'd personally get something much bigger like a patrol or spire to compliment it.
flag JulesBri
O+
Posted: Aug 14, 2023 at 15:32 Quote
Thanks for the response,

I don’t currently have a Spur and I am riding 19/20 Smuggler. I was more just curious because I don’t see a lot about it online compared to the other models.

For my local trails I would stick with a Spur or the new Smuggler. The Smuggler probably would be best so I can travel a bit and hit a variety of trails.
flag naptime
Posted: Aug 15, 2023 at 2:11 Quote
Isn't the Scout a replacement for the bottle rocket? I allways though the Scout is a well built play bike that can be peddalled anywhere.
I'm currently using mine as a trail bike, 27 both ends 130/140 but, I'm hopefully going to sell my DH rig an wack a 160 36/38 and single speed 26 rear it for park days/uplifts.

It seems to me like a very capable utiliy platform, a bit heavy an burly for XC/light trail tho
flag flieslikebrick
Posted: Aug 16, 2023 at 10:21 Quote
The scout is made for trails you ride up(but don't want to). Its smaller wheelset (27.5) allows it to be playful and hop off things for a lot of fun. Its light enough and pedals well so it can climb up the trails....but climbing isn't what its designed for. Its geometry is designed to be pointed down hill. Its long and slack and likes to go down trails fast. Its designed for riders who need to get up the hill, but care much more about going down it. Want to play around on side hits, or hit jumps hidden in the woods.

Its a little under-biked for lift access hills and if that is your primary focus, there are bigger bikes (patrol, sentinel, TR-11) that will handle those conditions better....where there will be significantly more breaking bumps and holes all over trails from the volume of riders. The additional suspension of bigger bikes helps with that. I ride my scout at lift access trails and it does the job, but its more at home on the trails where you have to get yourself to the top, but the trails down is a little less worn in.

If you ride lifts or shuttle primarily then its not for you most likely, but if you want to hit the same features, and have to pedal to get yourself to the top, that is where the scout is right at home.
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