Evil Insurgent

[the drizzle]

Out of pure stupidity I ballsed up my taxes and was left with a large debt. To cover the debt I needed to sell off the bulk of my stable, which included a nomad V4 which I did not even get a chance to ride.

Instead of immediately repaying the tax debt in another move of stupidity (or genius) I purchased a complete evil insurgent for a steal.

I moved all the parts off the newly acquired insurgent and ended up with a frame which is pretty much immaculate for $525.

Although it hurts to lose a big chunk of your bike collection this definitely eased the burn. Plus it is a huge relief to have paid off the debt.

This is the build, really happy with how it turned out.

Frame: Evil Insurgent (large)
Shock: Rockshox vivid air
Fork: 2018 Fox 36 factory RC2 with push acs3 coil conversion (black spring)
Seatpost: Brand X 150mm
Saddle: Ragley
Headset: FSA
Stem: Raceface atlas 50mm
Handlebars: Spank spoon 785mm
Grips: Easton lock on (thick)
Brakes: Hope tech V4 with braided lines
Rotors: Hope floating rotors (203mm front and rear)
Rims: Nextie AM layup 32h 38mm external
Hubs: Industry 9 torch classic 32h
Spokes: DT swiss competition with brass nipples
Tyres: Front - Maxxis minion DHF 2.6 x 27.5
Rear - Maxxis DHR 2.4 x 27.5
Shifter: XT M8000
Derailleur: XT M8000 11sp
Cassette: XT 11-42 11sp
Chain: Ultegra 11sp
Cranks: SLX M7000 175mm
Chainring: SLX 32T
Bottom bracket: XT M800
Pedals: Hope f20
Chainguide: Evil integrated guide

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[hifiandmtb]

Nice tax avoidance bike

 

[the drizzle]

After a few rides on the insurgent now here are my thoughts compared to the nomad 3 with 11.6.

The insurgent has a long reach, I couldn't imagine riding a large santa cruz as I would be way to cramped but the large evil is spot on size wise. I will need to look at getting a longer travel dropper but due to the shape of the frame I am somewhat limited with seat post insertion.

The evil really shines at cornering, it is an absolute beast to lay over into berms. So nimble and responsive. I have it set in the x-low position which would certainly help a little. The downside of this is it makes the bottom bracket incredibly low and I am running 175mm cranks which makes for pedal strikes galore when riding techy climbs.

I really enjoy hitting jumps and always found my old rune to be a little cumbersome in the air, the evil and the nomad I found to be excellent and easy to flick around when playing around on jumps.

Climbing and general trail riding I found the evil has the upper hand to the nomad, which I would attribute to it being a little less slack, a little lighter and a shorter wheelbase. The front wheel tends to wander less and the bike feels a generally more nimble and responsive. The downside being pedal strikes. It is also worth noting that it has quite a slack seat tube angle but I have only really noticed this on fireroad climbs.

Descending the nomad takes the cake hands down. That thing absolutely slays the descents, the evil is no slouch but the nomad feels more stable and planted at speed and through chunk. It was running a custom coil shock and has a much longer wheelbase so I am interested to see how the evil performs with a coil shock. I have a dhx2 sitting on my desk, just waiting for the spring to arrive.

Initially I thought the evil had a bit of flex in the rear triangle. I am 100kg on a good day and on the first ride on two seperate occasions felt some flex. I realised afterwards that I was not running enough air in the rear tyre so inflated it more and the issue was gone for the next ride.

The quality of the paint job on the evil is pretty average to be honest, coverage is poor in some areas and drips are visible. The Santa Cruz by comparison is a work of art. This doesn't really bother me as I got the frame secondhand quite cheap however if I paid RRP I would be pretty pissed.

The other notable quirk with this rig is how close the chain runs to the chain stay. When in the highest gears with a 32t chain ring it is almost touching the chain stay. This results in some pretty epic chain slap. I read on mtbr or pinkbike about somebody who runs a strip of foam weather seal tape on top of the chain stay so I stuck some on there and it definitely helps but just takes away what little clearance there was already.

If I had to chose between the two I would opt for the nomad 3 but that is because I really value descending prowess over any other attribute. The evil is probably the better all rounder.

I really think you'd have to be pretty unlucky to grab a bike these days that rides poorly and the comparison is mostly nitpicking.

 

[yuley95]

Nice write up. Love the look of these things and sounds like a good all-rounder

 

[teK--]

Nice build. I wish more new frames had external brake hose mounting option.

You mentioned flex in the rear triangle... keep an eye on the main pivot bolt (and probably the others too). Mate has one and once the bolt loosened it started ovalising the frame. He went through 2 frames under warranty after a long dispute with Evil.

