Hi folks, lucky me has managed to bag an Intense Tracer.

After swapping the old kit over and trying my best to get the gears right I've discovered that the chain is rubbing on the rear suspension link when in the small front ring and the two biggest rings on the back.

Even in the middle ring, the granny on the back is causing it to rub.

I've used no spacers on the non-drive side of the BB and using two which is the absolute max recommended on the drive side.

Frame is Intense Tracer 18" 2009
Chainset is Raceface Atlas AM 2008 (22/32/44)

Have any of you had the same issue?

Friend of mine had this issue and I started a thread on MTBR to check it out. Seemed to be a problem more with Raceface than Shimano but my mate's problem was primarily because he was trying to use a 68mm bb rather than the required 73mm. Which are you using?

Also he was sent a replacement link bolt which was flush which helped with clearance. It's not a problem any more and I think the bb width sorted it.

MTBR thread is here.

BTW he also subsequently had to have a replacement rear triangle under warranty as the original was misaligned – but I don't think that was anything to do with the clearance issue. 😕

Thanks for the link hamisthecat,

looks like mine could be a BB size issue, think i'm using 68mm, from my old RC303

I could have swore that my RaceFace instructions said it could be used on either size by using the spacers… i'll take a look again.

Cheers 🙂

I am the aforementioned mate! (Good Xmas Hamish, tried out the Thors?!)

Hamish summed it up, they should send you a replacement 'flush' bolt (without the circlip on) free of charge, best bet is to contact ExtraUk – they have been excellent when I've dealt with them.

Might be worth checking the alignment of the rear triangle whilst you're at it.

As for the BB width, I was trying to fit a set of RF deus cranks to it, which like you say can be adjusted with spacers to suit the width, however they seemed too narrow, I fitted a set of shimano XTs in the end which work ok.

Good luck, bit annoying on a frame that cost the best part of £2k new!

Evening Mike. Yeah, good Xmas, although yesterday was the first time I've been out for a ride. Haven't tried the new forks yet as the brake adaptor still hasn't arrived. Back to work Tuesday so I'm hoping it comes tomorrow!

I'll give ExtraUK a call tomorrow Mikeyd, are they the importers btw?
The shop did say they'd contact Intense, i think i'll speak to them first and mention the flush bolt.

You'd think that the spacing on chainsets/BB's would be pretty much similar, apparently not eh.

As for the rear triangle, i've no idea how to see if it's aligned, i'll leave that to the bike shop i think.

Cheers mate, John

Hopefully problem solved.

ExtraUK are sending out the flushbolt which they reckon will solve things.
They wouldn't send direct though which is a pain, gotta wait for the shop to forward it on.

Thanks for the help 🙂

Glad you got it sorted.

The way I found out the rear triangle was misaligned was by removing one of the pivot bolts and pulling the triangle out of the suspension link – if it is misaligned then it'll spring to one side and you'll have to flex the rear triangle to get it back in.

The cause of mine being misaligned was one of the bearing seats for the top suspension link (attached to shock) hadn't been machined properly and the bearing wasn't sitting correctly…

I had the same problem with my Tracer… I run a hope BB and XTR crank, what I did to remedy the problem was to grind of the bit at the end of the pivot bolts that held the circlips, (I lost the clips within a few rides any way) No more chain rubbing on the bolt but still get a little chain rubb on the frame. I didn't know I could have got flush bolts though..

The alignment on the rear triangle was fine on mine, the replacement one I got after cracking it was fine too

Ouch, what brought that on?

I'm not 100% sure, I just noticed it one time when I was giving the bike a wash