Today, Evil launched the fourth iteration of its do-it-all 29'er trail bike, the Offering. At first glance it’s very “Evil” with its classic swooping lines, single pivot Delta-link-driven suspension, and sculpted head tube. But, as you’d hope, this bike has seen some refinement, both in terms of frame aesthetics and features, and geometry. Some of those changes are very important (like the switch to a 148-millimeter-wide rear end) but not terribly visible, while others are mostly aesthetic (no more seat tube mast brace).

What really matters, beyond all that, is how it rides. I’ve spent plenty of time on the new bike with a couple of different suspension options that we’ll dive into later.

Evil Offering V4 Overview

• Travel: 151 mm (rear) 160 or 170 mm (front)
• Wheel Size: 29” 
• Size Tested: Large
• Build Tested: Eagle 90
• Head Tube Angle: 64.7° or 64.2°
• Measured Weight: 33.81 lbs (15.34 kg)
• MSRP: $6,699.00

For Spencer Astra's take on the new Offering V4, watch his video review below.

What’s New for V4?

There’s a whole bunch of new here, to the point that it’s challenging to prioritize the updates. So in no particular order: the Offering V4 bumps up in rear travel from 141 millimeters to 151 millimeters, and that travel is now controlled by a 205x60 mm shock, instead of the old 185x55. It also sees a bump in front travel to 160 millimeters, with the option to spec a 170-millimeter Zeb if you so desire.

Out back, the rear end bumps down from SuperBoost 157-millimeter spacing to regular old 148. That’s a bummer if you want to move your wheels over from a previous Evil, but awesome otherwise. This leaves only Pivot and Knolly on the mainstream brand SuperBoost train since Salsa and Devinci also swapped to 148-millimeter rear ends. We’re so close to having universal rear wheel spacing for trail bikes!

The downtube has a new storage compartment, there’s a new cable clamp on the underside of the downtube. There’s still a flip chip to adjust the geometry, but this one goes between “High” and “Low” instead of “Low” and “Extra Low.” It’s also easier to read and adjust. The external sag meter on the linkage has also been revamped to be easier to read and use. There’s also a new chainguide and a new rear linkage rock guard. Finally, the tiny triangle between the seat tube and top tube is gone, but the seat tube should have increased insertion depth for longer droppers.

And all of that doesn’t even take into account the geometry updates. The Offering generally gets a little shorter and slacker up front, and longer and steeper out back. For a Large, the reach is 4 millimeters shorter (487 mm in the High setting), the stack is 4 millimeters lower, and the head tube is a little more than a degree and a half slacker (64.7° in High). But the seat tube is also much steeper (+2° for 79° in High), so the effective top tube is 33 millimeters shorter. And the seat stays are 5 millimeters longer, for a still-short 435 millimeters.

The end result? A much more “modern” geo chart that makes for a bike that should feel a little more upright while seated, and significantly longer and more stable when descending. But there’s more to that than meets the eye, or the geometry chart.

Evil Offering V4 Frame Details

The new Offering has a bunch of updated small details and, generally, they’re dialed. The sag meter is easy to use and read, the chain guide does its job without being obtrusive, and the chain slap protection keeps things nice and tight. There’s no cable rattle thanks to that new clamp, and the small fender should keep rocks out of the linkage. The flip chip is also much easier to read and swap than on the old version. Like the previous version, the Offering still uses a small, 30.9-millimeter seat post, 180-millimeter rear post mount, and a 73-millimeter threaded bottom bracket.

While the Offering does have a new downtube storage option, the tube hasn’t grown and bulged into an e-bike-adjacent monstrosity like some other brands. That means that it doesn’t have the most capacity, but it does look sleek. The hatch to open and close this door is a little tricky. You need to push down and flex the plastic of the hatch door while simultaneously popping the lever. This is challenging to do with a bottle and cage installed and it feels like you’re going to break something if you don't nail the motion, but it doesn’t rattle and has stayed secure so far.

Evil Offering V4 Build

I rode the Eagle 90 build of the Offering, and generally it felt well-appointed. Evil will offer the Offering with either a 160-millimeter Lyrik and Super Deluxe Ultimate, or a 170-millimeter Zeb and Vivid Air, for the same price. You can also upgrade to carbon I9 wheels for a total of $7,999.00. It’s hard to go wrong with a SRAM Eagle 90 drivetrain and Maven Silver brakes. Similarly, the RockShox Lyrik Ultimate and Super Deluxe Ultimate are excellent dampers. The Offering comes stock with a Maxxis EXO Assegai up front and an EXO+ DHRII in the rear. Some riders will probably want to bump up to heavier casings with stickier rubber and that’s easy enough to do.

The BikeYoke dropper post works smoothly, and the Evil-branded bar, grips, and stem all look and feel great. My only complaint was the WTB Volt saddle, but that’s a personal thing. Based on how many bikes come spec'd with it, it must work well with a lot of folks’ rear ends, but it is one of my taint’s least favorite resting places of all time. Luckily that’s an easy swap.

