One upside to the rare, thundery downpours we've had at Interbike's Dirt Demo in Bootleg Canyon is that the dust has damped down nicely, making bikes like the Nukeproof Mega a real treat to ride.
The Mega is a lot of fun to ride and even more to ride fast. The relaxed angles produced by running a 170mm (6.7in) travel fork like the RockShox Lyrik really make it comfortable when the pace picks up. The 150mm (5.9in) of rear wheel travel is controlled via the RockShox Monarch RT3 rear shock which has proved pedal friendly when you’re going against gravity and happy to suck up landings and drops.
With the demand for bikes like the Mega constantly increasing, manufacturers need to be sure they’ve covered every base when it comes to the finer, all important details and it's here where Nukeproof have succeeded. The Mega includes ISCG O5 chainguide mounts, a 135mmx12mm Maxle rear axle, cable guides for a height adjustable seatpost and a 44mm headtube that will accept any fork steerer configuration. The bottom bracket is high enough to avoid those annoying pedal strikes but still keeps the centre of gravity low enough to let it rail the turns.
As you can imagine, with Nukeproof offering so many of their own components, it only made sense to adorn this little banana coloured beast with them. Nukeproof Generator wheels (soon to be tested in Mountain Biking UK), Warhead stem and Warhead Riser bars are just some of the own brand highlights.
The Mega gets Nukeproof own brand components, including these Warhead Riser Bars
Other kit worth a mention includes the WTB Bronson 2.3in tyres, which handle the Bootleg terrain really well along with Hayes Stroker Carbon brakes which have really surprised us with their power.
On the trail, the Mega offers a really playful ride and we can’t wait to spend some more time on it when we do a full test later in the year. It’s easy to manual and jumping feels pretty damn good on it too. Keep glued to Mountain Biking UK for the full low down soon.
