CUSTOMER BUILD: Tyler Reitz’s Intense Primer Mullet
My objectives for this build were few fold. First and foremost, I wanted to put together a mid-ranged (from a cost perspective) all-mountain bike, capable of efficient climbing, with enough travel to enjoy some shuttle laps here and there. My decision-making process was slightly altered by Covid inventory challenges, but ultimately what I have is the perfect bike for my riding style.
HOW IT STARTED
This custom bike is built around the Intense Primer 275 carbon frame. In doing my research, this was one of the most cost-effective ways to get into a solid trail-oriented carbon bike, with above entry-level components, and a great platform to upgrade, which I’ll get into more below.
As a smaller rider at about 5’7”, I was torn between going with a 29er, and the 275. Had Intense released a mullet this year, I probably would have gone with that. I see advantages to both setups, but having ridden 29ers before, they just feel really big and hard to maneuver. This, in addition to availability, led me to go with the 275.
I opted for the 27.5" frame geometry.
Intense's aptly named "Low" and "Lower" chip.
A 140mm travel 29er Rockshox Pike handles business up front.
UPGRADES: ROUND 1
Right out of the gate I knew there were a handful of upgrades that would take the “expert” model to the next level. I started with the XT brake set and SRAM GX Drive Train. I also went with the 35mm Oneup Components Carbon Bars which I absolutely love. Because of the bar size increase, I tacked on a PNW Components stem. Of the first round of upgrades, the carbon bars are my absolute favorite. The trail chatter absorbed by the carbon bar is truly impressive, and I would highly recommend the upgrade.
After a few rides, while I was impressed with the climbing efficiency, YouTube tangents took me down the oval chain path. After much research, I bit the bullet and went with a 32t oval chainring. Some people say it’s all psychological, but the efficiency gain while climbing was immediately noticeable. As a rider who’s not a huge fan of climbing, any efficiency gain while climbing is a win in my book.
UPGRADES: ROUND 2
After spending the summer on the bike, my only complaints were around high-speed stability and the obvious 27.5 deficiency in rolling over obstacles on the trail. I mentioned early on that I would have gone with a mullet was it offered from the factory, but alas it wasn’t. This has been in the back of my mind all season. After doing a fair bit of research, it seems that the benefits of mullet far outweigh the cons. The primary con being a slacker bike, losing some of that climbing efficiency, which is one of the bikes strong suits.
After another round of thorough research, it occurred to me that I could balance out the increase in front end height added by the 29” wheel by going with a 140mm fork instead of a 150mm fork. I don’t have exact measurements, but the geometry should be fairly close to stock, and the benefits, in my mind, of adding the 29” wheel outweighed the cost of losing 10mm of fork travel.
While the stock suspension setup on the Expert level build is decent, it’s certainly not top of the line, so this presented another opportunity to improve on an already solid bike. Ultimately, I ended up going with a 140mm Pike Ultimate fork.
RIDE IMPRESSIONS
At this point, I only have a few rides under my belt with the new setup. While I’m still trying to dial in the tuning of the fork, here are my first impressions.
Climbing: Thanks to going 140mm instead of 150mm, I didn’t notice any decline in climbing efficiency in general. Rollover on bumpy terrain, while climbing, was a noticeable improvement.
Descending: Rollover on bumpy terrain, as with climbing, was a clear noticeable improvement. The 29” front wheel also provided an increase in confidence when attacking large steep rock rolls.
I’ve tested the setup at Syncline, as well as a few of my more familiar trails in the Post Canyon area. Syncline was an excellent location for testing as it really demonstrated the obvious improvement in rollover on rocky terrain. In Post Canyon, it was a noticeable improvement on root sections, both climbing and descending, and also demonstrated a great deal of stability at higher speeds on Kleeway.
SUMMARY
This bike, at its core, is exactly where I want it, and it suits my riding style perfectly. In hindsight, with all of the upgrades, I probably could have just done a frame-up build. That said, it has been a cool experience riding the bike mostly stock so that I had a baseline set to help determine the improvements of each upgrade. At this point, I’m perfectly content with the Fox Float DPX2 on the rear, but who knows what another round of YouTube tangents will bring.
Straight from the factory, this bike climbs and descends incredibly well. I would highly recommend an Intense Primer for anybody looking for a well-balanced “all-mountain” trail bike.