I have xtrada 6, and everything has been really good, except wheels. Rear was coming untrue after every ride, but once i trued it and tensioned al spokes, it was all good. Oh, and also, rear freehub. I can't undo rear casette and freehub has play, but I'll be sending it back for a warranty replacement. I also broke my front wheel in a big crash, but i will be replacing it with more sturdy 30mm rims and dt swiss 350 hub that I'll be lacing together. So far, if you don't mind rear hub, bike has been really good. Been on to rocky trails, big drops to flat (1.5m - 4.5 feet) and also hard riding. It has survived everything, and I think it is great value!
For people considering this bike. You can buy the 2021 xtrada 6 in a sand color for 800 while this mint green 2022 is 900. Or you can spend 20 dollars more for the 2021 xtrada 7 which is orgse which has a 12 speed drivetrain, boost thru axles front and rear and a suntour xcr air fork. I would spend that extra 20 bucks and grt an xtrada 7
Quite a few wheel sets either come with or you purchase sepetatly, end caps to support QR axles. You can also get wheels built up. You don't need to buy off the shelf factory buoy wheels. Call around to a few of your local shops to see what they charge to lace up a wheel set.
I got one of these for my son when he was 10, and it's been great. The 7 wasn't available here. Straight away he got new alloy pedals and lock-on grips, and a comfier seat out of my spares bin. Went tubeless somewhere along the way. After a few months I got him some Judy forks and 180mm discs font and rear, and a wider Minion front tyre. There's honestly nothing on this bike that would let the average beginner down. I got it knowing there would be a few upgrades along the way, but nothing was unexpected or particularly expensive. He's absolutely ripping it up now and I can justify something better for him. Likely a T7, and I'll give him bits off my T8 as I continue to upgrade. There's no way we'll get rid of the Xtrada though, it's a brilliant wee bike, super light with smooth components and good brakes, perfect for ripping down the shops and running around town. He's also got heaps of stickers from the local bike shops to make it _way_ faster than stock. And quite a few bits of unnecessary but mandatory anodised bike bling, mostly acid green, and a few bits of gold. Pretty fancy.
I've subscribed to this channel because your contents are very wholesome, it's very informative and gives me ideas to what to put on my mtb, I wish good luck on your channel...
i put a box four deraileur on my axum and i ahvent had the chain come off onec it is definitely the best bang for that buck and you are supporting an awesome company
Bought one of these for my wife last Christmas. I put a dropper on it from PNW. I put Maxxis tires on it because the Entity tires were junk. I upgraded her pedals and grips right away. I thought I would want to upgrade the fork but honestly the suntour coil fork is really fine. She ways about 100lbs so doesn't demand a lot from the fork. If I were riding this bike @ 220lbs I'd 100% put a different fork on it.
Before I was able to procure my Ragley Big Al, I was going to grab one of these BUT the 27.2 is a Deal breaker. I have been running droppers on all my bikes since 2014. I mentioned this to them in 2020 on their IG post and they said they would speak to Polygon about it. But now the new bikes are here and no change. Strange that the FS bikes have the bigger seat tube. Entry level shouldn't mean "dead end".The frame has so many other good things about it. A good frame can be upgraded over time. Same with the Xtrada 7. Even with the thru axle rear, it still suffers from 27.2 seat tube. Great Vid Evan!
Great content! I'm on a gt aggressor pro that I've pretty much maxed out on upgrades at this point cant do too much more to a hardtail that's non tapered and qr. Rip. i don't see too many differences between the xtrada and my upgraded gt outside of me having a Judy (great fork for the money). Great buy and even better gear range on the xtrada. Cant wait to bite the bullet in a year or two and go for a decent full suspension. Great video!
Definitely bite the bullet I went from my maxed out aggressor to a 09 s works enduro and slapped on full modern parts and now I keep up with brand new bikes on the dh. 26” wheels on the climbs suck tho
I've had mine for about 4 months now, the bike was great though the rear hub bent within two weeks and the bottom bracket is super noisy. Overall, i have no other complaints and ive had a ton of fun with this bike!
I thought my bottom bracket was super noisy too. But it ended up being my quick release axle in the back. I tried loosening it a little (it was very difficult to undo the quick release). Once I did that and reassembled it, the noise that I thought was coming from the bottom bracket went away. May be worth a try. I didn't grease it, but I may do that next
i see the upsides/downsides. I had a qr axle break on my marlin 5 but i’m glad it comes with a nice drivetrain. seeing the nucleus go up so much in price, i think this is a great deal
Honestly really suprised with the weight of this bike especially with a coil fork as stock. Definitely a super solid bike, also most thru axle hubs can be converted to QR pretty easily and cheaply if the hubs are the correct width
That bike seems like a blatant scam to me, i find it odd that for around half the price i bought my bike in the uk (voodoo hoodoo) with practically the same specs. Is there a reason why bikes are so expensive in America?
@@mazdarx-8rotary.97 well when did you buy your bike and are you going by usd? With the bike shortage right it's really not bad for the spec it comes with
Well the thinner rims and 27.2 post diameter is a con, this is a xc oriented bike according to polygons description on the website so those tradeoffs aren't the worst thing in the world. Also xc riders tend to run shorter droppers fully extended so it's not to big of a deal, but I have a 34 inch inseam so it's a big deal for me and many other riders out there.
