It didn’t take long for Patrol to decide that their new 691 enduro bike needed to evolve. Just launched last year, the bike is already undergoing a geometry evolution. But that’s a lot easier to do when you own your own factories and are building bikes out of aluminum. Instead of having to modify or even scrap very expensive carbon molds, you can make some quick changes to your fixtures and possibly tube shapes to configure the bike with a new geometry. Just like they’ve done with the new 691 Evo.
As far as the frame itself goes, it seems that the Evo is nearly identical to the previous 691. It is positioned as their long travel 29″ enduro bike with 160mm travel up front, and 150mm in the back with Super Boost rear hub spacing.
The changes all come in the geometry table with the Evo getting longer and lower. While the headtube angle and seat tube angle remain unchanged at 65° and 76°, the reach is now bumped up to 435-490mm depending on the size. Standover height has been lowered on all sizes, and the bottom bracket has been dropped by 7mm for more stable handling.
In addition to the geometry, there are a few component changes for 2021 including the addition of the burly Fox 38 suspension fork which is paired with a DPX2 rear shock.
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Patrol 691 SL
If you’re not sure you need that longer and lower geometry of the Evo frame, Patrol will also still be offering the previous geometry as their 691 SL. Built with a RockShox 35 Silver fork, X-Fusion 02 Pro RLR rear shock and a SRAM SX Eagle 1×12 drivetrain, the pricing on this one is said to be a bit more approachable.
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Pricing and availability on both models is TBA.
