Evil Bikes are one of those brands who don’t make a song and dance about how good their bikes are, rather letting them speak for themselves when they’re ridden. When Bike Magazine raved about the Uprising in their 2014 Bible of Bike Tests, more riders started to take notice and see what all the fuss was about. Our very own Rodfather declared it “the best bike I’ve ever ridden, amazing” but has been hanging out for a mid-wheeled version, as was most of the mountain bike world.
So when Evil released a 29er rather than a 27.5-wheeled trail bike, there were some puzzled observers. Why go the wagon wheel route when the mid-sizers are taking over the world? Well, it seems Evil wanted to produce a bike that was as far away from the Uprising as possible, but with the same ride characteristics, ie playful, fun, stable at speed with bottomless suspension and impeccable climbing manners. And if the reviews so far are anything to go by (Bike raves about it here) then the Following will be gaining one pretty rapidly. The frames we saw are on their way to buyers who obviously put a lot of faith in the reviews.
The DELTA suspension design by Dave Weagle has been hailed far and wide as one of, if not the, best suspension systems in existence. There’s a lot going on there, it looks complex and trying to explain how it works is best left to those who know…
A Press Fit 92 BB and ISCG05 tabs feature down below, and more protection for the chainstay with a strategically placed metal plate. The main pivot uses a 15mm thru-axle running on angular contact bearings for maximum stiffness and long life.
There’s no doubt this bike is one curvy, sexy beast. The front end is quite the looker, with internal cable routing, integrated cups and that trademark Evil scalloping of the headtube.
A big molded rubber guard protects the underside of the downtube and can be replaced for a lot less cost than a new frame.
If you want to run a front derailleur, you can. Or you could chuck on a Spoke Decapitator and be even more functional and cool.
Attention to detail and functionality is high on the Following frame… a metal plate and rubber chainstay guard protects the carbon from dropped chain damage, and the 142×12 axle threads into a stout looking hanger/dropout.
The Flip Chips (the link with LOW on it) can be, well, flipped to change BB height and wheelbase. The black thing on the pivot at bottom left of photo is a built-in sag meter, another nice touch on this well-thought out frame.
The integrated headset features ‘Flip Cups’ allowing you to change head angle by rotating the cups. Combined with the suspension Flip Chips, the geometry has four possible ride settings, and it’ll take a 130mm fork to slacken it even more.
Lots of smooth curves going on in the rear end, assymetric seattube and stays, offset BB.
RockShox RT3 with Debonair air cannister handles the 120mm of rear travel.
NZ distributor AdrenalineMTB says that complete Followings should be arriving in the next few weeks, so hit them up for more info. We’ll be grabbing one for a review in the December Issue 64.
