Intense is wasting no time pushing the envelope on the big-wheeled platform. Hot on the heels of the Intense Spider 29, which made it's debut at Interbike '06, Intense is already working on the 29er version of it's popular all-mountain "5.5" model bike.
Intense is sharing information about the bike as it is designed through the popular MTBR.com forums. Smart move as it allows them to get real time feedback from riders and make adjustments before it rolls out this upcoming Spring.
The bike will sport the White Brothers Fluid 130mm fork and will have 5.75 inches of rear travel. A medium sized frame weighs in at a svelte 28 pounds.
Here are some of the preliminary specs:
- White Bros. Fluid 130 mm fork
- XTR hubs with 20 mm front axle
- 180 mm front rotor, 160 mm rear
- 71.5 Head Angle
- 73 Seat angle
- 18.25 inch chainstay
- 13.25 inch BB height
- 5.75 inches of rear wheel travel
There's some chatter on the boards about the steepness of the head angle for a bike that is meant to bomb down hills. I swear, some people are writing about the handling of this bike as though they have already ridden it. It's obvious some of these people have not yet read Guitar Ted's tutorial on head angle and fork trail.
Anyway, I'd love to get a ride on this baby, though I'm not sure my riding style would do it justice.
Here are two threads from MTBR with more info on the bike:
