Intense Tracer 275

jndb72

Hi Guys,

Going to have a ride on one of these today hopefully. Anybody else ride one and have any opinions on them? Ride the S.Wales trail centres often but also do a lot of All Mountain natural stuff together with a lot of forry roads just for fitness.

Cheers

rockmonkeysc

It's a bit of a heavy duty bike for what you describe. I would go for the Intense Spider or Carbine. There is an Tracer 275 in my local shop and even with a pretty light build it's still quite heavy. Also very limited tyre choice still, I know someone who has a 650B hardtail and he cant get any decent tyres for it. I would wait until next year for before getting a 650B.

lawman

I don't get the whole "Oh there's no tyres for 650b..." thing, pretty much every tyre Schwalbe make is available in 650b, Maxxis range should be out in 650b in a month or so with Conti ones available to our sponsored club alread and imo these three brands have the tyre market sewn up. Personally I'd go for a santa cruz bronson if you really wanted 650b or maybe even a Norco sight Killer B, which is getting very good reviews atm.

rockmonkeysc

Even a Schwalbe sponsored rider who I ride with complains about the lack of GOOD 650B tyres. They are available but in a limited range of compounds.

lawman

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Even a Schwalbe sponsored rider who I ride with complains about the lack of GOOD 650B tyres. They are available but in a limited range of compounds.

What?! They do the Hans Dampf in a decent range of compounds, I sure as hell wouldn't want a VertStar compound anywhere in the UK I had to pedal thats for sure! Trailstar with the SG casing should be more than enough, why if they're sponsored by them should they want to run anything else? I'm sponsored by Conti and still would chose Hans Dampfs over any Conti tyre. I was genuinely blown away by the Hans Dampf this weekend, it is an incredibly versatile and tough tyre

rockmonkeysc

Not everyone thinks the Hans Dampf is that great. I had a pair on my old Reign and didn't like them at all. I much preferred Bontrager XR4's. I found the Hans Dampf too wide, why would you want a 2.5" tyre (it's huge for a 2.35") for trail / AM riding? It's just too big. Good traction in mud but really drags and in the dry the Schwalbe Fat Albert has better grip.
I'm using Nobby Nic's at the moment on my 456SS and they are perfectly ok but I don't like the feel of them in fast turns, I prefer Maxxis High Rollers as a fast rolling tyre which can take some aggressive riding.

supersonic

800g each too, bit of a beast.

lawman

I honestly haven't noticed any difference in rolling resistance over the Nobby Nics, and both tyres were well under 800g, they were around 750g, which is barely 100g heavier than the snakeskin 2.25 Gatestar Nics they replaced, which are a thin tyre imo. I have noticed just how much confidence I have in the Dampfs, I was hitting stuff at Antor yesterday way way harder than I would even dream of on the Nics and beat most of my strava times at Coed-y-brenin by a big margin, despite it only being my fifth ride on clipless pedals and still feeling abit shaky on them. Before that I flew round my local loop way faster than I thought I would, despite a hefty cold. I know its personal preference, but I think they are easily the best all-rounders out there atm, I feel so much more confident on them than I did on the Nics with little, if any perceivable difference in rolling performance.

milko9000

I like my Hans Dampfs and I like my XR4s. Can't say I feel more rolling resistance from the HDs either to be honest, with the Trail/Pacestar combo fitted, but since they're on different bikes it's hard to know for sure I suppose.

But yeah, rolling that giant tractor-width tyre out front does inspire confidence for me. Feels like it'll grip forever and roll through anything.

(edit - also I'm only talking about 26" variants here, no idea about the original topic)

jndb72

Took the 275 for a quick demo spin today and it rides really well. TBH it didn't feel heavier that the Canyon AM 5.0 that I'm currently riding. Gonna have a think over the next few days, it's an expensive bike to take a punt on. Saying that, the reviews I've read so far seem to be really positive

monikauk28

Hi! I think next to charles from santa And carbine,tracer is The hotest bike at The moment .i am riding myself mojo sl and not going for hd simply for a change . I rode tracer for a whole Saturday and I think the most accurate review u can find is on pinkbike . I can't be more specific then them, their opinion is exactly the same as mine . V important how u setup the bike cockpit, drive etc. but spending that money I'm shure u a were about that . Geometry, size ,components make all difference. For me few months waiting ) .great problem to have

cooldad

Yoda am I.

rockmonkeysc

monikauk28 wrote:

I think the most accurate review u can find is on pinkbike .

Oh dear