Intense downhill bike

By Sean “Griz” McClendon

Originally introduced in late 2009, the 26-inch extreme rounds 951 went from experiment to success story having its World Cup affected geometry, lean framework and active suspension overall performance. Unlike the grounded experience regarding the M6, the 951 invested a shorter time from the soil plus floating around. The normal opinion ended up being the 951 wasn't some sort of Cup battle cycle, rather a great playground bicycle that could be pressed into competition duty at nationwide caliber tracks like Port Angeles. After that we saw the 2013 world elite DH race season near with contenders testing and even racing on 27.5-inch tires, announcing the arrival of huge tires for downhill. Extreme rounds stayed true for their gravity origins when you're initial maker to make a complete DH/gravity particular cycle with 27.5-inch wheels. Satisfy their particular beast truck mode launch system - the 951 EVO, a reworked, reborn version of the first 951.

I'd the privilege to race for Intense on a 951 towards the end of 2009 and also for the timeframe for the 2010 season. To the position where we “grizdit” (crashed) at National Champs, we adored the initial 951 since it suited my cycling style at that time. We built all of them as light as 37-pounds with hefty damping within the back shock to counter the modern shock rate. Then emerged the celebration in which i came across my restrictions thereon set-up after entering a high-speed double with excessively zing. We learned the difficult way big leaps bite hard if you rush all of them. May be the 951 EVO much better than the initial that almost performed myself in? Well, every cowboy must attach the bull that bucked him and I did my best to beat the snot out of this one once again. Here’s the long-and-short of it.

951 EVO Features

• 27.5 tires
• Fixed 8.5-inches travel
• Aluminum framework hand-built in the united states
• 62.5-degree head perspective
• 13.75-inch base bracket height (just like original)
• 17.5-inch chainstays (3mm more than original)
• Longer top pipe (0.5-inch longer than initial)
• 48-inch wheelbase (method)
• Fixed 12x150mm dropouts
• Improved linkages
• Improved suspension performance
• Integrated fork bumpers
• Available sizes: Small, Medium (tested), Huge
• 38.7lbs (with atmosphere Fox 40 and Envy Carbon tires)
• MSRP $2, 999 Frame/CCDB Shock, $6, 399 complete (with DT Swiss rims perhaps not Enve)

First off, the 951 EVO is made for 27.5-inch rims. Times are switching. Your head angle went from 64-degrees back again to 62.5, which can be formally the slackest bicycle I’ve previously ridden. Moving away from the initial linkage that had two travel options, rear wheel travel happens to be set at 8.5-inches mounted on a brand new, stronger linkage. Additionally, a corner suspension bend is less progressive than the original, which lowers harshness near complete compression, but we’ll touch more on this aspect later.

The chainstays had been extended by 3mm to allow for the more expensive wheel plus the procedure the chainstay yoke became a little longer and lots more powerful. Intense in addition took this opportunity to move away from the G3 dropout system to a non-adjustable 150x12mm dropout.