Prototype paint scheme aside, looks very nice, and very much how you would build a bike based on the PB comment section:

Mullet
Threaded BB
Regular boost hubs (no superboost)
Waterbottle
Internal storage
internal routing that allows either brake routing
flip chip

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-intense-tracer-279.html

Looks nice, rear links on bushes though….

Wonder if they’ll have a grease port like the older vpps

Wonder if they’ll have a grease port like the older vpps

The grease port on my Recluse is very difficult to use.

rear links on bushes though….

I missed that…

Although thinking about it, would a properly specced bushing necessarily be a bad thing? Using ball bearings for a few degrees of movement isn’t the greatest idea in the world, and lateral loads can cause them to go sloppy.

I can see how having a bushing failing would be harder to detect by the average (reactive maintenance) rider and could royally ruin a frame – or at least the link.

It seems like every Intense is a prototype. Why don’t they just design a bike and stick with it for a while?

It seems like every Intense is a prototype. Why don’t they just design a bike and stick with it for a while?

I’d guess that they change different models at different times and then run them through a few years but you are just hearing NEW INTENSE. Similar to Spesh launching a new Stumpy one year, a new Enduro the next year and a new Epic the following year. I haven’t noticed Intense changing their bikes any more often than other manufacturers.

I’d guess that they change different models at different times and then run them through a few years but you are just hearing NEW INTENSE.

yeah, quick google it looks like the previous tracer (big travel, 27.5 both ends) had most of the “new bike” articles early 2017, so thats more than a 4 year run.

I agree for small rotation bushes are better if lubed but I’m concerned they’ll not be and just wear out fast

Looks cool, I used to love my 275 Tracer.

But I’d bet it’ll still be a Bike designed in Cali to be ridden in Cali-like conditions, and it’ll be pretty unhappy in a Welsh winter, the grease port will be about as useful as Radioactive Man’s safety glasses. The Geo will be pretty conservative, and 2 decades after Columbine they’ll still insist on naming all their bikes after “gun things” because ‘pew pew’.

Well, disregarding the colour scheme and focusing on the silhouette, I think it could be a bloody good looking bike.

If they did an affordable, raw or Intense blue alu frame then I’d maybe be interested.

I agree for small rotation bushes are better if lubed but I’m concerned they’ll not be and just wear out fast

Agreed, but pedal bushings can last for ages (though they don’t always). I’d prefer bushings if they were shown to last.