OK, sorry about the cheesy title but I felt like it was appropriate after having the opportunity to ride Chumba's EVO bike for about a week. I also felt compelled to drop a line in here considering I've done so with the last couple of bikes I've done long-term tests on/owned (Stumpy, Flux, MotoLite).
In a nutshell, this bike floored me! As you can tell by the previous three bikes that I've been on for long periods of time in the past year, I pretty much lean towards the XC side of things so, when I got the opportunity to ride a 6+ inch travel "all mountain" (AM) machine that looked like it was built to take hits instead of climb hills I was expecting some really fun experiences on the descents and some haneous, pain filled climbing efforts going uphill; I was half right.
On the DH's, this bike more than lived up to my expectations and, in fact, actually inspired enough confidence in me that I was willing to ride in ways that I've never ridden before. While I was already pretty good going DH, I was now gapping guys who I'd previously followed and launching hits that were previously to frightening for me to consider. Without droning on with too much detail, the suspension setup (Fox 36 TALUS fork & DHX Air shock) coupled with some incredibly strong bearings create a bike that's so laterally stiff that it just begs you to push your limits (I have a broken helmet to prove how far I pushed!
).
Where the real surprise with this bike came in was in the climbs. As I said before, I expected this thing to be a tank going uphill and, on my first ride, I told my buddies (who are pretty fast climbers) that I'd probably be lagging that day because of the bike. Instead, after hammering up a couple of climbs I got this comment from my out of breath buddy: "I thought you said you were going to be slow today."
Instead of the tank I thought it was going to be, the EVO was actually a superb climber. While it's not as efficient as my MotoLite or my Stumpy, it blew the Flux away! With the shock dialed in, this thing had very little - if any - pedal feedback while seated and could even withstand some out of the saddle hammering (although the fork would squish quite a bit here) without an exhorbitant amount of rear shock movement.
All in all, this is one of the best bikes I've EVER ridden! While I don't own one yet, it is now at the top of my list for my "big bike" purchase I'm planning later this year (the Nomad and 6.6 were the previous front-runners).
In a nutshell, this bike floored me! As you can tell by the previous three bikes that I've been on for long periods of time in the past year, I pretty much lean towards the XC side of things so, when I got the opportunity to ride a 6+ inch travel "all mountain" (AM) machine that looked like it was built to take hits instead of climb hills I was expecting some really fun experiences on the descents and some haneous, pain filled climbing efforts going uphill; I was half right.
On the DH's, this bike more than lived up to my expectations and, in fact, actually inspired enough confidence in me that I was willing to ride in ways that I've never ridden before. While I was already pretty good going DH, I was now gapping guys who I'd previously followed and launching hits that were previously to frightening for me to consider. Without droning on with too much detail, the suspension setup (Fox 36 TALUS fork & DHX Air shock) coupled with some incredibly strong bearings create a bike that's so laterally stiff that it just begs you to push your limits (I have a broken helmet to prove how far I pushed!
).Where the real surprise with this bike came in was in the climbs. As I said before, I expected this thing to be a tank going uphill and, on my first ride, I told my buddies (who are pretty fast climbers) that I'd probably be lagging that day because of the bike. Instead, after hammering up a couple of climbs I got this comment from my out of breath buddy: "I thought you said you were going to be slow today."
Instead of the tank I thought it was going to be, the EVO was actually a superb climber. While it's not as efficient as my MotoLite or my Stumpy, it blew the Flux away! With the shock dialed in, this thing had very little - if any - pedal feedback while seated and could even withstand some out of the saddle hammering (although the fork would squish quite a bit here) without an exhorbitant amount of rear shock movement.
All in all, this is one of the best bikes I've EVER ridden! While I don't own one yet, it is now at the top of my list for my "big bike" purchase I'm planning later this year (the Nomad and 6.6 were the previous front-runners).
