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NEW Intense Tracer 29 shipping

ssinga

ssinga

Chimp
Jan 23, 2006
98
0
Huntsville, AL
Here's the write-up I posted to MTBR.

I rode a Tracer 29 at Outerbike from the SRAM tent. I was really looking forward to riding this bike as I thought it might be the longer travel 29'r I was looking for. I currently ride a 2010 Sultan and have owned. 2008 & 2009 sultan. I also have a 1st year jabberwocky. During the week I rode a Rumblefish, Sultan and the Shinobi as well as the Mojo HD and the proto RFX.

The SRAM mechs were maticulous in setting it up. I probably waited 20 minutes while they went over every inch of the bike. It had the new X0 2x10'drivetrain, the Reba 140 up front and a Rockshox rear shock in the 5" travel position. I'm 5'7" so I grabbed the medium they had available.

I rode around the bar M trails in Moab where I was taking the demo bike out to the rockin A trail to give them a good workout. The trail is solid rock but not real smooth with lots of small ledges and steep ups and downs. A great place to test a suspension.

On the smoother dirt/sand trails leading out for the rockin A the Tracer was a great climber and pedaled with no noticeable bob. The 2x10 drivetrain was awesome too. The riding position was a little more up-right than i'm used to but it was not bad. Starting down the rock I noticed that the suspension was a little harsh. I adjusted the rebound to speed it up and also took out a bit of air. It got slightly more compliant but still not mind blowing. When pedaling through the rough sections the bike kept feeling like the suspension was hanging up and not letting me accelerate. This is an area I think the Sultan excels in. The Tracer just did not pedal as well as any of the other 29'r I tested over the week. Climbing in the rough made the suspension feel locked out and not as active as I would have liked. It did well soaking up the ledge drops and handled the twisty sections quite well. On the way back to the demo tents there is a downhill section of doubletrack that I used for highspeed stability testing. Surprisingly the Tracer was a little on the sketchy side. I felt lime I couldn't go as fast as I wanted to.

Overall I was disappointed in the Tracer 29. It felt more like a shorter travel, twitchy XC bike than the long travel go anywhere bike I thought it was. The 110mm travel rumblefish was much more compliant and confidence inspiring. Maybe the suspension was not broken in maybe setup was wrong but this first ride impression moved the Tracer 29 to the bottom of my desired bike list.

 
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Cleatus

Cleatus

Chimp
Mar 2, 2007
23
0
Reno, Nevada
We really loved the Tracer 29. Here's a complete write up at dhReno

The Tracer 29 is currently featured in the new Dirt Rag Magazine. It got a stellar review.

Maybe suspension wasn't set up quite right in the previous review. I know that we all really like the Tracer 29 with Fox suspension = awesome!
 
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