Evil Offering
Wheel Sizes: 29’’
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 151 mm
- Fork: 160 or 170 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 64.1° (160 mm fork / low geometry setting)
- Reach: 481 mm (Size L, 160mm fork / low geometry setting)
- Chainstay length: 430 to 440 mm
Frame Material: Carbon fiber
Price:
- Complete bikes: $6,699 to $10,599
- Frame w/ RockShox Super Deluxe or Vivid Ultimate shock: $3,999
Blister’s Measured Weight: 34.36 lb / 15.59 kg (Offering Eagle 90 Lyrik, size Large)
Test Location: Washington
Reviewers:
- Zack Henderson (6’, 165 lbs / 183 cm, 74.8 kg)
- David Golay (6’, 160 lb / 183 cm, 72.6 kg)
Test Duration: 3 months
Intro
It’s been a long wait for folks awaiting a new model from Evil, but the updated Offering is here, and it’s not just a light refresh of its predecessor. The new Offering gets a big geometry overhaul, new design language, a bunch of new features and refinements, and a bit more suspension travel to go with it. Let’s check it out.
The Frame
There’s no mistaking that the new Offering is an Evil, and it sticks to certain hallmarks of the brand, while casting aside some other ones — in ways that feel well considered.
We’ll start with the stuff that carries over from the outgoing Offering LS: the new bike is still carbon fiber-only, with Evil’s signature Delta suspension layout (a linkage-driven single-pivot setup designed by Dave Weagle) that places the shock low in the front triangle. It’s got the standard modern niceties you’d expect: a UDH derailleur hanger, guided internal cable routing that doesn’t go through the headset, and ample rubber protection on the chainstay, seatstay, and downtube. A 180mm brake mount carries over from the Offering LS, too, as do some other details, including a threaded bottom bracket shell, a 30.9 mm seatpost diameter, and the bearing sizes.
The stuff that has changed, though, feels more significant. There aren’t any wild changes here, but the ones that have been made are both meaningful and sensible. For one, the Super Boost rear hub spacing is gone: the new Offering gets a 148 mm Boost rear end, designed around the now-default 55 mm chainline. The suspension travel has been bumped up a bit (to 151 mm rear / 160 or 170 mm front, from 141 mm rear / 150 mm front), and Evil has added downtube storage, too. They’ve also refined a lot of the Offering’s hardware details, including tidying up the cable routing, beefing up pivot bolts in select locations, adding a rubber guard at the main pivot to keep rocks and gunk out, and making the geometry flip chip easier to use.
And speaking of geometry, some big changes are afoot there, too:
Fit & Geometry
The new Offering is available in the same four nominal sizes (Small, Medium, Large, and XL) as the outgoing one, and maintains Evil’s signature short chainstays, but the geometry is radically different overall. The headtube is much slacker, at 64.7° vs. 66.4° for the outgoing model (in the high flip chip setting, with the standard 160 mm fork for the new bike). The low setting drops that to 64.1°, and the bigger 170 mm fork option slackens things further to 64.1° / 63.6°, depending on the flip chip setting.
The seat tube angle has also been steepened dramatically, to around 78.5° effective / 75.5° actual (varying slightly by fork travel and flip chip setting). The effective seat tube angle on the outgoing bike wasn’t terribly slack (77° / 76°), but its fairly slack actual seat tube (angle not stated) resulted in a pretty rearward seating position, especially for taller folks on the bigger frame sizes with a greater overall seat height.
The reach and stack figures haven’t changed a ton; reach ranges from 438 to 501 mm and stack from 616 to 648 mm (160 mm fork, low setting). Nothing too weird going on there. The Offering’s chainstays are a bit on the short side, particularly for the larger sizes (~436 mm for all sizes, depending on geometry setting), though that’s been one of Evil’s calling cards for a while, too.
The Builds
The Offering is available in three different base builds, with additional suspension and wheel upgrade options from there. The drivetrain and brake packages are all from SRAM, RockShox handles suspension duties across the board, and all the wheel options are from Industry Nine. You can have your choice of SRAM Eagle 90, X0, or XX Transmission groups (with SRAM Maven Silver brakes and a Bike Yoke Revive dropper post across the board).
- Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate (160mm) or RockShox ZEB Ultimate (170 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate (w/ Lyrik) or RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate (w/ ZEB)
- Wheels: Industry Nine DH S 1/1
- Industry Nine Hydra 2 Trail or Enduro Carbon: $1,300 upcharge
- Dropper post: Bike Yoke Revive (S: 160 mm; M & L: 185 mm; XL: 213 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate (160mm) or RockShox ZEB Ultimate (170 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate (w/ Lyrik) or RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate (w/ ZEB)
- Wheels: Industry Nine DH S 1/1
- Industry Nine Hydra 2 Trail or Enduro Carbon: $1,300 upcharge
- Dropper post: Bike Yoke Revive (S: 160 mm; M & L: 185 mm; XL: 213 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate (160mm) or RockShox ZEB Ultimate (170 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate (w/ Lyrik) or RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate (w/ ZEB)
- Wheels: Industry Nine DH S 1/1
- Industry Nine Hydra 2 Trail or Enduro Carbon: $1,300 upcharge
- Dropper post: Bike Yoke Revive (S: 160 mm; M & L: 185 mm; XL: 213 mm)
FULL REVIEW
Evil has built a following (pun intended) for making playful, lively bikes that can still get down to business when called upon. It’s been a while since they released a new bike, but our time with the new Offering has shown that Evil’s signature ride feel is very much intact, while also incorporating a bunch of welcome tweaks.
Here are our thoughts, now that we’ve spent a few months with the new Offering.
Fit & Sizing
Zack: David hinted at some of his initial impressions of the Offering’s fit in his Flash Review, and while I swear I didn’t steal his homework, I found myself nodding in agreement when I read it later.
I’m 6’ (183 cm) tall, which leaves me at the upper end of Evil’s height recommendation for the Large that we tested, and at the bottom end of the suggested range for the XL. I generally prefer slightly smaller bikes than David does, and the 481 mm reach measurement in the Low position (with the 160 mm fork that our build came with) on the size Large is squarely within my preferences, but the seated position felt rather compact at first go. This was exaggerated by a healthy stack of spacers under the stem, which further shortened the cockpit.
If the Offering were my personal bike, I’d likely spring for a higher rise bar (50 mm or so; the stock Chester bar from Race Face has a 35 mm rise) to allow me to run the stem lower on the steerer and buy back precious millimeters of effective top tube length. Even so, I quickly adapted to the compact seated position and only really noticed its shortness when switching between the Offering and other longer bikes.
As we’ll get into, the Offering is a pretty playful and energetic take on a modern All-Mountain bike, and I wouldn’t be tempted to size up to the XL as I think it would make the Offering feel a bit too lengthy and planted for its general suspension and handling characteristics. Evil also uses a single chainstay length across the size range (437 mm in the Low position), which is already somewhat short, and would feel proportionally even shorter matched to the XL’s longer reach.
David: Yup. The Large Offering felt really small when I first hopped on it and started pedaling, but I quickly acclimated to its compact seated fit, and any lingering thoughts I had about whether I should have gone for an XL were quickly dispelled once I started descending. I’m confident that I could ride the XL if I really wanted to size up and make the Offering more stable, but as we’ll get into in a minute, it’s not a bike that leaves me inclined to go that route.
If you want a bike in this travel bracket that feels notably stable, planted, and focused on bulldozing whatever’s in front of it, you’ve got better options than the Offering. Keeping the fit on the compact side feels like a good match for the Offering’s personality, and I was quite happy with the sizing of the Large frame — despite often liking bikes that fit a bit bigger.
Climbing
Zack: The Offering is a pleasant climber, falling solidly in the middle of the range of All-Mountain bikes that I’ve ridden. Its rather light shock tune allows for some suspension bob while pedaling, but it’s not egregious, and hard stomps on the pedals still deliver solid acceleration. I felt like I could put out harder efforts on smoother climbs and still move along at a rewarding pace.
