Whoa! Evil Bikes new gravel bike. Different

[EB]

Originally Posted by joosttx

The trending belief in Marin is that XC Hardtails are the fastest bikes. Gravel in Marin is more technical than, say, New England dirt roads.

+1 - This is the conclusion that most people come to in Marin, I think. Most of the fire roads on which off-road riding is (mostly) restricted to in Marin were constructed long ago, cheaply and quickly - as such they tend to go straight up, or straight down. 15%+ grades for sustained periods are common, flat dirt roads are rare, and descents are hair-raising. Even one of the flew flat gravel roads in the county, a pipeline road called S Marin Line, requires an arduous 18%+ climb to reach the trailhead. Combine this with an extremely lax approach to maintenance and poor quality Marin soil and you get rutted, loose, rocky, sandy jeep tracks. Suspension and flat bars make it a lot easier and a lot faster - drop bar gravel bikes generally feel underbiked. Western Marin adds cattle and their trail destruction habits to make it even more fun.

Let's not even get into the singletrack access issues in the county - many years of blood, sweat, and tears (mostly tears) have been spent on that topic.

It's quite a contrast from the time I spent riding in New York and New Jersey where 25mm and 28mm tires and rim brakes were often just fine for gravel riding.

[AndresLD]

BMC has also taken this approach with their new URS. My guess is that this approach is driven due to the gravel market is definitely oversaturated at the moment, and for anything to stand out, it can be just like the rest of them.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by Clancy

I would love to ride one of these made out of 853 steel tubing or equivalent. That would be a fun bike to bang around on.

The Singular gryphon and swift were early, similar concepts in steel, but not 853 if I recall. I had a gryphon for awhile - fun bike.

[Krenovian]

Originally Posted by sparky33

What tires are 29x2.0...50mm?

Am I seeing correctly that this is only available as a complete bike? No frameset only option?

The Evil website indicates a frame only option in the drop down menu for ordering.
https://www.evil-bikes.com/a/bikes/chamois-hagar

[Krenovian]

Originally Posted by p nut

I don't understand the geo. ETT, reach, stack numbers are about equivalent to a regular MTB of the same size. Seems like they just put dropbars on a MTB.

Their blurb about the bike indicates just that.

“Rather than start with a squirrely road bike and relaxing things into borderline manageable, we started with a mountain bike with shred surging through its veins and created the Chamois Hagar.”

[sparky33]

That they are using road-width cranks is meaningful, not the typical Boost cranks we see on mtb.

[m_moses]

Are they going to make a version for dudes?


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[Jaybee]

There are a lot of comparisons to the other drop bar MTB/big clearance gravel bikes out there - Kona Sutra LTD, Cutthroat, Fargo, etc. This doesn't have nearly the clearance that those bikes do, though it does keep the road Q-factor and fairly short chainstays. Also, none of those bikes have such a slack HTA and trail figure. Not saying this is good or bad, just that it's different than anything else on the market. I've been really happy with the similar trail figure on my MTB - I don't find it slow to react or floppy or hard to keep the front planted when climbing, but that's also got a 2.6" tire and 150mm of suspension in the equation.

[EricChanning]

Originally Posted by IJWS

Global cycling news: ‘Gravel Bikes Exist Because Mountain Biking is Now Boring’

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_xFpg_UmA

This video makes tons of sense to me. Actually got me interested in gravel. I started riding Xc in the 90’s and it was super fun. Current day trail riding is terrifying though which scares my aging self but also made sharing mtb with my girlfriend hard because she was not ready to go all out all the time. Gravel appeals to me because it gets to a slower, lamer time in mtb when I had a lot of fun....

I'm wondering what your nearby trails look like.

The Mid-Atlantic singletrack that was around in the 90's and still around today is much more fun with a modern XC bike or trail bike with slack angles, wide bars, a dropper and around 100mm to 120mm of front and rear suspension. Not all the modern MTB bikes are designed to handle big jumps and gnarly DH runs.

People need to be realistic about the kind of trails they ride and the way they ride them. There's an incredible array of bike choices out there compared to the 90's. There's a bunch of people riding trails without sailing through the air every 10 to 20 yards. They just aren't being captured on high-res video.

This bike is just another very specific tool that ads another choice to the mix. It's just right for the type of riding that someone does. It looks like it was built to make that particular type of riding a lot more fun. What are the gravel roads like in your area?

[nmrt]

I am uncertain why someone would chose this evil versus lets say a hardtail or even a racy full suspension xc mtb bike, especially when they plan to use the evil on gnarly-ish singletrack.

of the myriad of reasons why i buy my bike, here are two:
1. is the bike going to be faster over my preferred terrain? It looks like the evil will not be faster on these gnarly-ish terrain compared to a hardtail or a xc fs mtb.
2. is the bike going to more fun over my preferred terrain? It looks like the evil is not going to be more fun on these gnarly-ish terrain compared to a hardtail or a xc fs mtb. man...it will be bone rattling.

so, to me the evil does not make sense on any terrain. even on flat gravel road where the evil's 66 deg HT angle and a trail in the 90s just does not make sense.

but hey, that's just me!

[sparky33]

I thought the Lauf fork was ridiculous and stupid until I tried it. Lesson learned.

It's telling how much buzz this bike has generated in the last few days, as compared to any other new gravel bike since...the Open U.P.
Disruptive things make good discussion.

[EricChanning]

Originally Posted by nmrt

I am uncertain why someone would chose this evil versus lets say a hardtail or even a racy full suspension xc mtb bike, especially when they plan to use the evil on gnarly-ish singletrack.

so, to me the evil does not make sense on any terrain. even on flat gravel road where the evil's 66 deg HT angle and a trail in the 90s just does not make sense.

but hey, that's just me!

You only mention 2 types of terrain. Other's talked about gravel that can be pretty steep and washed out with sandy section. That stuff doesn't require the same thing from a bike as does gnarly singletrack.

So this bike, like the Salsa Cutthroat, may get the attention of folks that go on rides featuring hilly challenging gravel with a bit of not so gnarly singletrack and some pavement. An XC mtb is just a bit of overkill for that combination of terrain.

[Hilltopperny]

This looks like a reasonable option for some folks. The Hagar isn’t aesthetically pleasing to my eye, but it still looks like a fun bike. It’s basically a drop bar rigid xc bike with a dropper post. I don’t think I would be willing to buy one over an xc hardtail, but it’s another option.

I am interested in some long term reviews to see how people end up getting along with these. I like seeing different stuff pop up every once in a while. The Lauf True Grit looks intriguing to me and so does the Moots Baxter. Some of Salsa’s offerings look interesting as well.


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[Jaybee]

Part of the point of this whole category of bikes is that it might not be the perfect tool for every situation, but its fun for a lot of them. It’s ok to not have a Colnago with Super Record for the paved portion of your ride. It’s ok to not have a SB130 for the single track portion. It’s ok to rail that rutted gravel descent even though your tires are only 2” wide and it’s ok to pound out some FS road miles even if your head angle is “too slack”. It’s for adventuring.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Part of the point of this whole category of bikes is that it might not be the perfect tool for every situation, but its fun for a lot of them. It’s ok to not have a Colnago with Super Record for the paved portion of your ride. It’s ok to not have a SB130 for the single track portion. It’s ok to rail that rutted gravel descent even though your tires are only 2” wide and it’s ok to pound out some FS road miles even if your head angle is “too slack”. It’s for adventuring.

That's true, but it still makes my hands hurt to think about riding that bike in the rough stuff....fat tires and all....

I give them kudos for trying something new though.

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