[Closed] Nukeproof Mega - opinions

I don't know why but I just can't get the noddy CRC-frames out of my head with the Nukeproof. I also don't think it'll be 'up there' longterm.

Sorry, I also know that Saracen has alot of history and the current frame(s) are quite good however I too can't see this brand around longterm.

Same with the Ragley. I see it as one of those disapearing brands with 'where are they now'/'what happened to that brand etc'..

Flame me but its an opinion.

Hora, why does it matter how long the brand is about? Genuine question, is it because of warranty issues?

Must admit I am slightly concerned by this chat of breakage, but would assume that I can get a rear triangle if needed from the good Mr. Brant?

Kev

Brants left CRC.

I'd only spend a grand on an established brand.

All chat and no real confirmation with pictures etc...just jealous orange/santa cruz owners who spent twice as much 😛

Lots of frames from all sorts of brands break all the time - its a fact of life.

Even if they are breaking then thats what a warranty is for anyway and surely they would sort this out in the next batch.

Freeridenick +1.
The failures are unfortunate, if anything this is why it's probably wiser to wait until the 2nd generation. Though with the might of the CRC empire ( 😆 ) behind them I have no doubt it'll soon be resolved. Personally I'm all for supporting the CRC/Hotline et all, as it might make the more mainstream manufacturers sit up and pay attention, and start to price bike frames more reasonably again...

I'd still consider this frame, if I needed a new one (& have the ebay search setup already for any bargains).

No pictures of the HT incident on the frame my friend had, but I found another with a similar issue which was also replaced from new when the owner kicked off about it. This one wasn't as bad as my friends.

[img] [/img]

They tried to fob him off, but due to the nature of his job he got it die tested, they quickly then replaced it...

The other one, well, you can't really picture a loose headset. The HT was overmachined to approx ~1mm though, there was no purchase at all on the cups when offered up, so they literally just fell out.

I saw him at the weekend riding actually, and he did mention the cups on this one also pushed in by hand, however stayed in this time. He's really not very impressed with it as a bike. The QC seems dire.

Interesting

The bike shop put my forks on so shall check this out...

Hmmm. I also have a semi-built one in my garage. I told myself to hold off and wait for a second batch before buying, but the message didn't get through to my right forefinger, but this:

thats what a warranty is for

My headtube is messy internally - it looks like bleed-through from the welding process which has then been dressed out. The welds themselves externally look good and are nice and smooth. Can't see any actual cracks though, and the whole lot should have been heat-treated after welding anyway.

It all goes to show why this is one of the cheapest 'proper' full-sus frames currently available.

I have no idea how many of these frames were imported and what portion of those have failed - we are quite a tight-knit community and a 'friend of a friend' covers many folks who may post on here.

freeridenick - Member

excludes jumping!!!

nigel Page jumping on it,on the video whats that about then?

That was one of the things that convinced me it'd be built sturdily. If it can stand up to Nigel Page's thrashing then it can cope with my mincing!

Also was a bit concerned buying from the first batch, but a two year warranty was some reassurance.

wonder who's rode the Mega for what they claim it to be and had no snappages..

all in all these do it all 6" jobbies in my experience arent up to it,other than the odd trail centre.
thats my conclusion on the matter.

if you want something a bit beefier and a better warranty, wildcards are £999 at freeborne.

Oh well

not ridden mine in anger yet
but shall be in the Lakes next week
and SwitchbackDH in the autumn which should be the proof in the pudding!

Blower if unsure and you haven't built it yet then send it back.

i'd just ride it TBH

sell it on after 18 months or so

Don't the Trail Addiction guides use them now?

I think Ash has one.

its half built Hora..

gonna see how it goes with it,2 year warranty,if it snaps hopefully the 2nd batch will withstand it..

the scalps seem to be doing ok,well from what i know of,2 lads had em out in the alps who i rode with for full season and all spot on.yes the dh frame but still a glimmer of hope just 🙂

You get rid of the Moment blower?

yeah i did,had a Heckler for a while after the moment.

Don't the Trail Addiction guides use them now?

yeah, they've got them, but I've heard of two breakages... Rich and one other (not sure who).

So they aint Nukeproof then 😕

Like the other owners on here I suppose, I'll use the warranty if need be, but hopefully not.

Has anyone on here actually have direct experience of one of these breakages?
Anyone used the warranty and what was the response like?

I have one and am a tad concerned but there is the warranty to help if it does snap .

Had a close look at mine and am struggling to see why there have been failures as it doesnt look to be a high stress part of the frame .

Any knowledgeable folks care to elaborate on why they fail here

I'm hoping this isn't really that much of an issue, just that the frame is a new design so it's getting loads of attention. I used to hear about Konas snapping all the time, but I never saw one break and the two I had were fine for years. Plus, the two Megas that were being used by guides were probably getting pretty battered on a daily basis. It'd be interesting to see if anyone actually has pictures of one of these broken frames.

Just get one of these....

[url= http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/series/strive.html ]http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/series/strive.html[/url]

Awsome bike.

where did that pic from Gary C go?

I never saw it. What was it?

proof of a snapped nukeproof.

oops ! operator error !

[IMG] [/IMG]

there it is...

and that looks less of a snap and more of a weld failure.

Yep, that snapped

Skyline-GTR - Member
Fantastic bike. I swapped my Orange 5 AM for one (sold and bought)
It's lighter, pedals better and is stiffer.
When I throw it into a corner it comes out bang on the right line I want.
The Orange can kinda skip a bit if it's rough and loose. I used to like that about the Orange, but it's slower.
When the Mega gets loose, you're on it big time cause it just eats bumps.

