After Evil teased a new bike on
their Instagram the other day, we spotted Austin 'Bubba' Warren cruising through the Crankworx Rotorua pits on a new bike just before his downhill race run.
Austin was tight-lipped on the details but could confirm it hits all the buzzwords - longer, slacker, stiffer, 29" wheels and a wider rear end. Austin used to run a large frame but now uses a medium and likes that the bike is much stiffer. Austin had a 200mm RockShox Boxxer up front, but the water bottle mount suggests this bike has some enduro intentions too.
The main changes to Evil's current frames look to be a new larger rear triangle and a revised rocker link, which Austin said provides more support and makes the bike more playful.
Could this be Evil's new long-travel 29er Enduro bike? Either way, it sure does look good and Bubba proved its performance with a 6th place in the Rotorua DH against a stacked field of World Cup riders.
Despite Bubba using the bike as DH rig, the water bottle mount suggests other intentions...
When compared to the current Wreckoning, the rocker link has received a slight redesign that alters the frame's kinematics.
A big new lower pivot.
Subtle and stealthy.
A much wider rear triangle than previous models.
29" wheels suggests this could be a replacement for the current Wreckoning.
www.pinkbike.com/news/Kona-Process-111-DL-Review-2013.html
I didn't mean to imply that Evil invented downcountry with the Following, but that bike was definitely ahead of its time, as were others. Point was that Kona, Transition and Evil are all based out of the PNW and make trendy, gravity-oriented trail bikes. But while it's pretty much expected any new bike from Transition or Kona will get a full PB write-up they've ignored the last ~4 models from Evil.
I’m hoping for that 140mm insertion dropper with 240mm of travel.
I would like to see a review of pro downhillers seat height on their DH rigs compared to their actual seat height on their road or enduro bikes. It really doesn’t seem like Pro downhillers ride with that low of seat height. Maybe 125mm average drop????
Could a new park or DH bike be here?
I can second that. Rode a wreckoning and insurgent. Great feeling suspension, felt like it ate everything up, and still pedaled great.
At Dark fest he was testing this bike out. I have a feeling it’ll be an new bike name all together, but still not the undead. So a true 200mm front and rear DH frame.
I bet they’ll pull a YETI SB165. So a super enduro / free riders bike. 170 / 190, 27.5 and a 180 / 200, 29.
But all speculation.
www.vitalmtb.com/features/A-New-Kind-of-Evil-Bike-Check-with-Graham-Agassiz-and-Tom-Van-Steenbergen,2825
That doesn't mean anything useful. A generic "more support" can be achieved by increasing the relative spring rate (or reducing the wheel rate). They probably meant the (still kinda useless term) "midstroke support", which obviously can also be done with more spring. So they probably really mean "more midstroke support given the same sag and/or bottom out resistance", which just means the leverage rate has gotten lowered/flattened in the middle relative to either/both ends.
That said...I really miss the Wreckoning. That bike was a tank, yet still managed to be playful. So much fun. I've been looking to add a second bike, and something like an old-school freeride bike would be perfect. Something suitable for shorter rides, shuttling, and the bike park: essentially a mini-DH bike.
This new bike, whether its a beefed up Wreckoning or a completely new model, looks like a potential fit. It will be interesting to hear more about the details.
In the photos the seat angle seems similar to my Wreck with 170mm up front so I can definitely see a better seat angle on this new one when lowering fork travel and having the flip chip in the higher/steeper position. They will likely be switching to a 157mm wide rear hub (like Devinci and Pivot do for their enduro rigs) and a lower fork offset too.
Looks good!
Nice looking bike, but no more than that
The rear suspension linkage and characteristics are really good.