What do you guys think of Scott bikes?

Homer Jay

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 21, 2020
15
1
I’ve been looking at a Scott Axis eRide Evo

Link

Its one of a very few fully equipped bikes on the market with full suspension, which is what I’m looking for. I know that they‘re a well known brand, but I have no idea if they’re reliable or well made etc. How does the quality compare to a Cube?

Any help / comments welcome!
 

GLJoe

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 21, 2017
852
407
UK
I’ve been looking at a Scott Axis eRide Evo

Link

Its one of a very few fully equipped bikes on the market with full suspension, which is what I’m looking for. I know that they‘re a well known brand, but I have no idea if they’re reliable or well made etc. How does the quality compare to a Cube?

Any help / comments welcome!
Scott make high end gear. I'm not aware that they are any less reliable or less well made than other high end bikes.

Cube however also seem to pump out very well specced and put together bikes. I wouldn't say there is much between them. (other than Cube are often a little better value, unless you get last years model Scott, when they are often heavily discounted ... or at least they were pre world wide meltdown)

Put it like this, if I had to buy one or the other, the decision would be down to the specifications of the bike and the price (and maybe the location of the dealer for support) rather then fretting over which one is more reliable or well made than the other.
And yes ... I've owned e-bikes from both brands myself.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
15,973
6,292
when i got my top of the range haibike the fkn bolts would auto undo on the rear triangle and the main pivot point bolt lost one of those fkn £30 for 1 new one now fixed with lock tight.

when you buy say a scott bike the warranty is just for the frame from that company so get the bike with the best spec you want forks sus wheels and groupset.
 

Scorpio

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 13, 2020
357
161
Portugal Algarve (temporary)
Scott make high end gear. I'm not aware that they are any less reliable or less well made than other high end bikes.

Cube however also seem to pump out very well specced and put together bikes. I wouldn't say there is much between them. (other than Cube are often a little better value, unless you get last years model Scott, when they are often heavily discounted ... or at least they were pre world wide meltdown)
^ Good advice. I bought a new bike (pre E-bikes) about 10 years ago, Cube were very high on my list until I found a high spec Scott on sale as it was the previous years model. It's now converted to E-bike and parked about 10 ft away from me - I like it a lot, but I'm sure I'd also have been happy with a Cube.
 

Bonzo Banana

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2019
733
428
I’ve been looking at a Scott Axis eRide Evo

Link

Its one of a very few fully equipped bikes on the market with full suspension, which is what I’m looking for. I know that they‘re a well known brand, but I have no idea if they’re reliable or well made etc. How does the quality compare to a Cube?

Any help / comments welcome!
Cube and Scott are just brands, the bikes come from Asia pretty much and the factory used may vary by price point and year. High end models often come from Taiwan but lower end models might come from Bangladesh or similar. How much you pay determines how good a factory they can use.

If you buy from a brand that is actually a manufacturer like Giant or Merida then you will probably have more consistent quality. Always worth checking the maximum weight rating and warranty of each brand as this can vary enormously and you often find brands that regularly swop factories are more conservative with weight limits and warranties.

I know Cube have used some pretty low end factories in Bangladesh and I think Scott is owned by a Korean company with has strong manufacturing interests in Bangladesh too.


Personally I don't see the point of such brands you are basically paying for profits twice, once for the factory and once for the importer. Also such brands often do heavy marketing and sponsorship to push their brand's products to get consumers to forget the price premium. I always looks for the best value deals based on the components and overall specification rather than just price. I'd only really consider Cube or Scott if heavily discounted typically in an end of season sale.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: cyclebuddy

GLJoe

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 21, 2017
852
407
UK
Cube and Scott are just brands...
Personally I don't see the point of such brands you are basically paying for profits twice, once for the factory and once for the importer. Also such brands often do heavy marketing and sponsorship to push their brand's products to get consumers to forget the price premium. I always looks for the best value deals based on the components and overall specification rather than just price. I'd only really consider Cube or Scott if heavily discounted typically in an end of season sale.
Another side of the argument would be to consider that because Cube and Scott are such large companies, they often have very good R&D facilities, so you have a good chance of getting a very balanced (cutting edge even), up to date package in terms of components and geometry.
Plus, a large percentage of the total cost of the bike is made up of the components, which have to be bought in. So they are able to negotiate a significant discount from the likes of Shimano or Sram.
So yes, I'm sure you do pay somewhat for the marketing etc, but I suspect you are clawing that back to some extent - although I have a feeling that depends on the company - Specialized for example always seem to offer very low 'value for money' when doing a like for like comparison, and don't get me wrong, I do REALLY like a lot of their bikes, but they do seem to milk their brand image, and most of the general public are fairly clueless. They see the name 'Specialized' and just assume it means its better than most other brands.
Its made me chuckle a number of times when I'm out cycling with the other half and kids look at her bike, see the name on the frame, and cry out with admiration "Whoa ... its a TREK!!"
Guess marketing works :)
(but regardless ... all the Trek bikes I've owned or ridden have also been VERY nice bikes !)
 

