We've just added another bike to our winter hardtail testing line up, this time it's a Nukeproof Scout 275 Sport, a sub 1k hardtail that is the cheapest bike in the range of 27.5" and 29er hardtail bikes. 

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The alloy Scout is available in both 27.5 and 29er guises, its the former we have here, opting to test the base model bike, the 275 Sport, coming in at £999.99. For 2019 the geometry stays the same as the 2018 bikes but there are spec updated across the range. 2019 bikes Rockshox forks all-round (this bike got a Suntour fork last year) and the smaller wheeled bikes, such as our test bike get larger 2.6" tyres. 

Down to the specification nitty gritty, the Scout 275 Sport you see here is equipped with a RockShox Recon RL140mm fork. The drivetrain uses a Suntour Zeron crankset with 170mm cranks, Shimano Deore M6000 10-speed mech and 11-42T cassette. 

There are Shimano MT400 brakes with 180mm rotors front and rear, these are attached to WTB ST i29 27.5” rims with Nukeproof Neutron hubs. The wheels are fitted withn that aforementioned fat rubber, a Maxxis Minion DHF 27.5" x 2.6”, EXO TR front and rear, for which there appears to be plenty of clearance. 

The cockpit unsurprisingly uses Nukeproof own kit, there's a 800mm wide bar with 25mm rise, a 45mm stem, a fixed seatpost and a Nukeproof Vector SL saddle. Lastly there's a threaded bottom bracket and all the boost standards you'd expect on a modern hardtail. 

The cable routing sits neatly under the top tube and there's internal routing available to fit a dropper post at a later date. This is the only bike in the range to be sold without a dropper, the next bike in the range is the Scout 275 Race which costs £1,349.99 and comes with a RockShox Sektor RL fork, Shimano MT500 brakes, a Shimano/Raceface/Sunrace 11spd mix and a Brand X Ascend internal dropper post (S:120mm drop; M/L/XL:150mm).

The geometry of the Scout fits alongside other more aggressive hardtails, there's a 65° head angle, a slightly slack 73° seat angle across the range. Our large test bike gets a 110mm head tube, a 1190mm wheelbase, 435mm chain stays, with a reach coming in at 450mm. 

We'll get this one out on our favourite test trails soon, stay tuned for a full review!

• www.nukeproof.com

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