Intense – The Ramblings of MTBBill

Feeling Blue about Trucks and Bikes

The last couple handful of months have been a bummer on the Truck and Bike front.

Last summer my beloved Intense 6.6 was stolen. I knew that bike so well and it was one hell of a capable rig for get out and about and even the occasional launching. In the last month it has actually been seen in Kelso, Washington (where it was stolen) being ridden by some “crackhead”. There is hope for it recovery as the locals are on the lookout.

Then about two months ago, my Tacoma was totalled when a bonehead thought that the red arrow on a left-hand turn was a suggestion. Man I loved that truck as I had it just the way I wanted it. A leveling lift, onboard air system, hidden off-road lights, In-Cab 115VAC and a tricked out infotainment system.

So while I was in Washington for six weeks all the insurance stuff was settled out and I was online shopping for a replacment Tacoma. I pretty much wanted the same truck I had before. Double Cab 4×4 with the Tow package and either the TRD Sport or Off-Road package. It also had to be in good shape and have descent miles on it. I found plenty in the category but hitting the price mark was the tough part as I was not interested in having a truck payment. Cash is king and the day after I got back from Washington I was able score a killer deal on a truck that meet all of my specs.

The new MBB Mobile. A 2007 Tacoma Double Cab 4×4 with the TRD Off-Road and Tow Packages. It even had a brand new set of BFG AT on it (My favorite all-terrian tires)

I had thought about a camper shell with my old truck but never got one. I’m still not sure wither I’m a shell guy or not but I going to see if it will work out or not. I can always take it off.

You may have noticed I have have a new website supporter/partner up on the site, BikeBling.com. Recently they have moved to huge place in Escondido and have a ton of goodies in the story. For users of my site you will periodically see MountainBikeBill promotional codes for BikeBling that are good for a discount on online purchases. A regular good for me – good for you relationship.

Part of the good for me relationship was that when I got back from Washington there was a brand new steed waiting for me. A well equipped Intense Uzzi.

A brand new set of SpinergyXyclone Enduro wheels were waiting back a Casa Del Bill to bring the build to its ready for launch state. Considering this rig has a 7″ travel coil fork up front and a coil shock givng 7.5″ in back this rig weighs in at a respectable 35lbs 6 ounces. This rig is built well above my skill level so it should be fun to see what kind of “trouble” I can get myself into with this beauty.

Closeup of the “Works Blue” finish that Intense did on this. The finish is slightly translucent which allows the weld mark to show through giving the finish a marbelized look that I think rocks.

Now the color of the bike was picked out long before I brought the truck and the color was pretty low on the criteria in the selection process. It is however pretty uncanny how the bike and truck are pretty much a spot on match. One thing is for certain they both need to be taken out and gotten dirty! I’m feeling pretty damn good about feeling blue!

Celebrating the End of the Day

There is nothing like a little celebration and the end of an awesome day. It is great to reflect on day well spent with family and friends. One of my favorites is when there is a bit of great mountain biking in the mix as well. I have been really fortunate to have lots of those days. Today the celebration was for different reasons.

The day started off like some of my other work trips that have had some awesome mountainbiking through in as well. Asunrise communter flight to LAX to catch a connector. The connector in this case was Seattle and I have plans for a good bit of riding during my month long stay up here. Once we got about the marine layer I was treated to pretty pictureque scene below.

One of the other guys I will be working with on this project was going to drive up versus fly. He has plans for some post-work vacation/roadtrip. He offered to drive my bike up so I was more than happy not have tear in down, put in the bike box and lug it around the airports. Shortly after getting off the plane in LAX and into the terminal things started turning for the worse. I got a phone call from by work bud. My Intense 6.6 had been stolen off the back of his truck. Somebody in Kelso WA cut the fairly beefy cable lock and took off with my cherished rig. I did have a long enough of a layover that all the phone calls were taken care of with the Kelso Police Department as well as make a few points online about the event. Needless to say I was good and bummed.

My Baby when she was new (The shock has seens been replaced with a Cane Creek Double Barrel coil shock) The setup of this bike is fairly unique and considering that “Works” translucent paint allows the unique weldmarks to show through, the underlying marks on this paint is a vittual fingerprint for this bike.

