Intense Mountain Bikes
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PROBIKE ACQUIRES
INTENSE CYCLES AGENCY
SA’s largest
distributor springs a surprise as it embraces a
niche market brand
 Probike,
South Africa’s largest bicycle distributor, has made
an unexpected move into the niche brand market with
its latest agency acquisition – Intense Cycles.
Over the past six years, Probike has placed its
focus firmly on offering value-for-money product to
the market majority, including the very successful
Raleigh bicycles brand, which has quickly become
South Africa’s biggest bike brand.
But while the numbers game has been Probike’s
domain, the company’s core staff, including Managing
Director Brandon Els, has a keen eye and a soft spot
for progressive, influential brands that exist
outside the cycling market’s mainstream.
Intense Cycles creates handcrafted frames at its
factory in Temecula, California. The brand was born
in a garage in 1991 from a mixture of passion and a
dream of founder, Jeff Steber. Today, Intense Cycles
is one of the world’s most aspirational bicycle
brands, predominantly known and respected for its
pioneering mountain bike technology.
Among the prominent achievements that has seen
Intense Cycles shape mountain bikes as we know them
today are: rear suspension for cross-country bikes,
the long-stroke suspension trail bike, the dual link
VPP rear suspension design, and short-stroke
suspension 29-inch bikes.
“It’s definitely a shift for Probike to market and
distribute a niche brand,” says Els. “But niche
brand success is primarily driven by passion and
we’ve got a limitless supply of that!”
With Probike’s acquisition of the agency, South
Africans can look forward to improved availability
and back-up service. Els explained that only 10
dealers throughout the country would be appointed to
sell Intense Cycles.
“We want to honour and maintain the niche element of
Intense Cycles,” says Els. “We’ll soon have a demo
fleet of 20 bikes that we will be moving around to
the dealers for the bike nuts to test.”
“Probike isn’t just interested in the mass bicycle
market in South Africa. It’s a company that’s driven
by our passion for getting more people riding
bicycles, whether it’s a complete novice or a
discerning veteran of the sport,” says Els. “We’ll
be taking the Intense Cycles brand and building it
to the high-profile level where we believe it should
be. Where it deserves to be.”
Intense Mountain Bikes
All these bikes use the patented dual link VPP
suspension. VPP stands for virtual pivot point.
Take a
look at the swingarm of an Intense and note the dual
pivot coupling at its main pivot point. This
coupling allows the two adjoining pivots to rotate
around each other as the suspension compresses,
which causes the rear axle to follow an S-path
distinctly dissimilar to the vertical path taken by
a traditional 4-bar linkage. This helps give
a VPP bike the same level of "activeness" as
a 4-bar, but it does so while causing pedaling
forces to drive the rear wheel downward
rather than up. This should result in increased
traction and pedaling efficiency. For more info
checkout
Intense bicycles and frames
| Intense
Spider FRO
The Spider FRO is a
cross country race bred bike. FRO what? FRO =
For Racing Only. In SA where XC racing is a big
thing this cross country racer should do the
trick. These bikes use the VPP suspension and
have 4" travel. The top of the range wighs in at
just under 11kgs. MBA Action rated this bike as
a Transrockies contender (Cape
Epic for us) and put it on its must ride
list if you are in the market for a XC racer.
Intense Spider FRO Review
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| Intense
Spider 29
The Spider 29 is a
29 inch mountain bike. Normal mountain bikes are
have 26 inch wheels, so this 29er has bigger
wheels. Intense has put alot of time into
developing this 29 inch bike. With the bigger
wheels you can expect less twitch in steering,
better rolling over smaller obstacles and a
slightly less bumpy ride. But 29ers are a whole
different ball game so be sure to get on one to
see what all the fuss is about.
Intense Spider 29 Reviews
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| Intense 6.6
The 6.6 is the all
mountain go any where trail bike. It should give
cross country sped with downhill ability. 6.6
means over six inches of travel, that is plenty
and should work well on rocky rutted and
challenging downhill trails. This bike would be
well suited to keen trail riders looking for
solid performance.
Intense 6.6 Reviews
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For more information on Intense Cycles, visit
www.intensecycles.com
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