The TMS Evo 3s developed by Thibaut Marriaux and his team arrived in France in September and sold like hot cakes: the bike’s magnificent curves and robust design made it very popular and it features a number of innovations. The curved tubes give it a classy look and give it a super-stiff front end, making front wheel moves and taps much more efficient. A natty little top cap allows you to pass your front brake hose (or cable) through the steerer tube and makes tightening the stem much easier. A lot of thought has gone into this bike… especially at the rear end. The rear dropout system is particularly innovative: no classic vertical or horizontal dropouts here, but a specific, effective and clever system of sliding CNC vertical dropouts called the “Quick Tensioner Concept”, which leaves snail cams trailing in the dust. If you need to remove your rear wheel there are no more complicated adjustments to be made or tensioners to refit, you simply take the wheel out and the dropouts stay where they are! The stays are also pretty neat; constructed from a single tube and bent into shape around the wheel, with a booster welded on top, they offer optimum stiffness!
Ever since the arrival of the Evo 3 26, people have been asking when a 20” version will be available. It has been in development for several months, with some early images appearing on the TMS-Bikevision site a while ago! The Twenty’s development is currently in its final stages; it will keep the same curves as it’s bigger brother, the “Quick Tensioner Concept” and the tubes designed by Thibaut to optimise stiffness at the front end (top and down tubes welded together over a 10cm area). Production is due to begin in late May/early June and the frame will be available as disc only, with a choice between brushed alu or pearl white.
Thibaut Marriaux and Nicolas Luque have sent us the first images of this new bike, in photo and video form! We took the chance to ask them a bit about their new model…
The Evo 3 Twenty:
A few words from Mr TMS himself...
Yo Thibaut, so the Twenty’s nearly ready?
Thibaut: Yep, I’m just finalising everything with the manufacturers!
What’s the geo going to be like? Can you tell us anything?
Thibaut: It’ll have a WB of 1015mm, 350mm stays and a +63mm BB and will be available as full disc only!
Ok, that [dual disc] is pretty standard for a 20" these days. It’s good to see a bash plate on their for those that like them… looks like it’s capable of going big, this little Evo?
Thibaut: You’re not wrong! Nico got used to it pretty quickly and was doing some crazy stuff on it! After about quarter of an hour he was landing some pretty mental sidehops!
OK, Nico, you had the privilege of the first ride on this new bike… you rode it for a couple of hours, how does it compare to its big brother?
Nico’: At a glance you can see that it’s been really well finished, it looks just like a scaled down version of my Evo 3 26! The welds and lacquer are perfect… This one has an HS33 on the rear and a Magura Louise up front.
How did your first ride go? We haven’t seen you on a 20” for a while!
Nico’: It took a little while to get used to it, even though I rode 20” for years. Two hours wasn’t quite enough time to master it, especially as I’ve been using double HS33s for quite a while now! It’s like Thibaut says, GET BACK TO YOUR ROOTS!
What are your first impressions of the bike?
Nico’: It’s very nice for bunnyhops! It took me by surprise a few times! The ride is similar to that of the Evo 3 26… very stiff, the ride position is comfortable on the rear wheel, I felt nice and steady when preparing for a sidehop… The chain tension is perfect too – it’s good to see that on a 20”! It just does not move and it’s really cool to be able to take the wheel out without affecting the chain tension. I’ll be able to tell you more once I’ve ridden it a few more time, but for the moment, very satisfying. It’s a playful little bike, I had a lot of fun on it! I’ve already managed a sidehop of about 1.4m and pulled off a few ‘freestyle’ moves! Who knows, maybe it’ll be the bike that reconverts me…
Yeah, your homage to Yohan Triboulat at the end was nice ;-) and that sidehop was huge! Thanks for talking with us, see you soon!
Video:
Nico’s first ride on the Twenty…
Photos:
Close-ups:
Nico’ in action...
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