hi,i purchased an Evil sovereign frame (kelly green) for my sons birthday 2 weeks ago, first one arrived with damaged paint, no decals and the ICSG tag was fitted off centre so with the crank fitted the stinger fowled the chainring, frame returned and second frame arrived 7 days later (birthday now missed)again similar damage to paint (caused by cardboard protection!) and horrendous paint work, the rear of the seat tube was so bad it was a matt finish!
i know they are on special offer at the moment but for a frame retailing at £595 i cant help feeling the quality is poor.
still waiting for the third and last attempt at getting a decent one,one very up-set 13 year old.

1. anybody had a similar experience?
2. is it a bad batch of kelly greens? ordered a white one as replacement now.

cheers
jon

I got a white one. It’s perfect.

lets hope the white replacement is perfect too.

Lucky 13 year old! Here’s hoping it’s 3rd time lucky for the frame.

cheers tom.

My yellow was fine, apart from no decals. I got them a week later (international shipping) with a £10 gift-voucher. Hopefully the new one you ordered will be fine.

what size did you get in the yellow?
if it was a small did it come without the seat tube brace?

Look on the bright side, it could be a Revolt.

Mine was a medium, but afaik the small size has no seat-tube brace.

I had an original version of the sovereign & without doubt it was the worst paintjob on any bike I’ve ever seen. It fell off in chunks and scuffed just by looking at it. The stickers were on crooked, the chain tug screws and the little tabs that they screw into were missing and silverfish couldn’t source any spares. Evil were a disaster of a company to deal with. Couple that with the number of broken revolt frames and it amazes me that they’re still in business. I’ll never buy another.

I had an original version of the sovereign & without doubt it was the worst paintjob on any bike I’ve ever seen. It fell off in chunks and scuffed just by looking at it. The stickers were on crooked, the chain tug screws and the little tabs that they screw into were missing and silverfish couldn’t source any spares. Evil were a disaster of a company to deal with. Couple that with the number of broken revolt frames and it amazes me that they’re still in business. I’ll never buy another.

how did it ride?

From memory, It was ok, though the bottom bracket felt a touch high. I kept it a while, and even had it powdercoated at Argos, but it niggled me a bit too much so I ended up selling it on.

without poopoing your experience mildred i had an original Sov and it was probably the best made and finished HT i have ever seen. It was the blue colour, and the paint was very thick and lush.

Had a black mk 2 sov and the paint was not especially good – but it was a nice frame to ride. Got a Devinci now and the paint is poor on that too, also good to ride.
My Ti hardtail always looks nice.

brant – Member

how did it ride?

Mine rode fantastically. I had it second hand so the paint was scuffed but it wasn’t that bad. I did love that frame.

I got my Kelly Green from CRC last year. No seat collar in the box, and a bit of a small paint swirl on one of the tubes but for the price I can’t complain. The paint itself seems pretty tough.

Small frames have no seat tube brace.

without poopoing your experience mildred i had an original Sov and it was probably the best made and finished HT i have ever seen. It was the blue colour, and the paint was very thick and lush.

The frame build quality was lovely but the finish was dreadful. Mine was originally silver and it was just too brittle, and looked brush painted.

Quick up-date, 3rd frame (White) arrived this afternoon (delivered late, thanks parcel force) This is the worst one so far, it must have been a returned frame previously, looks like it was kicked around the warehouse floor prior to dispatch, the head tube has a big chip out of it as does the icsg tag and the rear dropout!!!
This is after they had supposedly been checked
So far ive received two kelly greens damaged, told the rest of the stock was in a similar condition so i would have to pick another frame, my son chose the Ragley blue pig only to be told that CRC could not provide a headset for it until may! was then informed that the white sovereigns had been checked and they were perfect (obviously not)

this is NOT a dig at CRC, as the customer service has been very good (My son has received a £50 refund for the trouble so far)
more so the warehouse team surely SOMEBODY knows how to check a frame??

3 so far and not a good one or an end in sight, we have now missed my sons birthday by 2 weeks not to mention the Easter weekend to Glentress (meant to be on his new bike) and £50 worth of bike hire (refund spent on hire!)

Come on CRC get it together, whats happening???????????

for that price i’d think i’d just keep it and just touch the paint up if possible.It would save getting upset when the first stratches appear on a perfect one.If it’s damaged then fair enough.. but paint gets scratched no matter..just offset the savings by the price of a touch up pen…imho

my son chose the Ragley blue pig only to be told that CRC could not provide a headset for it until may!

The only place I could find that has the STANDARD size for that frame is here:

http://www.globalbike.co.uk/products/Nuke-Proof-Warhead-44IESS-Headset-2012.html

Hope you get something sorted.

isn’t a blue pig just a 44mm headset?

I wouldn’t mind too much if it was for myself. But if it was for my son as a present I’d be gutted. Keep on at them until it’s resolved for sure!

A bit more money but 853 tubing and well finished
http://www.dialledbikes.com/products/mtb/alpine.php
Love mine

IMG_4412 by StuE1, on Flickr