News: Evil Bikes Are Back
Seplavy, Walsh and Vanderham worked tirelessly through Interbike week to break the news on the new Evil
Photo: Sven Martin |
While the word's long been out that Dave Weagle has been cooking up something new with Evil Bikes, few have realized that this is not Ironhorse 2.0, but rather something completely different. Evil, one of wunderkind suspension designer Weagle's creations, has found a new home, far away from its original east-coast roots: Seattle, Wa. This seemingly sudden move is the culmination of a series of conversations that the main players–Weagle, Kevin Walsh, Gabe Fox, Thomas Vanderham, Todd Seplavy, Michael Costigan, Scott Matual and Anka Studer--began a few years ago. To quote Walsh, Evil's new owner, "We were just a bunch of buddies throwing around ideas."
Those conversations centered on a simple premise: to create a bike that offered the rider the ultimate in adjustability without compromising suspension design--"voice and choice," explains Seplavy, Evil's new marketing and PR man. As simple as this seems, it's a conundrum that has frustrated many a suspension designer.
On most higher-end linkage suspension bikes--particularly bigger-hit models--riders can tweak a frame in order to adjust head angle, the BB height or the wheelbase, but each such adjustment affects the suspension by changing the leverage ratio, wheel rates, etc. This forces the rider to completely re-work the suspension set-up to try and reclaim the feel the suspension had before the geometric adjustments were made – a time-consuming process, and one that might leave the rider completely exasperated.
But Evil's new frame design offers riders the ability to manipulate all those variables independently of the suspension settings. To do this, Weagle needed to step away from the DW Link and his split-pivot designs to create an entirely new suspension using what he calls a compact rate link system. It is simply called the "Delta System," or "Delta" for short, and its creation entailed 13 renditions before Weagle was finally satisfied. Despite its recent inception, Weagle thinks of Delta as pre-dating his revered DW link.
"Delta was one of those millions of sketches littering my files that I'd just never had time to focus enough energy on before," he says. "But with this project, it was the right fit, so I dusted it off and voila, Delta."
Sure, you're saying to yourself, I've seen something like that before. Many will recall bikes that had adjustable head-tube sleeves, or a dozen different shock mounting points, or settings to adjust wheelbase. But none of these adjustments were ever truly independent of the suspension. Delta is. While its design is simplistic, it is virtually unprecedented in full-suspension bicycle design.
But if Weagle is the suspension guru who's created this benchmark in adjustable design, then Evil's new owner Walsh – who also owns Super Big agency in Seattle – is the driving force behind the look and feel of the new bikes. Walsh may not exactly be a household name, but if you've picked up an Ironhorse catalog in the past few years, you've held his work in your hands. He's also designed graphics for Diamondback, Raleigh and McNeal, and currently manages the branding for Jones Soda and the Seattle Seahawks NFL team. Walsh is as passionate about bikes as he is design, having spent countless days cutting trails at Snoqualmie Pass, as well as hours piloting a big-hit bike at Whistler and racing XC. He's a rider to the core.
Thomas Vanderham is officially signed to the new Evil
Colin Meagher |
RSS
TWITTER 
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
Add Comment