Patrol promises the Evolution of Enduro with the 691 Evo S

What’s this? Another new model from Patrol? Ok, not new, but revised. Built on the Patrol 691 which I rode last year, the 691 Evo is a 2021 update of the alloy Enduro bike with some major geometry updates.

The original Patrol 691 features are still present on the Evo. It remains an alloy full-suspension bike, rolling on 29in wheels, with 150mm of rear-wheel travel, and it shares the same silhouette too, but some careful tweaks promise a hidden performance boost.

Patrol hasn’t changed the rear suspension kinematics, so the 691 Evo still offers excellent grip and small bump performance and 150mm of travel for soaking up the gnarlier stuff, but now the frame is lower and longer. I found the BB to be too tall on the original 691, so I’m happy to see that Patrol has rectified this with a lower BB height. This should improve cornering, and stability.

Reach has also grown slightly, the original 691 was hardly short, but the Evo gains a few mm’s in length bringing a large size frame up from 466mm to 475mm. Combined with a seat angle of 76-degrees and a head-angle of 65-degrees the 691 Evo looks like a far more purposeful and capable bike.

Patrol has retained the slightly longer than average chainstay of the 691 too, a feature I actually liked on the old bike and should equal even more high-speed stability on the new bike.

Specifications of the 691 Evo have also seen an update. Fox still provides the suspension but now it looks like there will only be an S build featuring Kashima coated shocks and a pair of Fox 38 forks upfront.

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The drivetrain features a complete Shimano 1 x 12 XT transmission, 51t cassette and XT hubs including a Super Boost rear hub. Gone are the Magura brakes of last year, and in place is a pair of Shimano MT520 brakes and matching discs.

The rest of the parts come from X-Fusion for the dropper, SDG, Patrol’s own in house kit, Sun Ringle and Maxxis for the 29 x 2.6 tyres front and rear. Patrol will be offering the 691 Evo in 3 colours, vivid orange, burgundy and sinister black and pricing for this Evo S spec machine is $4699 which is around £3680.

Patrol will also offer a $2999 691 SL which is based on the older frame with the original geo and a more budget-minded build. Those of us who fancy swinging a leg over one of these Indonesian Enduro weapons will either have to book a trip to Bali or Australia to pick one up as Patrol doesn’t have a UK distributor at this time.

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