In recent years Nukeproof have made a name for themselves by producing strong, rugged bikes that work and keep working. More recently their Chain Reaction Cycles stablemate, Vitus, have begun to emerge as a serious contender too, producing bikes that are not only good value, but also good fun for serious riders. What both brands have in common is that they are both in-house brands for Chain Reaction Cycles, the online retail giant.

We sat down with two of the men who have been driving them on; Dale McMullen, head of research and development for the two brands, and Ali Beckett, product manager for Nukeproof, to find out more about how they live together, what makes the brands different and the ever-changing modern mountain bike.



CRC visit. Ballyclare Northern Ireland. Photo by Matt Wragg.
Dale McMullen
CRC visit. Ballyclare Northern Ireland. Photo by Matt Wragg.
Ali Beckett



Nukeproof is the starting point for CRC's in-house brands. What was kind of the original idea behind Nukeproof?

Ali: Well, Nukeproof started off as a components brand and, I guess, even before that it started off as Dale and Michael, as the owners, essentially wanting to improve the bikes that they had. So they had Lapierre and all sorts of other bikes at the time, but realized actually that the components that they wanted to ride on the bikes were not there, whether that was different shock springs or wider handlebars. They figured they could do as good a job if not better of producing those themselves. So, that’s how it originally started. They made hubs and handlebars and springs and stems and things like that. And then, later on, decided to give it a go making bicycle frames. I suppose the Mega and Scalp were probably the first two frames that they started working on. Dale was probably the main man involved in those.

The Mega really stands out as one of the first mid-travel bikes that was really meant to have the shit beaten out of it.

Dale: Yeah. I think that bike sort of came from the fact that we used to be riding about on basically downhill bikes in those days, but were trying to alter them and make them pedal better, trying to make them lighter. But, at the end of the day, you’re still riding a downhill bike up a hill. There were some local tracks around the Mourne Mountains and stuff. We are basically all downhillers at heart, so we wanted to ride on gnarly stuff, but we wanted to ride all day long, not push our bikes or – there was no option of, in those days of uplifts even... So we just decided let’s make our own version.

Vitus kind of sneaked up on a lot of people. They’ve been around doing low-end bikes for a while, but the high-end are a more recent development?

Dale: Yeah, I suppose the first Vitus range was in 2011, it was just a mixture of road bikes and more cross-country trail bikes. It kind of went into high-end, and then our ethos or riding style kind of came through in those bikes as well. We just don’t make bikes, or don’t want to make bikes that just are steep or don’t handle good, so we just end up with aggressive bikes really.

You have got the Nukeproff Mega and the Vitus Sommet that are both 160-ish travel.

Dale: Yeah, the Sommet is 155 and the Mega is 160, so they’re clearly different bikes, haha.

From a consumer point of view then what’s the difference between the two, or is there a difference in philosophy?

Ali: I think you could say that Nukeproof are still a little bit more aggressive with our geometry and our layouts. I think we do lean on the team and also some of our in-house testers a bit more when we go down the route of developing something new. And we’re probably less, not less afraid, but we’re more prepared to throw a slightly slacker head angle in or a lower bottom bracket, maybe more so than Vitus. To me, Vitus has to be a little bit more careful as I suppose it’s focused at a slightly wider customer base than Nukeproof is. However, it’s not to say Nukeproof doesn’t want to achieve that, but I think we certainly at the minute have a more specifically-minded customer, in my opinion.

Dale: I certainly think the Nukeproof bikes are more aggressive. The customers are more sort of a downhill background customers. The Vitus guys maybe come from trail upwards. So definitely Nukeproof would be more aggressive in geometry and angles. Whereas Vitus bikes are more of – I won’t say more of a general, they aren’t designed for the general public but we have to be careful that we don’t ruin it – we don’t go too aggressive and ruin it for the average rider. But at the same time, they have to be bikes that we like to ride and enjoy and that will be fast.

With the geometry how far do you buy into longer top tubes and reach, the more recent trends in geometry? Do you think you are at the limit now or do you think that and it needs to be pushed a bit further?

