Would anyone know what the difference is between the two types of carbon frame that Intense seem to offer, assuming one is lighter etc. Looking at either the Primer or the Carbine, sensible choice for 75% of my riding would be the Primer, but have always fancied a Carbine. Any STW owners of either able to shed their opinions of either bike please? Will be moving on from a Yeti SB95c?
Can't answer your question, but Intense UK customer service were absolutely fantastic when I was bombarding them with questions about the Tracer. I'm sure you'd get a decent response straight away.
The SL frame has Ti hardware, carbon link, and I think different carbon to save about 250g
+1 on Intense customer service
I have a Primer and it is plenty for me, and I'm not too sure about the Carbine colour schemes! If you are in the process of scanning geo charts, I think the Primer geo is measured with a 130mm fork, so it's a bit slacker with a 140mm
how is the frame quality? been interested in a sniper, although the frame weight is a plus with it being so light, its no good if its knackered after one season, like a scott spark. my pivot 429 is fairly old hat now, but its 4 years and its had one set of bearing, but the frame weighs 2.6kg!
I love my large SL carbine in grey/black. I've done about 1000 miles on it. I'm 5'9ish. Reach isn't mega long, but it was 40mm longer than my old bike, and I think it's close to perfect. I use a 170mm dropper with about 10mm of post body showing.
it's an awful lot of bike. 33lbs with SG marys. However, it is so much better than the M 2015 tracer I had. MUCH stiffer and the JS enduro link is much better suited to chunky stuff. The tracer didn't use its travel all that well. I'd expect the Primer to be somewhat similar in that regard - quick to use a big chunk of travel before ramping up too soon.
Buy the primer if you just need an amazing trail bike.
Buy the carbine if you want to race enduro, open up ALL of the lines and enjoy going really ridiculously fast over everything, and you don't mind lugging the heft around.
My mate's SB6 is nicer in many ways, exquisite almost, but I definitely wouldn't have one over my carbine
I've got a Primer with the SL frame and 140mm Pikes. It's plenty of bike for me, it just seems to fly over anything. It's very light but seems well made. The cable entries into the frame are a bit low rent, but other then that, can't really fault it. I'm a smidge under 5' 10" on a medium, but I've got little T Rex arms so someone with normal proportions may prefer a large. I don't know about it not being stiff enough, you'd have to be a downill god to notice any significant flex, I think.
Sniper here.
Seems a really good bike so far - plenty stiff enough & v agile.
Recluse here. Fantastic bike.
Had a bit of a nightmare over parts warranty but other than that been fine. Frame holding up well and very capable.
Would like a Primer though but so similar to the Recluse (other than wheel seize and a few mm travel) I can't justify it.
Had a spin on a Factory Tracer a few weeks ago. Felt very much a mini DH bike.
I think oldejeans was saying his Carbine was way stiffer than his old Tracer, not than the Primer
I came to ask 'Carbine or Primer for general all round MTB living just off the Dark Peak?'
I'm thinking the balance of this thread ^^ is that the Primer is probably all I need, will also be taking the bike to the Lakes and possibly overseas. Unlikely to race Enduro ever again, I'm just not good enough!
I'm a bit worried the Carbine might be more than I need, but the S150 has been on my list for some time and it's really not that much more bike...
Primer SL here. I ride general XC with trips to Lakes and annual trip to CYB, does absolutely everything I need and potentially much more. I’m an average skill rider, nothing too serious or overtly tech. The bike is more than I need but I love it.
Agree with failed engineer, cable entry could be better.
Buy the Primer.
Not the bike you’re after but I have a 2016 carbon tracer. Mine comes in just under 30lb which isn’t bad including a dropper (doesn’t have any fancy parts on it either!)
But more relevantly - saddleback (UK distributors) were amazing when I had an issue with my rear triangle - collected bike, swappers triangle and sent complete bike back within a week all FOC.
Btw - have you checked out the bargains on the OUtlet page - sooo “cheap” some of them.
Finally get to test my freshly built Spider 275c today! The frame is one of the nicest I've ever had and the titanium hardware adds a touch of class.
Frame was a Merin bargain at £999 too!
