Get back in the zone. Shake it out Kaz.
I'm Mike levy we're here at Pinkbike's annual Field Test and the bike we're looking at today is
Intense's new trail bike. Now a few years ago their trail bike lineup used to include four different names
But for 2020 there's one name. It's the Primer, but you could choose from three different models
One of them has 29 inch wheels on both ends the other one has
27.5 inch wheels on both ends and then there's this model the Primer S. 29 inch front wheel
27.5 inch rear wheel. So you can get the Primer S at two different price points. It starts at the expert model
It's thirty nine hundred bucks or this one. This is the fancy model it weighs 30 pounds and it goes for
$5,800. All right suspension time. Intense is still using a dual link system
But it is not VPP and it hasn't been for a few years now
It's called JS link and this bike uses their trail link system.
Now they have a version for cross-country and downhill too. The trail one is tuned towards pedaling
But they say that they also mix some ramp up at the end there from the enduro bike
It has adjustable geometry via some flip chips here.
It says low and lower and they're not joking about that
65 degrees in the low setting or you can drop it all the way down to
64 and a half. It also has a threaded bottom bracket and it has ISCG tabs around the bottom bracket shell
You can get a small bottle inside the front triangle on this large
There's also a fair bit of padding on this frame down here
We got some thick rubber pads on the back of the seat tube and then down by the suspension linkage
Places where rocks might get thrown up and stuck between the frame and the bits all the moving components
There is a carbon-fiber upper link, which is pretty nice and it uses blind hardware for the upper pivot
So it's clean on this side the bolt comes in from the other side. So that's one nice little detail
All right component spec. Intense has mixed Shimano and SRAM here. They're using XT
brakes and XO1 drivetrain with a pair of
Descendent carbon cranks. For suspension, it's all Fox. There's a DPX2 on the back
You got that lever, a pedal assist switch. Up front there's something a bit interesting instead of a GRIP2
Damper inside the Fox 36 they've gone with a FIT4 system
So you get adjustable low speed and a three position switch for pedaling so you could firm it up easily
All right
So we tested the Primer S here in Pemberton where you find plenty of steep tricky climbs at all sorts of rocky downhills. As well
as in the Whistler Bike Park, that's just down the road
So I'm 5 foot 10, Kazimer is 5 foot 11 and Intense says that we should be at a large
So that's the size that we're testing now geo chart says that this bike has a four hundred and seventy five millimeter reach
But that's not quite true. The Primer S is a mixed wheel size bike
So 27.5 in the back that tips everything rearward a little bit and it shortens the reach just a touch
we did a quick measurement and it looks like it's about
465 millimeters so a bit shorter through what the geometry Sharpe says on their website
As of all the bikes here at the Field Test we use control tires in this case
They're the Maxxis EXO+ casing with a Minion DHF in the front and a DHRII in the rear
Tire pressures were 21 and 23 respectively
As far as shock settings go that Fox 36 we had 72 psi, and then the rear shock
We had 250 psi for around 30% sag
If you've been following along you've probably heard us talk about the benefits of steep seat tube angles
A lot of new bikes have steeper seat angles than in the past. With this bike it doesn't have one. On paper
It's some around 74 degrees because of that smaller rear wheel
and it was noticeable on the climbs. It felt like my weight was too far over the rear axle at times just felt more stretched
Out that I wanted to be. I did slam the seat all the way forward the rails
But still it just kind of fell off balance especially compared to the other bikes on test here. Tell us about that climbing Kazimer!