Ali: I don’t think we’re at the limit because I guess three or four years ago everybody thought they were at the limit then. I think we’re definitely not one to jump on the bandwagon if we see it going off. We’re probably a little bit more cautious with making sure that we validate our thoughts. If everybody’s pushing their top tubes out, making those longer, pushing the head angle out and making those slacker, we feel - well, before we just jump and do that we want to try and test that and try and find the sweet spot that suits us. I suppose from Nukeproof’s point of view, the bikes are very much based off what we enjoy riding, because if we don’t base it off that, we’re really basing it off other people’s opinions and some can be trusted, and some can’t. You really have to validate everything yourself. So I think we are probably a little bit more cautious on those things, but we’re quite prepared to test and make decisions based on facts that we’ve found. Being a young-ish brand I think we need to be very careful with what decisions we make - we’re not old enough and wise enough and big enough to maybe swallow up mistakes if we make them. So, I suppose we are a little bit more tentative than some.

Dale: I think there is a limit, and personally I’ve gone up a size on our bikes and don’t really like it. But maybe it’s one of those things you have to spend a lot of time on and get used to it. But we won’t make bikes that we don’t like to ride ourselves.



CRC visit. Ballyclare Northern Ireland. Photo by Matt Wragg.



So it’s interesting because you don’t see any Boost – you’ve not jumped on the Boost bandwagon at the first possible opportunity for instance?

Dale: No, again it’s kind of one of those things. I think the market is going that direction for sure and in a few years time, you’ll not be able to get a bike that’s not Boost compatible. At the same time, we just need to be careful that you don’t jump too early and then all of a sudden, you’re looking a little bit stupid because, you know, people can’t get replacement wheels or whatever for their bike. So, we want to make sure that that standard is here to stay. And I think some of the standards in the market, you just have to comply with. There are certainly benefits to the Boost standard, but at the same time, there are negatives. You’ve less ankle clearance. I think on the 29ers for sure it’s a benefit to have stronger wheels. But again, it's one of those things… Some things we believe in and we’ll go early. But if we’re not 100% sure even, or of everybody following it. It’s just having, you know, the rest of the product line backing it up really.

Because it is interesting, with the Mega 29, that’s not sold at super high-prices, and it’s not full carbon. In theory, Boost should have been tailor made for that bike?

Ali: Yeah, yeah. I mean I guess it flags back to us being a young company and we probably take a little bit longer to do things than companies that have multiple engineers, have a big resource pool that they can throw at a job. We need to make as many informed decisions as we can on the spec and the design of a bike. And then go full steam ahead to try and get it delivered on time. Quite often, I don’t know, the last five years, there have been so many standards that have come in and changed, be it wheel sizes, hub spacing, headsets, that’s all this stuff – you know. Some you have to just listen to and others you have to go. There comes a time when you’re half way through development and a standard – you get wind of a new standard, and you’ve got to make a decision; do I delay the bike and amend it for that, or do I carry on with development on the scheduled date that we’d hoped to release on and just hope that we can make a change if that standard sticks, and if we can see a benefit to it? That’s kind of the way we operate, we just haven’t got the resources to make every little change as we go along.

Dale: Yeah, because every new standard takes a minimum of one year from the day you change the 3D model, we won’t see that in production for one whole year. We just can’t react that fast.

I think from the outside, people see CRC as a big company, they assume that these brands are big and very well-funded.

Ali: I’d be surprised if our team wasn’t one of the smallest, considering the workload it has to do. You know, I think we try and make the most of the team that we have. But it does limit it. I mean there’s an endless list of – my wish list of products that I’d like to develop is massive, but I know that I have to pick 5% of it and think, right OK, I can work on that now, and try and schedule in some more free time with Dale and Ali and the other engineers. Yeah, it’s tricky. Tricky to balance the whole thing.

Some brands say they feel there’s a real pressure to try and keep up, because a lot of the marketing for some brands is based around these marginal gains, do you feel because of the way you positioned yourselves that maybe you don’t have to worry about that quite as much? Maybe you are more of a niche brand?

Ali: I don’t think we can rely on being a niche brand because I think ultimately we would like every customer to consider a Nukeproof, provided it suits them. I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make the product as good as it can be, rather than making sure that its got all of the acronyms it needs and making sure it’s got all the symbols and the standards that it needs to have. I think there are a lot of manufacturers and brands out there that can make a bike that might have the very latest technology but has it been made to optimise that? Or has it been made to just fit that in there? Have they bought tubes around to fit a new item or a new standard in there? I think for us we’d really like to understand. We’d like to really learn and understand what a new piece of technology is or a new standard or a new option that we have, then make sure that we’re getting benefit from it if we incorporate it into the design. Only then will we say right, let’s go ahead and proceed with that, but as Dale said earlier, it’s a long lead time before you see the benefits of it.



