We enable you to select the enduro weapon of yours thanks to a deep dive in to the ride, handing and personas of Nukeproof’s 2 race ready full suspension rigs.
Nukeproof Bikes have long been a favourite with privateer enduro racers. Though the choice about what bike to race got much tougher in 2021. Because, not just did Nukeproof launch the brand new V4 Mega, additionally, it introduced the brand new 170mm traveling Giga.
But what type is way better? It is a question that any severe enduro racer must be to ask. And in an attempt to answer that question, we have been evaluating the Giga 290 Carbon Factory as well as the Mega 290 Carbon Factory side by side.
Frame sizes
Both bicycles are made in 5 frame sizes, and each come together with the choice of 29in or maybe 27.5in wheels. The ranges operate from RS to Comp, with the Factory amount Mega create featured learning the middle ground and also the Factory Giga sitting in the roof of the heap. Not that anyone believes that Fox Factory thirty eight forks and X2 shocks could be considered middle of the highway.
Pricing
The bicycles are competitively priced too, the Giga 290 Carbon Factory costing £5,499.99 and also the Mega 290 Carbon Factory sneaking in at £100 less. And both have practically the same specifications. We say almost as the XT back brake on the Giga features a 203mm rotor, while the Mega includes a 180mm rotor as standard. Besides that, everything is precisely the same like the 170mm Bike Yoke droppers, DT Swiss EX1700 wheels, Shimano XT drivetrains plus Nukeproof 31.8mm bars and also stems. All terrific kit and then.
Weight
Weight-wise, there is not a lot of separating the bikes with these sometimes. Frame weights without the shock are 2.8kg for the co2 Mega and 2.9kg for the co2 Giga. And so the Mega frame is just 100g lighter compared to the Giga. That is not the entire story however, as the pivot swingarm on the Giga is really 100g lighter compared to the four bar look on the Mega. Nevertheless, the front end and also linkage on the Giga is 200g weightier which often results to the 100g general increased weight. Even though you can argue this provides the Giga a far more favourable sprung to unsprung mass ratio; have you seen your suspension change whenever you include a water bottle? Absolutely no, neither have we, along with a complete bottle is approximately 675g. Why don’t we park that for today.
The entire weight for every cycle with Maxxis EXO+ casing tyres is 15.58kg for the Mega and also 15.51kg for the Giga. But just how can it be the Giga is seventy grams less heavy than the Mega if the Giga frame is 100g weightier? Effectively, when we simply assessed the chassis without the wheels the Mega is actually lighter as per the frame excess weight, but when we measured the wheels it is obvious the tyres on the Giga were lighter however within the anticipated perturbation. The primary key takeaway then is the fact that at around 15.5kg both bicycles are competitively light-weight.
Geometry
In terms of geometry the most pronounced difference between the bikes is that the head angle on the Giga is almost 1º slacker than the Mega, which gives it a slightly longer front center even though both size L bikes have similar reach measurements; 470mm on the Giga Vs 468mm on the Mega. The Mega comes with a 10mm taller mind tubing however, so in case we equate for stack height, the Mega has a slightly longer reach. As you are able to see, we are splitting hairs, and it is the identical elsewhere together with the geometry. The Giga features a 3mm longer chainstay measurements – 445mm Vs 442mm – as well as the BB height is 2mm taller on the Giga, though it additionally has much more traveling – 170mm Vs 162mm – and so the powerful BB heights will be really near. And it is well worth noting that these’re the measured numbers of ours, not Nukeproof’s advertised geometry.
Suspension
It is only if you dig into the back suspension layouts that you begin to see the deviation between both designs. On the outside, the most apparent difference would be that the Mega uses a traditional four-bar linkage suspension design with counter rotating backlinks. Nukeproof’s listed travel is 160mm, though we measured it at 162mm, therefore it over delivers on that front. The Fox Float X2 shock on the Mega includes a 230mm eye-to-eye measurements with a 62.5mm stroke, the place that the leverage rate is at first digressive but quickly changes to a progressive speed. On the control rate graph you are able to realize that it actually runs parallel to the curve of the Giga within the last fifty per cent of the traveling. In reality, the V4 Mega has a really comparable suspension format to Nukeproof’s recommended trail bike, the Reactor.