The Diamondback name has been around forever, and lately the company has been upping the ante on their higher-end offerings. They introduced the Knuckle Box suspension system in 2009 and since have produced a full line of bikes featuring the design.
From Diamondback: “The Knuckle Box, or Bell Crank, is Diamondback’s single-pivot four-bar suspension platform. The ideally placed pivots create a low leverage ratio which creates superior pedaling efficiency and small bump compliance.”
The Weight
My Scapegoat tipped the scales at 32.2 pounds, stock. Not bad for a bike with full-on DH wheels and a 180mm fork, but given the high-end build, I was expecting it to be lighter. The bulk lies in the frame. Diamondback essentially took the Scapegoat’s little brother, the Mission, and overbuilt it, adding a burlier downtube and reinforcements needed for lift-served DH laps.
With little effort, I got the ‘Goat down to 30.7 pounds by swapping the single-ply Kenda 2.5 tires and DH tubes for some Maxxis 2.35s with XC tubes, and adding Crankbros Candy 2 pedals in place of the platforms it came with.
The Ride: Initial Impressions
This bike is stiff, silent, and does not like to climb up hills. I constantly feel like I’m falling off the rear end and fighting to keep the front wheel down.
However, when you do manage to claw your way to the top, the Scapegoat will not disappoint on the descent. The stiff 142x12mm thru-axle keeps the rear end tracking on target, perfectly suited for a bike marketed as a “Gravity/Park” machine. It feels like a mini-DH bike when you get it moving: very stable at high speed, smashes through rocks, and corners really, really well. Props to Diamondback for keeping the linkage and center of gravity low.
The flip side of the equation is getting the blue beast to the top. Pedaling performance has not impressed me. Coming off the Giant Reign’s Maestro-two link design, where the chain tension works with the suspension for added traction in the climbs, the Knuckle Box’s single-pivot seems to fight the rear end under pedaling forces. You can feel the pedal feedback when powering over obstacles. During seated climbs, even with the DHX Air Pro-Pedal engaged, the bike bobs significantly more than my old Reign.
I’m still struggling to set up the Fox suspension exactly how I’d like. Diamondback claims the Knuckle Box has superior small bump compliance, something I have yet to experience. I can get the rear damper to “comply” to small bumps, but in doing so, I lose all pedaling performance. It seems to be the classic give-take scenario DHX’s are known for.
So far, the Scapegoat has proven its worth on fast, rocky descents and cornering. It’s taken me more time to get things set up the way I like, and I’m still struggling to get the DHX feeling right. This bike has lots of potential, and I hope to figure out how to balance things out to make it go up as well as it does down. And the spec parts Diamondback hung on this are certainly a draw to “get the ‘Goat.”
Stay tuned for a full review as I continue to tweak things and put the bike through its paces.
You can now read Eric’s full review of the Scapegoat.
I also have the Goat you have here and having lots of experience with DB bikes (mission, sortie) in the past, I have set it up to what I consider to be a more all around package. I took off the Fox 180 and put on a Marzocchi 55 RC3 Ti 160 to lower the front end, which REALLY helped it climb. To get the HA back to where it was I installed a set of offset bushings in the rear shock. This will do wonders to this bike. In order to get the front end down a bit you can also put spacers in that Fox 180 to lower it by 10mm increments. Having had RP23’s on my other DB bikes, I found that the DHX was way to linear for the knuckle box design. I bought a RP23 on ebay that came off of a Mission and swapped it out with the DHX, and that also greatly helped the pedaling and mid stroke support of the rear end, while in my opinion, also helped the small bump compliance. It is now basically a slacked out Mission with a burlier downtube. I love it for everything now! Good luck!
P.S. I just installed a Works angle adjustable headset to get the HA to 65 degrees and it still climbs well. It has to do with the height of the fork and the height of the BB. If the BB is to high it will feel wandery. With my current set up the actual BB height is 13.7.