The Spider - Some Thoughts

It's been my goal to make a solid effort to get the Intense Spider on all of our local trails when weather and time permit. While conditions are less than perfect, the window for riding has been open. I'm having a ton of fun on this bike, but now that the newness of it has passed, I'm beginning to experience some of the bike's capriciousness.

I've spent a fair amount of time fiddling with the rear shock, trying to get the pressure /sag just right. I eventually wound up with 200psi, with the ProPedal set on 2, and leaving it on. This seems to do the rear end of this creature a lot of justice, especially since that once it's set, no more fiddling (yay!). It climbs amazingly well, and has a springy snappy ride. To me, this is the perfect setting. Funnily enough, a customer from out of state came in with a Spider he had bought elswhere, and I set it up for him. Just one ride later, he also agreed this was the best setting.

Me, 230lbs, sag at roughly 2o%, which is Intense's recommended setting. I found that the sagged angles of the bike feels far more relaxed than you would imagine, as steep as it's static angles are. The bike will still steer through just about anything at any speed. This can also somewhat of a drag, as the BB drops as the suspension sags. On my very first ride, the first thing I noticed was sporadic pedal strike. Now that I have it set up in "the zone", it is far less pronounced, but my feet still tag the ground from time to time.

It's on sustained high speed rutted downhills however, the bike seems to lack progression in the rear shock. The rear shock has a very short stroke for the amount of travel it has, which leads me to the first thing I would change about the bike (if I were to a> have that power, and b> have only one bike).

I'd do whatever it took to get the shock travel ratio to 2:1. The rear shock seems over worked on big hits, and I have now noticed that the back end seems to wind up on any of our regular local Waterbury rides. Seems to me that a longer stroke shock could handle different types of bumps at varying speeds, which leads me in to the second thing I would change...

...which would be to update the design with the new fancy 15mm axle pivots of VPP2, as seen on new Santa Cruz Blur LT bikes. It would be a welcome addition to the construction of this bike. Our local stuff is quite ledgy, and there were a few times that the rear of the bike felt like it was going a different way than the front.

Despite these gripes, I have no doubt in my mind though, that Intense achieved what they set out to do, which was to create a lightweight race bike, that is dependable enough to get the job done. While this bike is slightly less adequate for our local trails, it shines on others. I'll be riding it this Saturday on our local race loops, and will hopefully be comparing it to a couple of other bikes.

BTW, I'm totally going to race this bike on Wednesday at Catamount, which will be the first time I get to do so this year. Nat has gotten fast (and cocky!), and needs to be put in his place!

Intense Spider - First Ride

While the rocker issue on the Jet 9 is truly frustrating, I've decided to take the opportunity to get to know one of the other bikes we sell, the Intense Spider. These bikes are similar in that they are both geared towards XC riding and racing, so the comparison should provide some interesting results.

This bike is one of our demo bikes. It is a large frame, with a Fox RP23 rear shock and F29 100mm fork, SRAM X9 shifters and derailleur, an old but perfectly good set of XTR M960 cranks, a sweet looking set of Bike 29 Royale wheels (pewter hubs, black spokes, red nips on Arch rims), Easton EA 70 stem, Monkey Lite carbon bars and EC90 seatpost, and a white WTB Deva saddle. I originally had the white Juicy Ultimates on the Jet, but since it is grounded, I pulled them off to replace the Juicy 7s I had on the Spider. The bike has a lot of white on it, which I hear is the new black, so I have decided to name it "The White Shadow".

This weekend's weather was perfect for staying indoors next to an air conditioner, high 80s, and the air so thick you could eat it with a spoon. I'd been as sick as I've been in a long time all week, and I was certainly not in the mood to push it. It seemed as the most logical choice would be to head to Stowe Town Loops, which is ironic, as this is typically my new bike proving ground.

So how does it ride?
I will preface this by saying I am not really in any condition to "push" a bike to it's limits, but I was able to get a good measure of the bike's qualities, based on my familiarity with the terrain.
The ride starts with a gradual climb that will make you suck wind if you are out of shape, so I spun up in an easy gear. The hot muggy air didn't help either. I did all of the sustained climbing with the ProPedal on, and was rewarded with a firm ride that moved on only the biggest obstacles. I rode a the medium Spider way back in 06, which was definitely too small for me, but I was impressed back then at the climbing prowess of this bike. Perhaps there is something in the name...?

