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Evil Bikes’ Chamois Hagar rocks the gravel bike world w/ crazy slack geometry

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There are a lot of brands out there you expect to make a gravel bike. Evil Bikes is probably not one of them. But then again, not all gravel bikes are created equal. Some are specifically built for long distance suffering in mostly straight lines across the state of Kansas. Others are decidedly more shred-worthy, which is where Evil’s newest bike comes in. Amusingly named the Chamois Hagar, this is not your typical gravel bike – which means it will likely appeal to an all new group of riders.

Evil Bikes' Chamois Hagar looks to rock the world of gravel bikes w/ crazy slack geometry

I’ve often remarked that there seems to be two different camps when it comes to gravel bikes. The Hagar is certainly in the more aggressive camp, but to be honest, it’s essentially on its own in an even more wild, third camp. Evil says that instead of starting with a “squirrely road bike and relaxing things into borderline manageable,” they instead came at it from the mountain bike side of things. And it shows. There aren’t many (any?) other gravel bikes built around a 66.67° head tube angle and a 50mm stem. Hell, I just finished a review on the Ibis Ripley which has almost the same head tube angle. Evil calls this their Velocity Geo and Real Reach. Evil guarantees this longer front center will provide no toe overlap ever, or Noeverlap. There’s also a massive 80mm of bottom bracket drop for even more stability.

To make it all work, Evil created their own rigid fork with a 57mm offset and a 428mm axle to crown measurement. Up front is a 100 x 12mm axle and flat mount brakes to match the rear.

Evil Bikes' Chamois Hagar looks to rock the world of gravel bikes w/ crazy slack geometry

Going along with that longer top tube and shorter stem, we find a massively dropped seat tube which is designed for 125mm dropper posts while still offering room inside the front triangle for three water bottle cages or a frame bag.

Evil Bikes' Chamois Hagar looks to rock the world of gravel bikes w/ crazy slack geometry

While the Hagar is built for shredding, it’s also built for bike packing adventures with up to 6 bottle cage mounts (five for size small), top tube mounts, and fender mounts.

Evil Bikes' Chamois Hagar looks to rock the world of gravel bikes w/ crazy slack geometry

All of this would be pointless without massive tire clearance, so the Hagar offers room for 700c x 50mm. Rear axle spacing is kept to 142 x 12mm with 430mm chainstays, and the 68mm threaded bottom bracket shell keeps things simple. Internal routing is used throughout the frame and fork, but Evil says the frame is “weather sealed” to keep out the elements.

Available in one color – Blackout Drunk, the Chamois Hagar starts at $4,799. Builds can be customized through the Evil website, and it’s also available as a frame only for $2,799.

evil-bikes.com

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Dinger
Dinger
4 years ago

What does “shredding” look like on a bike like this?

I feel like it’d leave me wishing for a suspension fork, a flat handlebar and about .5″ more tire.

muddd
muddd
4 years ago

Yeah, +2. They should have at least made it suspension corrected, for a Fox AX fork or something like that.

Sevo
Sevo
4 years ago
Reply to  muddd

Look again at the a to c measurements. 🙂

Mark
Mark
4 years ago
Reply to  Sevo

Good luck finding a suspension fork with 57mm offset.

Pierre
Pierre
4 years ago
Reply to  muddd

I believe it is possible to install a suspension fork, but with a short travel and a smaller wheel (27,5″). I have done it on an allaround bike.
But as Mark says below, you could still have a trail issue.

Heffe
Heffe
4 years ago

Someone may like it! But hard pass for me.

Kevin VanDeventer
4 years ago
Reply to  Heffe

$2800 for a rigid frameset? Lol.

Scott Carlile
Scott Carlile
4 years ago

So… it’s like a mountain bike? Cool, got it.

luggednut
luggednut
4 years ago

Oh Evil, bless your heart.

onrhodes
4 years ago

In my head it’s like a more rowdy Salsa Cutthroat.

Keith
Keith
4 years ago
Reply to  onrhodes

Exactly.

