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Re: Epic Evo Clone
Hi This frame was the second I have built up. I made the following notices: Rear axle was fine, put grease there (green like Shimano, but NLGI 1). I disassembled all the pivot hardware and put grease. The shock bushings that came with the frame were useless, because the part which goes inside the eyelet is too small. I bought new bushings. If you have no hurry you can measure the frame first. The shock bolt hole in the rocker link may be a little too big for the bolt so keep eye on it. It is metal against metal. A thin plastic coating would help I think. Shock mounting on the main frame is better. The paint and carbon are softer materials than the bushings so people may put something between them so the bushings won´t damage the frame. I used car wrap and grease. The headset was easy to assemble (grease) but did not work first. The bars wouldn´t turn. The culprit was the the upper cover or plate which touched the frame (my first language is not English). I put a 2,5 millimeter thick carbon headset spacer between the upper bearing and the plate and made the headset work like a charm. The BSA bottom bracket was easy but before that you have to route the cables through the frame. Gear cable is the easiest. Dropper and brake cable are harder. I had to disassemble the main pivot to route the brake cable. The hardest part was to get the last, third, cable out though the same hole in the main frame. Do this before the headset. The dropper post was easy to assemble (used carbon paste there). Rear derailleur and brakes were easy to do. The bars can usually hit the main frame on Evos so check it out before crashing (saw it on LoveMTB channel). I made small frame protectors using 2,5 centimeter wide Gorilla tape where the bars made contact with the frame. Buy a downtube protector or make one. Certain tires in certain conditions bomb this area. During the first rides I noticed two things. The frame made big clanks on the downhills and the mud liked to use the internal brake cable port and make friends with the bottom bracket. No good.. The clanking came from the chain hitting chainstay using smallest sprockets. I had a protector there but it was too thin, so I put a dense foam like stuff above the chainstay (about 1 cm thick) and wrapped it with electrical tape. I saw a selfmade mud protector in Carbonda-forums and made one using duct tape. It won´t last a season but is easy to replace and works. I try to put a picture of it soon. November 30, 2023, 02:47:26 PM |
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Re: Epic Evo Clone
Picture of the mud protector:
November 30, 2023, 02:52:16 PM |
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Re: Epic Evo Clone
A second opinion from another bike shop mechanic has me less worried about the frame's quality. I'm keeping it and forging ahead. I have the cables internally routed now which was a bitch. It required taking the linkage bolt out at the bottom for more clearance. I added a drop of Loctite to the bolt when I put it back on but there are no torque-setting indicators so I just went really tight by hand. If anyone knows the right torque for this bolt then please advise. How would someone work that out, or does it matter too much as long as it's reasonably tight? Airwolf advised me that the shock mounting hardware they'd send would work for my shock, but it doesn't -- you need a 8x20 and 8x14 kits from Rockshox. I anticipated this, which is why I asked so I could get ahead of it, but to no avail. Had I known this, or at least the correct dimensions, I could have saved myself some waiting around by pre-ordering the parts. On that note here's something that may save someone else some time -- if you're using a Rockshox Select+ 190x4*, which is a typical shock to pair with this frame, then you'll need these two Rockshox mounting hardware kits: 8x14 part# 11.4118.091.800 8x20 part# 11.4118.091.806 Where I live most shops don't stock any mounting kits so everyone has to order, and since they all use the same distributor it's mostly a waiting game if one is on backorder, as is the 8x14 kit now. Luckily I found one on eBay, fingers crossed it'll be here next week. December 11, 2023, 09:42:23 AM |
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Re: Epic Evo Clone
I purchased this frame from all star bicycle in November of 2022 (with the BRAIN rear triangle) and rode it for a bit in 2022, all 2023 season, and now again in 2024. The bike has been issue free from a ride quality perspective. The BB has remained sound and I've removed and reinstalled BB cups a LOT of times as I've waffled between SRAM DUB and Shimano a few times. Much like everyone else, I needed a spacer for the top dust cover when preloading the headset to prevent drag, easy fix. I also removed all of the pivot bolts and greased and applied loctite before torquing them exactly as the real Epic Evo manual calls for. I replaced the UDH hanger. My biggest issue with this frame comes from how the rear triangle interfaces with the front triangle. The rear triangle holes that the brake hose and rear derailleur housing pass through -- the holes that are near the bb -- don't line up with the holes near the bb in the front triangle. They aren't even close. Attempting to assemble the bike in this state required me to remove the lower pivot bolt, swing the rear triangle away, run the hose/housing through the front triangle, and squeeze the two triangles together as hard as i can to even get the rear pivot bolt back in, which completely pinches the brake hose. Its so bad that I had to take a dremel and sand away carbon to form a channel on the outer edge of the front triangle cable/hose openings near the BB, basically just making the openings wider so they'd align with the holes in the rear triangle. A bit sketchy. But it solved the problem. Hundreds and hundreds of miles of sketchy singletrack, drops. jumps, and the frame hasn't made any scary noises. There were a few situations where I thought the frame was getting crunchy on me but every time it was just mud getting stuck between the two triangles and grinding on the hoses. One more thing to mention: the official Epic Evo frame has two small washers that sit between the frame and the bolt heads that keep the top of the shock in place. This frame didn't include them. The washers are obviously useful for getting proper torque applied to those bolts. I was able to source some, but keep that in mind, those bolts aren't supposed to just screw snug directly against the frame. My build is as follows:
June 11, 2024, 08:26:55 PM |
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