Background and Perspective
Anyone that has read several of my reviews (thanks mom) knows that I am big on reviewers disclosing their expectations, background and product usage up front. The way an item is used can have a dramatic impact on how well it performs. So calling a bike good or bad probably has as much to do with the reviewer as it does the bike.
With that being said here is where I am coming from with this review. First it has been about 5 years since I have even ridden a mountain bike. I've been focused on the road and have had no desire to ride trails. That has changed and about 3 months ago I decided to give the woods another try.
I've got very marginal technical abilities, but I am fit and and for someone my size I am a solid climber. But most importantly I knew that I would mainly be riding fire roads and moderately technical single track. I live in the mountains so I know I will be climbing a lot, but that also means I need a bike that will inspire confidence while descending.
It was a struggle deciding between a full suspension bike and a hard tail, but my memories of FS bikes revolve around me bouncing up hills while out of the saddle. My time on the road has made me a slave to efficiency so in the end a hardtail was the most logical solution.
Finally, I never considered going with anything other than a 29er. In my research there were a ton of people who were not 29er fans, but most of their complaints revolved around maneuverability and especially geometry issues with smaller frames. Since I'm not one to carve up single track and since I have to ask if XL is the biggest size they make, these issues did not concern me.
Why Scott?
Good question. There were four bikes in consideration with another wild card bike in the mix. The serious contenders were the Scott Scale 29er Pro, the Giant XtC Composite 29er0, The Cannondale Flash Carbon 29'er 3, and the Specialized Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29. The Focus Raven was also on the list, but it was so difficult to figure out exactly how the bike was spec'd that I finally gave up and took it off the list.
This group of bikes retails between $3,000 and $3,900. Generally speaking you get a very similar parts mix - SRAM X0/X9 drive-train or a Shimano XT mix. The bikes typically come with high-end Fox or Rockshox forks and most of them have house brand seatposts and handlebars. With the Specialized, Scott, and Giant, it was fairly easy to do an apples to apples comparison. The Cannondale was a different story, their parts mix seems off compared to everyone else's offering. However, the Lefty option is really intriguing to me and Cannondale has a reputation of building oversized, stiff bikes and when I think back to my pogo stick days on the Gary Fisher Sugar, it had to be in the mix.
After pouring over the parts spec for sometime I came to the conclusion that the Giant XtC and the Scott had the best parts mix. The Specialized did have the Brain version of the Sid and the Cannondale did have the Lefty option, but both drop down to X7 front derailleurs. For me, the difference maker on parts mix was the fact that I could have a remote lock-out on the Scott as the current version of the Fox fork did not have this option. For a lot of folks this would not matter, but I probably use the lock-out 5 or six times an hour during the average ride.
The one concern with the Scott is the geometry. It has a very shallow head tube angle at 69.5 degrees while the other bikes were closer to 71 degrees. What intrigued me about the Scott was that the slack angle allows for a little longer wheelbase (the longest of the four bikes I considered) while it still had the second shortest chainstays which should make for a very stable climbing bike with very good traction.
The Frame
There are 3 things that stand out to me with this frameset. The first is the beefy bottom bracket. It looks very stout, but in a somewhat odd sort of way. I'm used to seeing flared down and seat tubes with large bottom brackets, but there seems to be a move to narrower junctions (I noticed the same thing on my TM01). The second thing that jumps out is the shapes of the tubes. The main triangle utilizes oval shaped tubes with the seat tube being tapered to help tuck the rear wheel under the seat. The chain and seat stays have unique shaping and tapering as well.
I think Scott could have routed this through the chainstay making for a cleaner run and a more closed system. I know some folks are not fans of internal routing, but for me this is the most logical way to run cables and after the initial setup are easy to deal with.
The final thing that really stands out about the frame is just how short the head tube is. For those that have been around 29ers for a while this is old news, but when you take the front wheel off the bike it is certainly an odd look and slamming the stem on a 125mm headtube bike is not something I am used to.
Overall the finish of the frame is excellent. I've had zero issues with the quality and I believe that this will be a very durable frame.
