| The Intense
Spider XVP finally hit our shores after Probike recently
secured the
Intense Bicycles agency.
The Frame
 When
you take the frame out of the box, you immediately have
a “red bicycle for Christmas” feeling. The frames are
very striking. The decals are not covered by a clear
coat. This adds to the raw, hardcore kind of sentiment
that, I for one, associate with the brand. Intense are
one of the few companies still making their frames in
the states. The welds are neat, but by no means perfect.
You can see that the bike was made by a human. The frame
looks aggressive; the top tube bends to allow the shock
to be mounted. And the angle that the shock attaches to
the top tube allows plenty of room for a water bottle in
the main triangle. All of the pivots are on sealed
bearings and they are all very neatly covered by large
bolts. I am sure that they will provide many thousands
of hours of service. The swing arm looks like it has
been optimized for weight savings and has some grooves
machined near the shock mount, I am not sure if this
serves any purpose but it sure does look cool! The frame
is made from Easton EA6X tubing. I am not really an
expert on tubing, but the frame is light and it gives a
high pitched ping when small stones hit the down tube on
the trail. It sounds good. The bike I have been riding
is equipped with a Fox RP23 shock, I have written much
about this shock already, as you may know I love this
shock. Even though I found very little use for the
switch, it is nice to know it is there if you do want to
jack the propedal on a tar section.
The Build
Intense is available as frame only, so I will not focus
too much on the build. The bike was equipped with full
XTR and it was the first time I have ridden a bike with
the trigger shifter set up. I was very impressed with
the shifting. The feel at the lever is so light, it
takes some getting used to. As is always the case with
XTR everything worked perfectly. Up front, a Fox F100
RLC took care of the suspension duties.
The ride
This will sound like a bold statement, but this is the
best 4” travel bike that I have ridden. The rear is
fully active. The VPP provides what it promises, in
fully active suspension. The bike does not even notice
dirt road rain corrugations. I am sure this is because
of the very good Fox RLC. The compression setting allows
you to have a very smooth ride over small bumps and the
rear just follows, with no problems. When things got
very rough, I was reminded that it is still only a 4”
travel bike. Having ridden a 5.5” bike recently it takes
some getting used to that this bike does definitely not
have that “endless” travel feeling. It is still a
Marathon/XC bike. If you are looking for something more
All Mountain, I think the Intense 5.5 will be more your
thing. I hope to be testing one soon, but if its 5.5
inches of travel perform as well as this bike, then you
will be onto a real winner!
The thing that surprised
me the most about this bike was definitely the climbing
ability. I took it on some super steep climbs and the
front never even hinted at lifting. I could stay seated
in the same position and grind out the climb. When I
looked back, I still had a gear in reserve. The bike
grips and does not spin out on loose climbs. So even
though it weighs 12kgs, which is 1,3kgs more than my
hard tail, I never really felt the weight. I built this
bike on the Friday and rode it for 140km the next day,
with no real problems. If you are still not happy with
the weight, then there is a Spider FRO (for racing only)
version available that saves half a kilo on the XVP.
This bike is fast! It
brakes well over rough stuff and you won’t hesitate when
bombing down technical descents. If you are looking for
a light 4” travel bike to take on some marathon racing,
this is your bike.
Intense
Bicycles Range in SA |