Hopefully this along with frame serial number will help it recovery. I don’t expect I’ll see the bike again.

Needless to say that I was not in a good mood when I got on the flight to Seattle. I was however fairly comfortable in seat 5C. Short BEFORE take off, the little five or so year old “princess” in row 8 started screaming crying and wailing. It was freaking blood curdling and I could see the tightening shoulders and clinched jaws of everyone within my view. Mom made good effort to try and calm the little princess down….for all of about five freaking minutes, then she just became pretty oblivious to her little freaking scream box urchin. We were given the okay to use the portable electronics you should have seen the mad scramble everyone was making to fire that those things up to try and drowned out that the baby terrorist cell. The scramble was enough that the flight attendant actually smile and had to hold back some snickers. Even with the music pumping you could still here the screaming. Now I know the difference between a kid in pain and a kid being a pain. There was not ear ache, no upset stomach, this kid was just an urchin. Come on Mom, do something, NyQuil, Sleeping Pills, Pillow across the face, sock in the mouth, something! The descent was pure torture once we had to turn off our electronic mufflers. I was fit to be tied when I got off the plane, luckily I have a couple hours of driving to do and was able to chillax a little.

Because of the length of my stay here I was able grab a condo rental for the same price as a hotel stay. I was pretty freaking stoked with the accommodations and location. It was well into the afternoon by the time I was finally able to set down and relax for good with a tasty Pacific Northwest cold one. Somedays you celebrate a day well spent, today I was simply celebrating the END of this day. The good news about this Monday is there are a lot of people out there who had something truly tragic happen today and I was not one of them. Thanks everyone who acknowledged the bummage of my day and offered encouragement and help. You guys Rock!

Intense Demo Day and UZZI Test Ride

Yesterday, the Intense Demo Tour along with BikeBling were at Daley Ranch in Escondido so I swung by to check out the scene. There were lots of folks buzzing around right from the start and it did not take for the 20 plus sweet demo rigs to be set free with test riders out onto the trails. I’m pretty sure that I saw the entire lineup of bikes go out at least twice while I was there.

There was more than just the production bikes there. There were some prototypes and preproduction bikes to kick around as well. Here is a Jeff Steber science project bike. This is a Tracer with a set of ISCG tabs welded onto the bottom bracket to allow for a Hammerschmit crankset to be used. (Production Tracers don’t have these tabs) This is an internal geared crankset that allows you to shift under full load, while coasting or even pedaling backwards. It is effectively a 22/36 crankset. The additional clearance this thing could give is pretty freaking crazy. This could also be pretty awesome if you had a bike that does not accommodate a front derailuer.

There were also couple of rigs they were setback for gawk and droll. One of those rigs was a preproduction UZZI in Works Blue. What an incredible looking bike. This one had the adjustable G3 dropouts set to the shorter wheelbase, a Rockshox Totem fork and the new (I think still prototype?) 2010 Fox DHX-A shock. I’m not sure how much the bike weighs but I guess around 34 pounds or so.

Later on in the morning the guys let me put some dirt on this thing and I have to say I was pretty freaking impressed. Daley Ranch is quite hilly but really does not have all the features to put this bike through all of it’s paces. There is enough there to establish an impression. If I had to sum up my thoughts of this rig into a single sentence it would have to be this.

A killer rig that will have you thinking you have much less than seven inches of travel when you are climbing and you will swear you have much more than seven inches of travel when you are descending.

I do very little shuttling or lift-assisted riding so a rig of this size would have to be able to climb for my usage. Daley Ranch is an excellent place to get your climb on, and I purposely picked a route that would meet my “threshold” for climbing. Basically if the rig could climb this route without undo pain, it would meet my criteria for a “climbable rig”. The sag on the DHX-A shock was not too far off for me so I only added air to the main pressure chamber to get the sag somewhere around 30-35%. So you know what I comparing against, my normal rig is a 6.6 and I have ridden it with an older style (15-click propedal) Fox DHX-A, a RP23, and most recently a Cane Creek Double Barrel shock. Right out of the gate I was impressed with the small bump compliance. I was taking the rockiest lines I could find and it felt really good. The propedal worked as it should, but I found that the climbing efficiency of the VPP design makes propedal not a major concern for me. The bike was setup in trail bike mode with the adjustable G3 dropouts setup for the shorter wheelbase, higher BB and steeper head angle. The slacker angles compared to my 6.6 with a TALAS 36 fork where noticeable on the climbs. I routinely drop my fork down on steeper climbs but you can’t do that with the Totem fork so adjusting your body position was required on the steeper stuff to keep the fork on the ground. This is something I find easily adaptable.

