Evil Chamois Hagar [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

The Evil Chamois Hagar is a gravel bike that even makes downhill mountain bikers turn their heads and consider getting on some drop bars. The bike's geo is a happy medium to do everything you want on it. Our customer has been running it for some time, see what they think! 

Overview

The Evil Chamois Hagar. Is this the penultimate do-it-all bicycle? It was June of 2021, whilst sitting on my mother's swanky new patio, drinking too many martinis with three olives with my brother, when I pulled up Evil Bike's homepage on my phone and the cover photo was that sleek and sexy side-angle of Chamois Hagar's seductive frame. From my mouth instantly came the words, "oh no." I knew right then and there, despite my long-history of talking down on road and gravel bikes, that this would be the one that I purchase. Instantly I knew, it was everything I needed in a bike.

After many weeks of contemplation, it was late summer when I ordered the complete build of the Evil Chamois Hagar. This was peak bike-shortage times and I expected a long wait. However, during my annual October excursion into the deep reaches of the central Idaho wilderness, where one can find the gamut of prey and predator, where cell service is a distant memory and where a broken leg could very well mean freezing to death over night on the side of a trail that only sees a handful of footsteps every month, I had summited a very tall mountain, with an Evil Calling, and climbed a very tall rock to garner a view of the Sawtooth and surrounding ranges. It was at the very top of this rock, where my cell phone had somehow found signal at the very moment that Worldwide Cyclery gave me a call to let me know I could have the bike sooner if I upgraded to the Sram AXS build (which I had originally wanted). I happily complied.

This sounds like fiction, but I assure you, it is not!

Fast forward to Thanksgiving. The bike arrived early and I assemble it and weigh it at a reasonable twenty-two pounds. The extra-wide drop bars scared me, but quickly proved comfortable and I was at-home on this bike much faster than I expected to be. It rode like a mountain bike. As winter progressed, and conditions deteriorated, the slack headtube and rigid frame proved predictable and controllable--absolute, unadulterated control--and confidence soared. Rides became longer and more adventurous and Strava KOM's and top-ten's quadrupled. The geometry is, and I do not say this lightly, perfect. In a world where road bikes are just too small and mountain bikes are just too big, the Chamois Hagar finds a balance. It is a downhill gravel bike. Its only suffering is in very slow, technical terrain, where its slow steering response makes navigating baby-heads difficult. However, that suffering is a small price to pay for the absolute confidence that it inspires at speed on road, gravel and/or single track.

The drop bars are a non-issue, better, even, considering the grip options. Dirt jumps and very steep downhills are a cake-walk when you drop the seat and hang your ass out there for the world to see. This bike has conquered everything I've thrown at it; sandy climbs, snow, road, blue and black-diamond single track, dirt jumps, climbs and descents and long century rides that include all of the above in a single day.

The Evil Chamois Hagar has proven itself as being the KOM-stealer, the endurance mule, the dirt-jumper, and just the all-around, do-it-all bike that I wish I could have had for the last two decades. With the AXS build, it has been unbelievably reliable and not once let me down it its ability to crush anything I throw at it. There is nothing in The Boise, Idaho area that I could not be comfortable riding on this bike.

There are few gripes, here. It needs a chain-guide; I frequently get too rowdy and lose the chain. The brakes underperform: the rotors are small and simply don't have the stopping power when you're doing forty-seven miles per hour on a steep downhill, or the razor-sharp modulation on loose singletrack. That and the tires could be better. The WTB Venture tires are fantastic for "all conditions", but their longevity is terrible as after a few months of riding the sidewalls begin to fray and leak way too much air, especially if you are an endurance rider (however, I am told Orange Seal works better for these). I have recently swapped these out for a set of Specialized Rhombus Pro tires that both roll faster on the road and give all my buddies on their mountain bikes a run for their money on single track. I am not sure there could be a better combination of the Chamois Hagar's Geometry and the Specialized Rhombus Pro tires. It simply sends. This is a ten tenths bike. The more you give it, the more it wants. Except for brakes, which just slow you down anyway.

Final Thoughts

The Evil Chamois Hagar might just be, one of the greatest bikes ever conceived. Evil has presented, once again, a revolutionary machine. Will it out pace a gravel bike with slick tires on a smooth surface? No. Maybe. I certainly have taken several road KOM's. But can you send a black-diamond without dying? Absolutely. Can you also load it up with bike bags and spin a few hundred miles in the remote parts of the country? Absolutely. There is nothing that this bike doesn't want to do. It is a bike for rider who want to do it all.

Brandon McDonald is a professional photographer and avid cyclist. When not riding or working he enjoys camping, reading, writing and craft cocktails. He can be found at photowolf.net and @photowolfidaho.