“It goes really, really fast, and it jumps things really well.”
That’s how Evil Bikes’ Kevin Walsh describes their all new long travel 29er enduro mountain bike, The Wreckoning. Built with a downhill worthy carbon frame, 161mm of Dave Weagle-designed rear wheel suspension and big wheels to roll over anything and everything, it’s a bike that’s both long overdue and a bit of a surprise.
“With all the hoopla around 27.5″ and Plus bikes being the next big thing, this is next,” said Walsh. “And it’s even bigger thanks to massive 29er hoops and tires…
“Weagle talked me into putting out The Following 120mm 29er prior to The Insurgent 150mm 27.5, but as soon as I pulled (The Following) outta the box and got to the bottom of the trail on the first ride, I called (Weagle) up and said ‘Dave, we gotta make a 160mm version of this!'”
“It really boiled down to this: When 29ers are done right, they’re really legit and fun to ride. And this is faster and better over everything.
“We wanted something that could be an everyday bike but then also take park laps and DH runs, too. Dave was confident behind it and knew he could make it do what we wanted it to do.”
The Wreckoning gets a downhill layup to handle the worst, but it can be an enduro or park bike. So, it pedals -in fact, they say it pedals as well as The Following and would be great with a Cane Creek Inline CS- but the geo does lean a little more toward the gravity side.
Kevin’s been running it with a Push Industries coil shock and a prototype 180mm fork on one day, then switching it to a Vivid Air or Monarch Plus with a 160mm Lyrik up front. You could also sub in a Float X and Fox 36, with a few long travel 29er forks available from other brands, too.
The DELTA system is a linkage driven single pivot, but Weagle’s design allows it to run two different geometries, with a “Low” and “Extra Low” setting depending on whether you’re pedaling more or just descending. But, moving the flip chip between positions only changes the geometry, leaving the suspension leverage rate/curve and travel intact. An integrated sag meter helps you get it set up.
Key geo changes include (from Low to X-Low):
- Head angle: 66.1º to 65.5º
- Seat angle: 74.8º to 73.9º
- BB height: 348mm to 339mm
Chainstay length is an impressively-short-for-the-travel 430mm (or 432mm in X-Low). It did “take a little crafting” to get that much travel and sub-17″ chainstays, but they weren’t able to do to small frame size. That said, the chainstay and chainstay yoke were beefed up considerably. That, combined with a DH carbon layup, makes for a super strong, super stiff bike that’ll rail through Whistler’s worst.
To further stiffen the bike, it uses Boost 148 spacing, and the rear axle threads directly into the derailleur hanger.
Rubber frame guards are used on the lower downtube and BB shell as well as the chainstay. Max rear tire size is 29×2.4, depending on manufacturer.
An integrated upper chain guide means no front derailleur, and an optional custom E13 lower bash guard/chain guide is available for $99. Frame and shock is $2,899.
f you’re the type of person that rides a lot of different terrains and may even throw yourself into a downhill race a couple times a year, this could be your bike.
