Kestrel Evoke?
 

Does anyone have any experience with this frame. My wife wants a carbon frame and she has gotten her average speed into the mid 17's so I think she is intitled to something nice. I know the geometry will fit her but I do not have anywhere to see one in person. I am just wondering about the ride and finishof the frame. I have seen the Talon and the quality seems good and I am also considering this. Anyway any opinions would be useful.

Thanks
Matt

My wife has been riding a Kestrel Evoke for almost 2 years now. She loves it. No quality issues so far.

I ride the Talon and I've been very satisfied with it. I tend to like its geometry, but that's just personal. Before I bought it, I was looking at Orbea (Onix) and Blue (RC4) and I thought the Talon rides better than the Blue, but a little worse than the Orbea.

I have seen a couple before. They are very nice looking wrt finish quality. Kestrel basically brought CF into cycling. I would love a set of their bars. If you do get an Evoke, you need to swap out the bars immediately and give them to me. The bars are death traps and have been known to snap without warning. I will dispose of them properly. Seriously though, it is a very nice bike from what I have read and heard. I think Sierra Trading Post actually has them on sale as well.

The owner of the only really good bike shop in our area rides one. He can have whatever he likes. That's what he likes. He happens to be someone whose opinion I trust and value. Haven't ridden one myself but his choosing it for himself is enough for me.

do those have the cables running through the frame? someone a long time ago told me his kestrel (not sure model) rattled a bit and the culprit was the thru cables. that's the only negative thing i've ever heard about them.

Oh, you don't need that as an excuse. I still have yet to make it into the mid 17's with my average, and I've dumped tons of money! :D

No, the Evoke doesn't have internal cable routing. Nice frames.

Friend has a Kestrel (Talon SL I think) that does just that. So what he did to fix it was to buy a new 07 Evoke. :D

Actually he was due a new bike. His older one was a bit too large for him.

Thanks for the reply's guys.

My Talon rattles loudly over bumpy terrain. The offending cable is the rear brake cable, as it has a full-length housing. The derailer cables have bare cable through the inside of the frame, and they do not rattle.

I could definitely see how the brake cable rattle could annoy someone, but I've pretty much learned to tune it out.

I tested one and found it to be a fairly stiff ride, not as forgiving as most carbon bikes I've been on, but good for racing. But, that may have be more of a wheel issue and not the frame. It was light and fast but certainly not supple.