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
4 years ago

A 58.6 cm effective top tube length on a small road bike frame. And they are recommending this for someone 5′ to 5′ 8″. Where do these companies come up with their fit geometry. But then again it has a really slack seat tube angle so the person will most likely have to slam the seat all the way forward to have any chance of getting their knee over the pedal spindle, which would shorten the effective top tube length a few centimeters.

Rider of Bikes
Rider of Bikes
4 years ago
Reply to  Eggs Benedict

While I agree the seat tube angle seems 2 degrees slacker then i would expect given the other geo… What you’re forgetting is that this is being sold with a 50mm stem. Take 40-50mm off of the horizontal measurements with regards to both reach and TT and you are right at industry standard hand position in relation to bottom bracket.

Don’t worry yee roadies, stems can be made in multiple sizes!

Astro Kraken
Astro Kraken
4 years ago
Reply to  Eggs Benedict

Hence the stubby stems. The seat tube angles are normalish and this eliminates the toe overlap problem for shorter people or fender users.

Greg Moore
Greg Moore
4 years ago
Reply to  Eggs Benedict

It’s not the worst bike ever, if you catch a look at it in the video around 2:11 you see it in profile for a second or two. Why not show it in a still frame so readers can check out the whack a$$ angles? From looks alone I would hope it has a hella frame warranty. Looks half broken already.

Greg
Greg
4 years ago

Seat tube angles are kinda wack.

Mike A
Mike A
4 years ago

I’m just here to say thanks for the laugh. That name is great.

Andrew
Andrew
4 years ago

Great name…..but I really question whether anyone is going to appreciate this geometry. “Shred Comes to Gravel” – then show people riding roads that would be easily ridden (possibly more easily) on gravel bikes with more traditional geometry.

blahblah1233445
4 years ago

Ok, this is just plain stupid. Better use trail frame with a rigid XC fork – at least You can fit bigger tires into that.

Antoine Martin
Antoine Martin
4 years ago

I think it make a lot of sense. Sure you could simply take a 29er XC bike with modern geo and get to the same point but still i think it’s right. The author start by saying so bike are for straightlining and other for shredding, but i bet this bike is great for straightlining. The added stability will make for a more relaxed ride which is good for endurance riding even in a straight line. You can have your hands free etc…
I think roadies and all need to understand that there is only one good reason for long stem short frame steep fork : it’s great to follow another road racer with the smallest distance possible to get the best draft, but apart from that it makes no sense all the “lively ride” “ability to corner” is dumb. Long wheelbase bike just corner superbly. I took road corners with super long mondraker bike and those have a great handling compared to my road bike with classical geo.

Joenomad
Joenomad
4 years ago

So the industry has gone from making mountain bikes out of road bikes and now making road bikes out of mountain bikes. If your riding does lean more to off-road and less asphalt, this does make a good do most bike to keep the N+1 down.

Johann
Johann
4 years ago

So it looks like Evil not having chain clearance around the chainstay is a chronic problem. But why?

wzrd
wzrd
4 years ago
Reply to  Johann

it has double drop chainstays. also, chainstays are 10-15mm longer then most gravel bikes. clears smaller tires then a 3t.

constantly_peaking
constantly_peaking
4 years ago
Reply to  wzrd

No it can fit a 700x50mm tire. 3T rates the Exploro for a 700x40mm tire. The majority of gravel (and even cross) bikes don’t have significantly shorter chainstays than this, though the Evil’s are probably 5mm or so longer than median. The Open Up and Exploro are exceptions, with seriously short rear ends. However it’s not accurate to say that shorter chainstays are better automatically. Evil clearly wanted to design a bike that could fit a legitimate 29er tire which only brands like QBP and little players like Crust have done to any notable degree—even though Open and 3T like to say “this can fit a 2.1″ mtb tire!” they mean a 650×50-53 or 27.5×2.1″. Hence the huge bottom bracket drop on the Hagar, the slightly longer than average chainstays, the ludicrous fork rake, etc. I’ve ridden all these characteristics on bikes, but never all at the same time on one bike and am very suspicious. Will it feel different? Definitely. But they’re trying something very different as a package, and it’s folly to write that off automatically without trying one. The shop I used to work at is close with Evil and has the first production prototype in the back—can’t wait to try it over the semester break!