Once the hill crests, the trail rolls down some rocky double track, before turning into rooty rocky single track through a pine stand. This is where it gets fun. It's relatively flat, but still rolly, you can really milk your momentum. There are some large decomposing shale outcroppings to negotiate your way up, which can end up in disaster it you fall the wrong way.
Ont the right, there are hard rocks and tree roots, on the left, about a 70 tumble down a steep ravine into the Little River. Well, I did not make the first big outcropping. I had to put a foot down about halfway up. I attributed this to the back end being too firm.m I used this opportunity to turn the ProPedal off, and ran the shock wide open for the rest of the ride (with the exception of the last climb out).

That was much better. The biggest thing I noticed, is the the bike took on a slightly different personality. With the ProPedal off, the bike sank a little deeper into it's travel. It pedalled very well in the rough stuff, bumps large and small disappeared and the bike seemed to levitate over the trail. I was expecting a fair amount of feedback from the ground, but was pleasantly surprised to find it was minimal. The VPP suspension design does a very good job of soaking it all up, and the F29 was dialed in. Not once did I feel a hard bottom out, despite how deep into the travel I was sitting.

Climbing with the ProPedal off was no problem, the back wheel stayed on the ground for the short techy climbs that are sprinkled throughout the ride. This was a relief, as I seldom have the presence of mind to flip the switch when I need to. As we climb up to the "upper" Town Loop, there are a series of bridges that take you over some very mucky ground, and the terrain becomes a little more difficult as the root and rock population increases.

It was here that I found the single thing that I found to be a negative on the bike. Pedal strike. While not a persistent problem, it is enough to get your attention, and on one instance I came right out of my right pedal at a time that was less than convenient. As I spend more time on the bike, I will likely adjust my riding style by timing my pedal strokes a little better. Like I said before, I was definitely not on my game, so some of it could have been attributed to that.
With my one gripe out of the way, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

The suspension is very plush, and handling is very predictable. It almost has a playful feel to it. While last minute course corrections are a snap, it isn't quite as fractious as the Jet. This was appreciated, as I was on the edge of control on the fast single track descents.

The crucial piece of hardware I attribute the playful handling to, is the Chris King Tall Baseplate. It adds 5mm to the axle to crown height, thus slackening the head angle by about a degree. The Spider is renowned for it's aggressive 74° head angle, which some find too twitchy. This baseplate and correct sag on the rear shock makes the bike very manageable.

All in all, I'd say that if you were in the market for an XC bike you can race or ride all day, this bike would certainly get the job done, and is well worth a good look.

The Spider

Here it is, finally finished. Now if we could just get rid of some of this snow!
This bike will be one of the many new ponies in our stable for folks to try out this summer. I've always felt that "try before you buy" is the way to go when it comes to high end mountain bikes. Not too many shops up our way would have something like this to actually ride in the woods while trying to decide if it's your thing or not.

I like to think we are the exception.
I'll be rolling out the new demo fleet as it gets completed over the next few weeks.

This Spider is a size large, and features the new Fox F29 100mm fork. I put the King 5mm headset baseplate on it to add to the axle to crown measurement. Despite the added A-C length, the 44mm offset of the fork will ensure a quick handling ride. And most importantly, if nothing else, the bike looks very cool. My philosophy on this subject, is that if it looks cool, you'll enjoy riding it more. BMW M3s look cool, therefore, they ought to be pretty fun to drive right?
The color pallette is white (duh), ano red, ano silver and ano black.

The components are typical to many of the builds we do here, Royale wheelset, set up tubeless, X9 drivetrain, Juicy brakes. I had a perfectly good XTR crank sitting around, so I decided it was time for it to get some use.

All told, the bike weighs in at 27.55lbs without pedals. Not too bad when you consider we weren't trying to make it ridiculite or anything. I think a race build would easily be 2-4lbs lighter, depending on how far down that path you wanted to go.

