Recently I’ve thought of building up a heavy duty hardtail to have as my one bike to do it all. So I have a new Mk1 Evil Sovereign frame here. My only gripe with it is that it’s limited to 1-1/8″ forks.

How much longer can 26″, straight 1-1/8″ suss forks endure?

If I build it, I’d still ride it 10 years from now. But I worry about future availability of compatible forks. Or sell it and pay more for a slightly less special frame but one that can take tapered forks and potentially up to 160mm travel.

I guess it’s also become a question of if the structural benefits of tapered forks are noticeable enough in real life to warrant changing over to a more modern frame.

The Evil in question~

Quality steel hardtail? Check.
26″ wheels? Check.
Higher than usual BB? Check.
Short CS? Check.
Huge seat tube for dropper? Check.
Nigh-on indestructible? Check.
Guaranteed fun? Check.
Fork options years from now? Scratches head.

What’s your opinion?

Still one of the purtiest looking frames ever made IMO.

Stick with it, and just run straight steerer forks for as long as you can.

Thanks for the heads up Stoner 🙂

Do you have one amongst your stable of bikes?

I suppose for anyone who has a Sovereign in their fleet of differently sized & shaped bikes and fallen on hard times, would you sell yours? Or would the modern hardtail be the first one to go?

Well your photo has just inspired me to clean up my old frame. I cannibalised it for parts a few months ago, but I always said I’d never sell the frame so now I’m trying to convince the OH to let me hang it on the wall (until I mysteriously end up with enough ‘spares’ to rebuild it).

But I worry about future availability of compatible forks

Keep an eye on the classifieds, and either buy for spares for your forks, or have a back up for when yours blows up?

Future compatibility?

Who cares, if you have a setup you’re happy with why would you need new forks?

I’m still running a Trailstar with a set of Revelations, tbh I preferred the Z1 QR20’s (Z1 CR with 20mm axle) I had years ago on my Le Toy. The right set of forks makes all the difference, changes for changes sake is pointless.

i’m in a similar situation with my DB Alpine. well, two of them, actually. (MK1 & MK2).

get a decent set of forks and get them serviced.

Yeah right, those old QR20mm forks back in ’99 were some of the best.

If you need a set of new forks for the Evil then look at White Bros.

Sold my Sov a few months ago and immediately regretted it. The best hardcore hardtail made.

I ran it with 2014 Marzocchi 55cr’s as they have a straight steerer and can be lowered.
The 2015 55r is another good fork for a Sov.

A set of 55 rc3 it’s with a straight steerer are doing me well, worth looking out for a set.

I’ll be listing some 150mm straight steerer forks later this week

I’d imagine any frame builder worth their salt should be able to fit a new headtube

I’ve got some coil Sektors on mine, was always after some nice old Pikes but couldn’t find any at the time.
What a bike, there’s nothing like it 🙂

Buy some straight steerer coil Sektors, the 32mm seals will be available for years due to the Revelation continuing in the range and being a light and well liked fork.
Coils because they’re bombproof and dead easy to service yourself.

I did what you’re thinking of doing with a Dialled Alpine a few years back, sold it as I bought into the nonsense that I needed a 44mm headtube for future compatibility and a fat seat tube for a dropper post I didn’t even have!
Crap decision by me, I miss steel hardtails with delicate stays and small headtubes….I ended up with a Ragley that gives me tapered steerer options and dropper post compatibility but it doesn’t ride anything like as nicely as the Alpine or the 456-Evo I had around the same time.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mid-life-make-over-raw-steel-content

I’ve got spare uturn pikes for one bike and have just got a set of uturn lyriks for another which can be upgraded with the latest damper, so I’m set for a good long while. Might possibly get a spare set of lyriks too, just to make sure…

No no no no; you need short travel forks (110 – 120mm) on that frame. Pikes or Rebas would do the trick.

To everyone who’s contributed to this thread so far and reassured me that a straight steerer won’t be anything to worry about for years, thank you. I’m almost certain I’ll keep this frame now. Unless someone has a wolf puppy they want to swap for it? 🙂

warpcow – I recognise that name from somewhere. Aha, you’re the owner of that yellow Sov! Very nice bike indeed, always did like that one. How do you like your Sov’s ride compared to your other bikes?

Rusty – Thanks for the link. I saw your bike/frame before when you had it up for sale some 3 months ago. You should’ve kept it, it was/is unique. Also considering the ball ache you went through to get it stripped. I’ve strongly considered stripping this green beast down and getting it clear powdercoated. Alternatively, I’ve thought of asking either Argos Cycles or Enigma Bikes to blast it & coat it matte black. After reading your thread I now know the original paint isn’t coming off without a fight

deviant – I plan(ned) on running some 440mm steel rigids as the starter fork until I could afford the current 140mm Revs. Well now you’ve got me interested in the Coil Sektors and to skip the rigid starter altogether. I’m looking at the 2016s on CRC that are £250. 120-150mm adjustability sounds excellent. Though it seems that the Sov handles at its best when run with 140s. Budget constraints aside, would the current 140 Revs with a down-the-line coil conversion be an ideal long term pairing with the frame?