I worked my way to one of my favorite spots that has some rocks to play on that include some drops. I was pretty quite surprised when I hit the first drop. The rear shock felt freaking awesome. In the past I was never really able to get either the RP23 or the DHX-A balanced where I could have small bump compliance and not blow through all of my travel on drops. The feeling in the rearend of the bike on the landing was very similar to the progressive ramp up that you get with a coil shock. I was by myself, but still had to verbally say “WOW”. I spent a good chunk of time sessioning the drops and rocks just to keep checking out the feeling. This shock was not blowing through the midstroke travel like I had seen before in the older DHX-A on my 6.6. I have no idea what is going with the internal changes for the 2010 model but it is certainly a vast improvement. Now experience wise I’m still pretty new to the coil-shock scene, but I would have to say from a layman’s perspective this new DHX-A felt very coil like.

For the downhill stuff, Daley Ranch offers only small bits for letting this rig loose. When those spots came, the bike as expected shined. Holding lines, sucking up rocks and bumps, it was cool. I’m pretty sure this rig would be quite the Chunk Gnar-Meister. I’m betting that those G3 dropouts would be really awesome for some lift-assist action or someplace like Downieville where you could lengthen out the wheelbase, lower the BB and slacken up the headangle.

I sure hope the guys at Intense will be able to get off all the drool marks both I and everyone else left on thier bikes. 🙂

A Shocking New Toy

Time to tinker with the bike so I’m trying a new shock out. My Intense 6.6 has been a really killer bike so far and it has played a part in helping me to push myself. I have been getting more comfortable getting the bike in the air lately. I am at the point with my Fox RP23 air shock on my bike that when I put enough air to keep from bottoming out harshly on larger jumps, I loose small bump compliance. Time to try out a coil shock. Enter the Cane Creek Double Barrel.

This is going to add some weight to the bike, but at this point, I got more than a couple of pounds of beer reserves around my belly to be more concerned about. Why not a Fox DHX Air? Well I rode a 6.6 with a DHX-Air for a few months and the difference between the RP23 and the DHX Air on the 6.6 just did not seem to be all that much all things being considered. I got a steel spring on the CCDB for now. I just could not see dropping the cash on a Ti-Spring until I know for sure what spring rate coil is going to work for me. One bummer is that I’m heading out of town for a couple of weeks and will not be able to test it out until I return. But man, does it look prudy!

My Medium or Large Story

Okay I am the classic in-between sizes guy as I can fit on a medium or a large on most bikes. I spent a great deal of time this year figuring out wither a medium or a large Intense 6.6 was going to be the bike for me. The following rambling of words is most of the thought process I went through on figuring out which size frame to go with. I have been riding a medium Intense Spider since 2003 as my cross country bike. I have been riding a large 2005 Specialized Enduro Pro for a few years as my all-mountain rig as my main point of comparison. I would have to describe the riding I do with this bike as all-mountain stuff that has to deal with chunk, ledges and some occasional airtime in the 3 to 4 foot range. My bikes see very little shuttle action so they have to be climbable. First off let’s look at the geometry.

Aspect	Intense 6.6 Med	Intense 6.6 Large	05 Spec Enduro Pro
Top Tube	22.8”	23.8”	24.5”
Seat Tube	19”	21”	19” (Effective)
Stand Over	29”	29”	30.3”
Wheel Base	43.3”	44.3”	45.5”
Head Angle	68.5 deg	68.5 deg	68.5/69.5 deg
Seat Angle	73 deg	73 deg	68.5/69.5 deg
Chain Stay	17”	17”	16.7”
Bottom Bracket	13.75”	13.75”	13.7/14.2”

Okay lets get some of my geometry out of the way. I’m 5’11.5” with a 32.5” inseam and I weigh between 195 and 205 pounds on any given month depending on my riding and drinking regime. The burrito and pizza intake seems to most consistent part of nutrition plan.

