£2,799
Fourframesizes,three
colourwaysandwith
pricesrangingfrom
£1,599to£3,299,Sonder
has all the bases coveredSonder’sfour-bar
suspensiondesigndishes
out140mmtravelwiththe
Cane Creek DBair IL shockVerdict
Youcanhavetoomuchofa good
thing.Andthatseemstobethecase
withtheCaneCreekDBairIL.Inthe
righthands,theadjustabledamping
canbemanipulatedtomaketherear
endspringtolife.Alternatively,the
stocksettingprovidesa bikethat
squatsintoclimbsandrattlesyour
eyeballsoutoneverydescent.
Andif you’rea riderlookingforthe
levelofcontroltheCaneCreek shock
andforkprovide,you
willalsobelooking
atthegeometry
andthinkingthe
sizeL SonderEvol
needstobelonger
and lower.Sonder eVol GX eaGle Helm dB-il
Specification
FrameSonder
buttedaluminium,
140mmtravel
ShockCane
CreekDB-IL
ForkCaneCreekHelm
Air,150mmtravel
WheelsLoveMud
hubs,LoveMud
Hoborims,WTB
Convict/TrailBoss
27.5x2.5/2.4intyres
DrivetrainSRAMGX
34tchainset,SRAM
GXEagler-mech
andshifter
BrakesSRAMGuide
R,180/160mm
ComponentsLove
MudAspect780mm
bar,LoveMud
Piskie35mmstem,
RockShoxReverb
Stealth150mm
post,LoveMud
Abodesaddle
SizesS,M,L, XL
Weight14.19kg
(3 1. 28lb)
Contactalpkit.com
Geometry
SizetestedL
Headangle66.1°
Seatangle68.7°
BBheight340mm
Chainstay431mm
Frontcentre753mm
Wheelbase
1,184mm
Downtube700mm
Toptube615mm
Reach 453mm
S
onderarrivedonthemtbscene
justoverthreeyearsagowith
itsTransmittertrailhardtail.
Availableexclusivelythrough
Alpkitstores,it’sstilla relatively
unknownbrand.
Thenew140mmtravelSonder
Evolfull-susserlookssettochange
thatthough.Notleastbecauseyou
getflagshipCaneCreeksuspension
componentsanda SRAMGXEagle
groupsetona bikethat’slessthan£3k.
AndtheEvolGXEagleHelmDB-IL
isn’teventhetop-endbike;thathonour
goestotheEvolXX1EaglePikefor
£3,299.Therearealsofourmodels
belowourtestbike,andwithprices
startingat£1,599,Sonderreallyhasan
Evolforeverypocket.
AllEvolmodelssharethesame
buttedaluminiumframe,withitsfour-
barsuspensiondesigndelivering140mm
oftravel.It’savailableinfourframe
sizesandthesizeL hasa 455mmreach
measurement,soliketheTrek,it’snot
longbymodernstandards.It alsohasa
relativelylongseattube,sowehadto
slamthe150mmRockShoxReverbpost
to achieve our desired saddle height.SuSpenSion
WhiletheSonderEvolframeis
somethingofanunknownentity,the
150mmtravelCaneCreekHelmAir
forkis a provenperformer;matching
theverybestthatRockShoxandFox
havetooffer.Set-upisn’tquiteas
straightforwardthough,asyouhave
tomanuallybalancethepositiveand
negativespringpressureswiththereset
buttonatthebaseoftheleftleg.Once
dialledin,youwon’tneedtotouchit
againuntilyouchangetheairpressure
orspringvolume.Damping-wise,the
HelmAirhaslow-speedrebound,
alongsidelowandhigh-speed
compressionadjustment.
It’sa similarstorywiththeDBairIL
shock,butyoualsogethigh-speed
reboundanda climbswitchthatramps
upthelow-speedcompressionand
rebounddampingfora super-stable
platform.Andif justreadingaboutallof
theadjustmentsis enoughtomakeyour
headspin,waituntil you try to set the
suspensionup.componentS
Asanin-housebrand,Sondercandress
a bike to the nines without blowing thebudget.Assuch,yougeta fullSRAMGX
EagledrivetrainandRockShoxReverb
postwiththe1xunderbarremote.
TheLoveMudcontactpointsonthe
Evolaren’tquiteasstandoutthough.
Thelock-ongripsarewaytoothinto
provideamplecushioning,andthe
35mmstemis a touchshort,giventhat
theframeisn’tsuperlong.We’renit-
pickingthough,aseventheLoveMud
wheelshavea greatrimprofilefor
fattertyresandthefreehuboffersrapid
engagementwithouta deafening click.performance
Outofthebox,wewerelessthan
impressedbytherearsuspension
responseontheSonder.Thebikefelt
harsh,deadandlackedgrip.It also
squattedintoitstravelontheclimbs,so
eventhoughit is thelightestbikeinthe
27.5incategory,it wasthemostlaboured
ontheascents.
Somethingsimplydidn’taddup.
Wastheharshnessandlackofgripwe
wereexperiencingduetotheframe
beingtoostiff?It certainlydidn’tlook
it withitsnarrowmainpivotstance.We
evenconsideredswappingthewheels.
Then,it dawnedonus.Whatif Sonder’s
baselinedampingsettingsontheCane
Creekshockwereoff?Runbyrunwe
removedHSCdamping,andonevery
lapthebikeimproved.It stillfeltlifeless
though,sowestartedtowindoffthe
rebounddampingtoo,firsttheHSR,
thentheLSR.Thefinaltouchwastoadd
morelow-speedcompressionsowe
couldbelessdependentontheclimb
switch.Thefrontendwouldstilllifton
thesteepestclimbs,butnowwecouldat
leastshredthedescents.
It’sstillnotperfectthough,theframe
is a tadshortandhigh,andif you’renot
suspensionsavvy,wesuggestgetting
theRockShoxequippedversion for
£2,699 and just go ride.in association withM ay 2 019mbr 59