From the beginning, Park City Bike Demos has been dedicated to the little guy. We believe small bike makers are the heart and soul of the cycling industry and one of the main sources of design innovation. Intense Cycles is one of those small, innovative companies and we’re excited and proud to announce we’ll be carrying Intense mountain bikes in Park City. In fact, Intense may be the ultimate small bike company. They’re an icon in the mountain bike industry with well-deserved OG cult status. The Intense brand is recognized around the world and their roots go back to the beginning of full-suspension mountain bikes and the heyday of mountain bike racing. There was a time when at least half the bikes on the downhill race circuit were Intense M1’s rebadged with other bike brands on the frames.
Jeff Steber, the founder of Intense Cycles, built his first full-suspension bike back in 1990 and hasn’t let up, since. He’s 100% hands-on and still does all the bike designs himself including in-house aluminum prototyping. Intense currently has seven full-suspension mountain bikes, from the M16 downhill race bike to the Spider 275 trail/XC race bike. They’ve also got a 29er downhill race bike in development. In fact, they were way ahead of the curve with 29er DH and had a 951 29er competing in the 2009 Pro GRT downhill race circuit.
Check out the design process and Jeff Steber the sculptor in action in this Intense 29DH Project video:
Adding Intense bikes to our fleet isn’t just about having a new brand and new bike models to sell. “Try before you buy” is one of our core principles. We want to make it possible for people to try different wheel sizes, geometry, suspension, etc. and decide from their own experience what they like. Bringing on Intense means we get to add unique bikes like the Carbine long-travel 29er, the ACV 27.5+ trail bike and the Uzzi super-enduro/park bike to our demo lineup. We’re also expanding our suspension portfolio with Intense’s “JS Tuned” suspension system (a variation of the VPP system they originally licensed from Santa Cruz) – that’s one more suspension platform for people to try and compare.
Intense will be part of our new SRAM/RockShox program and all Intense demo-rental bikes will be spec’d with SRAM Eagle 12-speed drivetrains and RockShox Pike or Lyrik forks. We’ll have Intense mountain bikes in Park City Bike Demos, very soon. We’re starting with the Tracer 27.5 enduro bike (above) and the Carbine 29er enduro/all-mountain bike (below), two bikes we think are standouts in the Intense lineup and perfect for Wasatch Crest or ripping laps at the Deer Valley and Park City Mountain bike parks. Those bikes have already been ordered and we’re just waiting for them arrive so we can get them built. In keeping with our SRAM/RockShox program, the Carbine and Tracer will come with SRAM Eagle 12-speed drivetrains and 160mm RockShox Lyrik forks. We hope to have them ready to rent and sell around the beginning of August. If you’re already in the market for Intense mountain bikes in Park City, Salt Lake or anywhere else, send us a message or give us a call and we’ll be happy to order whatever you want.
We’ve been talking to Intense about becoming a dealer and demo center for quite a while now. We rode a few of their bikes last fall at Outerbike in Moab and were very impressed. They have an impeccable reputation, their Southern California style is second-to-none and we’re excited to finally be able to offer Intense mountain bikes in Park City for sale and rent. Stay tuned for more info on what Intense bikes we plan to carry and build specs we’ll be offering. We’ll share more information on Facebook and Instagram as bikes arrive and we start getting them built up. Be prepared for plenty of “Intense” bike porn.