The Previous All-Mountain Rig

I liked the 2005 Enduro Pro, it is a capable all-mountain bike with six inches of travel. The rear shock is a Progressive 5th Element and the front shock is a Fox 36 TALAS RC2. The bike comes with two rear shock mount carriages which allow you to vary the geometry of the bike slightly. One carriage provides a higher bottom braket and slightly steeper head angle than the other. I kept my Enduro setup with the higher bracket (14.2”) and steeper head angle (69.5 degrees). The main reason for this setup was that when I first got this bike I had a hell of a time trying to steer the bike with the low bottom bracket and 68.5 degree head angle carriage installed. I was coming from a zippy race/cross country oriented Intense Spider and had not developed the skills of handling a long slack bike. The steeper head angle carriage helped with that transition and I never bothered to try the bike with the other carriage installed after learning how to steer a long, slack bike.

I enjoyed the long wheel-base of the Enduro as it was quite stable at speed. At 45.5” it did make take some effort to navigate tight switchbacks and body English was required on the twisty stuff. The bike is not a light one as it was somewhere around mid-to-high 30s according the wheelset and tires I was using. It was a climbable bike but it was not a bike you could hammer up the hill, it was more that you would come to an agreement with the bike and it would beat you down over the course of a long day of riding. Additionally, the split seat tube design also limited how much you could adjust the saddle height. For me I had to compromise on the seatpost length to allow me to get the seatpost low enough for technical riding while extended enough for climbing. The end result was that the saddle when fully extended was about half and inch lower than what I would have like for optimal climbing. When lowered all the way I was forced to have just under two inches of post still sticking out.

The Medium 6.6

The Medium 6.6 that I first rode was built up extremely lightweight. XTR drivetrain (triple chainring) and brakes with Easton carbon bars and seat post. The wheels were Mavic Crossmax XLs with a set of Intense 2.25 System 4 cross country tires. The fork was a Manitou Nixon. The total weight on this setup was around 28-29 pounds. Needless to say this rig climbed extremely well. The term very “Spider-Like” came into my head on the first climb I hit with this bike. It was a bike you could hammer up the hill with. Once the bike turned downhill there was one thing perfectly clear, this was one extremely plush rig. However, the Nixon fork had only 145mm of travel which is a bit short as 160mm should be what you should be aiming for. The bike I had was one of the 6.6 prototype rigs that at the time of its buildup, the 160mm forks were not available. While the Nixon was super plush, between it and the wheelset, the frontend was quite a noodle when you get into the chunk. It was bad enough to cause a dip in my confidence in the chunk. I was spoiled with the Fox 36 TALAS RC2 that was on the Enduro. Compared to my Enduro Pro the cockpit of the Medium 6.6 felt cramped with the front wheel feeling a little too much underneath me. I felt more on top of the bike instead of down in the bike.

Okay so now it was time to change some things around. I virtually moved my entire component build off my Enduro an put them on the medium 6.6. The burly medium 6.6 now included XTR derailleurs, XT crankset with 2 rings and a bash guard. XT brakes, aluminum handlebars, 90mm 10 degree rise stem, Fox 36 TALAS RC2 fork, Spinergy Xyclone Enduro Wheelset with Kenda Kinetics 2.6 tires. I also used a laid back Thompson seatpost.