Nukeproof Mega 2016
Nukeproof Mega 29
Vitus Sommet CRX First Look. Ballyclare Northern Ireland. Photo by Matt Wragg.
Vitus Sommet



Although a lot of brands jumped into 27.5" wheels before you guys, maybe your 27.5 Mega was one of the earlier bikes that came out with like the adjusted BB height, etc.

Ali: Yeah, it was the 2014 model. We’d just released the 2013 Mega the year before, which was still 26 inch. I think at the time of us releasing that we knew 27.5 was a new thing and it was coming. We’re in touch with enough vendors and suppliers that we know when something’s coming. But at that point, we weren’t sure of the scale of it, and it was only after we’d released the 26-inch bike and you see other people talking about 27.5 and releasing products. And you think, well, we needed to make a decision pretty quickly. Now luckily we were able to amend the geometry of that bike, and we didn’t just make everything longer to fit the wheels in. We looked at what we could do and checked where the BB needed to be. And were just very fortunate that that tube set that we had moulded into a 27.5-inch bike, and allowed us to bring out the 2014 range.

Dale: I think a lot of brands rushed into it from the beginning, just squeezed a pair of wheels in and forgot about the BB heights… We’d a whole new set of drawings and a completely revised geometry.

Ali: I think today, the same thing has happened with 27-plus, and a lot of people ask you all the time, ‘Why haven’t you got 27-plus? Why haven’t you done this? Why haven’t you done that?’ I think it’s a very similar scenario to what we had when 27.5 came about. A lot of people were just saying, 'Can I fit these wheels into my 29er?' Nobody’s really looking and saying – well, what happens to your bottom bracket height when you do that? That’s our outlook, with most things is to try and take a step back. Let everybody else tear away and be the first and let’s think about exactly how we want it to happen, and proceed along. And if it’s six to 12 months later than everybody else, I’m quite happy to accept that as long as it’s a good product when it comes out.

Dale: At the same time we want to try it ourselves and make sure the tires don’t blow up every run, or even figure out where that bike is going to end up. Is the guy who is going to be using 27-plus in the EWS, you know? That’s the highest level, but at this point, I don’t believe so, so we need to figure out where even in our own heads where 27-plus will actually fit into the market.

There seems to be a lot of people who said, when they looked about at the bikes, they didn’t actually understand, there didn’t seem to be any understanding of what the application was even.

Yeah, [laughs] we’re still trying to find that. I think there’s been a lot of compromise to get lots of testing, lots of development to get the 27-plus, 27.5 tires that will last a whole enduro weekend.

One of the things we get from the comments is that people feel the change of pace at the moment is too much. It was 2014 when they were told they had the wrong wheel size, in 2016, well actually you’ve got the wrong axle size, all these new wheels and frames and forks you have bought actually need to be replaced… Maybe, not that there aren't the individual gains in each one, but the pacing of it is disillusioning customers?

Ali: Yeah, it’s very difficult to chase those, you know. You’ve got to, especially with frame production, you’ve got to be forecasting so far in advance and planning so far in advance that any small change has a massive knock-on effect on how you do things. As I say, some of the bigger companies probably can swallow up those changes slightly better than maybe we can, so we have to be a little bit more.Yeah, it’s very difficult to predict what the next step – once Boost is accepted, the dust settles on that, what’s the next thing going to be? You need to know that now in order to phase it in.

Dale: I suppose at the same time, the big brands maybe, all they concentrate on is selling bikes. Nukeproof probably sell more frames than they sell bikes. So those guys have to go into the garage and find the forks, find the wheels. You know, if the forks don’t fit the bike, and the wheels don’t fit the bike or the frame, then they’re not going to buy the frame. They’ll just go somewhere else.

What would you like to see as the next evolution for mountain bikes?

Ali: No change. That would be the best one [laughs].

Dale: 28.5 [laughs] and the tire companies would shoot you then.

