"Modern" Trail bike geometry

[aprosise]

On my latest new ride. 2018 Intense Carbine

They are calling this "enduro tuned" modern trail geometry.

Size XL.
Wheelbase 49.5"
Toptube 26.6"
65.5 degree head angle
155mm rear travel


So far so good. Typical Mr. Plow fashion. Actually pedals pretty darn good. It has a 51mm offset fork which helps climbing a bit. Its not a bike for everybody, but suits what I need. I always have the hardtail for front range stuff. Enduro races lately have been fast and chunky. They have been favoring the moto trails, so they are often fast and rutted out. Nice to have a longer travel limo bike for that stuff.

I had a travel adjust fork on my old carbine and I miss it. This one has a solo air Lyrik 160mm. Still climbs pretty darn good. Next im going to try out a PUSH coil in the rear

Seat height was a little high in the photos, but im 6'4" and that's about where its at. OEM build came with 150mm dropper. I have a 200mm drop 9point8 seatpost to try out. Cant wait for that!

 

[smslavin]

Sweet. Looks like a fun sled. The Push coil on the rear is going to be pretty awesome. I've got a Cane Creek DBAir on the SB66c and a DBCoil on the DH bike. If I ever upgrade the trail frame, I'll probably go with a coil.

Have you been racing the Big Mountain Enduro series or something else?

 

[rover67]

Dave a CHAIN?!

 

[rover67]

Adam, that thing looks fun, I've always wondered what it'd be like to ride a new bike. Congratulations and may you ride fast and WIN!

 

[DaveInDenver]

dave A Chain?!

Out of necessity, it's easier to carry a few extra links than a whole belt as a spare. I'm not 100% sold on the belt for touring, don't feel comfortable with a single point failure of something relatively unique. I'm running narrow capable gears so any chain from singlespeed up to 10 speed Shimano will work.

The bike shop in Leadville sells REEB and belts but that's the only place I'm aware of that might have anything in stock. But the last belt was 14 months and at least 1200 miles old (that's what was logged), so I'm just prone to worrying. One thing I'm not happy about is how fast the front rings wear. The anodized layer doesn't seem stout and once gone the teeth erode fast. The back one is still solid, but it's stainless. My decision was that the cost doesn't justify it when it appears you have to replace the front ring every other belt.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That new bike is a seriously nice whip.

 

[wesintl]

sweet!, my buddy has an intense. i'll have to ask which model and i think he had a push shock on it too. He's riding leadville with it.

 

[aprosise]

First podium on the new bike!

Powderhorn took me by surprise. I didnt think the trails were going to be great, but they blew me away. They had challenging rock gardens and fun jump lines that were actually built well.

Lead the entire weekend but a mechanical got me and lost the top step by .2 of a second in the pro field. The new bike came with carbon wheels, which I will not run... In the excitement of the weekend, I only had time to swap my aluminum wheels (I9 hubs, Stans flow rims). They were non boost, so I machined new hub end caps and re-dished the wheels. With swapping wheels, tires, cassette, rotors, and dishing wheels, I ran out of time to install the 36T chainring and chain guide. I repeatedly tell people, never race without a chain guide. Well, should have listened to myself. First turn of the last stage I dropped my chain and ran the entire run chainless. I stopped at one point to try to fix it, but it doubled up on itself and was jammed. Oh well!

 

[nakman]

Wow! that's awesome, Adam, congrats!!!

 

[smslavin]

First podium on the new bike!

nice job. congrats.

 

[rover67]

Yeah totally rad man, way to go!

 

[TacoDane]

Awesome Adam, congrats. I love Powderhorn great mountain.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[aprosise]

Here's a good little recap video:

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/476347

 

[RockOn]

Sick bike, and congrats on the win.

So, I'm a bit over the spandex crowd and am largely done with XC racing. What would be a couple good enduros to check out next year? I have a 150/150 29er trail bike that I rather like with carbon hoops, would it be smart to do the races on a bike that I don't care as much about, or do most folks just swap wheelsets?

 

[aprosise]

Sick bike, and congrats on the win.

So, I'm a bit over the spandex crowd and am largely done with XC racing. What would be a couple good enduros to check out next year? I have a 150/150 29er trail bike that I rather like with carbon hoops, would it be smart to do the races on a bike that I don't care as much about, or do most folks just swap wheelsets?

Here's the next couple races coming up... You'll need to look up dates, but that's easily google searched.

Big Mountain Enduro Crested Butte (This upcoming weekend)
Enduro-X Steamboat
Whole Enchilada Moab
Monarch Crest Enduro

Your bike sounds like it would be perfect... I personally dont like carbon wheels but it's because the way I ride. Courses are usually fast and rocky, so I run a Maxxis 29x2.5" DHF DH casing in the front and a Maxxis Double Down Agressor in the rear. Normal ply casings usually dont stand a chance. Stan's Flow rims so you dont have to stop when you get a flat

 

[RockOn]

Funny, 2.5 minion up front and 2.3 aggressor in the rear is my current set up. Just the evo casings for trail duty though.

I'll start looking for another wheel set. The rear hub on mine is 12x157 (possibly 150, I'll check) so finding something off the shelf might prove tricky. Might be time to learn to build wheels.

What I was more asking was that I didn't know if any enduro races were more intense than others. E.g. if someone is just getting started in XC, I'd point them to battle the bear vs grand junction off road or the growler.

 

[smslavin]

Might be time to learn to build wheels.

It's not hard. First few can be a little frustrating. I like doing it. Pretty relaxing for me to site and lace a set. I've done about 5 sets so far. Stan's rims go together really easy.

 

[aprosise]

Funny, 2.5 minion up front and 2.3 aggressor in the rear is my current set up. Just the evo casings for trail duty though.

I'll start looking for another wheel set. The rear hub on mine is 12x157 (possibly 150, I'll check) so finding something off the shelf might prove tricky. Might be time to learn to build wheels.

What I was more asking was that I didn't know if any enduro races were more intense than others. E.g. if someone is just getting started in XC, I'd point them to battle the bear vs grand junction off road or the growler.

Are you on a Pivot?

Its hard to say on difficulty.... One of the fun things about enduro is they dont release the trails until Wednesday or Thursday before the race. They can be across the board... The powderhorn race was only ~25 minutes of racing, and the whole second day with lift access. Crested Butte this weekend they are telling us to plan for 6+ hours pedaling time per day.

 

[RockOn]

No, Lenz Lunchbox. He started doing the big rear hubs ~3 years ago when he went to the 1x only version.

Huh, duly noted on the course release time frame. I had figured if there was ever a course to pre-ride, it was an enduro course.

The Monarch Crest one looks awesome...3 full days of rowdy backcountry riding.

Btw, this has been more helpful than anytime I've asked a question over on MTBR, and it's a cruiser forum.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Enduro courses not being available far in advance is tradition in motorcycles and carries over to MTB. It's so no one (mainly locals) can session it ahead of time, memorize it and gain a competitive advantage. Since the uphills are not timed it's all about equalizing the field for score/time. There's no reason to keep the course under wraps for XC since knowing the technical sections isn't going to really help you overall.