[Closed] Anyone got a evil following bike? What's it like?

following or following MB?

can't help you, I'm joining the thread as I'm considering the original Following frame, takes everything from the nice hardtail I built up but don't really get on with/never choose to ride except when the FS is broken...

Either version

Well I've not got much time on mine yet (got an original following frame recently) but first impressions are good.

Uphill it climbs remarkably well, downhill feels confident and playful. It's certainly more pick and place than point and shoot (as opposed to how my 5 29er was) but that suits me better personally.

Couple of small niggles: The lower shock mount bolt seems less than keen on staying torqued, I've added a spot of locktite and will see how it goes, if that doesn't fix it it'll be a big niggle. The rear axle receiver falls out a bit too easily when removing the rear wheel to put it in the car. The rubber frame plugs for the internal routing are a bit pants.

Mate I ride with has a carbon one.  He likes it, but it creaks and he's forever having to sort shock bushes - seems there's always play in it.

Wl sounds like my problem in the longer term - if he picks it up by the saddle does he feel a slight knock? Creaking and knackered bushes are exactly what I'd expect from a loose shock bolt...

The creak is coming from his front end - around the headset (but probably not the headset or forks).  The play/knocking has been the bushes - he's been through around three new ones in a few rides. He's an ex bike mechanic, so he knows his stuff and his bike is in tip-top condition - he'd have defo known to check things like loose bolts.  I asked another mate with a Wreckoning and it sounds like there might be a bit of an issue with Evil bushes and wear/play.  In the wet north west, so it's a tough place on bushes, bearings and bikes - ideal single pivot country, really.

See I live in NW England and the yeti switch does suffer -

Dangeorbrain the other bike I like the look of is the Orange 29er, what difference in the climbing with evil and the suspension feel?

I ride Oranges, always have.  Demoed the Stage 5 and it's superb, although I ended up with a regular 27.5 Five just because I prefer the extra nimbleness for very tight, techy stuff. Both very different ride 'feel' to an Evil, but amazingly versatile and fun. You won't have issues with bushes and bearings on an Orange.

3 years on mine and I absolutely love it, the only thing I could ever see me replacing it with would be a Following MB. The various reviews Bike Magazine have done on it over the years nail how I feel about it quite well, it’s such a fun bike, fast downhill and pretty quick up too. I play around with my setup so that if I am doing more XC oriented events I flip the geometry to high, slam the stem down and stick on some lightweight tyres and it is super quick up, turn everything the other way and it will happily handle any DH you can throw at it, it’s done its fair share of Enduros around the Tweed Valley, trips up North etc.

It’s also been faultless in terms of problems and maintenance, no creaks or play, just the usual bearing and bushing replacements. I put the WWC needle bearing kit in when the bushings needed done and it’s a nice upgrade.
Only niggles are that the mud clearance isn’t great, and given the choice I’d have a bit more length in the top tube, both of these are addressed in the MB. I’d buy an MB now if there wasn’t rumours of Evil releasing a longer travel 29er to sit between the Following & Wreckoning.

Had my V1 since 2015, running with 130mm forks, only changed the bushing as part of the shock service, not because they needed doing, so it's not an 'issue'. I ride mine the majority of the year, though don't see the point of riding FS in the depth of winter, but live in a sand stone area which eats component & not suffered because of it. I've replaced the main bears once, and had to add shim washers (22x15x.5mm) as they don't seem to fit as well as the original bearings and did all the rest of the bearings as preemptive maintenance, not because they were worn. I like the low position but dislike the pedal hits, so put a slackset in it and run it in the high shock position. The lack of shock choice is a slight annoyance but then I not replaced the original yet, so again a hardly a big issue.

Love mine, won't be replacing it anytime soon.

The orange was great for throwing down a hill, it was very forgiving and distinctly good for point and shoot but it was much less interested in line choice than suited me but that's down to my preferring to ride around as opposed to over. Trying to pump was pretty pointless as the suspension just swallowed it, that same suspension just laughed off rocks and roots though.

On my mincing days it wasn't bad to ride but it wasn't fun either, on my good days it was the best bike I've ever ridden down a hill.

It climbed like a pig for anything other than sit and spin though which was the eventual deal breaker for me.

Friend rides a stage 6, again loves it down hill but it's wallowy upwards without suspension platforms and the like, it certainly seems improved over my 5 mind but not sure how much that's down to his pedaling style, the fancy shock or the slight change in pivot. I'd guess one of the first two is the main reason to be honest so imagine it'll be less noticeably improved with a lower spec shock or if you like to do silly things like climb out of the saddle n occasionally.

I'm not a big cleaner of bikes and my bearings and pivot (old style) were still fine after 3 years. Mate who is fastidious (no hose or pressure washer, just a bucket and sponge, every ride, hell he'd do it mid ride if he could) with the stage six (new style swingarm, boost etc) has gone through a pivot in 12 months and three sets of bearings. From passing trail head conversations he's not alone in that. If i had to guess I'd say all the [s]improved[/s] increased stiffness puts too much sideways load on the pivot and is causing the rapid wear.

