Reviewer: Chris the Sheep - Blackpool
Purchased From: Tredz (online)
Purchase Price: £1600
Time Owned: 16 months
Local Terrain: Flat
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Strengths:
Superb quality - minimal rust, forks completely rust free, paintwork unmarked.
Very robust - no spoke or rim issues.
Shimano Steps performing reliably.
Very comfortable.
Stylish (looks just like Scott's conventional bikes).
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Weaknesses:
Wiring issue with front light (resolved easily).
Rear tyre rubbed mudguard / rack as clearances too tight.
Occasional (possibly intentional) cut-outs when pedalling hard in low gear.
Rear light gets in way of pannier clips.
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Summary:
I waited over a year before posting this review because I wanted to be see how it stood up to frequent all-weather use. I've had several bikes recently, both conventional and electric, and I've seen common quality weaknesses in most of them. All of these bikes were mid-market (Revolution, Halfords Carrera, Fuji, Giant) and typical faults included: broken spokes; poor brakes; rust; paint easily scratched etc. I replaced the rear wheel on the Revolution because it was so bad, the Carrera had to be replaced because the frame cracked, while the Giant suffered repeated spoke failures, atrocious original brakes (replaced myself) and a poorly-designed front hub motor (cabling / wheel removal stupidly fiddly). I accepted these faults as the inevitable result of buying a less expensive bike - and to some extent that was true - but nevertheless I was disappointed. Broken spokes I put down to my weight (15 stone) and luggage (including laptop), and a hand-built wheel on one bike eradicated the issue.
The Scott shows that it's worth paying that bit extra for quality but it's not stupidly expensive - I'd say as a conventional bike it would be in the £500 - £600 bracket. Inevitably it's got a few rust spots on some of the fastenings but the majority of the bike is rust-free. The wheels have remained completely true with no sign of spoke failures. The paintwork is completely unmarked, even where I use a U-lock (though paint is rubbed off the crank arms as you'd expect). It doesn't rattle, creak or squeak. It rides smoothly and quietly.
I can't compare the STEPS system with any other crank drive as I haven't ridden one, but it has been utterly flawless. I ride it in High mode most of the time and it makes for a cracking bike in traffic. I do find sometimes that if I put a lot of effort in myself in a low gear (I'm a reasonably strong cyclist and in good health) it can briefly cut out, but I think that's by design - you get used to it and ride accordingly (it doesn't happen in Med or Low).
The drive system behaves the same way as it always has done and makes the same noises - most of my bikes have got through bottom brackets quite quickly and I hope and pray this isn't an issue with this bike but so far it's looking good (it's the reason I ditched the Giant, the bottom bracket failed and it was a bespoke design).
I've been getting around 1000 miles out of a chain, which I think is good for a crank-drive bike ridden in a seaside environment. I'm now on my third chain and second cassette at 2000 miles. One issue here though is that a standard 116-link chain isn't quite long enough, and longer chains tend to be expensive with a lot of wasted links (e.g. KMC ebike chain at £30). The cassette is 11t to 36t and I don't think it really needs such a low first gear so I might replace it with an 11 - 32, not a big difference but enough to work with a standard chain. (I've got round it by adjusting the stop screw so it only uses ratios 2 - 10). None of this is a fault, just a bit frustrating.
I've replaced the front brake pads recently, standard Shimano stuff and no problems.
There are two issues with the lights - on the front one the wiring was too tight so would come out when I turned the bars - easily fixed, and I've silicon glued the plug as well. The problem at the rear isn't the light as such, but it gets in the way of pannier clips making it hard to use certain panniers.
Finally - the original rear tyre was rubbing against the underside of the rack mounting (it sits inside the mudguard) when wet because it would pick up bits of grit. I simply fitted a slightly smaller tyre and it's been fine since.
I would happily ride a hub-drive bike of similar quality, for conditions in Blackpool both are absolutely fine - I just need my bikes to be dependable with just routine servicing, and too many bikes need too much looking after. This one approaches car levels of availability - nothing has failed unexpectedly.