Boy what a difference this setup made. With a longer and burlier fork combined with a stiffer wheelset and more purpose suited tires, this bike really came alive in the downhill chunk. This build added some weight to the rig, but it was still lighter than my Enduro. The laidback seatpost opened up the cockpit a bit but it still felt initially just slightly cramped. I quickly adapted to the feel. The need for a laidback/angled post did however limit how far I could lower the saddle, being forced to leave about four inches of post sticking out of the seat tube. For this medium this created what I call a minimum seat height (seat tube + exposed post) of 23 inches. This was only minor concern as my Enduro used a split seat tube which also limited how far I could lower the saddle which created of a minimum seat height 22 inches.

med shot

The shorter wheelbase (by 2.2 inches) of the Medium 6.6 was quite noticeable. The 6.6 was quite spry on switchbacks and tight twisty singletrack considering the slacker geometry and travel. There was little in the way of competition with the Enduro at this point. The 6.6 thoroughly trounced the Enduro in this area. I did not expect this as my Enduro was setup with a one degree steeper head angle than the 6.6. My thinking is the major difference was wheelbase. The performance of the two bikes in the higher speed downhill stuff was different. I have found that the longer travel bikes have a “wake-up” speed. This is generally when the bike becomes lively and in its element. The 6.6 was lively pretty much when you started turning the pedals. The Enduro needed a bit more speed to become lively. On the other end of the speed spectrum there is the stability aspect. You can scream downhill on both of these bikes, but the Enduro felt just a touch more stable than the medium 6.6 when you approach “ludicris” speed. I attribute this to the much longer wheelbase of the Enduro.

Decisions Decisions

At this point I had not decided wither I would get a medium or a large frame. The biggest difference between the medium and the large was the top tube and seat tube length. That additional inch in the top tube would open up the cockpit area enough so that I would not have to use a laidback seatpost. Eliminating the need for a laidback post would allow for the post to be lowered all the way down into the seat tube. I had read quite a few posts where riders were concerned about the two inch longer seat tube of the large. The concern being with ability to get behind and down on the bike when you get into the steep stuff and drops. For me this ended up not being a concern. The large frame and a straight post would allow for an effective minimum seat height of 21 inches. This was over two inches lower than the medium 6.6 and an inch lower than the Enduro. Another minor item dealing with the seatpost was that if I wanted to use a Gravity Dropper style seatpost at some point, it would have to deal with a cramped cockpit on a medium. I was not interested in using a longer stem as that would move my weight too much forward on the bike.

There is a lot to be said to the adage of use the smallest size frame that you can fit on. For me the high speed stability of the longer wheelbase and the ability to get the seat all the way down by using a straight post with the large frame won out over the medium frame.

The New Rig wider shot of bike

So last week I got the new rig all build up and I am pretty stoked. Here are the specs.

Large 6.6 in Red Works Finish

Fox RP23 rear shock

Fox 36 TALAS RC2

XT Crankset with Raceface bashguard

XT derailuers, cassette

XTR Brakeset

Thompson Elite Seatpost

Titec Hellbent Handlebar

90mm Stem

Cane Creek Double XC Flush Headset

Intense Saddle

Spinergy Xyclone Enduro Wheelset (Normal wheelset)

Spinergy Falline Wheelset (Downhilling wheelset)

Kenda Kinetics Stick-E 2.6 tires

The rig comes in at 31.7 pounds.

Another Closeup

I got in two rides over the weekend with the bike. On Saturday I went out to a local trail that has some flowing yet tight singletracks as well as a couple of small stunts. The bike handled really well and when I drop the TALAS fork down to the 130 travel, the bike became extremely snappy in whipping through the tight tree covered singletrack. The term “Spider-Like” came back into my head again as this setting dropped the handlebars enough that my posture was very much like how I set on my XC rig. I also used the 100 setting of the fork during some moderately steep and tight switch-backing climbs and this setup worked really well. For the pressures on the shock and fork, I’m sure I don’t have them quite dialed in just yet, both being a little on the high side. It is generally thought that you need several rides to break in the shocks and forks so I was not concerned with the small bump compliance not being optimized yet. I hit one of the features out there and caught about as much air as I would ever want to and I did not bottom the fork and just did on the RP23 shock.

Why the RP23 shock when you see so many with a DHX Air? The medium 6.6 I rode had a DHX Air and while I got it dialed, it seemed like a lot of shock for the performance you get. I had talked with some folks who prefer the RP23 (usually Pushed) over the DHX-Air so I thought I would give it a try. If I can get the small bump compliance I want as well being able to handle 3-4 foot drops with my weight, then I will be happy. Otherwise I may drop the coin for either a DHX-Coil (pushed) or a Cane Creek Double Barrel.

