Intense Primer 29 Expert

Smooth lines and striking graphics, combined with Intense’s undeniable racing heritage, make the Primer Expert 29 turn heads in the car park. This is one of the tidiest frames around, with the carbon fibre front and rear triangles joined by a pair of counter-rotating links that provide 140mm of rear wheel travel.

Fairly middle-of-the-road geometry means no readjustment of riding style is required to get the most from the Primer. In smooth arcs, its fairly slack 65.3-degree head angle (in the ‘lower’ flip-chip setting) and low BB help it to carve nicely, and it’s an easy bike to pick up and place where you want it. That said, its supple-feeling suspension is best suited to trail centre laps, rather than full-bore ragging through the woods. The rear end is slightly lacking in mid-stroke support, which would give more pop and help generate speed through berms. We also found it a touch too happy to get towards the end of its stroke over repeated impacts, leaving it feeling a little overawed by matted roots with lots of holes between them.

Adding more air to the shock improved things in this regard, but made it tough to reach the end of the travel, due to the rapid ramp-up in progression later in the stroke. We also flicked the shock lever to the medium compression setting, which introduced some harshness, but nothing we couldn’t cope with on smoother-rolling trails.

On climbs, with the Fox DPX2 shock set up so that we could achieve full travel, we found ourselves reaching for the lockout fairly frequently, and also wishing that the seat angle was steeper than 75 degrees, as the rear end settled deep into its stroke. Traction from the 2.4in Maxxis Minion DHR II tyres on wide rims is impressive, though, especially with the compression damping left open. This lets the suspension soak up trail imperfections easily, up or downhill.

The Fox 36 fork has an authoritative feel, giving you the confidence to push the 780mm bar through the corners and the front DHR II into the mud. Riding with weight over the fork helps get the most out of the Primer on trails requiring an aggressive approach. The SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain works fine, but adds weight. We like the four-pot Shimano brakes.

While we found the Intense’s shape and spec easy to get on with, the suspension needs a bit of fettling to get it working well, which won’t suit all.