SAM HILL’S MEGA INPUT

How much does Nukeproof involve you in the design process? “They actually talk to the team and us riders a lot for any suggestions on what we want the bike to be like or the characteristics we would like to see in future bikes. They take our feedback onboard so that’s awesome.” From the 2016 model, what changes did you want to make to the frame? What worked from the 2016 frame and what didn’t? “I thought the frame was actually already pretty good but we changed the head angle to suit a 170mm fork from the previous 160mm. They incorporated the metric shock which increased the rear travel slightly and also made the rear end work a lot more freely on the smaller bumps. They also worked hard getting the carbon model just right.” When you first got your hands on the new 2018 bike what was your first impression? As you spent more time with it what differences became apparent to you in terms of ride characteristics? “It was obvious straight away how much plusher the suspension was, it just plows through anything. The bike blows me away being a trail bike and how well it handles any terrain you throw it down. The Mega 275c is the Nukeproof’s first carbon frame, I didn’t really push for it at all, I was really happy with how my aluminium bike handled and rode. I was a little sceptical as a previous experience with another company I didn’t gel with the carbon bike they built. When Nukeproof had prototypes of the 2018 frames they sent me an alloy bike and a carbon bike to ride and test and I preferred how the aluminium bike handled. I gave my feedback to Nukeproof and after a couple of different versions of the carbon bike they got it handling awesome and ever since then I’ve been racing it. I think it’s easy to over build carbon fames so it was awesome to see and help the guys to keep trying to find the perfect balance and feeling in the bike.”