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Ellsworth Carbon Evolve 29er, 650B Epiphany Full Suspension Mountain Bikes Debut

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2013 Ellsworth Evolve carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

Ellsworth was showing a basically production-level prototype Evolve Carbon 29er full suspension bike. While they haven’t hyped it publicly, it’s available now in Medium with either 100mm or 120mm travel by changing the rear end and shock.

Tony Ellsworth said the frame uses special internal tooling to get a full 300psi compaction even in the subtle and not so subtle angles and tube shaping (detail pics below). It’s a pretty good looking frame in person and it, along with the alloy 650B Epiphany they had on hand, showed a few frame changes that’ll carry over to more models in the future.

The Evolve Carbon keeps alloy chainstays because Tony Ellsworth says their new ones are as light or lighter than what he could do with carbon and are super stiff. A bonded in alloy BB30 bottom bracket sleeve maintains tight tolerances. Retail is $3,000 for the frame, and they’ll have three trim levels available next year. Frame weight is right around 2kg (claimed) with shock. Medium frames are in production now, Small and Large will run soon. Available in October.

2013 Ellsworth Evolve carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

There’s a lot of shaping, recesses and ridges throughout the front triangle to increase stiffness.

2013 Ellsworth Evolve carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike

2013 Ellsworth Epiphany 650B full suspension mountain bike

Epiphany 650B is in production now, look for frames in October. It’s 140mm rear designed for a 150mm fork. Comes stock with the carbon shock stay and 12×142 rear axle.

2013 Ellsworth Epiphany 650B full suspension mountain bike

The new alloy chainstays on these bikes are now asymmetric and use a wider bearing placement at the front end. Tubes are tapered, too, to keep ’em lighter. On the right are the new chainstays, which shows the wider spacing. On current alloy frames, a wider pivot axle and spacer spreads them out from the seat tube. On the Evolve Carbon, the tube is simply wider to sit flush with the chainstay.

2013 Ellsworth Epiphany 650B full suspension mountain bike

Another view.

2013 Ellsworth Epiphany 650B full suspension mountain bike

Complete bikes start at $5,395 with X9, frameset with shock is $2,995.

Ellsworth makes wheels, too, and says they’re working with Stan’s NoTubes to license their tubeless bead hook design for 2013. We’ve liked how wide and lightweight their rims are when we’ve ridden them, but they’re so wide they do make it a bit more challenging to set up tubeless (they make a Stan’s kit specific to their current rims, but we haven’t tried it). They may add a 650B wheelset to the line, too.

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18 Comments
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mechastrisand
mechastrisand
11 years ago

walking beam is so 90’s

we are living in a mini link world.

wake up TE!

palmermtb
palmermtb
11 years ago

Ellsoworth is so pathetic these days. Their bikes are overpriced, overweight, and old technology. Their customer service is even worse. What’s left?

Quickie
Quickie
11 years ago

palmermtb,

You forgot to mention that they’re ugly and have a high failure rate.

hoborider
hoborider
11 years ago

Well I just cant believe all the haters on here. I dont care if rockers “look” this or that to you. i have three ellsworth bike in my colection of nine. yes iv tested all sorts of other bikes too. the ellsworth bikes just work so well that i keep buying them. i saved my money to get one because they are expensive and made in the usa too.

greg
greg
11 years ago

bahahahaha
el-worthless

Mark W.
Mark W.
11 years ago

so… they ever going to evolve their suspension?

Yetiman
Yetiman
11 years ago

It reminds me of the old “Giant NRS” system.

professed
professed
11 years ago

To change a very good suspension design just to stay in fashion is not necessarily good engineering gents. the long beam, however ugly, provides more leverage so that the suspension is more resonsive to subtle input.

I have ridden Niner short link, VPP, Maestro short link, DW link, Yeti’s Soto design short link along with Specialized similarly enduring FSR linkage and find that the short links apart from Yetís are either too progressive or wallowy.

Sure, they offer far better anti squat that Ellsworth’s modified FSR but if you have ridden an Ellsworth it is that lovely subtle feel that they offer that isnt replicated by any above except Yeti. Yeti’s short link however excellent (as does the VPP) suffers from a fair degree of pedal feedback which Ellsworth’s doesnt.

if you are going to knock something do so with basis rather than just being a lurker jerk off with smart arse remarks

Almost any suspension system now on the market is excellent, its horses for courses.

Ride what suits your own taste.

Gorygo
Gorygo
11 years ago

Is the carbon frames made in USA too?

Steve M
Steve M
11 years ago

While no fan of Ellsworth and his puffed up claims I think ‘professed’ has put it well.

Blunt Vocals
11 years ago

Gorygo,

There are no carbon frames made in the US because there all no molds here for frames. Ellsworth does use super high grade aerospace carbon not matched in the industry and a non-mass production factory to hand lay-up their carbon bits which are shipped to the states and assembled here.

Everyone wants to protect American jobs but no one wants to pay for that quality..can’t have it both ways people.

650 For Life
650 For Life
11 years ago

I would love to hear more on the details between the 26″ Epiphany front Triangle & the new 27.5″ version.
Hopefully their not cheesing out by throwing a new shock stay on a 2009 front end design.

Blunt Vocals
11 years ago

650 for life – as I understand it, that is the beauty of a four bar linkage – the ease at which certain parts can be used in both bikes. What is the difference if the front triangle stays the same and they switch out rear triangle pieces? The 27.5 fork automatically slackens the head angle and you have a bigger front wheel which also slackens the angle of attack. Match it with the right chain/seat stays and shock valving and you have completely different bike.

Intense did it with their bike too. No need to re-invent the triangle so to speak…

650 For Life
650 For Life
11 years ago

@ Blunt Vocals> A lot of 26″ wheeled bikes can be converted to 27.5 by adjusting the ride height as you said.
There are a lot of companies out there right now offering conversions, but if you ride one back to back with one that was engineered for the wheel size you will have that “Ah-ha” moment.
Every wheel size adds it’s own characteristics that can’t be compensated for by adjusting the ride height.
Just like the introduction of 29″ wheel size, the new geometry will sort itself out in a few years and we will be saying “Remember when they were just converting 26″ bikes to 27.5 (lol)?”
The future looks bright.

650 For Life
650 For Life
11 years ago

Did anyone else notice the rear tire clearance on the swingarm of the Blue 650 frame?

al stuart
11 years ago

They dont “update” their suspension because it works beautifully. Had other full sus bikes none come anywhere near the efficiency of Ellsworth

J.man
J.man
11 years ago

Why oh why are they not putting in cage mounts inside the triangle? Even if a small bottle fit that would be better than nothing.

underside mounts just pick up dirt and horse poop onto the bottle.

Psmith
Psmith
10 years ago

Well, just rode the Evolve at Outerbike 2013 and that bike rides good regardless of what people say is old technology. I have ridden Titus Moto-lites, Specialized Epic, Trek Fuels, Scotts, and my main ride, Jet 9 RDO, and the Evolve rides better than all of them.

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