Ali: I think certainly wider rims and bigger volume tires are going on. A lot of people are experimenting with that. I don’t know where it will all settle down. I think 27-plus is one thing, but actually, I think people will reel it back in so it’s just 27.5 but it’s all based around a certain volume of tire, so that may require you to have a certain rim and a certain tire size to get that.

Dale: And also a Boost bike.

Ali: Correct, yeah, so you have to have that. You can’t go to a 2.5 or even the bigger volume tires are going to need bigger rims. They won’t fit in the majority of frames out there, so you’re going to have to. Even for that standard, you need a Boost bike with that extra clearance on the chainstay. Beyond that I don’t know what the next big thing is going to be.

Dale: No, maybe we’ll all get some breathing space, you know.

Have you guys been playing with a lot of electronics specs and so forth...

Dale: With the PE thing, no. No we’ve got some experience with it, and at the minute it’s not for me.

Ali: I hate electronics, I can fix most things, when it comes to wires, I just stay away, you know. You just see some of the bikes with electronic suspension and electronic gears and stuff, and there are wires everywhere. You are thinking, and even packing your car, are you going to rip one of those tiny wires out of your bike and… I don’t know, for me, it’s like something basic, you just get on and go. But at the same time the electronic gears on road bikes have really taken off, I think all the hidden cables and stuff, it may happen, but at this point I just like old school, cable and mechanical shifting – simple.



CRC visit. Ballyclare Northern Ireland. Photo by Matt Wragg.



Carbon is obviously a big question for you guys because Nukeproof’s been quite noticeable in that you haven’t delivered a carbon bike. Whereas, with Vitus you jumped in a lot sooner.

Ali: Well Vitus actually have actually had carbon road bikes for a good few years; they’ve been designing and developing those. So, it kind of made a bit more sense, probably just to go into carbon mountain bike frames with that brand. Nukeproof has always been aluminum, I think. I’d probably say we’re experts with aluminum, but carbon... I think certainly with Nukeproof, we’ve been sort of experimenting over the years with carbon handlebars. And we’ve been testing, doing lots and lots of testing with carbon rims recently. So, you never know. Yeah, I think for now that we have to listen to our customers, and you made a comment earlier on about the bike being a similar price to most other aluminum bikes, but then you’ve got carbon bikes with the same spec and you know, ultimately the same performance, unless... I think maybe the top 10% of people that ride the bike will notice the benefit of a carbon bike. But does everybody notice it? I’m not so sure. And I think there are other items on peoples’ wish lists when they’re spending two, three, four, five thousand pounds on a bike, that might rank slightly higher than what material the front triangle is, or the entire frame. I think good solid components bolted to a good solid frame are more important than sacrificing one so you can tick a box and say ‘I’ve got a carbon frame’.

Dale: Yeah, it has to be carbon, not just for the sake of being carbon. It has to have the right characteristics, the right strength, it has to actually either match the performance or be better than an aluminum frame. Just having carbon frames for the sake of being carbon is not for us. It has to have a performance gain, at least in comfort or something.

Ali: That’s the ethos we apply to any of the carbon products we’ve done to date which is really only the handlebars. If we can have a performance benefit, then we’ll do it, and it’s taking a long time to learn enough about the carbon bar manufacturing to make sure that we get a product that is significantly better than the alloy product, and still stands up to the same testing and strength and reliability that we have. Our bikes are reasonably bomb proof. They were bought as, you can throw it in the car, you can throw it in the van, you can drop it, crash it, ride it down the hill, and it will last for multiple seasons. And that’s something we want to carry on with all products that we do, whether it’s another component or another bike or, you know, whatever a lot of people have asked why the Pulse downhill bike is not carbon. And we feel at the minute there’s no real significant advantage. The bike is as light as our team want it. It’s as light as we want it. It looks great and it’s robust. If you chip it with a stone or crash it into a tree, it’s still going to be rideable, whereas maybe with other materials, you’ve got to spend a lot more time protecting it and thinking about the lay-ups to get that same benefit.

Dale: But even geometry and stuff – the Pulse we can alter the geometry for the team if they like. It means we’re not stuck on one thing. Once you make a carbon mould, you can’t change the geometry, you are stuck with it. You have to live with your mistake if people went wrong the first time. That’s why we always like to kind of, make an alloy bike, test it, if it needs other changes – geometry wise, size and whatever, we adjust it and then next stop is production.