Intense are direct sales now with a uk support team and service centre. I bought a 2017 tracer at 50% off last year in their sale to take to the Alps. Love it
It was a 29er I was looking for really.
The Primer reviews I’ve read seem positive and it was what first caught my eye, just seen a few comments about it maybe being a bit short travel for some things. Thinking back my last two FS’s have been a 26” 140 with 150 fronts and a 27.5 130 with 150 fronts, makes the Carbine suddenly seem not so big. I’m booked on a demo but that’s months away and I’m getting itchy. Whatever I get won’t be doing racing but will be doing long days of whatever comes along.
Recluse here. Fantastic bike.
+1. A much better bike than I am as a rider! Mine needs servicing, but even so I keep being astonished how well it goes over really rough ground.
Hi
Are you thinking about the original 2014-2017 140mm travel Carbine or the newer 155mm travel one as they are very different beasts.
The newer one is a full on EWS standard bike.
The older version makes a fantastic trail bike and can be built up under 30lb quite easily.
Frames are under £600 and full bikes with nice builds in the region of £1500 on eBay.
I bought a medium off someone selling it cheap but it was just too small so sold it on to a mate. Wished I’d just swapped the frame for a large cos it was an awesome bike.
Still keep looking at them and not ruling out another one.
Also consider an Intense Spider-even more xc but very capable trail bike, slightly lighter than the Carbine and can be picked up at a reasonable price if you can find one.
Cheers
Steve
Just been on my first ride with the new Spider 275c. I wouldn't consider it a very XC bike, more like bang in the middle of trail really.
It's very agile though and once I've fettled the fork and bought some new tyres, It'll be even better!
My Scott Spark RC still remains the king of speed 🙂
I'd consider another, more modern Intense in a couple of years as for a 2016-2017 frame, it blows my old Stumpy out of the water.
I sold my Recluse six weeks ago to buy an ex demo Primer that Intense UK told me they had coming in. Still no Primer six weeks on and deeply regretting selling my heavily upgraded Recluse.
OP be careful of any lead times Intense UK advise about as I note their stock is quite low at the moment.
Had I known the sale was in the offing I would have held on to the Recluse and bought a Carbine for bigger stuff. Great bikes but company can be frustrating to deal with.
It was the newer (2018) 155mm Carbine I had in mind, specifically a bright orange one... 😉
I'm dithering a bit and wondering what 'full on EWS' means - obviously there's a lot of travel but is the Carbine something that due to linkages is really going to need some speed/aggression to start behaving? I note the linkages between the two are quite different. I suspect the Primer is probably what I want most of the time but the spec and price on that Carbine are nicer...
If I go Primer I'm waiting for a bit anyway for a blue 'M'
Hi
As I said the older Carbine was a fantastic trail bike and I would have another tomorrow but for comparison I now have a 2017 Trek Slash which is more like the newer Carbine in that it is more “Enduro” than trail. Whilst it’s a fantastic bike it’s just too much bike for most of the riding I do and I prefer my Tallboy or Following.
The reviews of the newer Carbine that I’ve read suggest it needs to be ridden aggressively to get the best of it rather than just normally riding along
From what you say I would think the Primer might be a better buy, although I’m the last one to criticise anyone who wants to buy blingy kit.
Cheers
Steve
I bought a 2018 Carbine end of last year – replaced a Nukeproof Mega 290 which had replaced a Specialized Enduro 29er.
I wouldn’t say the Carbine is ‘full-in EWS’ – IMO that describes my previous Nukeproof Mega 290. In comparison I find the Carbine more fun and versatile than the Nukeproof, yet just as capable on the trails I’ve used it on so far (Inners, Golfie, Dunkeld etc), while fitting me much better than the Specialized. I’m 6’1/186cm on an XL Carbine SL frame with their basic ‘Foundation’ build which I’ve tweaked.
Basically, I think it’s a fantastic bike. I’m using it much more on local/tame trails than I did my Nukeproof, simply because its still fun on tamer stuff and doesn’t dull it down. I also ride a SC Tallboy 3 (130f/110r) and don’t think the Carbine loses out on the majority of non-DH riding.
I expect the Carbine might not be as well suited to nutter Alps stuff as my Nukeproof was, but I won’t find that out til next year.