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Build a 29” DH bike in a rush.
Throw a billion dollars at Gwin.
Decide the bike isn’t that good and completely re-design.
Only let Gwin ride it.
Proto an enduro bike modeled after it, no announcements for months.
Produce a carbon mold, let outlets test it without releasing any #’s. Months later still no news.
Decide that your proto DH bike sucks and copy a trek (potentially the only smart decision they’ve made)
Be stuck with the sunken costs of a basically completely designed and carbon molded enduro bike that hasn’t hit market, that has most likely at this point been left in the dust both geometry and suspension design wise.
Profit…
Oh, and the Stoll M2 🤤
I was told there would be some new bikes?
But seriously about the DH bike, is it just Gwin who does not like the VPP suspension because santa cruz is obviously doing fantastic with it, or would like to see where the problem is...
In fairness, they did do various other designs before VPP came along.
With intense's current size vs Santa Cruz, how much does developing a new VPP bike cost vs going back to basics with a line of really great Horst link bikes. I know Intense and SC shared development while the patent was around but intense worked with and I'm guessing paid Cero design a lot of $$ to help them with the "JS tuned" bikes, which I spent time on a few of them and they were great frames, but if Intense lacks the in house engineering team other brands have and is sourcing it from a third party, that's got to be expensive for a brand trying to stage a comeback and stay relevant. They seem to be struggling in that department with the slow release of the new tracer and seemingly killing off the M-275 after two seasons of very public development for a new Horst link frame.
Other brands like Norco made the first high pivot Aurum in CAD and went straight to carbon in a risky move that worked out while Jeff welds up a ton of lust worth alloy test frames that don't seem to meet the teams needs this time around. And with that in mind, could it just be a team issue? Could Dak do a Moir/Lucas with the M-275 and tame the "unrideable"? Again, those guys didn't have an issue with the M29 or M16, they were on the podium with both and everyone couldn't get enough of the M29 while it was under the IFR guys until Gwin wasn't a fan. And Neko seemed to gravitate towards the M29 a few times as well during his time on Gwintense™.
Also, how rare is it for a brand that seems equally unable to score a win, like this week's "updated bikes" post, the paint hate it the Costco/951 line move while at the same time have everyone hooked on their new bike development somewhat hoping for them to come out swinging.
I do think the timing of everything with gwin coming in during a kind of changing time at intense has been kind of unfortunate. In an ideal world they’d have a fresh line of sick bikes to sell before signing someone like him. But it was a partnership that was kind of rushed because yt dropped Aaron and in the long term I think it will be a great match once both the racing and product program get closer to their potential.
Personally I think the Costco line is cool. I’d buy that xc bike in a heart beat. It’s also modern by every standard. Not every town has an lbs worth giving their money too or one at all.
https://www.costco.com/intense-951-trail-bike.product.100692028.html
VPP never slowed down the Syndicate did it.
(end of derail, was just curious)
Maybe SC should ditch VPP as its slow....
As to the comment above the Gwin is 'blaming' VPP on his results: He hasn't blamed that frame ever. He's just always said 'we're looking to improve it'. And he's been trying to do that for two years. Neko did blame it for his results--well, him not 'getting along with it'. Gwins results are likely the result of 3 major things: 1.Tires, 2. Stiffer competition/deeper field 3. Not getting along with the frame, 4. Injuries. Because of #2 and his age, he'll never dominate like he did, but with a healthy body, a bike he loves and some good tires he will definitely find more wins over the next couple years. Assuming this new prototype is exactly what he wants to go fast.