I’ll put my hands up now and say I’m a newbie when it comes to suspension so anyone please feel free to educate me as much as you’re willing.

It’s an odd one, for sure. It’s certainly not the best bike I’ve owned at doing any one particular thing, but it’s by far the most fun for trying a bit of everything. The best word to describe it might be ‘versatile’ (‘fun’ is actually the best word but its a bit vague) . With a short fork and the saddle slammed it’ll handle pump/BMX-tracks and jumps well enough and do all day rides without complaint. With a longer fork I raced enduros on mine and rarely felt underbiked. I have to admit that the last incarnation of mine was the best. With a 120mm fork, and a slightly less beefy build, it was my goto bike for just pissing about on.

I’d imagine any frame builder worth their salt should be able to fit a new headtube

This. Easiest tube to swap out. I think bencooper (?) quoted sub GBP100 for a swap out of the headtube. Worth doing it the next time you’re thinking “I fancy a respray…”

🙂

I did the EWS Tweed on mine last year.

Currently split down as it’s just too small.

:'(

Seeing as this thread made me a bit paranoid as to being able to get another fork in the near future I had a little look around. Quite a bit still available, phew. This was the cheapest DP Sektor I found in my brief search: here. If it wasn’t for all my spare cash having be put into my new bike I’d have one right now.

I recently-ish got some Revelations from Alltricks for about £200.

My plan is if I still have my 456 when I can’t get any 1?” forks I’ll chop the headtube off and weld a 44mm one on.

I think I am the only person in the whole world who didn’t get on with their Sov! I wanted desperately to like it but I just didn’t.

I have a set of spares and repairs revs you are welcome to. They stanctions need re-coating and the mount Is mount on the lowers needs re-tapping but if you want them they are yours. I bought them as spares and figured I would fix them up but all my bikes have tapered or 44mm HTs so they are not really necessary and if your need is greater etc.

Drop me an email if you want them or have any questions.

Rhid

should mention they are 150mm and all the internals are good. They are just taking up space with me at the mo!

I miss mine, though I barely used it since I got a decent full susser that weighed less than it. It’s been gone 2 years but if I had a decent amount of disposable income I’d have kept it and kept it going by buying up broken 140mm Pikes (original ones) occasionally for spares.

I have just got a long term loan of another one and it’ll be good to be back on one.

Yours is the best colour, too.

I have had the enormous pleasure of owing and riding a Sov for a few years.

There should be some pics somewhere…

I love it…

Had it set up with a Hammersmit (sp) and 36s, 35mm wide rims and big rubber (33lbs)…. needed some umpth on hills but geat to ride down again….

Now set up with lighter wheels, 1 x 10 and 32s (27.5lbs)… fun play bike and the best pub bike ever.

As for forks… I have the 36s, 32s and a set of Revs… they will keep me going for years and when the Sov is retired it is going on the wall.

Budget constraints aside, would the current 140 Revs with a down-the-line coil conversion be an ideal long term pairing with the frame?

Sounds perfect (and freakily enough what i’m doing at the moment)…run them as long as you can with the standard air spring, i currently have some air spring Revs on my HT, in their current Motion Control DNA form they’re the best air forks i’ve used yet….but as soon as they start losing air, sucking down and any of the other problem that air forks suffer with they’ll be off to TFtuned for a coil conversion.

I have a 2015 650b Trance running wonderfully plush X-Fusion suspsension front and rear, i have 160mm up front giving me an ‘enduro-tastic’ head angle of 66 degrees and have swapped the rear shock from 200×51 to 200×57 to take rear travel from 140mm to 155mm….its light, rides great and is more bike than i’ll ever need…..and yet i dont ride it much as i’m always on the HT….how does that work?!?!….the HT is heavier, runs a steeper head angle that only steepens the more the fork is compressed, has 26 inch wheels, harsh ride quality etc etc….and yet i love it, i’m not saying i’ll never sell it (the Dartmoor Hornet looks tempting) but i’ll certainly never be without a HT….i could sell the FS tomorrow and not miss it, same cant be said for the HT….theres just something slightly more engaging in the way they ride, post pics of that Sovereign when its all done.

I found my sov rode best around 130mm, any more and BB height starts to get a little too tall. Had some U-turn coil sektors on it which were pretty good. I fitted a works component -1 degree headset as well which enabled me to have a slacker head angle for a given fork travel / BB height.

The Sov is a great looking bike.

You’ll be able to get 1 1/8th forks for ages yet, even if you have to go down the second hand route.

thepleasantpheasant – Member

I guess it’s also become a question of if the structural benefits of tapered forks are noticeable enough in real life to warrant changing over to a more modern frame.

Don’t stress about that, the big straight-steerer forks are plenty stuff. It’ll cut down future choice but stick a set of lyriks or rc3s in it and look after them and they’ll last years. Or Revs if you want to go lighter but I don’t think there’s much point, it’ll never be light after all.

Thought it was weirdly steep and very heavy myself, but very nice to look at

warpcow – that’s brilliant news. There are serveral pump tracks only a short train ride away from me so the Sov would definitely be spending a lot of time on there.