We have a trip south planned in 2 weekends, down to the Leghigh Valley to visit family. This will most certainly be one of the bikes I bring. And when I say "one of", I plan on bringing two bikes. Not quite sure what the other one will be just yet... you'll just have to wait and see.

The Spider Crawls Along...

So the next big decision to make was what fork to put on the bike. With everything out there, I had a hard time figuring out which way I wanted to go. In my mind, the Spider is a racy kind of bike, and needed some racy features. There are 3 forks that come to mind.

1. The ubiquitous Reba Race. The new updated Push-loc feature is really nice, and gives you that ability to lock the fork out for a hard slog out of the saddle without having to reach down.

2. The new kid on the block, the Fox F-29. It has a lockout, but it is a manual lock out, meaning you have to take your right hand off the handlebar to activate/deactivate it. But it does have some nifty features that make this totally OK.

3. The White Magic 110. White continues to improve the damper, and deliver it in a beautiful, clean package. The Magic uses a magnetic valve that negates the need for any type of lockout by determining where the force is coming from. Bumps from above (i.e.you) are ignored, while bumps from the ground are devoured. I own one of these forks, and love it.

These are 3 very legit choices for anyone who wants a trail bike they can also race. That is the prime directive of this build. It has to be able to handle it all.

Now, here is where it gets fun. Intense designed the Spider with a 73° head angle. For those that don't know, that is steep. Like a road bike steep. Steep = fast handling. There have been a lot of nay sayers about this number, in that fast handling = twitchy, but everyone that has ridden one of these bikes on trail agrees, it flys through the trees with the greatest of ease. I'm really sorry if you don't get to ride your bike through trees. It is fast handling though, but not twitchy.
You'll recall my experience on the 5.5 Proto, similar angles, similar kind of ride.

The really important number is the offset of the forks.
Offset is the perpendicular distance the axle sits in front of the center of steering axis (headtube line), while trail is the horizontal distance on the ground of the center of the tire's contact patch to where the center line of the steering axis hits the ground. Trail effectively is measured backwards because the axle's position over the ground "trails" the center line of the steering axis. Offset is the distance forward of the steering axis but on a different plane. As offset increases, trail decreases and handling becomes more responsive.

The Spider was designed with the Reba in mind, as Rock Shox was the only real 4" fork on the market for the longest time. The Reba has a 38mm offset. The new generation of forks (White, Fox and Manitou) live around 44mm. Quicker steering forks.

I'm not going to get into a diatribe about which is better, that's not what this post is about.

Let's think about the fork for a bit, while we move on...

Wheels.


Every once in a while, you find something that works. When that happens, I run with it. A prime example is the Royale wheelset. I put a LOT of these wheels under a lot of people, and not one person has been disappointed. While they aren't the ultra-lightest (around 1800g a set) they are durable, customizable, and made from the best stuff around. It's the very same wheelset I use, and if a 230lb guy like myself can't beat 'em up (and I try!), well...
So, yeah, Royales with the Arch rims.


Another component of this build, is that I would be "re-introducing" some components back into the wild where they belong. I have a pile of tires that would make you sick. But hey, if you were to call and ask me what I thought about any tire that's out there, I'd be able to answer you. Truthfully too.
My favorite all-rounder is the Bontrager Jones ACX TLR. I had a set laying about, so that's what I mounted. And I'll add that they aired up first time, and have not lost even 1 psi since Saturday.
How about that?

OK back to the fork.

I went with the Fox F-29, for 2 reasons (not really in order)
1. Cosmetic. It looks cool. I don't care who you are, if you were spending your hard earned dough on a bike, you'd want it to look cool.
2. Performance. I know from experience that the Fox is a stiffer platform than the Reba. The offset question was giving me some headaches, so I decided to add King's 5mm baseplate to the King headset (like you thought I'd put something else on there). This effectively slackens the head tube angle, or slows down the steering. We'll see how it rides soon.

While the White fork is the one I'd go with on my own personal bike, it is a little too tech for the average Joe to easily set up and enjoy properly, and as this is ultimately a demo bike, I want it to be as user friendly as possible. I'll be doing a shootout between the afore mentioned forks in the not too distant future, where I can really get into the nuts and bolts of these cool devices.