The Offering feels quite maneuverable and easy to place on technical climbs, but its compact seated fit and short rear-center caused some headaches on steeper pitches. Thanks to my center of gravity being fairly high given the short, upright seated position, I found that the front wheel could want to lift slightly when laying down a lot of power to clamber up tricky sections of trail.
A longer, more stretched cockpit would likely help to flatten my back and pull more weight over the front of the bike, though a longer rear end would also mitigate the tendency of the front wheel to come unstuck. This wasn’t all that much of an issue on the vast majority of trails, largely thanks to the significantly steeper seat tube angle that Evil has implemented on the new Offering over the prior version, but folks who like to conquer especially steep and tricky climbs may still find the Offering needing a bit of extra attention to keep the front wheel tracking.
At the other end of the bike, traction at the Offering’s rear wheel is excellent. The Offering has a very sensitive-feeling top end of its travel, and it tracks the ground very, very well. Once I was able to figure out bringing my chest extra low to keep the front end down on steeper bits, I was impressed by what I could ascend without losing rear-end grip.
David: I think I got along with the Offering on steep, technical climbs a little better than Zack did, but we’re broadly on the same page here. The Offering pairs solid, but not outstanding, efficiency with very good traction under power. The climb switch on the RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate shock does a lot to firm things up if you want it, but I rarely felt the need apart from the occasional fire road slog.
The Offering does take a little more care to keep the front wheel planted on ultra-steep climbs than some other bikes (generally ones with a longer rear-center), but the Offering’s dramatically steepened seat tube over the last version helps a lot there. I found myself dropping the seat slightly and standing up over super punchy bits of climbs a little more often than I might on some other bikes to keep myself over the front end, but that was an easy technique adjustment for me.
The Offering’s combination of excellent traction and relatively nimble low-speed handling is a real asset in some technical climbing situations, too. For every moment where the Offering took a little more care to manage my weight distribution compared to a longer, less nimble bike, there was another where its comparatively compact dimensions felt welcome in tight, janky bits of climbs. It’s notably maneuverable at low speeds for this sort of bike, and can be a pretty good technical climber for it.
The Offering isn’t the sort of bike that lets you turn your brain off and tractor over techy bits of climbs, but I found it to be a rewarding technical climber if you’re game to focus and ride with a bit more precision.
Descending
Zack: I’ve ridden a few Evils over the years, and I’ve generally found the combination of geometry and suspension to make for a unique descending feel. The Offering continues that trend, but benefits from more contemporary geometry, with a novel combination of sensitive, poppy suspension and very lively handling.
At Evil’s recommended 30% sag, the rear suspension of the Offering felt a bit too soft for me, most notably in the middle portion of its travel. Evil’s DELTA suspension design feels like it has ample progression, which prevents harsh bottom outs even when the overall feel is a bit soft. Still, I wanted more support, and I ended up running more like 27% sag and found it to make a meaningful difference in the response and composure of the rear suspension. I also found Evil’s standard shock tune to feel quite light in both its compression tune — lighter than I would typically prefer — and while it meshed well with the Offering’s lively personality, I might also experiment with a shock re-tune down the line to add a bit more compression support and help the rear suspension ride a bit higher through repeated large impacts.
Once I figured out the shock settings, the Offering started to deliver an impressive mix of speed and fun. The suspension feels very sensitive and grippy while simultaneously having loads of pop, making it easy to load up through rollers, jump transitions, and corners. Unlike some bikes with suspension that really isolates the rider from impacts but requires more input to get much responsiveness for more playful riding, the Offering feels like it propels the rider forward and generates momentum easily while still offering ample forgiveness for bad lines and heavy landings. The RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork felt well matched to the feel of the Offering’s DELTA linkage and Super Deluxe Ultimate shock combo, feeling energetic and sporty yet still forgiving.
David: Fully co-signed. The Offering’s combination of very lively, energetic-feeling suspension that still manages to offer quite good sensitivity and grip is impressive, and plays a big part in its overall character. I’d describe it as being a lively, responsive-feeling bike first, and one that delivers good sensitivity and grip second — its poppiness is its standout trait, and its plushness is impressive relative to that pop, rather than something that really jumps out on its own — but it’s a nice combo nonetheless.