KevEFresh
KevEFresh
4 years ago

Say what you may about angles, geometry and this just being the reincarnation of a XC bike with drops. But doesn’t it look fun? I mean, upwards of $5k for a “fun” bike may seem ridiculous, but when bikes are fun, they encourage a lot more than simply what makes “sense” on paper. Without riding it, I’d say there will be a lot of ppl that would love to have this bike, myself included. Could I do the same on a carbon hardtail w a rigid fork? No doubt, but will I have as much fun doing it? ‍♂️

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
4 years ago
Reply to  KevEFresh

What?

luggednut
luggednut
4 years ago
Reply to  KevEFresh

Kev, I for one want you to get the most fun, don’t I?

Peter Olivetti
4 years ago

This bike is not new. I made one in sept. (suspension corrected for 100mm travel and a 660mm ETT. but these are just individual numbers not the whole stew.) and Pete Verdone has been making similar iterations, if not more shreddy since 2016 or prior. http://www.peterverdone.com/hybrids-are-back/
These bikes are pretty dang fun, especially if your talking about your out the door bike ride. Sure its not a trail bike, or even a road bike. But most people are probably not living next to Galbraith. The real disappointment truly to these manufacturer’s video vignettes is that they only show people ripping around on the bike in places most people don’t get to ride daily. Nor do the videos actually make any talking points about what the f they are trying to do with such a bike. Point being, they are fun bikes to ride on most peoples daily dirt rip, but can also be a great way to get out into nowhere with a great amount of versatility. The downside is that the manufacturer spends a seemingly decent amount of cashcakes making a video that doesn’t tell anyone jack S about what the great takeaways could be from this bike. 2 cents anyway.

Thomas
Thomas
4 years ago

A black Electra Townie with drop bars and 700c wheels. Weird move bringing grandma to the gravel ride.

Ricardo
Ricardo
4 years ago

When I see a bike like this I wonder why the manufacturer didn’t just go one small step further and put in mounts for fenders. It just seems like they are turning their backs on a potential market segment. It wouldn’t be much trouble, they wouldn’t need to change the basic bike they made at all, just have some way to add fenders. I’m not trying to single out this bike or this manufacturer, I see it from most manufacturers.

Jason Brummels
4 years ago

Living out here in gravel central we’re pretty stoked to get a first ride on this thing! Regardless of what we might think from geo numbers, riding it is going to tell the story. Should be wild. Kudos to Evil for pushing the envelope.

Brian Nicholson
Brian Nicholson
4 years ago

If it had 40mm more stack Id be pretty interested. A drop bar bike for rougher surfaces needs to be made for riding in the drops >90% of the time. This thing is geared to ride on the hoods and that just doesn’t work once the bike starts bouncing around.

Antoine Martin
Antoine Martin
4 years ago

Yeah but CX racer ride the hoods mostly. I wonder why the don’t put taller headtube to ride the drop more.

Hamiltone
Hamiltone
4 years ago

Ride this bicycle. I’ve been behind the wheel of design at the big S and C companies, and seeing this introduction made my day. Hell, it made my whole holiday. Massive props to the team at Evil. This next level product would not be possible at the big boring companies.

Richard Shea
Richard Shea
4 years ago

I love the whole concept of blurring so many lines in one bike. Evil is going out on a limb and then jumping off. count me in. RZ

Matt Clark
Matt Clark
4 years ago

I just rode this bike. It felt weird for about 5 minutes, then it just ripped! Riding around with 50’s on a super slack bike is not going to win any road races, but it felt like with some 34’s it just might. Especially if there is any downhill involved. The GRX spec seemed perfect and the integrated dropper is top notch! It can handle fenders and a rack with the 50’s. Pretty much the most perfect adventure commuter I could imagine. It also comfortably crushed steep single track and flat gravel. I’ll have mine in a week!

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