Riding the Evil Offering V4

In recent years I have ridden a bunch of 150ish millimeter travel trail bikes, to the point that most reviews begin by centering a bike’s performance amongst its predecessors. However, that’s not really the experience I had with the Offering, and in a few ways it felt like a bit of an outlier. That’s especially surprising given how similar it is in geometry to my personal Specialized Stumpjumper 15, so let’s get into it. 

Going uphill, the Offering’s steep seat tube angle puts me in a nice comfortable pedaling position. It’s not as over-the-top steep as some bikes I’ve ridden (the Privateer 161 comes to mind) but it’s definitely on the upright end of things for a trail bike. However, the stack isn’t terribly high, so it’s still easy to weight that front end and lean into it.

The Offering is far from the most-efficient pedaling bike in this class. There’s noticeable suspension movement when I’m pedaling seated, even with the shock’s compression lever closed. I think the way the links move might look less efficient than it actually feels but, regardless, I was surprised at how much those links were moving with every pedal stroke compared to longer travel, but more efficient bikes I’ve been riding recently. The flipside of that is that it delivers great traction on chunkier climbs. I asked the folks at Evil about this and they mentioned that they intentionally chose not to go with the firmest lockout option from RockShox in an effort to prioritize climbing traction over hardtail-like efficiency. That checks out, this isn't one of those "flip the switch and immediately isolate all pedal inputs from the suspension" kind of bikes. Instead, it delivers a lot of grip with that lever in either position.

The first descent I rode on the Offering has a few jumps that I nearly always hit, but also always take seriously. They’re easy to mess up and are consequential. On my first day aboard the Offering I was feeling off—it had been a long week and the trails were beat up. So, I mentally committed to not committing to the whole line. I told myself that if the first jump felt sketchy I’d pull off and ride around the rest of them.

And then I hit the first jump a little slower than usual and it felt sketchy, but not for the reasons I anticipated. I overshot it, even though I was going slow and missed my pop. So I hit the next one, and overshot again, and again on the third. That experience has defined my time on the Offering. It’s really easy to get into the air, be that loading off a small trail-side root, or a bigger lip. This bike jumps really well. It’s poppy as all get out. On flowy trails or on tech trails where you have the confidence to treat them as flow trails, the Offering is quite enjoyable. The stiff rear end lets you drive hard into corners and compressions, and pump everything.

Not unsurprisingly, that also defines how it feels on steeper and more technical trails. The more you’re committed, the more you know what the trail is going to do, can anticipate it and, ideally, loft over whatever chunder is coming, the better the Offering likes it.

I’ve put many hours in on my Stumpjumper which has very similar geometry numbers to the Offering, so I don’t think this is a “long chainstays versus short ones” thing, but it is wild how differently they handle the same sections of trail. The Offering is that buddy who hollers frustrating truisms like “you can’t get hurt while you’re in the air!” while the Stumpy is a much more traditional ride.

I haven’t seen the leverage rate graphs for the Offering, but just riding it, it feels like there’s this trampoline point in its travel that’s very easy to find and use to pump and schralp and jump off of things. But that means that mid-sized impacts maybe aren’t absorbed quite as well as on some other bikes. I found myself being more cautious as I approached tech sections that I ride often, aware that the rear end of the bike wasn’t going to erase them in the way I was used to. Especially in flat, rooty sections where there’s a bunch of smallish, square edged hits, the Offering would much rather jump over than hoverboard through. This is most definitely not a “plow” bike. 

If you’re riding offensively and actively, trying to make the most of a trail via pumping and jumping, the Offering shines. But as soon as you get on the defensive at all, it feels less composed, stable, and forgiving than most other bikes in this class.

I did get to try the Offering with a 170-millimeter Zeb and a Vivid Air shock. I also experimented with dropping it into the “Low” geo setting, for a little more stability. While I understand why some folks at Evil are running this combo, I felt that it didn’t do that much to change how the bike handles tech, while having a much more obvious impact on how jibby and playful it is. Yes, you can plow harder with a 170-millimeter Zeb than a 160-millimeter Lyrik, but the Vivid had less of an overall impact, so it felt a little like it was easy to make the front wheel outrun the back.

More importantly, the Offering is so fun in its stock 160-millimeter guise, that adding extra weight for more smashability just feels like a bit of a fool’s errand. If I owned this bike I’d lean into that easy-to-jump, playful nature that makes it so fun and focus on riding trails that I know and love with good style. This bike makes me want to session jump lines on Galbraith and dial in my whips, not chase steep gnar off the map and try to set descending KOMs.

For Now

Evil’s fourth iteration of the Offering is a thoroughly modern trail bike, from its frame standards to its geo chart. And that means that it could be easily lost in a sea of very similar modern trail bikes. Instead, its personality really stands out as one of the most playful and active bikes in this class. If you want to be in the air, all the time, it’s hard to think of a better steed.

Learn more: Evil Bikes