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Overall Rating (out of 10) : 9
Purchased From: Tredz (online)
Purchase Price: £1600
Time Owned: 16 months
Local Terrain: Flat
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Strengths:
Superb quality - minimal rust, forks completely rust free, paintwork unmarked.
Very robust - no spoke or rim issues.
Shimano Steps performing reliably.
Very comfortable.
Stylish (looks just like Scott's conventional bikes).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Weaknesses:
Wiring issue with front light (resolved easily).
Rear tyre rubbed mudguard / rack as clearances too tight.
Occasional (possibly intentional) cut-outs when pedalling hard in low gear.
Rear light gets in way of pannier clips.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
I waited over a year before posting this review because I wanted to be see how it stood up to frequent all-weather use. I've had several bikes recently, both conventional and electric, and I've seen common quality weaknesses in most of them. All of these bikes were mid-market (Revolution, Halfords Carrera, Fuji, Giant) and typical faults included: broken spokes; poor brakes; rust; paint easily scratched etc. I replaced the rear wheel on the Revolution because it was so bad, the Carrera had to be replaced because the frame cracked, while the Giant suffered repeated spoke failures, atrocious original brakes (replaced myself) and a poorly-designed front hub motor (cabling / wheel removal stupidly fiddly). I accepted these faults as the inevitable result of buying a less expensive bike - and to some extent that was true - but nevertheless I was disappointed. Broken spokes I put down to my weight (15 stone) and luggage (including laptop), and a hand-built wheel on one bike eradicated the issue.
The Scott shows that it's worth paying that bit extra for quality but it's not stupidly expensive - I'd say as a conventional bike it would be in the £500 - £600 bracket. Inevitably it's got a few rust spots on some of the fastenings but the majority of the bike is rust-free. The wheels have remained completely true with no sign of spoke failures. The paintwork is completely unmarked, even where I use a U-lock (though paint is rubbed off the crank arms as you'd expect). It doesn't rattle, creak or squeak. It rides smoothly and quietly.
I can't compare the STEPS system with any other crank drive as I haven't ridden one, but it has been utterly flawless. I ride it in High mode most of the time and it makes for a cracking bike in traffic. I do find sometimes that if I put a lot of effort in myself in a low gear (I'm a reasonably strong cyclist and in good health) it can briefly cut out, but I think that's by design - you get used to it and ride accordingly (it doesn't happen in Med or Low).
The drive system behaves the same way as it always has done and makes the same noises - most of my bikes have got through bottom brackets quite quickly and I hope and pray this isn't an issue with this bike but so far it's looking good (it's the reason I ditched the Giant, the bottom bracket failed and it was a bespoke design).
I've been getting around 1000 miles out of a chain, which I think is good for a crank-drive bike ridden in a seaside environment. I'm now on my third chain and second cassette at 2000 miles. One issue here though is that a standard 116-link chain isn't quite long enough, and longer chains tend to be expensive with a lot of wasted links (e.g. KMC ebike chain at £30). The cassette is 11t to 36t and I don't think it really needs such a low first gear so I might replace it with an 11 - 32, not a big difference but enough to work with a standard chain. (I've got round it by adjusting the stop screw so it only uses ratios 2 - 10). None of this is a fault, just a bit frustrating.
I've replaced the front brake pads recently, standard Shimano stuff and no problems.
There are two issues with the lights - on the front one the wiring was too tight so would come out when I turned the bars - easily fixed, and I've silicon glued the plug as well. The problem at the rear isn't the light as such, but it gets in the way of pannier clips making it hard to use certain panniers.
Finally - the original rear tyre was rubbing against the underside of the rack mounting (it sits inside the mudguard) when wet because it would pick up bits of grit. I simply fitted a slightly smaller tyre and it's been fine since.
I would happily ride a hub-drive bike of similar quality, for conditions in Blackpool both are absolutely fine - I just need my bikes to be dependable with just routine servicing, and too many bikes need too much looking after. This one approaches car levels of availability - nothing has failed unexpectedly.
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Overall Rating (out of 10) : 9