Up next, the components!

Decisions...decisions...

Welcome to part 1 of the "Winter Project"-- an experiment in which I examine the different paths and choices involved in building up a custom 29er.

This is going to be interesting, because, even though I know what the outcome is going to be on this project (demo bike for the new Bike29 demo fleet), I'm still on the fence about many of the components that I have to choose from. I'm going to take it one step at a time.


So, for example, let's say I'm looking for that XC full suspension rig of my dreams. I've done a bit of research, and have narrowed my needs down to a few key points. I need a XC rig, am not too afraid of a price tag, as I expect the highest quality for the dollars spent. I don't need to go custom, but I want a bike that I can race, or ride all day. This is a chunk of change, and a bike like this, is going to be ranked highest in the "quiver".

I find the most awesome bike shop ever, and give them a call.....

There are a lot off choices out there, but I settle on a US made Intense Spider. It is geared towards that XC race set, but with 4" of travel, and with correct set up, it can easily accommodate my needs.

So here we reach crossroads #1.

I can have a painted frame (size large) that weights 6.59 lbs. Not terribly heavy for what it is. It's Pearl White, and quite possibly the coolest color I've seen on a bike in a while (next to Atomic Blue of course).

Or...

I can have a Works colored frame that weighs 6.34 lbs. One quarter of one pound. It all adds up you know. Do I pull out the stops and go ultralight?

While I'm not an expert racer, I do like nice bikes, and I need a bike that can be as precise as an scalpel, or as reliable as a hammer. And I like folks to notice my nice bikes, so, I'll go with the white frame. Maybe I'll loose that 1/4 lb of off my winter pelt.


As this is such a high end frame, I'm going to re-use some of the parts from other bikes that I have to keep the overall cost down, but boy oh boy, I am stoked on this thing! I'm interested to get feedback from any readers out there as far as what fork I should put on this thing.


Do you have an opinion? I'd love to hear it.

Up next, fork and wheels and tires!

Winter Projects

This is the time of year when most of the avid cyclists in my neck o' the woods are thinking about their new ride in the spring. Others are contemplating that big upgrade that will make their favorite bike dance on the trails.

I actually have a lot of winter projects, but not anything I can freely broadcast at this time. But as some folks are making these big bicycle decisions, I thought it might be pretty cool to "build" up a bike over the next few weeks, and share the process. I already know what I'm going to build, I have most of the parts, some are used, some are new. I actually had a little bit of a dilemma about what I was going to start, which I think will be an interesting story, decisions that maybe a potential new bicycle buyer might face.

Anyway, the finished bike will end up as one of our demo fleet, that will be available for use when the trails dry out this spring.

Here is your teaser...

5.5.1

So, here it is.

The finale.

It looks like this will unfortunately be the last time I get to ride this bike, as it needs to go back home so it can be ridden by those that created it. I will say though, I had a blast riding it. My first ride, definitely made me want more, and after I had made some necessary component switches to get the riding position I needed, I was a lot more in tune with what it was capable of.

The conditions today were near perfect. Overcast, but very warm at 38°, with about 3" of crunchy snow on the ground. No one had ridden bikes out on the trails in quite some time, and I was amazed that I was able to guess where the trail actually was. Freshies are always fun, even more so when you are riding your bike.

There were certain times when the big guessing game of "what exactly is under all this snow" got ugly, but the 5.5 seemed up to task. There were only a couple of times when I spun out. I was pretty impressed actually. For low speed technical handling, (with my stuff on it) I'd give this bike a 9. Some of the situations where my bars were crossed up, with no forward speed, that should put a person on the ground in a hurry, simply vanished with a quick stomp on the pedals. Good stuff.


One of the things about it that made me wonder what they were thinking though, was the integrated headset. In an effort to keep the front end down, they incorporated the headset into the headtube. They did it in a rather crafty way, but I was pretty disappointed to learn that I would not be able to change the frame geometry in my favor. To me, this could be a deal breaker. I would not want to use this integrated headset on my $2K+ frame, I'd want a King, or at the very least, the option to use one.