I have the xtrada 5, and im building it out. I already put rockshox judy rl forks and a pnw rainer dropper on it. I need a new drive train, as i have already wore it out
I've got the Xtrada 7 and I love it, but with only a $200 difference between the 6 and the 7, and you get thru axles, 30mm internal rims, and an air fork, it seems a little oddly spaced. At that price point to me being so close in price, for those three upgrade points it makes sense to choose the 7 every time over the 6. At this point though, I've upgraded a lot of the bike: - Versus Tires front and back - PNW Handlebar + Loam Grips - PNW Dropper Post + Lever - Stan's Flow MK4 Rim (Rear rim taco'd on me, and you can't buy a replacement entity rim) - Deity Deftrap Pedals One thing I'll say though is that the saddle is great!
The neucleus vr is actually 1088 bucks with shipping taxes and everything to the USA so you might as well get the 2022 xtrada 7 for 1099 with better drivetrain brakes cranks or get the 2021 model for 920 dollars which is the same as the 2022 as mentioned above
nice..i forgot you have the nucleus vr,i have the vrs its 799 i think when i got it so if i compare it to this bike,the vrs has air fork with 120 travel,deore drivetrain but 1x10..hmmm but now the vrs price just went crazy high…nice ride man and video,cant wait for more videos of you riding this one..
I have the xtrada 7 and it has thru-axles and 30mm wheels. So far my only complaint is the the seat post diameter. I have the PNW Rainier which works great, but I’d prefer more travel.
I bought my son a 24" Polygon Relic Evo and was very impressed with the packing and overall quality of the bike/value. That is a bummer that the Xtrada has QR wheels as wheel upgrades offer some of the most impressive performance gains. If you did want to upgrade you'd probably have to do a custom wheelset, maybe lace new rims to the OEM hubs. Other than that, if you upgrade to a quality airfork that would be a killer starter hardtail. Under $1K is a great value.
👌nice rig for the price, I can't believe decent budget bikes are still coming stock with QR axles, had to upgrade my rear hub on the vitus nucleus, the free hub body is rubbish.
The orbea laufy for its price is extremely good as a beginning / advanced user all round bike. It has room for future upgrades that won't outdate the bike, dropper , room for fork travel changes I think 140-160. Hydro brakes in a decent rotorvsize , decent wheels and drive train etc. Lookingbat it as a long term investment literally all it'd need is your choice of tyres and pedals on n it'd be more than enough for most people
I'm very sad that the Nucleus has gone up in price so much, plus thr extra shipping, it's almost double the original price not including shipping! The Nucleus was my first pick for my next, bigger bike, because of its good components and very attractive price. I really hope that the price will come down eventually. Now my second vest budget pick is the Giant Talon, the $680 one with the great MicroShift Advent (9 speed 1x), but the biggest, glaring flaw with that bike is the fork. Nowadays, companies are going longer and longer in travel, but in the XS and S frame sizes, you get an 80mm fork. Yes, I repeat, a freaking 80mm travel fork!! Thats 2/3 of the travel of the Nucleus and the above Polygon. But you know me, if I get that bike, it'll get a 10]mm air fork eventually. My current budget hardtail has a SR Suntor XCM, 100mm, so even after a fork upgrade the Giant still would have equal travel to my current bike and less than the 2 other mentioned bikes (going 120mm on the Giant would mess up the geometry and stress the frame too much). Great vid Evan!
The 2024 polygon xtrada 7 I just ordered one will be here Friday they changed it to 30 mm rims, through axles front and rear except for the front doesn't have boost but that's okay you can buy problem solvers, seems to be a better bike except for they still have the 27.2 mm sheet post to but that's okay with me there is a dropper you can run
I've got an xtrada 5 that I've been pretty happy with, so far just.some cockpit tweaks for fit. The tires that came on mine are Deli Mizt, which have the most flashing left over on them that I've ever seen. Looks like my tires have mohawks. I think the flashing might outlast the knobbies lol
For running a tubeless setup how do I know which valve stem to get I know there's like three different ones? Thank you man I like your videos a lot they're very helpful🎉🎉
Yhe nice things: Nice shifting Deore cassette, a Deore Rd with clutch tha tcan be disabled, The nic etching with these brakes is the reach adjustment won't effect the power/how far the piston is pressed, so does not matter if you have short or long fingers you have the same power unline Deore with servoeave if it was you would have usless brakes if you had short fingers and powerful brakes with long fingers, cus piston can't be pressed as far cus there is no freestroke to counter act the servo wave mechanism. I too would prefer tru axle.
Wow i looked it up and this looks incredible! Definitely gonna hit this later this week. Didn't know such a cool place existed. Thanks for getting back to me. I just got back into mountain biking a few months ago so I'm exploring. White Tanks have given me the most enjoyment so far. Damn beautiful over there. Sunrise mountain is the closest proper trail so I find myself riding that most often. I like to ride street around Peoria and the new river trail. If you have any other trail recommendations, I'd love to hear them. Glad to stumble across your channel. Happy trails!
