All mountain Intense Tracer VP

[placebo]

My new all mountain bike. I really wanted the works finish, raw aluminium, rather than paint. Coming from a Santa Cruz Blur LT, the longer top tube is the most immediately noticeable difference, and welcome. Large frame weighed 3145g on my workstand scale.

The wheels are old and a bit loose. Some of the Mavic spoke nipples have split, making it impossible to tighten up the wheel without replacing spokes. This is more apparent in turns now, riding the wheels on the same trail a day apart, so I'd say the frame is stiffer than the Blur. Same for the front as well. Used the Lyric from the old bike, just swapped the crown-steerer for a 1.5 unit. I think the days of 1.125 steerers for single crown forks are coming to an end. Even most high end road bikes I see now are 1.5 or 1.5-1.125 steer tubes, because they're stiffer and lighter.

I've only had two rides so far, but the VPP2 feels different to VPP1, more of a traditional progressive feel, still with enough chain pull to not throw the chain over rough ground without a chain guide. The "pocket" effect isn't so pronounced on this frame. The regressive to progressive shock rate curve and chain pull effects made it important to get sag correct on VPP1, or the bike would just plain suck. I liked the feel on the Blur LT, it felt like a mini DH bike, always moving into or out of that sag point. Definitely different now, and on MTBR Jeff Steber has said static sag isn't so critical, and it's better to run too much than too little.


Specs:

Frame - '09 Tracer VP, large, works finish.
Rear shock - Fox RP23
Front shock/fork - '07 RockShox Lyric 2-Step
Handlebars - Sunline V1 Carbon 25mm rise OS 685mm wide
Stem - Truvativ AKA 70mm 1.5
Headset - FSA Pig 1.5 (until Orbit Pro arrives)
Grips - ESA silicon
Saddle - Sella Italia XC Gel
Seatpost - KS i900 with 125mm drop
Front brake - Juicy Carbon, 185mm Hope rotor
Rear brake - Juicy Carbon 160mm rotor
Cranks - Shimano XTR
Chain - SRAM PC991
Pedals - Some really old shimano clipless of some type
Front derailleur - XT
Rear derailleur - X0 mid cage
Front shifter - X0
Rear shifter - X0
Cassette - 11-34 Shimano XT
Wheels - Mavic Crossmax XL pair.
Front tyre - WTB Weirwolf LT 2.55
Rear tyre - Maxxis Ardent 2.25
Sealant - Stan's

 

[j5ive]

Nice bike, seatpost any good?

 

[placebo]

Seems good so far. Doesn't have the side to side play, or ability to extend when used to carry the bike of a Maverick/Joplin. Sticky to lower, comes up easy. Need to pull it apart and lube it I guess. Didn't come with any documentation, but people on MTBR have purchased the same post with other branding and posted about them, so I just need to dig around there. Much cheaper as well, $200 off Torpedo 7.

 

[bumpygreen]

The club.

Placebo - Nice work. The difference between the 5.5 and 6in modes makes this one of the most versatile bikes I have ridden. Good times ahead for you.

 

[Tintr]

Finally Done!

Got my new tracer built up finally. Was waiting on the wheels for a couple weeks.

2009 Tracer VP Size Medium, Stealth Black
Monkey Light DH Bars
Elixir CRs Front & Rear
XO Components
XTR Cranks
09 Talas 36 RC2 in Black!
Chris King Headset
Chris King Bottom Bracket
Chris King Hubs
Stanz Flow Wheels
Candy SL Clips
Joplin R Post

Total Weight 31lbs Hopefully when i wear out the Sticky E Nevegals ill go to the DTCs and shed some more weight.

This Bike is 10 Times nicer to ride up and down than my 08 Ransom LTD and alot less problems to deal with too

 

[RaID]

how does the ride compare to the Blur LT?

 

[Dirt king]

Would to be one of the best all round rigs I have seen. Awesome spec too. How do you find the lyrics? Have you ridden 36's and how do they compare?

 

[Robb]

Sweet ride.
My red tracer VP arrived in the mail on Monday night. Just trying to decide what forks to build it up with, and whether to go for 1.5 steer or reduce it to 1.125.