Bonzo Banana

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2019
733
428
Another side of the argument would be to consider that because Cube and Scott are such large companies, they often have very good R&D facilities, so you have a good chance of getting a very balanced (cutting edge even), up to date package in terms of components and geometry.
Plus, a large percentage of the total cost of the bike is made up of the components, which have to be bought in. So they are able to negotiate a significant discount from the likes of Shimano or Sram.
So yes, I'm sure you do pay somewhat for the marketing etc, but I suspect you are clawing that back to some extent - although I have a feeling that depends on the company - Specialized for example always seem to offer very low 'value for money' when doing a like for like comparison, and don't get me wrong, I do REALLY like a lot of their bikes, but they do seem to milk their brand image, and most of the general public are fairly clueless. They see the name 'Specialized' and just assume it means its better than most other brands.
Its made me chuckle a number of times when I'm out cycling with the other half and kids look at her bike, see the name on the frame, and cry out with admiration "Whoa ... its a TREK!!"
Guess marketing works :)
(but regardless ... all the Trek bikes I've owned or ridden have also been VERY nice bikes !)
I think both Cube and Scott have used Giant for some of the high end bicycles and you pay a premium of something like 30% over the equivalent Giant model. My point is Cube and Scott are not the actual manufacturer so they wouldn't negotiate discounts from SRAM or Shimano the actual manufacturer would.

They might have designers that come up with up with frame styles and paintwork and they may tailor geometry and then they hand that information to the manufacturer who has to do all the actual engineering, prototyping and certification of that design however for Cube's entry level models I'm pretty sure they just use the factory's off the shelf frame designs. Most of the big manufacturers have a huge portfolio of frame designs which the importers select from.

The biggest OEM supplier is fuji-ta they make more bikes than anyone I think today and dominate aluminium frame production where as for steel and carbon fibre they are still big players.


Site takes a long time to load at times but you can see some of their designs but then factor in they only show one frame size of each model and you have tweaks that can be made to the geometry and every single component can vary to what the importer wants, you literally have millions of variations of what you can buy from that factory. A huge number of brands are made there. You can see on their current video Specialised and Bianchi in the background and Cannondale and the dorel group uses them a lot. Halfords have used them as have most of the big brands who don't have any factories themselves or merely assemble bikes from Chinese parts.

Take for example this design, on the world market it is sold as a Dahon (I forget the model) but you can clearly see which Dahon it resembles. My point is pretty much all the engineering is done by the manufacturer not the importers. You could find a fuji-ta bicycle design and sell it as your own into Europe. You could make bold claims about how you designed it etc and then slap your own brand on but really it is 99.9% engineered by the manufacturer not importer. If I go into a bakery and ask for a cake with chocolate icing and a picture of a cat on it does that make me the baker? If go in and get a tailor made suite does that make me the tailor?

Pretty much all bikes are engineered, certified and manufactured in Asia nowadays and even for very high end bikes those still have some components sourced from Asia mainly Taiwan. You also get assembly plants that import the parts but do final assembly in Europe or the USA but those are assembly plants and often you find only a small proportion of their bikes they assemble themselves. The more you pay for the bike or ebike the more likely it can have local assembly to you.

My point is buying from an importer especially a brand that sells through local independent bicycle dealers and spends a lot on marketing and sponsorship means a much higher margin is required to allow for more profit for multiple parties etc.

If I buy from Halfords they buy directly from the factory and sell directly in their stores with an extremely high volume of sales meaning a very competitive price. If I buy from a direct seller they buy directly from the factory but retail directly themselves. Those can offer much better bikes at a lower price compared to the famous brands.

 
  • Informative
Reactions: PC2017 and Scorpio

AndyBike

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 8, 2020
1,126
491

Less than £4000 just for comparison.

Personally I would take the Cube any day, that's just me though.
+1
I did seriously consider the Scott axis, but then spent a bit of time(took loads of time) researching other brands and Cube comes out at pretty much best spec for buck. Not the top spec, but certainly good for the money.
My fun bike will probably be a Cube when I get around to buying it.
 

Homer Jay

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 21, 2020
15
1
Thanks guys, I decided to go for something else instead, thanks for the advice!
 

AndyBike

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 8, 2020
1,126
491
I was going to originally buy the axis and then thought maybe a focus was better but in the end I opted for the Scott genius eride 920.
Its a blast. And while its made somewhere in the world pretty much everything is, which is hardly a reason to slate one company over another.
Even the heavily reviewed woosh or other add on kits are far eastern made.

My Scott is a blast. Bombroof all mountain.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Fat Rat

Related Articles

Advertisers