With the handlebar have you gone for 35mm then?

Ali: No, no we did experiment with 35mm a long time ago, with aluminum and didn’t really get to the place we were hoping we’d get to with it. So, we went back, and with the carbon bars we’ve got now, we’ve stuck with 31.8 and we’ve done a lot of testing. We’ve been through various revisions of virtually the same carbon bar, and I think the final result is a fantastic product now. We’re more than happy with the strength and reliability testing. We’re happy with the weight. We have spent a lot of time developing the testing, to work out how much vibration reduction is going to be induced into the handlebar. There’s a lot of things that we’re really happy with that have taken a long time, but it resulted in a really really good product. And regardless of whether it’s 35mm or 31.8…

Dale: I think what we found, like we never experimented with a 35 carbon, but we do know that when we went to 35 aluminum that the bars got really harsh. You just lost any of the comfort. They just got very harsh; and especially with the carbon handlebars, it was something we set out to make as comfortable as possible, but also as strong and tough as possible. And as I say carbon bars have a lifetime warranty, and as far as we know, we think we’re the only carbon bar with a lifetime warranty. Is that right?

Ali: Pass. [Laughter].

Dale: So actually, we’ve built in layers of glass fiber to actually give a little bit more flex and remove some of the vibration, give a little bit more damping. At the same time, it's nearly three times stronger than the aluminum bar, so they are incredibly strong. It wouldn’t be the lightest bar there is, 240g is it?

Ali: Yeah, the addition of the glass fiber does have a slight weight penalty, but I think the vibration reduction and the damping effects outweigh the weight penalty for sure. There’s other noticeable differences in the fatigue through your hands, certainly on rough tracks. We’ve tested 700-kilo loads, it’ll take a 700-kilo load before they break. There’s nearly two inches of deflection, with that load, so there’s quite a bit. We’re quite surprised how much deflection.




CRC visit. Ballyclare Northern Ireland. Photo by Matt Wragg.




In your head, what do you think a bike in 10 years time might look like? What would you like it to look like? What kind of things would you like to see fall by the wayside, and what areas would you like to see pushed on?

Ali: I’d love to see drivetrain get the full overhaul that it probably feels like it should have. I think there are a lot of parts there that let people down. I think drivetrains are fantastic now, based on what they were even three years ago. I don’t know whether electricity has a place, electric gears, whether they will stick around – I know they’ll stick around but will they be broad enough to get into all disciplines. Maybe they don’t have a benefit in all disciplines. I think tires and punctures and all that rubbish that is definitely the one that needs overcoming, probably the soonest.

Dale: Well, most tubeless these days, you can still slice your tire sort of thing. Tires that can change their shape to match the terrain, that’d be good. [Laughter].

One of the big questions is gearboxes…

Ali: They’ve had a long time to catch on haven’t they? I guess there’s a lot of technology to cram into that space. You look at a gearbox in a car and it’s massive as well, even on a motorbike. So can they get it small enough? You know, you have got to remember you’re powering it with your own body, not with a motor. So does it need to be as big and as chunky and as heavy – I don’t know.

Dale: I’m afraid to say it, but I think e-bikes are going to take over a bit. We’ve had a go recently on a couple of them, it’s like - I think as they get better... I think a crappy e-bike just feels like a crap bike. A good e-bike off-road is… You can have fun on the way home, it's awesome…