Not as good at climbing because the seat angle is like this and I want it like that. Yeah, yeah
I think I'd have to agree with that as well
It felt especially slack after getting off the pole which has it's a 78 point whatever seat tube angle
The intense just feels like Kazimer said I feel like I'm over the back wheel, and it's not a long bike
but then it makes the bike feel longer than it is and
It was fine climbing, but it didn't exactly excel in the tricky stuff
That's for sure relative to other trail bikes here
One thing to keep in mind is you'll need to watch the pedals when you're riding the Primer up some technical single track
Both Kazimer and I, we hit them a few times on roots and rocks
It's worth noting that when we did our tire swap and switching this those control tires
It did end up with a 2.4 inch wide tire in the rear and a 2.5 inch tire in the front
Originally it's specced with 2 6 in front and 2 8 in the rear so that decreased the bottom bracket height by a couple millimeters
So even closer to the ground, but no matter how you slice it and still throw the pedal strikes
So I rode a lot of twisty trails on this bike
Lots of bermed corners, lots of natural corners as well and it took about half a run for me to realize that this bike
Corners, really freaking well, especially those bermed corners
I had some of the best corners that I can remember down Angry Pirate on this bike
It just seemed so at home and obviously being so low to the ground helps. The flip side that great cornering performance
Well, remember those pedals are still close to the ground when you're heading downhill as well
I did a nice trail side scorpion, cut a little stump, bike went flying and managed to hit me in the head and then it
Went further down the trail
It could have happened on another bike
But I tend to think they having those pedals that much close to the ground makes a little bit trickier
I wouldn't say that it felt nervous or anything
and if you look at the geometry chart, you wouldn't think it feels nervous either but it definitely
Never felt quite as composed as the other bikes in the test, especially the Pole when you're going really really fast
There's one steep chute in particular than on this bike. I just couldn't I didn't feel I was comfortable
I dabbed a couple times and kind of there recompose myself part way down
Where on the Optic and the Pole both bikes I felt more stable there and looking at the geometry charts
they both have longer wheelbase is I do think that helps when you're really trying to
Maintain your speed and get down some pretty tricky stuff
Those are the kind of numbers. They really give you that you're more sitting between the wheels feeling
you just feel more stable when the bike is longer and
The Intense didn't feel a stable
The progressive suspension is well-managed but it feels like it has exactly 140 millimeters of rear travel. Every once in a while
You'll come across a review where someone says oh, it feels like a bigger bike
It's not the case here, you know, you know, you're on a trail bike and it does its job well
But it also doesn't encourage you just to let off the brakes and smash through everything
Yeah, I'd agree with that as well. Besides the excellent pedaling. It is quite efficient
Besides that the suspension, you know, it feels like I don't know... trail bike suspension. Nothing really stands out in a lot of ways
That's a good thing. You know if you don't have anything to say about it. It's doing its job
So for me
The Intense was the slowest of the four bikes on our time trail bike lap. Now that lap had all sorts of stuff in it
A couple bermed corners some rooty, rocky things, slippery things
The kind of stuff you'd see when you're out mountain biking here in BC
It was 1.2 percent slower than the Optic and the Occam, but it was
6.2 percent slower than the big silver Pole
All right onto component spec and I think the standout thing for me and not in a good way is the fork
They put a 36 on this bike, which is good
The other models have a 34 but it comes with the FIT4 damper cartridge
You know, there's nothing wrong with that. We all loved it a couple years ago and it wasn't doing anything wrong
But since then we have GRIP2 and it works better
I think it would suit this bike especially because when I think of a mullet wheel bike
I think of a bike that's meant to be ridden hard and fast and I think you'd want a higher performing fork
That's not the place to skimp really? Yeah, there's another odd choice here
It's got XT brakes and they're actually the previous generation brakes it's that M8020.
They're all the way up to M8100 now. There's a four piston caliper in the front and a two piston caliper in the rear
You see that every once in a while
but I'd rather have my difference in power if I was looking for a difference in braking power come from rotor size rather than the
Actual caliper itself. Just heat management
on long downhills kind of things you might take this bike on I'd rather have four piston brakes front and rear
Alright I'm a very positive guy
So I'm gonna handle the pros and the big one for me is cornering. This bike corners so freaking good Kazimer. It is awesome
better than the other ones and
Corners matter the most I think so well to me anyway to a lot of other people the other thing is relatively good under power
Feel sporty feels efficient. You don't need to reach down to firm the shock up ever
The biggest con for me is that seat angle just climbing position on this bike
It's super lively and you want to sprint around on it
But if I'm go for long pedal, I want to be comfortable. I had trouble with the position on this bike
There's also those odd spec choices that FIT4
Fox 36 on it as well as the brakes just a little bit out of place and then the
Final thing is that it's not a purpose-built mullet bike, basically
So what they did they took the frame from the 29er
They stuck a smaller rear wheel on it and the comment called it good
I think that concept has potential you can make a bike
Handle, really well with a bigger front wheel smaller rear
but in this case
They just kind of skip some steps and cobbled this together and I don't think that's the right tactic
And I think the last thing we want to talk about is tires. It comes with a 2.6
29 inch front tire and a
2.8
27.5 inch rear tire which is a little bit of an odd combo. I've never been a fan of the big tires bigger 2.8s
the 3.0 plus size things. I mean the bike is gonna work. Just fine on a set of
WT 2.5" Maxxis tires.
Had a lot of fun on the bike but I think both of us would agree the geo is
Not kind of what we're looking for these days but on the other hand
Like I said a million times before this thing corners, so, well it pedals well that it's you know
It's gonna be a great bike for a lot of people. The ideal candidate for the Primer S doesn't really immediately come to mind
But it does have some unique characteristics someone that wants a bike
That's a little out of the ordinary but still maintains that kind of classic trail bike feel
alright
so that's it for the Primer S. Check out the other Pinkbike Field Test videos and especially
The three other trail bike videos and the roundtable discussions where we pick a winner