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Dave Arthur's picture

David Arthur

David has been a tech editor on road.cc since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.

2 comments

4 years 10 months ago

You suggest the Nukeproof Digger Pro as an alternative with SRAM Rival, but having spent 3 months trying to buy one I can assure you that they're not available. The supply isn't meeting demand, a real pity as it ticked all the boxes for me and looked beautiful.

Instead, I eventually purchased an Orange RX9 Pro, the 2018 model was full SRAM Rival 1 and discounted. Less than £1.5k with alu frame, carbon fork and full SRAM Rival 1 with hydro brakes and 700x42c wheels. It's a beast and I love it and would recommend it to anyone.

4 years 11 months ago

I've had mine for over a year now after moving up from a GT Grade Ultegra. It was a bit cheaper then, and I went with SRAM  1x and 650B option. At the time I spent a long time looking at the options. And for me, it came down to a choice between this, an Open Up(per), Kinesis Tripster or Salsa Cutthroat. The Up lost because of the Press Fit, and I seem to remember it was a bit more restricted on tyre size. The Tripster because of small tyre sizes. The Cutthroat because it was Press Fit and it looked like getting hold of one was going to require waiting far far too long.

The worst thing about the bike is that the frame leaks, and it doesn't drain unless it is hung by its front end with the mudguard eyelets removed. When it's wet and muddy, this leads to a bottom bracket that needs very regular regreasing not to disintegrate.

The mudshelf, at least with the 650B's, is more of an aesthetic annoyance. It's not typically where it clogs. Usually, the clogging problems I've encountered have been between the sidewalls of the tyre and the frame. The solution to which is to run a "smaller" 2.0" (or even smaller) mud specific mountain bike tyre and max out the clearance.

Aside from the lack of Press Fit and its creak, the best thing about the bike is the wheel size and its tyre clearance. Having the 650B size and clearance gives access to a large, well reviewed and highly capable pre-existing catalogue of MTB tyres. Long distance bike packing pop the 2.1" Tour Divide proven Vittoria Mezcal's on. Muddy swamp fest that'll be the 2.0" Maxxis Beavers. Dry and not very technical 2.1" Schwalbe Thunderburts, and so on. Even without including 700C in the mix, the range of tyres makes the bike incredibly flexible in what it can competently tackle.

In the year I've had it I've ridden thousands of miles on many different types of terrain. With the right tyres and pressures, on-road it's fast enough, and its capabilities off-road far exceed my bottle point. I've not seen anything that I think looks better and if I was unlucky enough to require a replacement, I'd be very likely to buy the same again.  

Sorry to sound like a bit of a fanboy, but it really is a very nice bike  Smile

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