Hi Skyline i am thinking of this frame or the Alpine 160 and coming from a Orange 5 AM
One thing i noticed with the 5 AM was the obvious difference of balance with the 160 front
and 140 travel on the rear.
Do you notice the difference of unbalanced travel of the 160 front and 150 rear?
And did you try the Alpine 160 before buying the Nukeproof!

grantway - Member

One thing i noticed with the 5 AM was the obvious difference of balance with the 160 front
and 140 travel on the rear.

Can't speak for the Nukeproof but if it's any use to you my Hemlock's 160mm up front and about 100mm in the rear and it works a charm- big hit out front, taut out the back. The Five's not really designed for it whereas the Hemlock and Nukeproof are and it does make sense, after all suspension up front with no suspension at all out back works very well. They do different jobs in different ways really so no reason that same travel is a better option.

Plus, the two Megas that were being used by guides were probably getting pretty battered on a daily basis.

should at least be able to take this,thats what i thought these frames were for,and they've only just come out.

Garyc who's frame was that?

The one I saw looked exactly like GaryC's.

Going from that photo the frame hasn't snapped though has it, the welds have failed.
Poor QC @ the factory rather than a poor design shirely?
Obviously not a great but it does mean it should only affect one batch (assuming some arse kicking happens) & is easily fixable long term?

(oh please lets hope "rob whatever his face was" start up about Ragley QC again, though is this the same factory?)

EDIT: and for the hater's, did everyone abandon or doom Trek when there early EX's all broke @ the chainstay?
Every (yes every) manufacturer have failures, it's unfortunate for NP, but ain't the end of the world.

aye, even the big boys (specialized with their demo 7, orange with a lot of early patriots) have big problems with things going wrong. I guess the only way to avoid that happening is not to buy a frame within the first 18 months of production

I've had 2 bikes in the past snap, first was a giant where the swing arm broke 3 times by the time the 3rd went on they had modified it with some extra gussets the second was an orange patriot LT which snapped at the shock mount. As said above every manufacturer has problems mentioned above, and thats what warranty periods are good for, hopefully NP will be able to sort out the problems.

I remember that Specialized had the some problem with chainstays snapping on the '05 onwards Enduro, & they brought out a reinforced chainstay.

The bike in the pic isn't mine btw, it belongs to a friend of a friend ( no, really !! ) & that happened in the Lake District a couple of weeks ago.

EDIT: I had a Yeti 575 that I bought new in 2006 & 3 weeks later the lefthand dropout parted company with the chainstay, & looking closely at it, all the weld material was still on the dropout & none whatsoever was visible on the chainstay.

that looks less of a snap and more of a weld failure.

I'm sure that was a massive consolation to the bloke with his bike in two halves.

Doesn't matter how it broke. It broke.

Doesn't matter how it broke. It broke.

But if it's a QC problem rather than a design problem, it's something that can be solved instantly, rather than having to go back to the drawing board.

Hi Singletrack forum readers,

This thread has been brought to our attention by a concerned Nukeproof fan and we feel that it is appropriate to reassure our customers with a statement. We have had a small number of customers who have had issues with the chainstays on their Nukeproof Mega frames. An isolated welding issue was to blame and only a small batch was affected. We have replaced these chainstays free of charge within 2 days of being notified and are confident that the vast majority of customers will have no issues but if any further arise they will be dealt with as a matter of utmost urgency. The Nukeproof Mega is designed as a heavy hitting All Mountain bike and we wouldn’t want any of our customers to feel the bike is not up to the job. It has been extensively tested by the ChainReactionCycles/Nukeproof race team who have experienced no problems with their bikes and the vast majority of our customers have been extremely happy with their purchase. I hope this clarifies the situation, we are all away at Eurobike at the moment so apologies for the delayed response.

cheers for the response.

Well, thought I'd add to this thread with some slightly more positive news.

I bought one of the first larges available. I built it up straight away and have ridden it relatively regularly since (it's not my only bike though, and not the most suitable for local trails, so obviously cannot vouch for any long-term durability).

Build quality - I built the frame up from scratch, and was impressed with the finish (raw ano version). Some of the welds aren't exactly pretty, but nothing that cosmetically caused concern. The (Nukeproof) headset was a bit of a bugger to fit, but no harder than most. Head tube certainly wasn't over machined though.

Ride quality - with a 160mm fork on, lets face it, it's a bit wandering on the climbs, but really not too bad. I'm not sure how much it weighs, but it felt heavier than I was expecting, despite a "sensible" build. Havingf said that, it rides ok, and a 36t x 36/11 1x10 set up gives me all the ratios I need. In comparison to my 456, I find it a little less "playful". It needs a fair amount of rider input to get the most out of it. Descending, it is extremely stable at speed, and the Monarch shock feels well balanced in comparison to the 2-step Lyrics up-front. It took a while to find the sweet-spot in the shock... too much air and I felt very much perched on the bike. Too little and I was using all the travel riding off kerbs.

The bike feels a natural in the air and incredibly well balanced, whether jumping or drops (think the biggest drop I've taken was about 6ft, on to a bit of a flat landing... not entirely intentional)... no snapped stays, yet :-/

I've ridden friend's Patriots, 5s and Alpine 160s, as well as a Transition Covert. I'd say the Nukeproof compares pretty well to all of them, particularly taking into account the price.

Overall, I'm happy for what it is. I wanted a bike that would replace my DH bike, but could be taken on big mountain rides and ridden up as well as down... as well as something to offer a silly alternative to the 456 for rougher trail centre ragging. Part of me wonders whether I should have gone for something slightly short travel/more "trail", but that's not really a flaw of the bike.