 

[Oddjob]

After a few rides on the insurgent now here are my thoughts compared to the nomad 3 with 11.6.

The insurgent has a long reach, I couldn't imagine riding a large santa cruz as I would be way to cramped but the large evil is spot on size wise. I will need to look at getting a longer travel dropper but due to the shape of the frame I am somewhat limited with seat post insertion.

The evil really shines at cornering, it is an absolute beast to lay over into berm. So nimble and responsive. I have it set in the x-low position which would certainly help a little. The downside of this is it makes the bottom bracket incredibly low and I am running 175mm cranks which makes for pedal strikes galore when riding techy climbs.

I really enjoy hitting jumps and always found my old rune to be a little cumbersome in the air, the evil and the nomad I found to be excellent and easy to click around when playing around on jumps.

Climbing and general trail riding I found the evil has the upper hand to the nomad, which I would attribute to it being a little less slack, a little lighter and a shorter wheelbase. The front wheel tends to wander less and the bike feels a generally more nimble and responsive. The downside being pedal strikes. It is also worth noting that it has quite a slack seat tube angle but I have only really noticed this on fireroad climbs.

Descending the nomad takes the cake hands down. That thing absolutely slays the descents, the evil is no slouch but the bad feels more stable and planted at speed and through chunk. It was running a custom coil shock and has a much longer wheelbase so I am interested to see how the evil performs with a coil shock. I have a dhx2 sitting on my desk, just waiting for the spring to arrive.

Initially I thought the evil had a bit of flex in the rear triangle. I am 100kg on a good day and on the first ride on two seperate occasions felt some flex. I realised afterwards that I was not running enough air in the rear tyre so inflated it more and the issue was gone for the next ride.

The quality of the paint job on the evil is pretty average to be honest, coverage is poor in some areas and drips are visible. The Santa Cruz by comparison is a work of art. This doesn't really bother me as I got the frame secondhand quite cheap however if I paid RRP I would be pretty pissed.

The other notable quirk with this rig is how close the chain runs to the chain stay. When in the highest gears with a 32t chain ring it is almost touching the chain stay. This results in some pretty epic chain slap. I read on mtbr or pinkbike about somebody who runs a strip of foam weather seal tape on top of the chain stay so I stuck some on there and it definitely help but just takes away what little clearance there was already.

If I had to chose between the two I would opt for the nomad 3 but that is because I really value descending prowess over any other attribute. The evil is probably the better all rounder.

I really think you'd have to be pretty unlucky to grab a bike these days that rides poorly and the comparison is mostly nitpicking.





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How does it compare to the Rune?

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[the drizzle]

How does it compare to the Rune?

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Sorry I missed this.

Rune is very similar to the nomad in my opinion.

Nomad descends and jumps better. Rune climbs a heap better.





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[the drizzle]

A few small changes to my rig.

Fitted a dhx2 and 550lb valt spring. Evil recommended either a 550 or a 600 for my weight on that shock and I like my ride plush. It certainly delivers. I used the recommended settings from evil and felt like I achieved suspension nirvana. Only thing I needed to change was to add some more HSC.

This shock confirmed there is no chance I will bother with an air shock again. I reckon for heavier riders a coil is a no brainer.

I think a big part of the playful nature of this bike comes from the linkage as even with a slightly undersprung coil, it remains super poppy and playful.

I have still be copping the pedal strikes on techy climbs and refuse to ride the bike in any other setting than extra low as I am in love with how it corners. @Hipstar hooked me up with some affect cranks at 170mm instead of the 175mm slx I have been running.

I also added a 170mm one up dropper which I scored from @rangersac and that has been a great addition also, long travel droppers are amazing!

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[slowmick]

How heavy are you if you don't mind me asking?

 

[the drizzle]

How heavy are you if you don't mind me asking?

I weigh 99kg at the moment.

I find that when I pump an air shock to set sag I am approaching the maximum pressure. The only air shock I have ridden recently which felt decent was a DVO topaz.

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[slowmick]

Cheers, my shock run close max pressure a lot of the time (i am in the 110 - 120kg range) - i'd never considered a coil shock as an alternative for this issue.

 

[The Reverend]

I'm interested to hear this. My shocks are about 15 to 10psi short of their maximum setting. They're also running spacers too so it must stress them.

I'd love to try a coil but I recently went $$$ on both my shocks so it's a way off for me yet. They also ride well (to this uncultured rider anyway).
I'm inclined not to try a coil as I'll only want to buy them and will be frustrated and annoyed.