So, what are the big changes with all my junk installed? Well, not much. After I figured out that I couldn't raise the front end by adding the lower cup of a headset, or change the geometry enough by adding 5 mm of (working) fork travel, I pretty much tried to mimic the cockpit configuration I was most comfortable with. I ended up with about a mile of spacers under the stem, and then some above to make up the difference.


Now that my riding position was more familiar, I felt I could judge what this bike was capable of. I still kept smacking my heels into the swingarm though, and with the sag set where it needed to be, I actually smacked the pedals into the ground more than I did with my RIP. I will go so far to say, that with a few inches of snow on the ground, it becomes harder to think ahead in the pedalling department. You have no idea what lays under that cold white blanket.

Oh how I wish I could have gotten this bike in August!


Now the riding position felt pretty upright, even more so than with the RIP because of the 73/74° HT/ST angles. While it wasn't necessarily the best conditions to be objective about a bike, the way it handled spoke volumes. I was pretty pumped on how it did. Is my RIP too slack? A back to back shoot out on 6 Flags would be the only way to tell.

I never got to go very fast, but I did get to put it in some precarious positions. And it did well. Lateral stiffness seemed like it might be a problem on the trail, but it wasn't apparent during the ride. In fact, there were a couple of fast switchbacks that were executed with two wheel steering at speed. I knew where those wheels were at all times, and was able to count on them being there once I was used to the sensation. Just goes to show you, what you think on the sales floor, and how it works in the wild, can sometimes be two very different things. Think about the feeling when carving a powder turn on a snowboard or skis , I was there today on two wheels. Sweet!


Would I buy this bike? I think so. I'd love to ride it on Perry Hill in the middle of summer, but from what I have learned about it, in less than perfect conditions, it can certainly get the job done. We'll see how production frames differ from this prototype, but as far as I'm concerned, it's just about there. It made me smile today, and any time you walk away from a ride with a big grin, it's a good thing.

First Ride - Intense 5.5

After many weeks of waiting, I finally get to ride the bike that many folks are waiting for, the Intense 5.5 29er. While this bike is still in it's prototype phase, I would imagine that it is pretty close to production as is. Because Intense makes all their own bikes in house, small tweaks may be made, but we won't really know until the production bikes show up.

It was a balmy 30°, brilliant blue skies, with a few inches of freshly fallen snow. And the ride was fun.

Really fun. It was the type of ride that made you wish it wasn't Sunday, so you cold go out and do it all over again tomorrow.

Our location was Stowe's Town Loops, always the first place I like to take a new bike. I know this area very well, so I figure it's the best place to see what a new steed can do. It features a little of everything, without going to extremes (unless you know where to go) and is a good place to figure out if you forgot to tighten something.


So here are the numbers. I'm sure there are many that are waiting for this comparison. I'll give the numbers of the 5.5 followed by my own personal RIP9

Head Angle: 73°, 70°
Seat Angle: 74°, 70°
Effective Top Tube: 24.25"
Stand Over: 33.5", 34"
Wheelbase: 44.5"

From a numbers standpoint, you can see that for the most part, the bikes are pretty evenly matched, except for the frame angles. As I stated previously, it seems like Intense has gone out of it's way to keep the front end low on this bike. Why, I'm not quite sure. With a normal headset, the angles would be slacker. My RIP has a Fluid 135 on the front, the 5.5 has a coil sprung Fluid 130, again dropping the front end.
The bike set up has XC racer written all over it, but why would you race a 29lb 5" travel bike?

Yay!
The construction is top rate.
No noticeable feedback from the pedals at all.
I was able to ride things my partners in crime weren't able to.

Nay!
Low front end. I felt like I could go over the bars at any time, and often did.
Rapid Rise shifting, it is so counter intuitive, that I only stayed in a couple of gears.Who uses this stuff? So I only had a couple of gears I could use without skipping the chain all over the place. This is after all, a demo bike, and it came complete and beat. Even though the Rapid Rise deraillieur made me want to shift less, there were only a couple of gears that I could actually use. So maybe this is a positive. I didn't shift very much.
I think the fork was beat. There was no rebound adjustment, and no matter how much air I put in it, it always seemed to react the same way - like a pogo stick.
I kept clubbing my heels on the rear swingarm.