I have the xtrada 7. Nice frame but the air suntour fork was heavy and bad so I changed it for a Fox34. Changed the brakes to XT and the tires to 2.2 and 2.3 contis (cross king and mountain king). I also added a Rainer dropper post with 125mm of travel.
@@EvansMTBSaga thanks. Originally I planned on getting a RS Reba (so I would not have to change the hub) but instead I got a 34 performance e-bike at Jenson for around 630 dollars and bought an SLX hub. The kashima was way out of my budget. I also changed the handlebar to a race face carbon and the stem to a race face turbine that I got out of my devinci troy. It was supposed to be a budget bike but not anymore hehe. Evidently I also replaced the grips for ODI Rogues.
Nice, like I told @cure cycle, I've been putting my eye on this one, is the HT version of the D6 I had purchased for my wife. But need to sell a couple HT I have to make room for it
Great video. I'm looking at the xtrada 7 which also has an air fork but I've read that it's not great. Is it going to be an issue upgrading forks on these bikes and wheels?
I think so because it's hard to find a good fork with a quick release. If you're only going to upgrade with a $300 fork, then the Xtrada 6 can work. Any fork costing more than $300 will have a through axle and then you'd have to swap hubs or front wheel
I've had a pretty bad crash because a quick release axle came loose during a ride (it was tight when i left that day), the wheel flew out if the frame in a fast berm, did not end wel
If you build your own wheels, QR is not a problem. You can still buy XT m8000 QR hubs for $75 a set. I still ride two 26" QR bikes. Most of the standards changes benefit bike companies more than riders.
I've never had a quick release skewer come loose but I tightened mine correctly bu tive worked on other people's bikes, I've seen spring son one side mad eibto a spagetti jammed into the dropout, qr on wrong side, and loose. So defenitly not fool proof. Some also lose the springs. A common mistake is to just spin the qr lever until it stops. But tru axle is easier to get right. For me both are quite easy. But issue sive experienced on bad hubs were loose cones, bearings wear hub axle bends, so you might think wheel is going to fall off, off even if it's not, not cus it's secured properly with the skewer lever. But the hub was a really ba dhub, it was FH-M475 they don't even have seals. So I wish that hub was gone from the market, but I see alot of bikes with these hubs, it's a very common hub, very common compromise. But that's for 135mm drop out bikes. A compromise many bikes have is the hub, but hub engagement is important, many low budget bikes have so bad engagement it's annoying. But the Nukeproof wheels you got have good engagement.
My buddy wanted to get into mtb but the nucleus's were all sold out. Biggest issue I saw with the polygon was the 27.2mm seat post. I had the same thing on my 2017 Marin. It just limits you so much on droppers. I can't imagine doing less than 150mm these days. Man last year the nucleus had a 120mm fork, front thru axle, and lower price. The bike shortage sucks. Shit $950 right now vs $650 last summer. Almost a 50% price increase. Bro $150 shipping?? It used to be $60 and they always had a $20 off code for new customers. That sucks to hear. I love my Mythique and someone in my family has last years nucleus and loves it. The qr doesn't suck from wheels falling out. It just feels janky. Also if you don't get it to a really similar tension, I've had brake pad rub then you need to re center the rotor. It's like dropper vs standard seat. It's not that the old was bad or didn't work, the new is just all around better and you wouldn't want to go back.
@@bobvelting379 I'll keep that in mind for the future. Luckily he was able to find a giant talon in a shop not too far away. Those marlins keep looking better every year.
@@dylan-5287 yup trek is killing it with the budget-friendly and capable bikes this year. giants are also very nice bikes for the money. I got a trek top fuel incoming (but bike shortage is bad here in the EU so it will be coming somewhere in 2023)
Picked up this bike for my son on first ride realized there's significant amount of travel before engagement from The hub so we're looking for an upgrade that would work with this bike? Or even maybe a new wheel set with a more responsive hub
I have an Xtrada 6 2021 and I didn't know that the wheels are tubeless ready, I must try run tubeless. Also the wheels are very weak I already have some dents.
I’m from New England with his tons of granite slabs rocks and crazy roots. It looks so weird to see dry desert with cactuses and she could fall on and be stabbed multiple times with.
Vitus , nukeproof , and a couple others are all pretty much owned by Chain reaction / wiggle and Hotlines Europe (all 3 company's owned by being the same company pretty much) they put a lot of prices up due to imports or brexit etc at silly rates like £400-500 per bikes on some ones.
@@sebomel4298 Those QR boost bikes are the worst. can only get stuff like the DT hubs to fit in them no Shimano or decent quality budget hubs (at least in The Netherlands) and no secondhand options whatsoever unless you also get a boost TA fork and find a boost wheelset.
somthing confused me you said you were going to get the 2022 version when you replied to me. are you talking about the 2022 version of the vitus neucleus
A ghost nirvana tour base is also an incredible deal, 800$ new, comes with a full sx eagle 12s drivetrain, 120mm xcr air fork, mt200 brakes, a pretty nice frame, mt400 hub..