Author Info:
mattwragg avatar

Member since Oct 29, 2006
753 articles

54 Comments
  • 58 5
 Seem like very practical people. I like their approach and thinking. And I bloody like my mega 290, best bike ever. I absolutely don't miss boost, I am most certainly not missing pressfit and I like external routuing. Ah, and eff expensive carbon, don't need or want that either. Thanks for that, nukeproof. I just hope customers come to their right mind and jump off that stupid extra wide rim and tire train. It is getting exceedingly boring imo...
  • 7 0
 I'm impressed as well. I like the mentality they have on moving forward to through these new "trends"; they take a very logical approach. E.g. electronic stuff may happen, but for the moment, it looks like it will b e an expensive headache for many riders
  • 2 0
 @ArturoBandini hey dude I saw your suspension analysis of the Mega 290. I'm riding one too and it's awesome but the shock tune is poop. I've got 7 bottomless rings in a HV can M/L tune. Thinking about going for a cane creek and tuning it myself....what would you reccomend?
  • 3 0
 @ThomDawson: hmm, depends, hard to tell, would lead to a pretty long and detailed discussion. But why not try and tune the monarch yourself first to your likings, if it is just the shimstack you are concerned about. It is not a bad basis. And swap the HV for debon air. Offers more support after the sag point...Unfortunately I cannot offer advice for an improved stack, did not dive that deep yet on my shock...
  • 1 0
 @ThomDawson: so that is a medium rebound, low compression tune that you have. You need a M/M. Its not the bikes fault you got the wrong tune. And bottomless rings don't do much compared to the correct shim stack for compression. The first letter is rebound, second is compression.
  • 1 0
 i don't think more low speed compression will help. I can achieve the same thing by flicking the compression lever - the bike just feels wooden and still wallows, it just takes a little longer to squash all the way through the travel but it still does on pretty small terrain. I do want to try the deb but if it's no different or barely different I might waste £70! Thanks for your input anyway. Hopefully I'll figure something out :-S
  • 1 0
 @ThomDawson: no, not low speed. The compression tune is low.
  • 1 0
 @ThomDawson: the compression circuit adds a lot, obviously since your lockout lever works. Rockshox has a leverage ratio chart for common designs, and it lets you decide which compression tune kit to choose. Very few designs will work with the M/L tune for anyone over 130lbs, since it is medium rebound and low compression tune. You probably need the M/M, which corresponds to medium rebound and medium compression. It is different than simply flicking the lever on your shock to a different position, and has nothing to do with low speed compression, since that is not an independently tuneable feature on your shock, whether internal or external.
  • 2 1
 @takeiteasyridehard: surely low speed compression and rebound are the only things that are tuneable!? Unless you alter the shim stack yourself? Going from a L to a M compression tune would be just that - L low speed compression to M low speed compression?? Which is exactly what the compression lever does? Albeit probably adding more than a M tune would.
  • 1 0
 PS the Rockshox leverage chart is pretty basic but specifies the same M/L tune. Though the leverage curve is progressive it is quite a linear progressive curve. Could be that something in between a L and M compression tune would be better? And the Debonair can tuned up with some volume spacers. I could achieve all the same with a cane creek and be able to tweak easily without opening up any shim stacks. Yeah...just convinced myself. Thanks for inputs guys.
  • 2 0
 Im all for new standards as long as you....the bike companies continue to make your old standards as well. Let us, the consumers decide what we want or need.
  • 34 5
 Great stuff! Honesty at it's best, I guess they can afford speaking like that given their position on the market. And that Mega 29 - beatiful! Cheers!
  • 14 0
 Totally agree and refreshing to hear them talk this way - A good explaination as to why there are no real changes to the 2017 range. Brand snobbery keeps many people away from Nukeproof and Vitus but they are proving to be great bikes with a welcome lack of pretence.
  • 13 1
 Is that the most normal (and shortest) comment you've ever written?
  • 18 4
 @mrwynnewillson: no the shortest was: "(rant)"

It's a kind of neutron star of my comments. Bros are not sure yet what it may have contained but they speculated that a spoon of it could contain about 20 billion words of wheelsize debate and bro shaming with references to Chinese economy and wombat's urinal.
  • 14 0
 @WAKIdesigns: Thats better, dont let yourself down again by only making sense in a comment.
  • 14 1
 I'm still riding my 2011 Mega and love it Smile No desire to get a new bike yet, but the 2017 Nukeproof range are tempting!

Great read, cheers guys! Smile
  • 4 0
 Yeah, such a great bike! Love mine!
  • 10 0
 Bring out an updated Mega TR please! 130/140mm, slack and tough as old boots. My old 26" Mega AM is the best bike I've ever owned
  • 9 0
 See: Vitus Escarpe
  • 4 0
 I love my mega tr I put 160 up front with the 130 in back it is perfect.
  • 9 1
 Vitus look really good these days. Was in CRC on Saturday and had to stop and look. Very nice!
  • 6 0
 Yeah, the Sommet is a lovely bike. Like the green frame in the last photo
  • 3 0
 Ride unbelievably well too!
  • 3 0
 I have the 2016 Sommet VRX, and am very happy with it.