Like Zack, I quickly arrived at running a good bit more air pressure / less sag than Evil’s recommended baseline at both ends — both to accentuate the Offering’s liveliness, and probably in part to make up for the somewhat light compression tune — but I found that light-ish compression tune to be a good match for the Offering’s personality, rather than something I’d be eager to change. (That feels notable to me — longtime readers have heard me pine for a firmer compression tune on a lot of bikes over the years.)
I’ll also add that the Offering does need a little bit of speed to wake up and show its lively, responsive side. That threshold isn’t high — far from it — but the Offering isn’t the most engaging on really tight, janky bits if there’s not a bit of pitch to help keep your momentum up. I think that’s probably a somewhat inevitable tradeoff for the Offering’s supple, sensitive suspension performance — it’s hard to put big enough inputs into it for it to get responsive if you aren’t moving just a little bit. But again, the threshold to clear there is pretty low, and with just a little bit of room to run, the Offering comes into its own quickly.
I’m a fan of the overall ride feel that Evil hit with the Offering, too. The frame feels stiff-ish without being punishingly so, and that stout feel is nicely matched to the Offering’s responsive handling. It’s a bike that works best when ridden with a little bit of precision rather than just pointing it and hoping for the best, and it’s a very cohesive package on that front. The Large Offering that we’ve tested also favors a moderately forward stance to manage weight distribution between the wheels, but not as dramatically as I might have guessed. It’s probably not the bike for folks who specifically want to ride very centered and upright, but it feels reasonably neutral / adaptable outside of that.
Zack: I really enjoyed the Offering on faster trails with well-supported corners and bigger jumps, but the bigger surprise was in how well I got along with it in more serious technical terrain. The Offering’s handling feels quite sharp and nimble — as my comments above imply, this isn’t some ultra-composed Enduro sled — but it takes well to steep and rough trails when leaning into its strong suits of changing direction and getting airborne. Rather than just dropping my heels and plowing through root beds, I found myself pulling for gaps and taking more precise lines that benefitted from its quick and responsive handling. It required that I be more on my game than a more planted and forgiving bike might, but it also made for a lot of fun on spicy trails.
David: This bit is worth underlining. Given everything we’ve already said about its suspension performance and handling, it should come as no surprise that the Offering is a lot of fun on flowier jump lines and the like — and it is — but I also found it to be more confidence-inspiring on some steep, technical descents than I might have guessed, too.
The key there, as Zack already noted, is riding the Offering dynamically and looking for ways to get airborne over rougher bits and taking sneaky lines that would be harder to hit on a less nimble bike. It’s not some big sledgehammer of a bike that wants to run over everything with aplomb, but it facilitates relatively active, dynamic riding as a way to tackle burly terrain quite well.
Zack: At times, the Offering reminded me that I was on a playful All-Mountain bike, not an Enduro bruiser. The short chainstays that make it so easy to snap around start to compromise stability as speeds creep up, and the suspension doesn’t erase mid-sized hits like some other bikes can. It still can go fast on really rough trails, but it requires more rider attention and effort than some more planted, stable bikes at the often blurry intersection of All-Mountain and Enduro. Even so, while Evil offers a burlier 170 mm ZEB fork / Vivid shock configuration, I’m not sure I’d be tempted to spring for that — the Offering feels very coherent with the Lyrik / Super Deluxe setup we tested, and I feel strongly that the inherent handling and suspension traits that Evil has cooked up are better suited to the lighter, livelier feel of our bike’s suspension spec.
David: Yup. The Offering’s biggest limitations show up when the trail gets really rough and fast. Now, I’d say the same thing for the vast majority of bikes in the Offering’s travel bracket — at some point, there’s no replacement for displacement (suspension travel, in this case), a longer wheelbase for greater stability, and so on. For what it is, the Offering does fine. I bring this up more to highlight that the Offering does its best technical descending on trails that are more on the tight and steep side, rather than super wide open and fast.
