Wideopenmag World Exclusive – Empire MX 6 Evo prototype

·Friday 7 June 2013

Are you a fan of Empire Bikes?

Like them or not – there’s a brand new bike on the horizon and we just got the world exclusive first look at the prototype, here at Fort William.

Read on and tell us what you think? Rate it or hate it?

The MX 6 Evo is Empire’s latest incarnation of their ‘MX 6’ all mountain bike. It looks pretty similar to the old bike but has had a complete overhaul to – Chris explained – meet the demands of what he sees people wanting from bikes and to produce an affordable, UK built mountain bike.

What we have here is actually a plastic and aluminium prototype model – Chris is pretty happy with the the shape of the new bike and is ready to start building rideable prototypes and testing the hell out of them in the lab and on the trails. Testing so far has come via Brad Mather who has been hammering Empire’s current bike at the UK Gravity Enduro Series and doing his best to smash it to bits.

The really interesting thing about the new bike is the price. Chris is claiming it will be a very bloody impressive £1249 for the frame with a Monarch RT3 shock and £1499 for the frame with a Cane Creek DB air or coil. Complete bikes are looking at starting at £2499. Chris is aiming for October 2013 to make the bikes available.

So what’s the difference between this and the old bike?
The rear triangle is no longer the honeycomb billet that got people so worried – it’s now a cast piece with no holes to potentially catch mud or bash legs. The front triangle is also now a combo of alu tubes and a CNC’d BB and headtube piece meaning less cast pieces. The bike also sports some really neat and modern touches like 27.5″ wheel compatibility. Basically – the bike is now a lot more akin to a ‘normal’ mountain bike with less of the things that people found a bit too ‘out there’.

We’ll be following the development of the Evo super closely. At just under £1300 for a UK built bike … We think it’s a really exciting project.