I just spent a week on a friend's bike (Knolly Warden) as he was laid up a broken collar bone and i was building a new rear wheel for my Sommet and i am really glad to be back on my bike; noticeably faster.
  • 4 0
 I rode a 2015 Escarpe for a year, it was incredibly good. Only changes bikes after I tried the Mega 290. Wish I could have kept both!
  • 6 0
 Communist comment: best innovation in mountainbike? Work less and have more free time to get fit, ride more and don't need an e-bike. More free time, that would be my favourite new standard.
  • 5 0
 I owna 2015 Sommet and to be honest i will ride that thing until it is truly dead. You never see any Vitus out on the trails and i am always being asked about it. Love it and don't think i will ever buy anything else.
  • 6 0
 If Kona doesn't roll out a long travel 29er in 2018 that NukeProof Mega 29 is most certainly going to be my next bike.
  • 5 3
 Have to agree, I think e-bikes will become a very common sight. I have a friend with one, it makes climbing a doddle, you can just ride straight into ridiculous stuff and clear it effortlessly. Sure it's cheating, removes most of the technical skill requirement, requires very little fitness, and it's unfair to those without, hence once one friend has one, the rest are inclined to follow suit,

Just wait till the battery and motor technology shrinks to the point it will all be in the down tube, then you will not be able to distinguish an e-bike from a normal bike, apart from the amount of perspiration on the users brow, and perhaps the slightly hollow feeling in the heart of the e-biker?
  • 5 0
 To be honest I doubt they'll become so common. Loads of people might give them a shot but at some point when one of these expensive components wears down they're facing quite a high bill. I expect the battery will wear down quickly when you ride a lot and end your rides with a near empty battery. Maybe two years and you'll have to replace a 700 euro battery. Sure we break and replace components all the time but we usually pair it with some upgrade. Breaking something is almost an excuse to go for that new component you've been wanting. Replacing a battery or having something complex repaired for your motor or cycle computer doesn't give you an upgrade. You just restore it to its former glory, but it is no upgrade. I expect quite a few people to be put off by these expensive repairs thinking "ah, I could just get some fancy new forks for my regular bike for that" and the broken e-bike will be gathering dust.
  • 3 0
 My friends could all get one and i still would have to decline.... I love lung burn tho!
  • 1 0
 I remember, from the 80's, a marvelous Vitus road bike with smartly designed aluminum lugs and bonded, colored, anodized aluminum tubes. It looked like it came from the future with nice cable routing and a seat post locking feature integrated into the seatstays lug.
  • 3 0
 Very interesting that they sell more frames than complete bikes and how that clearly effects their design ethos, especially with adoption of new standards
  • 6 0
 Glad I got the mega 290.
  • 1 0
 Something I've long wondered about is if this Nukeproof is the same as the old Nuke Proof of the early 90s mountain bike days. I'm talking about the legend of James Bethea and all that old-metal.blogspot.ca/2009/09/nuke-proof-ads.html. Is it the same company, just reborn?
  • 4 2
 Isn't Vitus just OEM frames from Astro in Taiwan, like KHS/Fireeye and some mailorder brand that is callled CTR or CRT or something.
  • 1 0
 Some interesting bits in there, especially about adopting new standards and the frame sales V bike sales.

I'd also love to know the contents of the box labelled '26" Mega TR Parts 2013"......
  • 6 3
 26" for life. #26gotrobbed
  • 2 1
 the questions were sorta off base for a small scale player. missed opportunity for pink bike. the comment about a good e-bike was a surprise to read. real open minded dudes.
  • 3 0
 I'm all for aluminium. Definitely the right thoughts for customers.
  • 3 0
 Just the name "Nukeproof" is pretty confidence inspiring.
  • 2 3
 "In recent years Nukeproof have made a name for themselves by producing strong, rugged bikes that work and keep working."

This is where i stopped reading because this is a LIE!!!!!!
  • 2 1
 They all look the same after awhile
  • 1 1
 How comes Vitus are now much nicer than NP? Have CRC positioned them to be the "premium" brand I wonder?
  • 2 3
 Brant Richards
  • 1 2
 Yeah, I used to think he was behind Nukeproof. But I didn't do much research to be honest.
  • 1 3
 I'll be a nukeproof buyer as soon as they make carbon frames
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