Thing is, I actually measured the rear travel with the new linkage I designed, and I actually measured around 130mm of rear travel. So its definitely possible, but I'm not sure what my linkage has done to the rest of the geometry.
I also heard some disturbing creaks from the rear triangle when moving it to full compression.

Quote from: Technic on March 08, 2023, 12:28:24 AM
What length of shock did you have?  That link is from the Evo but there is also the normal link.

I have a 190x45 shock. Its not the link from an evo, I actually 3D Printed it.

Quote from: wwwru on March 08, 2023, 08:01:21 PM
I measured it with the flex stays in the relaxed position, which with the supplied linkage ended up being uncompressed 190mm long shock.

Is that the prototype 3D printed linkage?

The other unknown about this frame is the relaxed position of the flex stays. On the Canyon Lux for example, flex stays are in the relaxed position at sag....approximately. On this frame, with the supplied linkage, flex stays are relaxed at full extension. It makes sense for them to be relaxed at sag, but I can't really confirm that since I only have one bike model to compare it to and there is not much info on the internet.

Ah yeah I'm not too sure about that either.

It is the prototype, but I'm afraid that it wont work unless the supplier also redesigns the yoke.
Attached my sketch out on a 3D software, and the epic evo manual.
The yoke needs to be a 2 piece split design similar to how the seat stay is. I'm afraid it'll be extremely unreliable with the way I have sketched it out, exerting a ton of shear stress on the m8 bolt.

I'm probably just going to put the other linkage back on and give up.

What I've been totally wasting my time on.

Do I know what I'm doing? Absolutely not
Am I having fun? Hell yeah

Interestingly, the chainstay length is about 438ish like this.
@wwwru, how are you measuring the chainstay length? I'm doing it with the shock totally uncompressed (Which is how I though the chainstay was suppose to be measured from manufacturers)

Quote from: wwwru on March 07, 2023, 08:27:06 AM
No, you are correct, the rear triangles are different between the Evo and regular epic. What I am saying is that if they can make an Evo style linkage to work with this rear triangle it would good enough.

Looks like it might be possible.

One concern that I have is that with the adjusted leverage, it might introduce larger strain on the rear triangle.

I also measured the chainstay length on mine and I'm seeing about 443mm, which is a 5mm longer than the epic Evo...

How much are you getting?

Quote from: wwwru on March 07, 2023, 08:27:06 AM
No, you are correct, the rear triangles are different between the Evo and regular epic. What I am saying is that if they can make an Evo style linkage to work with this rear triangle it would good enough.

Oh interesting okay.
I was trying to get the supplier as close as the original Evo geometry + dimensions as possible, but I see what you are saying.
If a new linkage was created for the current rear and front triangle, I wonder how much further you can push the rear triangle out. The Evo seems to push it out 10, 20mm?
How would the geo be effected? I think the seat tube angle and head tube angle would steepen. The bottom bracket height would increase as well.

I have a 3-D printer with poly carbonate material and pretty good cad skills so I might mock something up.

Quote from: wwwru on March 07, 2023, 08:07:17 AM
I am not following your question, but if the supplier can come up with an EVO like linkage (3:1 leverage), I think the frame will work fine with the regular epic rear triangle.

Oh I was under the impression that even if we get the new linkage, we would need a revised rear triangle.
What makes me think that is
1. On the official specialized replacement part site, the Evo and regular epic have two different rear triangle part numbers. https://support.specialized.com/epic/en/service-maintenance/replacement-parts
2. Logically, the Evo linkage moves the rear triangle back a bit, increasing the leverage ratio. I would think that the angle between the seat stay and chainstay is a bit different to maintain the bike geometry.

I'm only theorizing here.

If it's only the Evo linkage that's different. I see it being sold here: https://www.francesconibike.com/en-us/products/ricambio-specialized-shl-my21-epic-evo-shock-link

Quote from: wwwru on March 07, 2023, 04:37:31 AM
Evo rear triangle is longer by 5mm (chainstay length or rear center per geometry charts) It is tough to measure the length since it's dependent on the rotation of the rear triangle and the measurement is supposed to be from the center of the BB.

I asked on the Epic EVO Facebook page to take some linkage measurements (not the triangle) and got enough info to determine that a simple linkage swap is impossible.

Yeah i saw the same geo charts.
I really want to give some accurate measurements to the supplier, I was even thinking of buying a baseline epic evo to reference and get measurements.
If someone with an epic evo wants to contribute, that would be ideal. I afraid that going off pictures will be "in the ball park" but I dont know if thats good enough.

Although thinking it through, if i get him the new linkage, he should be able to create a new design with the chainstay length and the seat stay length + new pivot linkage. Is that right?

Quote from: wwwru on March 06, 2023, 04:03:34 AM
I tested the frame with 190x45mm shock and got approx 88mm of travel. It is tough to measure, but I definitely wasn't getting anything even close to 120mm of travel.

with that kind of travel, might as well put a hard fork on it to make it a.... front tail?
maybe slap some gravel bars on it and call it a gravel bike

Quote from: wwwru on March 05, 2023, 07:20:16 AM
Yes, Evo linkage will not fit this frame. I did some testing and the frame might be capable of slightly more than 100mm travel, but I do not think you will get 110mm like the evo. That being said, with the leverage ratio of 2:1 max, you will need a very long stroke to get over 100mm of travel.  I also think that a 200mm shock will fit. FYI, my frame was advertised to have 122mm of travel, which is impossible with this linkage set-up.

Good luck to you building this up. My plan was 130 front and 120 rear, but since the frame isn't capable, I opted to return it. I was planning on reusing the suspension components I currently have, so to build a 100/100 capable XC bike (what this frame is designed for) would cost me a lot of unnecessary $$. If I had the XC suspension components already, or I was buying suspension specifically for this frame, I would have kept it.

Haha i'm completely with you on that. I also had some hardware for a 130 front and 120 rear
I'm actually in contact with the supplier, im trying to wrestle with him, telling him that the link is not the evo link and the rear triangle is a bit longer. But hes convinced that the rear is the same haha.
I wish I could get the true dimensions of the epic evo rear triangle so I could send the supplier the evo rear link, and the factory could revise the design.

Its still and insanely goodlooking frame with the short comings of being marketed as the evo.

Its interesting that you tested and got less travel than the normal epic, which is 100mm.
Could you share how you got that measurement? I have the non brain rear triangle so I can see if mine is any different.

Quote from: wwwru on March 04, 2023, 01:29:06 PM
Nice. Looks good. Just be aware that the linkage is regular epic.

Yeah I'm a bit disappointed about that. I just found that out haha.

Also looks like the rear triangle is different from the evo otherwise i was thinking of just buying the linkage for the epic evo.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who jumped on this!

I actually got in contact with a sales rep on whatsapp.
I along with some of the folks on this sub love the thrill of a good deal, and rocking a frame thats a fraction of the big names frames. Plus im chinese and love supporting my brothers in them factories.

I got my frame today from AWST on aliexpress, and I requested the epic evo rear triangle, the one without the brain out back.
The frame seems pretty good, I cant find anything visually incorrect from the OG, but thats just a first glance over.

While the outside looks good, the inside looks a bit rough. You can see the pictures I attached of the inside of the headset.
Weights to come.

I hope I along with some of the other folks here can provide some decent information on the frame, as there seems like there has been some interest, just no one jumped on it til now.