Versatile, fun, “my goto bike for just pissing about on”. Perfect

Bigdummy – Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll go do some homework on that after I’m finished typing.

rhid – That’s extremely generous of you and it would be a godsend if we could do that. I just sent you an email.

What didn’t you like about your Sov though? I’m interested to hear why you didn’t get on with yours.

munrobiker – You have two very handsome bikes there. Just how many shades of green did Evil do? 3 by my count, but correct me if I’m wrong. It’s not easy to see from the pic but the one in the op has gold glitter mixed with the green.

So very tempted to strip it and go matte black.

Mbnut – Happy to hear you get on with yours so well! Post some pics on here if you find them.

deviant – Great minds think alike :wink:. How long have you had your Revs?
I agree with you on HTs being more engaging in the way they ride. Had a few goes on peoples’ full sussers over the years but they only felt alive if charged at high speeds and pointed downhill. Maybe I just haven’t ridden a FS I truly liked yet. Would you happen to have a BMX or DJ background?

Northwind – Thanks for the extra reassurance. Part of the plan is to ride this Sov like it’s an invincible BMX so I was a bit concerned about steerer snappage at the crown as I’ve seen it happen to someone after a big bunnyhop drop to flat concrete. It was a rigid fork though. I’ll just stock up on spares for the fork I end up with.

Glad to have been educated by you gents so far!

Mine is one bike in two photos! They did 2 shades of green, I can’t remember what it was called on mine (a mk1 frame) and the one in your OP but the revamped ones which came in three sizes, not just “regular” and “long”, came in Kelly green, which was similar but not metallic. The one in the photo in the OP is a mk1 which I think is either a factory mk1 with the gold decals from the black frame (green ones came with Scotchbrite reflective white decals) or has been repainted in a good estimation of the original green. The unused dropouts suggest it’s original, possibly a later one and they’d run out of white decals. The green is an amazing colour, leave it as it is!

It also looks to be missing its original seatpost shim so will need a replacement. These weren’t available from Evil even when they were producing the MK1 frame. USE do them, and the 32.6mm to 27.2mm one is in stock at Evans-

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/use/shims-for-272mm-sx-posts–ec005387

The 27.2mm post does make it a lot more comfortable. I’ve not tracked down a 32.6mm to 31.6mm or 30.9 shim for them (which would let you use a Reverb)- USE don’t do them, you’d have to get one made.

I also see it’s missing the chain tugs. Hopefully you should be OK without but these are pretty simple to replace if needed.

I was convinced that it was two separate frames! British racing green indoors and a sweet emerald outdoors. I prefer your green. Grass is greener on the other side hey 🙂

The original shim is indeed missing but the USE one looks like a much better replacement all-round. 27.2 will be fine, I’ll just save money on this area of the bike and put my old pivotal seat on there.

The chain tugs are something I’ve had difficulty tracking down. I emailed Silverfish but they said it’s no longer available as spares through them? Evil still haven’t replied to the email I sent them. Do you know somewhere else I could get a hold of these?

There was a shop selling Imperial frames and spares but this was a couple of years ago, might be worth a google search pheasant.

Thought I’d put a pic of my Mk1 Sov, great bike.

Now running singlespeed with rear end slammed, ace for razzing jumps etc.

WOWSERS! NOICE colour.

I was supposed to sell my sov to pay for the bottomless pit that is my new nomad cc, I only managed to part with the wheels as I was too busy spending my hard earned to find the time to get it on the bay.
This was a result in the end as my daughter outgrew her 24″ bike and the wife started complaining we are always spending money on Halfords junk and it either fell apart or was too small within a few months.
I had merlin build me a new wheel set, dropped the front mech put on a 2010 xtr crank with a 32t ring dropped the carbon post all the way into the frame added a ladies saddle and viola.
Next week is her first off-road ride with me, she looks great on the SOV and says it feels really nice to ride and it means I never had to sell it

Aw, this makes me want to rescue mine from the back of the shed. It’s been cannibalised and is looking a bit sorry for itself. This was it the day I built it. We did everything from XC all day rides to a trip to the alps. I’m welling up.

ETA: This thing used to spit me off regularly, I probably crashed more times riding this for 2 years than I have in 20 odd years of riding other bikes. The reviews were accurate, always felt a bit on the ragged edge. Great fun.

I’ve had a 2012 Sovereign that I bought cheaply from Chain Reaction built up for a couple of years. It’s the best hardtail I’ve owned and I find it great in all situations and not harsh or sketchy like some people find them. Plus I think it’s the best looking hardtail about, which is quite important to me!

I was a bit worried about fork availability to, so picked up as spare set of RS Sektor RLs for just over £200 last year. I’ve got a couple of other bike with straight steerers, so might try and get another set of forks as Merlin and some of the European shops often have decent deals on Rockshox.

I was only thinking yesterday of picking up another Sovereign frame if I can find a decent one at a good price as I enjoy mine so much, I don’t want to be without one if I manage to wreck mine! Or I might build it up with lower spec kit as a winter hack.

Mk2? Move along nothing to see here