Following on from the success of the updated Plasma, Foil and Addict, it was inevitable that a company so heavily involved in off-road cycling should revisit ’cross. The result was a pair of Addict CX bikes, the more affordable 20, and this range-topping Scott Addict CX10.
Much of the money has gone in to creating the frameset, which has a claimed weight of 890g, plus 390g for the fork. It mainly uses Scott’s HMF carbon fibre, with the 20 percent stiffer HMX carbon at critical points to increase rigidity and reduce weight. The resulting 7.64kg weight of our 56cm example is mighty impressive for a disc ’crosser.
The frame’s been beefed up, with a larger head-tube and bottom bracket area, allowing for a large down-tube and chainstays without sacrificing clearance. Scott claims 32 percent more head-tube torsional stiffness and 14 percent greater bottom bracket stiffness, which sounds great, but can you feel it?
Fast off the line
Yes. As if trying to prove that not all carbon ’cross frames are created equal, we took the Addict racing, and even though personal confidence wasn’t high, we moved off the line so effectively that we’d gained eight places before the first corner. There are few better ways to learn about a bike’s qualities than to throw it in to a corner at speed with riders jostling on all sides.
Smooth, progressive, powerful and predictable braking from the SRAM Force 1 hydraulics inspires confidence, and the combination of taut steering and grippy Schwalbe X-One clinchers made for swift but undramatic cornering. Experimenting with entry speed, line and lean angle still failed to find the limits of the rubber, and even a mid-corner kick from a stone failed to deflect the front wheel far before progress resumed.
With clincher pressures as low as we dared, we opened up on every straight. This proved two things, firstly the Addict CX10 takes off like a scared cat and that our lactic threshold was being exceeded. Even without the low-pressure ride tubulars offer, and on dry, bumpy ground, comfort was impressive, the frame’s engineering matching the bump-smoothing qualities of the 27.2mm carbon seatpost, bar and stem.
The Syncros saddle wasn’t our ideal shape, but within a race it was less noticeable. It’s hard to argue the case for a carbon bar and stem, as race bikes take a beating and good aluminium isn’t heavy.
Internal cable and hose routing keeps things clean, and Scott has allowed internal room for routing a dropper post cable. The chain keeper is removable, and a front mech mount can be added, but in our experience SRAM’s 1x drivetrains don’t need additional chain retention. Not only are the chainstays widely spaced, but their upper surface is angled to help shed mud.
With 12mm thru-axles, disc alignment and wheel retention are sorted. Scott says a lot of the bike’s cost is in the Syncros RP1.0 wheelset, whose carbon rims are 38mm deep and 21mm wide, but only 15mm internally, which doesn’t make the most of even a 33mm ’cross tyre. They have DT Swiss hubs and are tubeless ready, which would gain some ’cross speed. Claimed weight is 1,500g for the pair, which is reasonable for ’cross, but we feel that such a cutting edge frameset deserves wheels that are up to speed with modern thinking.