Evil Calling

EVERY NOW AND THEN I HAVE A BRIEF encounter with a bike that I can’t get off my mind. Last year at our Bible of Bike Tests in Bentonville, Arkansas, the mint green Evil Calling was that bike. And that came as a total shock if I’m being honest. When I heard about Evil’s new short-travel 27.5 bike, I only had one question—why? It seemed like such a ridiculous concept. With the modern trend of progressive trail bikes pushing the boundaries of big travel with big wheels, why would they produce a bike that essentially did the exact opposite? What was even more puzzling about this bike was that Evil had arguably one of the most exciting long-travel 29ers in our test with the Wreckoning. So yeah, why make the Calling?

- Anthony Smith

Last year at our Bible of Bike Tests in Bentonville, Arkansas, the mint green Evil Calling was that bike. And that came as a total shock if I’m being honest. When I heard about Evil’s new short-travel 27.5 bike, I only had one question—why? It seemed like such a ridiculous concept. With the modern trend of progressive trail bikes pushing the boundaries of big travel with big wheels, why would they produce a bike that essentially did the exact opposite? What was even more puzzling about this bike was that Evil had arguably one of the most exciting long-travel 29ers in our test with the Wreckoning. So yeah, why make the Calling?

It was the first bike that I rode at last year’s Bible. Subconsciously I think I wanted to be the first to ride it so that, when my Bike mag colleagues asked the inevitable question, ‘So, how was it?’ I could back my argument as to why this bike was a dud. That didn’t happen.

All the attributes that I was so convinced that I would hate were put together in such a way that all I could do was love the thing. The snappy, short-travel Calling turned the low-grade flow trails in Bentonville into a playground. It gave me what I love about the big-wheeled big-travel bikes in the long, low, and slack department, but in a short travel package that created a type of bike that I had never ridden before. All I wanted to do was jump, jib and generally just mess around at every opportunity. It was a childlike experience that put a grin on my face from ear to ear.