We only tested the Offering with the Lyrik / SuperDeluxe suspension combo, but I share Zack’s reservations about the Zeb / Vivid spec. This isn’t a bike where I found myself wishing it was just a bit more planted and composed — its lively, responsive ride is precisely what makes it stand out, and I suspect beefing up the suspension would detract from that.
The Build
Zack: Speaking first for the frame, Evil has gotten a lot right in their tweaks to the Offering’s finer details. Geometry adjustments are far easier on the new bike, thanks to the new flip chip design; it no longer uses Super Boost spacing at the rear wheel; there’s in-frame storage; frame protection is ample; and the cable routing is rattle-free. Seat post insertion is perhaps the one shortcoming, and I’m not sure I could have run a 200 mm+ post — the 260 mm insertion depth of the Large is definitely on the short side. For comparison, the Transition Sentinel we reviewed has 315 mm seatpost insertion depth on a size Large.
David: I was able to (just barely) squeeze a 210 mm OneUp V3 dropper into the Large Offering, but my legs are a little longer than Zack’s. I can run a 240 mm OneUp in a ton of bikes, and usually have more wiggle room with a 210 in the ones where I can’t. Most of the other frame details are quite well sorted, but I’d love a bit more seatpost insertion.
Zack: As far as the actual build, I was impressed with the value packed into the Eagle 90 Super Deluxe kit we tested. Even this base model build comes with Ultimate-tier suspension from RockShox in the Lyrik fork and Super Deluxe rear shock. The Maven Silver brakes are a strong choice (literally) that is consistent across all build tiers. I continue to be a fan of the Eagle 90 Transmission’s performance, too. My biggest gripe was with the tire spec — the Exo+ casing of the Assegai MaxxGrip front tire was a reasonable choice, but the thin Exo casing of the DHR II rear tire left something to be desired on a bike of the Offering’s intentions.
I also had issues with the seatpost slipping, even after applying carbon paste. It’s something I’ve experienced with the smooth finish of other Bike Yoke droppers in the past on certain carbon frames, but this was an especially bad case. Scuffing the inside of the seat tube helped, along with even more carbon paste, but I had to crank down the seatpost collar more than might be recommended, and it still slipped on occasion.
David: I had no such issues with the OneUp post that I ran for most of my time on the Offering. Otherwise, I’m with Zack here — Evil’s decision to prioritize suspension, brakes, and wheels, and then let you decide how fancy you want to get with the drivetrain is sensible, even if it means there aren’t any super-affordable options here.
Who’s It For?
Zack: The Evil Offering is several things at once — poppy yet supple, and agile yet easygoing. I think it’s at its best on feature-laden trails, especially ones with lots of well-supported corners and jumps where it can really generate momentum, but it’s also very engaging when taking a creative and precise approach to steeper, more technical trails.
The Offering won’t necessarily please riders looking for maximal pedaling response out of a longer-travel platform, nor would I say it’s the best option for folks looking for an especially grounded, stable bike. While its responsive handling caters best to more advanced riders on especially rough trails, its suspension feels quite sensitive and forgiving, making the Offering a compelling option for riders still building their skills and looking for a bike to grow with them.
Bottom Line
Evil’s long-awaited refresh of the Offering isn’t quite like most other bikes out there. It’s a lively, playful take on the All-Mountain category that doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet it still has enough backbone to be pushed pretty hard on challenging trails. The Offering is just plain fun — and that makes it an easy bike to recommend for riders with a playful style who are looking for an engaging, do-it-all partner.
Deep Dive Comparisons
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Deep Dive: Evil Offering
We compare the Evil Offering to the Atherton A.150.M, Trek Fuel MX, Kona Process 153, Knolly Fugitive 140, Santa Cruz Hightower 4, Santa Cruz Bronson 5, Ibis Ripmo V3, Deviate Highlander II, Transition Sentinel V3, Specialized Stumpjumper 15, Rocky Mountain Instinct, Norco Sight, and Propain Tyee.
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It’s interesting seeing mid-travel Trail bikes continue to inch towards Enduro with HTAs around 64 and 170mm fork compatibility.