Closeup of bike

Needless to say the first outing with bike was a success. The following day ended up being a 28 mile ride up in the San Bernardino Mountains which included some rocky and steep terrain along with some sections that allowed for the bike to let loose. Boy did the bike shine here and there were plenty of occasions where the saddle was dumped all the way. Since someone left their memory back at home, I have not pictures. I had no problems with getting behind the bike as it at least once, I grinded my butt on the rear wheel. The bike also felt really stable at ripping speed and was every bit as stable (if not more) as my stretched out Enduro. Once again I was glad I went with the large frame with the longer wheelbase. At the end of the day I was feeling tired from the 28 miles, some rough terrain, and a sizable amount of climbing but was not feeling beat up. The 6.6 proved to be a great all-day rig. I would be extremely hard pressed to take the Enduro on this ride as I would have been creamed from the weight and overall sluggishness it has on the climbs over the cross of the day.

So what it the point of all this rambling about medium versus large? Well I figure there are other folks like me that are classic in-between sizes guys who have tossed around the pros and cons of each. When the rubber hits the trail, it comes down to small preferences and trade-offs. One thing is for certain the 6.6 is one kick ass all-mountain all-day bike and I am stoked to have one the stables.

First Ride with the new bike

I got my first ride in today on the new 6.6 rig and while I’m still working a extensive review, the bike really felt great.

Here are a few shots from the day on a trail system attached to Los Penasquitos Canyon.

This is a big as air as I ever expect to get and the shock and fork were pretty close to dialed for it.

Greg
Greg getting a little air in the trees.

Brian in the air.

Stay tuned for a full review.�

I love cardboard

I love cardboard boxes. Some of the coolest things ever have come to me by way of cardboard boxes. Look at the worderfully inscribed boxes that have graced my presence as of late.

Foxy
Oh this box is so foxy!

Intense
And this box is just downright Intense!

There were a couple of boxes that were plain and unadorned. But inside of the bad boys were cool and shiny bits looking to get together for a bit of fun. Who was I to refuse? I picked up my new Intense 6.6 and buildkit yesterday on my way up to a July 4th thing at my Mother-In-Laws. What a better way to spend time at your Mother-In-Laws than hiding out in the backyard and putting together a bike. I bought all my tools along just for that purpose.

I got the frame in the really killer custom “Red Works” color which is a translucent red over the top of the works finish which allows for the various weld marks to show through the red in various suttle shades.

Close red
This picture really does not do this finish justice.

I got everything put together and aligned. I still need to trim down the brake lines but that will have to wait until after the weekend when I can pick up some more mineral oil. One thing that will not wait is a ride. I’m gonna hit the trail with this bad boy tomorrow.

Da Bike

Here is the quick low down on the bike setup:

Large 6.6 Red Works Frame with RP23 shock
Fox 36 TALAS RC2
Spinergy Xyclone Enduro Wheelset with Kenda Kinetics 2.6 Stick-E tires
XT Drivetrain, derailuers and shifters
XTR Brakes
Thompson Elite seatpost
Titec Hellbent Bars
Titec 100mm stem (gonna put a shorter stem on)
Intense saddle.

Have not weighed yet, but I guessing 31-32lbs.

One thing this bike is certainly missing is some dirt! �

Setting up for an Intense Weekend

6.^

I have finally kicked most of this crud out of my system and I’m getting jazzed about heading out to Arizona for the weekend to visit with some friends and hit up some trail goodness out there. I’m going to “Intensify” my longer-traveled bike stables here in the near future so the fellows at Intense hooked me up with a bling bling sled for the weekend so I made a little visit up to Temecula. I’ll be kicking this 6.6 around for the weekend. This bike is a beauty!

6.6

I did not have a lot of time today, so I hit up one of my local rides, the La Costa Preserve, after picking up the bike. I went up Switchback, down NASCAR, up Vista Del Mar and down NASCAR again. I spent a bit of time dialing in the suspension. My first impression is pretty freaking awesome. I had to sum up that first impression in five words or less it would be:

Climbs Well, Descents Great!

I feel it out more over the weekend, stay tuned.

-Bill