Enigma Evoke Disc

Enigma’s Evoke is a classy endurance bike that will suit anyone wanting to ride in luxurious comfort on long rides with all the benefits that disc brakes offer. There’s space for up to 32mm tyres and nice practical considerations like an external bottom bracket.

For 2018 the Evoke has been updated with 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes, requiring a new carbon fork and an all-new chainstay and dropout design.

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Ride and handling

The Evoke is billed as a ‘fast endurance’ bike by the titanium specialists, and that accurately sums up how it behaved on my local Cotswolds roads. There is the reassuring stability and relaxed handling that you expect from an endurance bike that makes it a delight when riding at a sociable pace, steady enough to hold a conversation and put the world to rights.

The geometry provides a neutral balance. The stack is 582mm and the reach is 382mm on the 56cm test bike, which is a little lower and shorter than a Cannondale Synapse of the same size, to provide a comparison. It’s what we would expect for an endurance bike, and those numbers ensure a position is easily attainable that provides a bit less aggressiveness than a race bike.

Engima offers six stock sizes and four semi-custom sizes, and there’s a bike sizing form on its website to help you choose the right size if you can’t get to a nearby Enigma dealer to swing a leg over a bike.

There’s no shortage of comfort for those steady rides, and it shrugs off all but the coarsest road surfaces I pointed it along. The ability to fit up to 32mm tyres is a bonus for anyone that wants the biggest volume between themselves and the rough road. I swapped to a set of 28mm slick tyres and there was no serious dent in the smoothness of the ride quality, but the extra clearance between rubber and frame/fork was useful on gritty roads.

So smooth is the Evoke, in fact, you might find yourself wondering why anybody bothers with carbon fibre.

Turn the wick up and the Evoke frameset has the stiffness to respond, but this is probably where you might wish you were on a carbon bike if riding hard and fast is high on your agenda. However, the Evoke is no slouch. The large profile downtube and 44mm headtube endow the bike with a very responsive character when opening up the taps. It’s direct of steering with a lovely neutral stance when banking it into a turn, and there’s no sense the frame isn’t doing anything but transferring your input into forward motion. Flex, what there is of it, is difficult to detect unless you really, really, really look for it.

Read more: 14 of the best titanium bikes 

While the Evoke is sublime and fast of pace on flat and rolling terrain, the 9kg weight does make its presence felt on the steeper gradients. To put that weight into context, a similarly specced carbon endurance bike is typically in the 8.5kg region, so it’s giving away a bit of an advantage to the carbon rivals but not as much as you might think.

Fortunately, Enigma thought to spec an 11-34t cassette and compact chainset with this Ultegra mechanical groupset so you at least have a fighting chance when the gradient ramps up. Out of the saddle, climbing finds the front-end stiffness to be a blessing and you can really lean on the bars as you wrestle it up steep ramps.

Frame and build

The Evoke is made from 3Al/2.5V double butted titanium, pretty much the same grade as most titanium frames on the market, but the way in which the Enigma is built shows real quality. The welds are extremely neat and the new decal finish gives this bike a real flourish. I like its appearance a lot, though I’m not really here to judge the aesthetic.

The tubing is classic round profile stuff which lends the Evoke a pleasingly traditional appearance in a world of fancy sculpted frames, and that’s a large part of the appeal of titanium. Though the J.Ack I tested shows there’s potential for adding curves to titanium if so desired. Engima has kept it simple, but oversized the frame in key places, such as the 44mm head tube and large downtube to deliver a high level of stiffness.

Enigma prefers external cable routing for structural reasons and that’s fine with me, I don’t mind the appearance of cables running outside the frame if it means servicing is an easier task. The cable routing is neat and there are barrel adjusters on the downtube stops, themselves elegant little stubs.

In accommodating disc brakes Engima has developed a new dropout and chainstay that not only looks pleasing to the easy, manages to do the tricky job of providing ample tyre, disc and heel clearance. It’s a crowded area down there. The disc brakes are held in place with the now common flat mount standard and there’s a 12mm thru-axle.

The counterpoint to all this lovely titanium workmanship is a full carbon fibre fork of the company’s own design. Satisfyingly, for fans of clean lines, the brake hose pops into the top of the fork blade only to reemerge at the brake caliper.

Enigma will sell you an Evoke as a frame (£1,750) or frameset (£2,136.99) or as the complete bike you see here for £4,199. For that, you get a full Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset with the aforementioned compact chainset and wide range 11-34t cassette and RS685 hydraulic brakes. It’s a solid workhorse of a groupset and puts in a stellar performance; really it’s hard to fault at all.

Mavic’s Ksyrium Elite Disc is a new wheelset for 2017 and is loosely based on the regular Ksyrium Elite with a disc-compatible hub using Shimano’s Centre Lock mounting system for attaching disc rotors. Weight is a respectable 1,670g and with 24 spokes per wheel they’re a solidly dependable choice, tough enough to cope with off-road excursions and tackling potholed roads, which round my way amounts to the same thing sometimes.

The Enigma website lists the 25mm wide Mavic Yksion GripLink and PowerLink tyres that these wheels are sold with, but in order to see just how wide a tyre they could fit the test bike was supplied with 32mm wide Maxxis Re-Fuse tyres. Clearance was tight, but the tyres proved very tough and opened up dirt and gravel tracks, provided they were dry, but they seemed to deaden the ride a little. I swapped to a set of 28mm Zipp tyres and the ride improved, with more zip (sorry) injected into the ride and a nicer feeling on a majority or road surfaces.

For the handlebar, stem, saddle, seatpost and bar tape, it’s all Enigma branded kit. And it’s all decent and sensibly designed stuff, of a pleasing shape (especially the new saddle; it’s very comfy) and understated looks that match the frame well. Only brand snobs might find a reason to complain but from a functional and comfort point of view, I can find no reason to criticise.

Conclusion

The Enigma Evoke is full of character, a wonderful blend of smoothness and crisp handling that rewards the rider that likes to mix it up with long rides and short punchy blasts. It’s not cheap, but few titanium frames are, but you are getting a UK designed and finished frame packed full of attention and with great service, and I think it might just be one of the nicest looking bikes we’ve had through the office this year.

Verdict

Beautiful riding fast endurance bike with disc brakes and wide tyres

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