In honesty the 5 and the following are two different tools for different jobs in my opinion, if i had space I'd heave kept the 5 for uplift days, for anything more pedally I'd take the following.

dange - interesting that.  I went 27.5 Five because I prefer a nimble and easy-to-pedal bike whereas the Stage bikes are defo more point and shoot with their big wheels.  It's a very personal thing. For me, regular Five with 36s strikes the perfect balance of tough and capable but also very, very fun.  I'd happily ride it in the Lakes or Alps every now and then, but 95% of the time it's in Calderdale doing 20-30 milers on rough trails and steep cheeky stuff, which it suits perfectly. Stage 6 is an absolute beast - great bike but I'd only choose one if I lived in the Lakes or Alps, or visited regularly, or raced.  Great for really long super-rough downhills, but we don't get them around Calderdale. 5 minutes is a big descent around here.  Stage 5 is a better all-rounder, but I still found the regular Five more fun.

5 minutes is a big descent around here.

On an off day that's a 20 minute one for me 😉

The 20-30 miler is a fairly normal ride distance for me, the orange went round them just fine but it felt and pedaled heavy and anything not pointed downhill was uninspiring at best really. From my brief outings so far on the evil it's actually fun again in the pedally "flat" and upwards bits which is what i missed on the orange. It doesn't however scream "go faster, ride over that not round it, STOP BEING SUCH A BABY and let go of the brakes" like the orange did though.

Done 200 miles on my v1 - it's brilliant. For a £1500 full carbon frame that would take all my existing kit from a hardtail it's been a revelation - just so fast everywhere.

I've invisiframed it so hopefully the 'blimey that's green' green stays in good nick. I got some matching fork decals off of ebay.

I went from a Yeti 95C to a Evil Following V1 3 years ago....probably the best MTB decision I've ever made.

Snooze.....what was the difference then between the two?

I've had a Following for the past 3 years, I've not ridden it as much as I'd like to have recently due to knee issues but got to ride Cutgate on it last weekend and it reminded me how good it is. For the last 2 years I've had it in a the low setting, I've got very good a reading the trail to see where a pedal strike might come from. Its been so good at cornering, great at downhills and pretty good at climbing, although you need to get on the front of the saddle and weight the front wheel down.

Since Christmas I've changed it to the High setting but only ridden it a few times. I think I prefer it, it was certainly good for Cutgate, I pretty much rode to the top from Ladybower without getting right on the front of the saddle and it was great on the downs (but they are not particularly twisty).

I've been very happy with it, at 6ft3 with very long legs the XL seems to fit well, my body is relatively short so the length feels right. I need to change the bushings so interested in the needle bearings if anyone knows the size to buy?

@lucas

https://www.fanatikbike.com/products/needle-bearing-kit-for-evil

"Snooze…..what was the difference then between the two?"

It's a much more playful bike, without being significantly less efficient.  The more playful nature is down to a combination of the slacker geometry and the DELTA suspension, which is great. I sized up to get more Reach. I'm 5' 7" but ride a Medium, which Evil recommended for riders over 5' 8". The only issues I am aware of with the bike are mud clearance. I run 2.35" Schwalbe tyres at the back and it's tight, but luckily where I ride we don't get significant mud, so it's not an issue for me. I also understand that for taller riders using long seatposts, it can put you quite far back on the bike. Again it has never been an issue for me being shorter and having sized up to a Medium. I run mine in the low setting, but built it up with 170mm cranks so pedal strikes haven't been a particular issue.....or maybe I've just adapted to the lower BB height.

thanks snooze the yeti has tight rear tyre clearance as well, sounds like the evil has some more

The Schwalbe tyres I use come up relatively big compared to Maxxis so you should be ableto run a 2.3" Maxxis on the back without any significant problems. The tight clearance is a product of the short (for a 29er) chainstays, which contribute to the bikes playfulness. I guess the design is a compromise between the two.

I've run 2.3 DHF on the back of my v1.0 since I got it. It's quite tight, but the wheels keep turning in 99.9% of riding conditions.

Hi

I have a 2016 frame (V1I think)

Set up with Fox 36 Talas. Run it 135mm most of the time but extend to 150mm for big descents.

11sp XT/XTR and Chris King Carbon wheels

Weight is 30lbs approx.

I’m 6ft with 800mm bars and 35mm stem

Have to say it’s a fantastic bike but swapped out the Rockshox rear shock for a 2018 Fox DPS that I got for £200 in the  Mojo closing out sale and it’s even better. Very playful and excellent at trail centres but good for decent mileage xc too.

Climbs really well and is fantastic on descents.

Ran it with Hans Dampf in the low setting initially and there were issues with clearance with the seatube but this stopped when I swapped to the high setting and this is better for general use anyway as it reduces the pedal strikes.

Now got a Maxxis Tomahawk 2.3 on the rear for summer but will swap to a DHR (2.3 or 2.4) for wetter times with no clearance issues.

No problems with bushes or bearings after 18 months. But snapped a bolt out of the Delta linkage and needed to get one from the EU distributor in Spain as it’s an odd size. Postage was €15 so ended up buying an Evil T shirt at the same time to make it worthwhile!!!!!!

Would happily buy another if I needed to for some reason.

Cheers

Steve

I had a following for 3 years it and it was brilliant.   I was faster uphill and downhill than on any other bike I had owned up until that point.  I would recommend without hesitation.

I have just replaced it with a Bird Aeris 29er in the last month and surprisingly this has proven to be a lot quicker up hill (although I am going well at present) but has not yet been faster downhill (can trails be too dry?).