Despite the dreadful ( dare I say Evil) forecast a good turnout including Dan , Eamon ,Pamela , Robbie ,Shane, Tim , Kenny , PS ,Mr Power, Herself and COC . The open mountain was not looking attractive so we headed to The long mile , dropping down on black to Ulster way and on to Leitrim Lodge , Castle bog and home by trails . The very slight precipitation kept even a semblance of ROSSI away.
Courtesy of Greenbikes Newry I was testing a demo Evil Following ,the “must have” steed of 2017. A full sus 29er that looks ready for some serious terrain. I felt I really should have had baggies and a goatee to be seen on it as I’m sure the folk at Evil Bikes would frown at the plethora of lycra on display today.
It is a beautiful looking Bike in Day glo orange full carbon.
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By Connors own admission the bike was not presented to show it in its best light . The “brakes” produced loads of noise but little stopping power , The forks were a tad sticky and the tyres had less grip than a road tyre . Despite this all who tried it were impressed , mainly with the rear suspension . It was very fast on trails and rolled over open mountain with ease. The cockpit was very short and I would have liked a longer stem ( I know thats sacrilege) .
I suspect that with a good build and some tweaking to the set up this bike would be a winner . We all felt that it did lean to the trails/going down side rather than climbing and I’m not sure I’d want to do a long race on it , having said that I did keep up with Kenny and Robbie on the Castle Bog Climb . Hoping to compare it to the Camber carbon 29 tomorrow…. should be interesting. Cormac’s Evil Wreckoning review to follow soon .
Verdict ..defintely in my final two bike choice..