Took mine to Dalbeattie for a shakedown today as there are a good mix of trail types to test it(About the only places in Scotland without horizontal rain according to Metoffice!)
As with other slack angled 29ers I have ridden, it takes a while to get used to low speed technical stuff as the steering feels a little floppy initially. You also need to ride the fork when cornering to get the best out the bike, but when you do the steering is just fapping ace.
Climbing is not a weak point despite the slack head angle and it doesn’t seem to wander on really steep stuff which is great. It won’t win any XC races on the ups but its not slow by any means and its super easy to lift your front wheel over any obstacles in the way thus minimising stalling.
Pointing the Evo downhill, it rides very like a Yelli Screamy*; super confident, begs to be popped of every rock and root and capable of stuff that you think hardtails cant do well. If you like air, so does the Evo and it feels super stable going off drops and over jumps, even for mediocre riders like me!
Initially sitting on the Evo, it felt a little short and the front end was a bit high due to the tallish headtube but a flatter bar and 80mm stem should give the perfect cockpit so its not a concern. Besides fit is very individual so ignore me.
*(formerly owned and much missed)