Bike Attack Puts The Intense Carbine 275 To The Test, A Review Of Intense's Carbine 650B

Review of Intense Cycles' Carbine 275, their 650b put to the test by Bike Attack on Big Bear - downhill mountain biking at it's best. Bike Attack says, "nimble, fast and quiet. . . probably should mention fast again."

The Intense Carbine 275 - A Solid 650B for the Down Hill

Intense Cycles is always a favorite around BikeAttack. Why? Probably because Jeff Steber the designer, engineer and owner of Intense Cycles is more than just a great designer - he's a rider. True, designers can build great bikes, but designers who love to hit the trails design bikes that riders love. What Bike Attack likes about Jeff is that he's real and so is his brand: Intense Cycles, which is also based in California.

The Bike Attack Team has had the opportunity to "field test" many of the Intense mountain bikes, but one that they felt really stood out is the Carbine 275, a carbon fiber full suspension mountain bike frame by Intense.

In internet chatter, some are saying that the Carbine 275 is the best all-around trail bike to date for Intense and MTBR.com referred to it as "the ultimate in the 27.5" platform." Retail pricing is about $4,728, and for that price people expect a lot of quality in a bike, which the Carbine 275 delivers.

As most of people already know, the 650B or 27.5 wheel size is gaining popularity amongst mountain bikers as this type of bike finds that happy medium between 26" and 29er; providing the best of both worlds so-to-speak.

In deviating from the Intense norm, Jeff really nailed it with the 275, by converting the Carbine into a 650B with a simple dropout change. The Carbine 275 uses the same G1 dropout system as most of the newer Intense bikes which accommodate just about any hub standard. Check out Intense's video explanation of the Carbine and Tracer changes below. For the complete bike, BikeAttack offers the Intense Carbine 275 with two different build kits: Shimano XT/Fox or Shimano SLX/Rock Shox weighing in at around 28lbs.

Intense collaborated with German based company SEED Engineering for this bike and ultimately helped make this the lightest mountain bike frame ever produced by Intense. The Carbine uses similar geometry to the Tracer 2, but much improved and built to work beautifully with VPP suspension design which allows for 5.5-6" of adjustable travel and the Fox Float CTD rear shock.

When we put it to use on the trails, we were definitely impressed with the performance and speed. The Intense Carbine 275 gets a solid TEAM Thumbs up from BikeAttack. Read Bike Attack's full review of the Intense Carbine 275 complete with rider videos on their blog:

http://blog.bikeattack.com/intense-carbine-275-review-bike-attack/

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