Review: Evil Wreckoning LS GX

The Wreckoning LS is the biggest big-wheel bike Evil makes. Coming from the Pacific Northwest-based brand (more specifically, Bellingham, Wash.) that means something. But it might not mean exactly what you think.

Yes, the Wreckoning LS can plow through rough West Coast singletrack. But, after testing this 29″ magic carpet through a long, B.C. summer, there’s much more to this bike than a simple bruiser. Perhaps because Evil doesn’t aim for an enduro race bike, just a really fast bike, the Wreckoning encourages style on the bike as much as it does raw speed.

A solid rear triangle anchors the Wreckoning

Single pivot, but linkage driven

Tidy cable routing from the front triangle to the rear swingarm

The rear swingarm is beefy, making keeping the Wreckoning on line without feeling harsh

Evil Wreckoning LS: D.E.L.T.A.-driven fun

Evil designs the Wreckoning as a mini-DH rig, adding 166mm of coil-driven rear wheel travel to its 29″ wheels. With a 170mm RockShox Zeb Ultimate up front, that makes this carbon fibre frame a whole lot of bike. That travel is controlled by Evil’s Dave Weagle-designed, linkage-driven single pivot D.E.L.T.A. suspension platform. That system, the reason there’s an array of linkages hiding around the bottom bracket, is designed to sit higher in its travel, stay in the middle of the travel longer and then be very progressive to avoid harsh bottom-outs at the end of the shock stroke. The feeling on trail is of excellent initial traction, especially with a coil shock, and bottomless feeling suspension.

Evil finishes off the Wreckoning LS frame with a mix of style and functional details. There’s fully guided internal cable routing, starting at the beefy headtube and running all the way through the burly rear triangle. Despite the tough looks, the Wreckoning is actually reasonably light, and feels light on trail, for such a long-travel machine. There’s also a flip-chip to adjust the geometry. The options are, tellingly, “Low” or “X-Low.” That’s kind of like making speakers that go to 11, but it does fit the Wreckoning’s twin purpose of trail riding and bike park shredding. The LS tacked onto the name, for “Lightly Salted,” indicates updates to the original 2016 design to include, among other small details, UDH compatibility. An integrated sag-meter is cleverly integrated into the frame to help dial in, or…