@@franament7075 Depends what you're going to use it for.. The ghost is more of an cross country bike according to the website, but I'd personally buy the xtrada for trail riding
Could you please review the Rocky mountain Soul 10? I would like to know your thoughts. Thank you :) Or the Soul 20. I think they are the same frame and almost the same parts
Nice video Evan but I’m sad because this isn’t a D7 video. I guess there isn’t much more you can do with the D7 upgrade wise. You should do a hub comparison. Get like 6 hubs and test them out on the nuke proof wheels. You like spoke lacing right?
i keep thinking on what frame to look for but i saw a frame that has changable dropouts you can change it from qr to thru axle its mountainpeak ninja 2 i think
5:54 why did you get this in a medium? Is this for your wife to ride or somthing. I thought you said the large on the d7 was a good fit for you so why didn't you go large on the xtrada
I want a nice fat tire both in the back and front so there's some cushioning. Do you think I can buy a 2.3 or 2.4 in tire for this bike. I am little worried these tires might be too big for the rims.
I don't understand why any manufacturer isn't making all frames boost. The 7 is boost... seems like it would cost more to make 2 different frames. They could still use the cheaper components just adapt it back to QR stuff for the budget models. Then offer nicer wheels and thru axel as an upgrade down the road. Get some of that sweet sweet aftermarket cash. It should also be a law that all 27.5 wheels start at no less than 30mm internal.
i have another color of the xtrada 6 but i'm not sure that the wheels are compatible for tubeless ready but the model of the bike is 2022 and have the maxxis like your bike. do you know something about it?
Pretty reliable bike I'd say! Has a nice upright position and very reliable drivetrain. I don't know if bike packing needs a dropper post but I'd assume not. The tires are awesome but if you're trekking long distances over rough terrain you might need a tougher tire
One tier above is the xtrada 7 with thru axles, air fork, 30mm internal width rims and a 12 speed deore m6100 drivetrain for just $100 more
that sounds like a no brainer, 100$s is very much worth the upgrade
Make sure you're comparing the same year models. A 2022 Xtrada 7 is $200 more than a 2022 Xtrada 6.
@@sporadic29414 still worth it IMO. The 2021 Xtrada 7 is still better than the 2022 xtrada 6
@@miguelfragoso7023 yes, but the 2021 being out of production is not available in all sizes.
@@miguelfragoso7023 agreed
I have an Xtrada 5 & it has done great on the trails. I added a PNW Coast suspension dropper & it was money well spent!
Great video, this is one of my favorite channels to watch.
I love your videos! the quality gets better and better. Keep it up man
I have xtrada 6, and everything has been really good, except wheels. Rear was coming untrue after every ride, but once i trued it and tensioned al spokes, it was all good. Oh, and also, rear freehub. I can't undo rear casette and freehub has play, but I'll be sending it back for a warranty replacement. I also broke my front wheel in a big crash, but i will be replacing it with more sturdy 30mm rims and dt swiss 350 hub that I'll be lacing together. So far, if you don't mind rear hub, bike has been really good. Been on to rocky trails, big drops to flat (1.5m - 4.5 feet) and also hard riding. It has survived everything, and I think it is great value!
For people considering this bike. You can buy the 2021 xtrada 6 in a sand color for 800 while this mint green 2022 is 900. Or you can spend 20 dollars more for the 2021 xtrada 7 which is orgse which has a 12 speed drivetrain, boost thru axles front and rear and a suntour xcr air fork. I would spend that extra 20 bucks and grt an xtrada 7
Quite a few wheel sets either come with or you purchase sepetatly, end caps to support QR axles.
You can also get wheels built up. You don't need to buy off the shelf factory buoy wheels. Call around to a few of your local shops to see what they charge to lace up a wheel set.
Yea. I have a really good report with our local bike shop. He "sponsors" me for races. Hes buily me 2 wheels already for my xtrada 5
I've been looking to buy a new bike lately and this is one of the options, this video helped alot thanks man!
I got one of these for my son when he was 10, and it's been great. The 7 wasn't available here.
Straight away he got new alloy pedals and lock-on grips, and a comfier seat out of my spares bin.
Went tubeless somewhere along the way.
After a few months I got him some Judy forks and 180mm discs font and rear, and a wider Minion front tyre.
There's honestly nothing on this bike that would let the average beginner down. I got it knowing there would be a few upgrades along the way, but nothing was unexpected or particularly expensive.
He's absolutely ripping it up now and I can justify something better for him.
Likely a T7, and I'll give him bits off my T8 as I continue to upgrade.
There's no way we'll get rid of the Xtrada though, it's a brilliant wee bike, super light with smooth components and good brakes, perfect for ripping down the shops and running around town.
He's also got heaps of stickers from the local bike shops to make it _way_ faster than stock. And quite a few bits of unnecessary but mandatory anodised bike bling, mostly acid green, and a few bits of gold. Pretty fancy.
I've subscribed to this channel because your contents are very wholesome, it's very informative and gives me ideas to what to put on my mtb, I wish good luck on your channel...
Great to see the Rockbros pedals on show, such a bargain! I've got aluminium versions for my bike and they were about the same money! ridiculous!