How have you found the 70mm stem on the Tracer? I also got a large and am about 6'2" so wondering how long I should run get

 

[Spanky_Ham]

Wow, anyone else find it really easy to hate placebo and Tintr... and now add bloody Robb to that growing list....

GRRRRRRR.... hate hate hate hate hate hate hate......... muckin suckin global financial meltdown ruckin duckin pluckin.....

when you get sick of those bikes.... our address is

Spanky Ham
C/O Spanky Dome
Boondogs
Sydney

seriously nice scooters........

hate hate hate hate hate hate

lol

S

 

[iscarrr]

Shit i like the look of that wheel build Dont see King hubs around much, very very nice.

All the parts from one shop or sourced online?

 

[placebo]

Placebo - Nice work. The difference between the 5.5 and 6in modes makes this one of the most versatile bikes I have ridden. Good times ahead for you.

I like the 6in setting so much I doubt I'll bother even trying 5.5in. Though I've seen a couple of nice light 5.5 builds with Fox 15mm axle 150mm talas 32 forks.

how does the ride compare to the Blur LT?

Similar, but the longer top tube and wheel base really feel better downhill. I ran the BLT with a Nixon, then a Lyric, so it's numbers and feel ended up somewhere near the tracer. Tracer has an edge in stiffness. From the markings on the shocks the intense seems to have greater rebound damping, it definitely feels more settled through some sections. Not being able to have a bottle cage inside the frame is annoying.

Would to be one of the best all round rigs I have seen. Awesome spec too. How do you find the lyrics? Have you ridden 36's and how do they compare?

The damping on Lyrics seems better, with a broader range, and the floodgate lockout is something I use occasionally. If everything were equal, I'd still run the Lyric because I like the convenience of the maxle system better than Fox's rehash of the tullio setup rockshox used to use.

Sweet ride.
My red tracer VP arrived in the mail on Monday night. Just trying to decide what forks to build it up with, and whether to go for 1.5 steer or reduce it to 1.125.

How have you found the 70mm stem on the Tracer? I also got a large and am about 6'2" so wondering how long I should run get

I chose 1.5 because they're stiffer and lighter than 1.125 versions of the same fork. However, finding decent 1.5 stems that don't weigh 250g+ is hard. The truvativ AKA (my 70mm weighed 180g) is about the only option available in a wide range of sizes. CRC has them: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=31142 The other option is the E2 (1.5-1.125) tapered steerer coming out now. I saw an new E2 lyric from an e-bay shop in the US that I would have purchased if I was unable to work out 1.5 properly. I like the 70mm, and am 6', the 80mm truvativ might be good for you.

That black Tracer with the red ano highlights looks awesome, stealth bling. The first black powdercoats were different and didn't look as good. I've got some wheels with red hopes I'm going to use on my bike. I've got a maverick post with a remote that will probably be going on my tracer, the KS post was originally intended for another bike. The remote is definitely a handy feature.

 

[miko]

Sorry for the dig, but how is everyone finding the VP's longevity? I'm sick of cracking Reigns, specifically around the seat and top tube junction and this looks good. I ride too and from work so I need to be able to run a decent seat height. I'm 6'1" and thinking a Large or maybe even Extra Large.

 

[MB]

Sorry for the dig, but how is everyone finding the VP's longevity? I'm sick of cracking Reigns, specifically around the seat and top tube junction and this looks good. I ride too and from work so I need to be able to run a decent seat height. I'm 6'1" and thinking a Large or maybe even Extra Large.

Hey Miko,

The Tracer VP has good longevity, and has really nice handling characteristics. Just ask anybody who has owned one. I wouldn't hesitate to get one, and you can get a brand new one pretty cheap these days... As for sizing get the Large for your 6'1", it will be perfect. I hope this helps!

 

[placebo]

The early 2009s like mine have a tendency to crack at the CNCed chainstay yoke on the drive side. It was corrected with a redesign of the piece later in the year. It's the only problem I've heard of with the frame, and only happened with the early units. It hasn't happened with mine, but I've got a couple of other bikes, so it hasn't been used too much. There's a thread on MTBR in the intense forum which details the changes.

 

[miko]

Thanks guys. Still sitting on this one for the moment, but it looks like it might fit the bill quite nicely