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Ever wondered what we get up to when we’re not “the guy at the bike shop”? We do have lives… This is where we will post general stuff that’s going on, like races, places to ride, places to go, people we met. We’ll post articles and pictures, and give you a place to leave your comments as well, or even your races and rides.

More Intense Tire Testing
Added by Conrad Davies 15 November 2009
Intense Tires through Cycles Africa have agreed to help our team with rubber for 2010. We are super stoked on this, because the tires we've tried so far are awesome.

The one type of tire that is hard to find in South Africa is a good mud tire. Maxxis has the wet scream, which is basically the only option we had up till now. But I got a set of Intense Spikes at our round of the works cup and thought it was a good week end to try them out. Rainy and stuff.

I first went up to Worlds View in PMB, where I had been running a set of Wet Scream 2.5s two weeks ago. The track was very much to same, with slushy mud over hard ground in most places. Good for comparison. I ran the Spikes as they came out the packet, with 1.8 bar in front and back. They are a little lighter that the other tires, but that is maybe because they are 2.25" rather than 2.5".

Initially I found the tires felt like they skated a bit on the ground, especially on the harder surfaces. They were also kind of slow rolling, making it that I really had to crank it to clear the jumps in the top section of the course, which is rather flat.

Next I headed home for a bit of a test section on my own Back Yard DH course. The track was also very muddy, but a lot of loamy sand below the trees and some short grass in places. The tire still felt some what drifty. It felt almost like having a slightly flat rear tire.

So what now, we have cool dry tires from Intense, but the muds suck a bit. Then I remembered that I had cut my Wet Screams down for Mankele, so I figured, do the same with the Spikes. I just cut about 3mm or the top of the centre two rows of spikes. WHAT A HUGE DIFFERANCE!! the tire hooked up so well. The outer spike is still there to catch you in the corners. Just a slightly shorter middle spike doesn't fold over on the harder stuff, making the tire work mint.

Love these tire. the 2.25" wide tire hooked up well and with the slightly cut down spike rolled supper fast. Looking forward to some great racing on Intense tires in '10.