Watched a few vids and I think this channel deserves a sub
i put a box four deraileur on my axum and i ahvent had the chain come off onec it is definitely the best bang for that buck and you are supporting an awesome company
Bought one of these for my wife last Christmas. I put a dropper on it from PNW. I put Maxxis tires on it because the Entity tires were junk. I upgraded her pedals and grips right away.
I thought I would want to upgrade the fork but honestly the suntour coil fork is really fine. She ways about 100lbs so doesn't demand a lot from the fork. If I were riding this bike @ 220lbs I'd 100% put a different fork on it.
I followed at 500 its amazing to see that your Is channel growing
Before I was able to procure my Ragley Big Al, I was going to grab one of these BUT the 27.2 is a Deal breaker. I have been running droppers on all my bikes since 2014. I mentioned this to them in 2020 on their IG post and they said they would speak to Polygon about it. But now the new bikes are here and no change. Strange that the FS bikes have the bigger seat tube. Entry level shouldn't mean "dead end".The frame has so many other good things about it. A good frame can be upgraded over time. Same with the Xtrada 7. Even with the thru axle rear, it still suffers from 27.2 seat tube. Great Vid Evan!
PNW Rainier 3 dropper. Problem solved
It still has the 27.2 size seat post but the 2024 also has through axles front and rear I just ordered one man I'll be here Friday
Upgraded my 6 with a rock shox recon fork and some tubeless maxiss tires. Added a dropper and it’s the bees knees
Nice! I want to do all of that on mine too
Hi. I'm looking to get the same bike and I'd like to change the fork. Would you be able to drop a link for the fork you've bought? Thank you so much
The one thing I suggest is get the hubs looked at my polygon premier 5 had hubs that were way too tight
Great content! I'm on a gt aggressor pro that I've pretty much maxed out on upgrades at this point cant do too much more to a hardtail that's non tapered and qr. Rip. i don't see too many differences between the xtrada and my upgraded gt outside of me having a Judy (great fork for the money). Great buy and even better gear range on the xtrada. Cant wait to bite the bullet in a year or two and go for a decent full suspension. Great video!
Definitely bite the bullet I went from my maxed out aggressor to a 09 s works enduro and slapped on full modern parts and now I keep up with brand new bikes on the dh. 26” wheels on the climbs suck tho
Yes you can as long as the headset tube is 44 mm they sell adapter kits that convert non-steer to tapered it's an adapter
0:54 and 0:58 the d7 is just there chilling
I've had mine for about 4 months now, the bike was great though the rear hub bent within two weeks and the bottom bracket is super noisy. Overall, i have no other complaints and ive had a ton of fun with this bike!
I thought my bottom bracket was super noisy too. But it ended up being my quick release axle in the back. I tried loosening it a little (it was very difficult to undo the quick release). Once I did that and reassembled it, the noise that I thought was coming from the bottom bracket went away. May be worth a try.
I didn't grease it, but I may do that next
i see the upsides/downsides. I had a qr axle break on my marlin 5 but i’m glad it comes with a nice drivetrain. seeing the nucleus go up so much in price, i think this is a great deal
Thanks for the review, Arizona too!
Every time I see a video like this, I appreciate my Voodoo Bizango more.
Honestly really suprised with the weight of this bike especially with a coil fork as stock. Definitely a super solid bike,
also most thru axle hubs can be converted to QR pretty easily and cheaply if the hubs are the correct width
That bike seems like a blatant scam to me, i find it odd that for around half the price i bought my bike in the uk (voodoo hoodoo) with practically the same specs. Is there a reason why bikes are so expensive in America?
@@mazdarx-8rotary.97 well when did you buy your bike and are you going by usd? With the bike shortage right it's really not bad for the spec it comes with
@@purplegarage05 yeah i think my bike was around $600
@@purplegarage05 and by similar specs like they are exactly the same spec wise
@@mazdarx-8rotary.97 like i asked before, are you going bu usd because £600 is equal to about $845 usd
Hey Evan, new subscriber after seeing you on the B1ker bar. Sounds like you really know your stuff. I’m gonna watch some more of your videos. Cheers!
Yess evan postedd letss goo great content love the vids
Your been killing it lately man high quality content hopefully you can make this a job your view count is crazy for mtb content
The fact you actually got the bike from bikes online is the biggest bonus...
Sometimes shipping gets delayed, I've experienced that a few times. It's a bummer but the bike will eventually show up!
Love your videos keep up the good work
Great info . Haven’t decided on bike but this helps
Now that looks like our kinda bike👍.
Heck yeah you'd love it. Hope you get one soon!!
ay yo is wolftick squad
Well the thinner rims and 27.2 post diameter is a con, this is a xc oriented bike according to polygons description on the website so those tradeoffs aren't the worst thing in the world. Also xc riders tend to run shorter droppers fully extended so it's not to big of a deal, but I have a 34 inch inseam so it's a big deal for me and many other riders out there.
I have the xtrada 5, and im building it out. I already put rockshox judy rl forks and a pnw rainer dropper on it. I need a new drive train, as i have already wore it out
I've got the Xtrada 7 and I love it, but with only a $200 difference between the 6 and the 7, and you get thru axles, 30mm internal rims, and an air fork, it seems a little oddly spaced. At that price point to me being so close in price, for those three upgrade points it makes sense to choose the 7 every time over the 6.