Parts mix and weight
The Scale Pro came out of the box at 22.6 lbs for my XL bike which is pretty much on par with what you would estimate from Scott's site. The bike comes with an X0 rear derailleur, from what I can tell an OEM version of the X0 cranks, X9 paddle shifters, Avid Elixer 9 brakes, Rock Shox SID 29 RL Air fork, OEM DT Swiss wheels, a Scott branded bar and seat post and an OEM Selle Italia saddle.
The cockpit of the Scale Pro is equipped with X9 shifters, brakes, Scott grips, the Rock Shox remote lockout and an aluminum Scott flatbar. Looking at the picture above it is clear that the paddle shifters have been replaced with X0 grip shifters. This was an ergonomic issue for me as I could never get the shifters and brakes in the position that I needed. This is probably more of a me issue than an issue with the components.
While I did run the x9 shifters, I was pretty happy with the performance. Though I thought the throw for the front derailleur upshifts was very long, rear shifting was very precise. Setup and adjustment was simple and I don't recall having a single mis-shift with the exception of one time that I did not get the rear wheel in straight.
The Scott grips provided good traction, but were too hard for me and caused my hands to become fatigued more quickly than I would like so they were pretty quickly replaced.
The bar is 680mm in length with a 9 degree sweep. It is pretty stiff and I have no complaints with it other than I could not stand the length. We ended up taking the bars down by 60 mm. While I get that with a 29er there is more force required to turn the wheels, I felt the longer bars provided too much leverage. I really felt this at slow speed as the bike seemed really twitchy to me. By cutting the bars down I feel I have much more predictable turning and I also don't feel like I am going to leave my knuckle imprints in trees as I speed by on twisty single track.
The factory wheelset is an OEM version from DT Swiss. They are nice-looking tubeless ready wheels that come with a nice conversion kit. To this point they have held up well and are not too heavy although I have never weighed them without tires and rotors. They roll pretty well and have stayed true through 3 months of riding. The tires are Schwable Rocket Ron's which are nice light tires and a pretty good spec for this bike. To this point I would rate them as so-so. They roll well in dry conditions, but wet traction has not been up to par. Where I really struggle with the tires is during cornering and also on off-camber sections of trail - especially with hard-packed soil. Basically, I do not trust the side tread. Another issue I have had is with the rear bead not sealing while running it in tubeless mode.
The cranks appear to be X0 OEM cranks. I've since swapped them for a Quarq which I will review later. Overall I have had no issues with the cranks or rings. They have been adequately stiff and shifting up front has been relatively good.
The Elixer 9 brakes have been awesome and terrible. Awesome refers to the front, it is very powerful, but allows for excellent modulation. They have worked very well in wet and dry conditions and are solid performers even when they get a little hot. The rear brakes have performed horribly. After bleeding them twice and replacing the pads they are at best marginal. Modulation is very poor and I am often surprised when they lock up and usually more surprised when they do not. They have a very sloppy feel to them and are the one piece of the spec that I can't stand. This could very well be a setup issue as I have not talked to anyone else with the problems I am having.
The ride and conclusion
The bike is a very solid performer within the context of what I need it to do. First, it is a stellar climbing bike. The geometry allows for good overall traction while allowing the front wheel to stay planted on steeper climbs. That is not to say that the front will not come up, but I do feel that the geometry maximizes climbing performance.
The frameset is very stiff, I think. I still feel the bounce of the tires, but I do not notice a lot of BB movement and I feel extremely efficient climbing and blasting out of corners. That being said, the bike is compliant enough. I've had back surgery and additional herniations and I can easily do 2-3 hour rides. I think the Edge seatpost added a little bit of compliance so a carbon upgrade here is probably worthwhile for anyone with back issues.
The bike descends predictably. That is all that I can ask, the limiter to descending for me is skill, the bike is way better than I am. What I can say is that I feel slow when descending which is a good thing. I never feel like I am on the edge which allows me to be relaxed and ride within myself. A very skilled descender may not like the bike's geometry as I feel that many of the aspects that make it a great climbing bike may slow it a little on technical descents. With that said, on fast open descents it is super stable and inspires confidence.
After 3 months with the bike I can say that I am very pleased with my choice. I occasionally wish that I had a full suspension bike, but those instances are few. The Scott Pro is a bike that has a great parts mix, an outstanding and somewhat unique frame and geometry, and is an excellent performer in the XC realm. I would highly recommend this bike.
-Tony
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