Say!
If I were to buy a bike like this, I certainly wouldn't build it up this way. But, based on this ride, if I were in the market for a long travel full suspension 29er, it could be a serious contender.
It did pedal very well in fact. Despite the goofy XC set up, I enjoyed the bike tremendously.
What seemed like an ungodly amount of flex in the rear end around the wheel's axle, it didn't come through in the ride. It tracked true.
I didn't notice the steeper angles so much as the lack of elevation at the bars. Still, it was responsive, and made last minute course corrections without any twitchy oversteer.
The "Works" finish is very cool, and all of the machined bits are anodized black to give it an air of seriousness.
I had to put my body weight in the rear shock to get the correct sag. Don't ask, it's a lot. I am willing to bet that my shock pump may not be that accurate, but it seemed excessive to get the recommended 20-30% sag.
Also falling under an anti-Shimano rant, are the XTR brakes. The 160mm rotors did an average job of slowing me down, but bigger rotors would be more apropos on a bike such as this, especially if you are in the Clydesdale range. Also the modulation seemed to vary throughout the ride.

The next step, is for me to pull all the XC components off of it, and replace them with bits more becoming of a 5" travel trail machine from my RIP. Then we'll see how it really shines in a true apples to apples comparison...

Stay tuned!

BTW
The tires I opted for today were the Bontrager Jones ACX TLR. I ran about 32 psi (with tubes - not my wheels) and found plenty of grip in the wet, leaf strewn, semi frozen ground beneath the snow. I figured the Crossmarks that came with the bike may not have performed as well.

Intense 5.5 29er Prototype - Out of the Box

So here it sits.
Late, but here, on the eve of the first measurable snow of the season. It's all good though, I'm not afraid of riding it in the snow.

Out of the box, the bike weighs in at 28.1 lbs. It came fully equipped with XTR, (including my least favorite type of derailleur - the Rapid Rise), Salsa Delgado rims, Maxxis Crossmark tires and a White Fluid 130 fork. Very nicely done.

When sitting side by side with my RIP, it is immediately apparent that Intense did what they could to keep the front end down on the bike. The 5.5 has an FSA headset which essentially puts the bottom cup inside the head tube. My RIP9 sits a little over 2" higher in the front.

It just goes to show you how different folks interpret that way a bike should be built. To me, this seems a little too XC of a set up for me, I personally feel that a bike with this much travel should be a little more AM, but that is just an opinion.

The cool part about the way the bike is set up, is that I'll get a chance to ride it the way it came to me, and then when I put all my stuff on it, get to ride it the way I would build it. It will be interesting to see that comparison.

I'll get a chance to hop on it this weekend, and I'll report back right after the first ride

Can anyone guess what this is?

It just arrived today. It's actually pretty easy to guess what it is.
More details to follow soon.

It's Spiderific!

Just to satiate my curiosity, I decided to build up one of the Spiders.
The build is fairly typical for a trail bike, Reba fork, Royale wheels, SRAM X9 drivetrain, Easton bars and Magura Marta SL brakes. I really dig the blue on blue color combo


The total package is 27.3 lbs, and is priced at $4699. It seems spendy, but consider that this frame is made in house at Intense's manufacturing facility in Temecula CA. A premium is to be paid for US craftsmanship.

Look for a more "racey" version to be built in the coming weeks.

Just in time for Halloween

Spiders!


These just crawled in today. Geared towards XC racing and riding, they ought to scare those they pass on the trail.

All I can say is that I'm stunned at the quality of workmanship on these frames. Very well executed indeed. The Spider is a 4" travel bike that utilizes the ever popular VPP linkage.
They are available in a variety of painted and anodized stock finishes. These medium painted frames come in at a respectable 6.41 lbs.

Bike 29 is proud to be carrying Intense.

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the 5.5 29er, which should be sometime next week. I will be flogging it for a few weeks, so look for a review in the not too distant future.