At this point though, I've upgraded a lot of the bike:
- Versus Tires front and back
- PNW Handlebar + Loam Grips
- PNW Dropper Post + Lever
- Stan's Flow MK4 Rim (Rear rim taco'd on me, and you can't buy a replacement entity rim)
- Deity Deftrap Pedals
One thing I'll say though is that the saddle is great!
How would this compared to a trek merling 6
Is it the factory saddle?? Just ordered the 2024 xtrada 7
I came across this channel on The Biker Bar podcast. Cheers (subbed)
The neucleus vr is actually 1088 bucks with shipping taxes and everything to the USA so you might as well get the 2022 xtrada 7 for 1099 with better drivetrain brakes cranks or get the 2021 model for 920 dollars which is the same as the 2022 as mentioned above
Definately deserving 20k subs even 50k!
sweet evan! seems like a great hard tail
Polygon is nailing it
nice..i forgot you have the nucleus vr,i have the vrs its 799 i think when i got it so if i compare it to this bike,the vrs has air fork with 120 travel,deore drivetrain but 1x10..hmmm but now the vrs price just went crazy high…nice ride man and video,cant wait for more videos of you riding this one..
I have the xtrada 7 and it has thru-axles and 30mm wheels. So far my only complaint is the the seat post diameter. I have the PNW Rainier which works great, but I’d prefer more travel.
I like it. Im 6'2 and have a size large frame, with the pnw rainer 125.
You can get a ranier in like 200mm
@@sethhuber25 125mm is max with 27.2mm
Happy new year’s
Yeah that is a nice bike... have a great day bro
I bought my son a 24" Polygon Relic Evo and was very impressed with the packing and overall quality of the bike/value.
That is a bummer that the Xtrada has QR wheels as wheel upgrades offer some of the most impressive performance gains. If you did want to upgrade you'd probably have to do a custom wheelset, maybe lace new rims to the OEM hubs. Other than that, if you upgrade to a quality airfork that would be a killer starter hardtail. Under $1K is a great value.
For little more cash it's the Xtrada 7 with thru axle and better specs. A good experiment could be to install a 140mm good quality fork... 🤩
👌nice rig for the price, I can't believe decent budget bikes are still coming stock with QR axles, had to upgrade my rear hub on the vitus nucleus, the free hub body is rubbish.
The orbea laufy for its price is extremely good as a beginning / advanced user all round bike. It has room for future upgrades that won't outdate the bike, dropper , room for fork travel changes I think 140-160. Hydro brakes in a decent rotorvsize , decent wheels and drive train etc. Lookingbat it as a long term investment literally all it'd need is your choice of tyres and pedals on n it'd be more than enough for most people
Polygon does really box bikes up well. My Cascade came in a box that FedEx beat up but the bike inside was fine.
As always love it broo,
Just send that to me here in Philippines if you dont want it anymore hahaha
Hey Evans, try to remember me once you hit 1M subscribers
Alright will do! Probably will take forever to get to 1 mil
See you riding down Estrella Mountain Competitive Track. But wondering what trail exactly is the Saga Test Loop. Looks fun
Try a marin, I got one for £700 with internal routing good tyres a 1x 11 nx drivetrain and 120mm air fork rockshox, really good deal
I'm very sad that the Nucleus has gone up in price so much, plus thr extra shipping, it's almost double the original price not including shipping! The Nucleus was my first pick for my next, bigger bike, because of its good components and very attractive price. I really hope that the price will come down eventually. Now my second vest budget pick is the Giant Talon, the $680 one with the great MicroShift Advent (9 speed 1x), but the biggest, glaring flaw with that bike is the fork. Nowadays, companies are going longer and longer in travel, but in the XS and S frame sizes, you get an 80mm fork. Yes, I repeat, a freaking 80mm travel fork!! Thats 2/3 of the travel of the Nucleus and the above Polygon. But you know me, if I get that bike, it'll get a 10]mm air fork eventually. My current budget hardtail has a SR Suntor XCM, 100mm, so even after a fork upgrade the Giant still would have equal travel to my current bike and less than the 2 other mentioned bikes (going 120mm on the Giant would mess up the geometry and stress the frame too much). Great vid Evan!
Dang a chromatic bike? Can’t wait to see the build I’ve always loved chromags. Can’t wait till you hit your mark :)
The 2024 polygon xtrada 7 I just ordered one will be here Friday they changed it to 30 mm rims, through axles front and rear except for the front doesn't have boost but that's okay you can buy problem solvers, seems to be a better bike except for they still have the 27.2 mm sheet post to but that's okay with me there is a dropper you can run
I ride xtrada 6 2020. All doing greats.
I've got an xtrada 5 that I've been pretty happy with, so far just.some cockpit tweaks for fit. The tires that came on mine are Deli Mizt, which have the most flashing left over on them that I've ever seen. Looks like my tires have mohawks. I think the flashing might outlast the knobbies lol
I love your videos the quality is 5/5 bueno.
