Tora Cycles is the latest brand to hit the UK mountain bike scene, fabricating steel hardtail and downhill mountain bikes out of their workshop in Devon, England. This week, they released their debut frameset in the form of a DH/Park Bike, inspired by the Brooklyn Machine Works Race Link; the Tora Cycles EVH. It is designed around the same motocross style linkage but with a more progressive, modern set of geometry figures. Let’s see what you get for £2600.
Tora Cycles EVH Park Bike
Tora Cycles tells us they have honed in on a bike that meets the demands and rigors of modern riding, playful enough to give the rider confidence to take their riding to the next level. The EVH gets 200mm of rear wheel travel, delivered by that rising rate MX-style linkage. Available in sizes M-XL, the medium and large frames run a 27.5″ wheelset with the XL runs a mullet setup, with a 29″ wheel up front, 27.5″ out back.
All of the images Tora Cycles has sent us picture the EVH set up as a single-speed. This one has not one, but two sprockets on the idler at the high main pivot location. The short drive chain, running from the chainring to the idler, is tensioned by virtue of the eccentric bottom bracket, while the longer chain running to the rear wheel sprocket is tensioned near the dropout.
The Tora Cycles EVH can however, also be run as a regular geared DH Bike, which runs one chain and one sprocket on the idler. It features a roller mounted to the swingarm and an ISCG mount to which a lower chain tensioner is mounted.
Across the M-XL size range, reach stretches from 435mm to 485mm, fairly conservative by modern standards. That’s paired with 442mm chainstays. The head angle is slack at 63.5°, seat tubes are slammed at 395mm across the size range, with a BB drop of 10mm. Tora Cycles tells us the EVH is more of a park bike than it is an out-and-out DH race rig, and that keeping it shorter helps to maintain playfulness. The high location of the main pivot gives the rear wheel a rearward axle path, so the wheelbase actually increases during a compression, helping to maintain stability.
The frame itself is fabricated from T45, a steel alloy of Iron, Carbon and Manganese; it is actually 24% more torsionally rigid than 4130 steel (CrMo), which you’ll come across more commonly on bicycles. Curtis Bikes, another English bike manufacturer, is also a proponent of T45, selecting it for frames that will take a lot of punishment. While the tubes are welded to one another at the Tora HQ in the South West of England, the linkage parts for the suspension are fabricated in Wales by a specialist manufacturer.
Pricing & Availability
The Tora Cycles EVH frame retails at £2600, with forks and coil shocks available from Ohlins and FOX at additional cost. Pre-ordering is open now. Frames are built to order with an anticipated 3 month lead time.
