2016 Devinci Wilson Carbon

On the Trail

Some DH bikes fall tidily into a particular category. The Canfield Jedi that I rode last season is fantastic on steep, super rough terrain, and I’d call it the king of plow bikes. The Trek Session 9.9 is super light and feels like a bike designed to win races. The Rocky Mountain Maiden feels slow through chunky terrain, but it’s more playful than a lot of bikes, and it’s a great park bike.

I can’t really pigeonhole the Wilson into a category though. I wouldn’t say it’s the best in any particular category, but it’s really good at all of them.

On legitimately rough terrain, the Wilson is comfortable carrying speed and smashing through roots and rocks. It doesn’t feel quite as calm and composed as the Jedi in this scenario, but it’s still very good. I found that it worked best when I slowed the rebound on the rear shock down a bit more than I normally would – the bike would settle down and remain steady through the roughness.

Regardless of how rough the trails are, as the speed picks up, the Wilson is a fairly stable bike. I wouldn’t say it’s the most stable bike I’ve been on, but it never felt twitchy. High speed stability usually ends up being a bit of a trade off with low speed maneuverability, and as far as true DH bikes go, the Wilson errs a bit on the stable end of the spectrum, without going overboard.

In terms of super rough trails, where the Wilson really shines is on the brakes, presumably in large part due to the Split Pivot design. Moreso than a lot of bikes, the Wilson remains composed while hard on the brakes, and the suspension stays pretty active. This made it easier to carry speed around tricky corners, and it felt easier to get onto (and hold) those awkward high lines that inevitably require maintaining traction over a bunch of off camber roots.

Cornering when off the brakes was pretty good. I’d say it’s not quite as composed in corners as some bikes that have longer chainstays, but I rarely felt like I had to fight to keep the Wilson on line in tricky corners. I did occasionally feel like I had to be conscious about keeping my weight forward to maintain traction on the front tire, but I attribute a lot of that to the sizing of the bike; like I mentioned before, to some extent I feel like I’m between sizes on this bike.

The Wilson is pretty poppy, which makes it easy to double up little features on the trail, and it also makes for a fun bike on flow trails like A-Line and Dirt Merchant. I think at least some of that pop comes from the progressive nature of the rear suspension – the Wilson has one of the more progressive rate curves on the market.

For those unfamiliar, that basically means that the suspension on the Wilson gets much harder to compress towards the end of it’s travel than at the beginning. Compare that to a bike with a more linear suspension rate, where the force required to reach the bottom of the bike’s travel doesn’t ramp up nearly as much. Generally speaking, a progressive bike like the Wilson is harder to bottom out and can better handle big hits, but it might make it harder for a lightweight or less aggressive rider to use all of the bike’s travel.

Because of that progressive leverage ratio combined with a pretty stiff frame, the Wilson handled hard hits well. While I certainly bottomed the bike out on some hard hits, I never felt like I was overwhelming the suspension.

In terms of general playfulness, I’d say the Wilson falls somewhere in the middle. It doesn’t have a particularly short rear end, nor is it particularly light, so manualing and throwing the bike around isn’t as easy as some other bikes. That said, it doesn’t feel like a lead sled where fun can’t be had on jumps.

Pedaling efficiency on the Wilson is on the good end of average for a DH bike. At no time did I think to myself “wow, I’d like to pedal this up a lengthy climb,” but I also never found myself feeling like I was pedaling through a giant swimming pool filled with mashed potatoes and / or candied yams.

Comparisons

Compared to the Trek Session 9.9: The Session is lighter, which is unsurprising since the Session is lighter than 99% of DH bikes on the market. The Session’s lack of weight makes it feel more agile in tight spots and easier to throw around in the air, but it also feels a lot less stable at speed, and less inclined to hold a line in rougher terrain. The sizing on the Session is also a bit weird, so for a given size, the Wilson feels like a considerably bigger bike. The two bikes perform similarly well under hard braking (likely due to the similarities of the Split Pivot and ABP suspension designs) but the Wilson has a more progressive suspension design and handles hard hits more gracefully.

Compared to the Specialized Demo (old / 2 sided version): I haven’t spent enough time on the new version of the Demo to arrive at any real conclusion, but I have a lot of time on the old version. The Wilson is much better about carrying speed through rough terrain, and it’s much more composed while on the brakes. I’d also say the Wilson jumps better, but I’ve found that the Demo’s jumping prowess varies quite a bit depending on the rear shock. The short rear end on the Demo is nice when threading through tight spots, but I prefer the Wilson’s longer rear end in pretty much every other situation.

Compared to the Canfield Jedi: Of the DH bikes I’ve spent much time on, the Jedi still reigns supreme when it comes to pinning it down steep, rough trails. That said, the Jedi isn’t nearly as good in most other situations. The Wilson is far better around corners, better while on the brakes, and it’s a lot more fun on jumps.

Who’s it For?

Like I mentioned at the outset, the Wilson is pretty good at defying categorization – it does everything pretty well. I’d say the Wilson is ideal for someone that might do a race one weekend, run some shuttles the next weekend, and bang out some laps in the bike park the next.

If you’re looking for something to just run A-Line laps over and over, I’d get a more park specific bike. Similarly, if you’re only concerned with running the steepest, gnarliest, rooty, rocky trails around, there might be better options. But if you want a bike that does really well on steep gnarly trails while also being pretty dang fun on jumps, the Wilson checks that box.

If that all sounds good, the only further advice I might offer would be that the Wilson might not be my first recommendation for smaller, less advanced riders. Unless you go with the top level build, it’s not an especially light bike, and the heavily progressive nature of the suspension might make it hard for small people that aren’t riding as hard to use all the travel. That said, for bigger guys, and those who are inclined to send it, the stout frame and progressive leverage ratio are fantastic.

Bottom Line

The Wilson is a solidly built, stiff frame that works impressively well in all situations that are pointed downhill. Most of my complaints on this frame revolve around maintenance, but when the rubber meets the dirt, those quibbles can be forgiven. At the end of the day, the Wilson is an great all around contender for both racing and general un-timed radness.