For running a tubeless setup how do I know which valve stem to get I know there's like three different ones? Thank you man I like your videos a lot they're very helpful🎉🎉
hell yeah new upload >:)
great vid! ur tunes are always cool too . Can you say the tune ur playing at :56 plz? 🎶
i have been dying because i had no more videos to watch because i watched them all
Yhe nice things:
Nice shifting Deore cassette, a Deore Rd with clutch tha tcan be disabled,
The nic etching with these brakes is the reach adjustment won't effect the power/how far the piston is pressed, so does not matter if you have short or long fingers you have the same power unline Deore with servoeave if it was you would have usless brakes if you had short fingers and powerful brakes with long fingers, cus piston can't be pressed as far cus there is no freestroke to counter act the servo wave mechanism.
I too would prefer tru axle.
The xtrada 6 has boost hub spacing so you can use a through axle wheel converted to quick release
0:54 what trail are you riding here?
Im from west side phoenix but i dont really recognize the trail
FINS in Goodyear! What's your main trail system?
Wow i looked it up and this looks incredible! Definitely gonna hit this later this week. Didn't know such a cool place existed.
Thanks for getting back to me. I just got back into mountain biking a few months ago so I'm exploring.
White Tanks have given me the most enjoyment so far. Damn beautiful over there. Sunrise mountain is the closest proper trail so I find myself riding that most often.
I like to ride street around Peoria and the new river trail. If you have any other trail recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
Glad to stumble across your channel. Happy trails!
I have the xtrada 7. Nice frame but the air suntour fork was heavy and bad so I changed it for a Fox34. Changed the brakes to XT and the tires to 2.2 and 2.3 contis (cross king and mountain king). I also added a Rainer dropper post with 125mm of travel.
Dude that sounds like a bad ass bike!! Did you go with the 34s with Kashima?
@@EvansMTBSaga thanks. Originally I planned on getting a RS Reba (so I would not have to change the hub) but instead I got a 34 performance e-bike at Jenson for around 630 dollars and bought an SLX hub. The kashima was way out of my budget. I also changed the handlebar to a race face carbon and the stem to a race face turbine that I got out of my devinci troy. It was supposed to be a budget bike but not anymore hehe. Evidently I also replaced the grips for ODI Rogues.
I'm thinking to buy the Xtrada 7 this month...
Nice, like I told @cure cycle, I've been putting my eye on this one, is the HT version of the D6 I had purchased for my wife. But need to sell a couple HT I have to make room for it
Your vid’s are great
Thanks Eli! That's my youngest son's name!
Great video. I'm looking at the xtrada 7 which also has an air fork but I've read that it's not great. Is it going to be an issue upgrading forks on these bikes and wheels?
I think so because it's hard to find a good fork with a quick release. If you're only going to upgrade with a $300 fork, then the Xtrada 6 can work. Any fork costing more than $300 will have a through axle and then you'd have to swap hubs or front wheel
I've had a pretty bad crash because a quick release axle came loose during a ride (it was tight when i left that day), the wheel flew out if the frame in a fast berm, did not end wel
Berm peak and ur vid same day let's go. Is this replacing the nucleus?
Love it
No hablo mucho el inglés pero es entretenido ver tus videos :)
Gracias!!
If you build your own wheels, QR is not a problem. You can still buy XT m8000 QR hubs for $75 a set. I still ride two 26" QR bikes. Most of the standards changes benefit bike companies more than riders.
I've never had a quick release skewer come loose but I tightened mine correctly bu tive worked on other people's bikes, I've seen spring son one side mad eibto a spagetti jammed into the dropout, qr on wrong side, and loose. So defenitly not fool proof. Some also lose the springs. A common mistake is to just spin the qr lever until it stops. But tru axle is easier to get right. For me both are quite easy. But issue sive experienced on bad hubs were loose cones, bearings wear hub axle bends, so you might think wheel is going to fall off, off even if it's not, not cus it's secured properly with the skewer lever. But the hub was a really ba dhub, it was FH-M475 they don't even have seals. So I wish that hub was gone from the market, but I see alot of bikes with these hubs, it's a very common hub, very common compromise. But that's for 135mm drop out bikes.
A compromise many bikes have is the hub, but hub engagement is important, many low budget bikes have so bad engagement it's annoying. But the Nukeproof wheels you got have good engagement.
My buddy wanted to get into mtb but the nucleus's were all sold out. Biggest issue I saw with the polygon was the 27.2mm seat post. I had the same thing on my 2017 Marin. It just limits you so much on droppers. I can't imagine doing less than 150mm these days.
Man last year the nucleus had a 120mm fork, front thru axle, and lower price. The bike shortage sucks. Shit $950 right now vs $650 last summer. Almost a 50% price increase. Bro $150 shipping?? It used to be $60 and they always had a $20 off code for new customers. That sucks to hear. I love my Mythique and someone in my family has last years nucleus and loves it.
The qr doesn't suck from wheels falling out. It just feels janky. Also if you don't get it to a really similar tension, I've had brake pad rub then you need to re center the rotor. It's like dropper vs standard seat. It's not that the old was bad or didn't work, the new is just all around better and you wouldn't want to go back.
depending on where you are trek might be interesting. I heard that a decent amount of shops in the US have marlins and X-Calibers in stock
@@bobvelting379 I'll keep that in mind for the future. Luckily he was able to find a giant talon in a shop not too far away. Those marlins keep looking better every year.
@@dylan-5287 yup trek is killing it with the budget-friendly and capable bikes this year.
giants are also very nice bikes for the money.
I got a trek top fuel incoming (but bike shortage is bad here in the EU so it will be coming somewhere in 2023)
Picked up this bike for my son on first ride realized there's significant amount of travel before engagement from The hub so we're looking for an upgrade that would work with this bike? Or even maybe a new wheel set with a more responsive hub
I have an Xtrada 6 2021 and I didn't know that the wheels are tubeless ready, I must try run tubeless. Also the wheels are very weak I already have some dents.
I’m from New England with his tons of granite slabs rocks and crazy roots. It looks so weird to see dry desert with cactuses and she could fall on and be stabbed multiple times with.
What Specialized or Trek model is the Xtrada 6 comparable too? I am trying to understand how good a deal this bike is at $900.
Vitus , nukeproof , and a couple others are all pretty much owned by Chain reaction / wiggle and Hotlines Europe (all 3 company's owned by being the same company pretty much) they put a lot of prices up due to imports or brexit etc at silly rates like £400-500 per bikes on some ones.
Bike's ok but too bad frame's non boost. I cant wait for that chromag build. Are you going to start the build soon? Or we need to get to 20k first?
Rear is QR boost. Means you can take boost hub and just swap the end caps. Yeah, not thru axle, but hey, better than anything!
@@sebomel4298 Those QR boost bikes are the worst. can only get stuff like the DT hubs to fit in them no Shimano or decent quality budget hubs (at least in The Netherlands) and no secondhand options whatsoever unless you also get a boost TA fork and find a boost wheelset.
@@bobvelting379 Yeah true, it is hard to find hubs, but you actually have some shimano 141 hubs from 20-50$
Your video are so great keep it up and you will be the new seth bike hack
somthing confused me you said you were going to get the 2022 version when you replied to me. are you talking about the 2022 version of the vitus neucleus
I can’t believe my 2021 $2,500 full sus comes with an entry level drivetrain
A ghost nirvana tour base is also an incredible deal, 800$ new, comes with a full sx eagle 12s drivetrain, 120mm xcr air fork, mt200 brakes, a pretty nice frame, mt400 hub..
Hi I am looking to buy my first mtb and am choosing between xtrada 6 and nirvana tour base. How do they compare and which would you say is better
@@franament7075 Depends what you're going to use it for.. The ghost is more of an cross country bike according to the website, but I'd personally buy the xtrada for trail riding
@@ipexity5041 I ride a mix of light trails and road, hit a few jumps here and there
@@franament7075 Alright, I'd pick the xtrada because I prefer Shimano and also the frame and overall just looks better but the choice is on you
@@franament7075 I just noticed the xtrada has a coil fork, get the ghost if you prefer air forks
Hey evan what cog u using?
Could you please review the Rocky mountain Soul 10? I would like to know your thoughts. Thank you :)
Or the Soul 20. I think they are the same frame and almost the same parts
Nice video Evan but I’m sad because this isn’t a D7 video. I guess there isn’t much more you can do with the D7 upgrade wise. You should do a hub comparison.
Get like 6 hubs and test them out on the nuke proof wheels. You like spoke lacing right?
i keep thinking on what frame to look for but i saw a frame that has changable dropouts you can change it from qr to thru axle its mountainpeak ninja 2 i think
5:54 why did you get this in a medium? Is this for your wife to ride or somthing. I thought you said the large on the d7 was a good fit for you so why didn't you go large on the xtrada
Hey sorry for the late reply. You nailed it. This is my wife’s new bike! I’m so glad I moved to a large. This medium feels so small!
I have a box 4 8spd and I have never had any problems with it
Thanks for these Polygon videos man! Its one of the few new bike brands available in these times in Russia
PS: when is the group meet up ride at the saga test loop?
can you do a video about the Canyon Grand Canyon 5 ?
I want a nice fat tire both in the back and front so there's some cushioning. Do you think I can buy a 2.3 or 2.4 in tire for this bike. I am little worried these tires might be too big for the rims.
I don't understand why any manufacturer isn't making all frames boost. The 7 is boost... seems like it would cost more to make 2 different frames. They could still use the cheaper components just adapt it back to QR stuff for the budget models.
Then offer nicer wheels and thru axel as an upgrade down the road. Get some of that sweet sweet aftermarket cash.
It should also be a law that all 27.5 wheels start at no less than 30mm internal.
i have another color of the xtrada 6 but i'm not sure that the wheels are compatible for tubeless ready but the model of the bike is 2022 and have the maxxis like your bike. do you know something about it?
Hi thx for your review. How do you think this bike will do for a beginner adventure Bikepacker
Pretty reliable bike I'd say! Has a nice upright position and very reliable drivetrain. I don't know if bike packing needs a dropper post but I'd assume not. The tires are awesome but if you're trekking long distances over rough terrain you might need a tougher tire
@@EvansMTBSaga thx although my research just led me to the Kona Unit X which looks awesome but its another $750