The Swarm Intense Tracer 29″ – Last season’s ‘trail bike of the year’ is still fighting fit and ready for action. In fact it remains peerless in its class. In fact it doesn’t really have a class…
From Dirt Issue 138 – August 2013
Words by Steve Jones. Photos by Steve Jones.
Many product managers worldwide have missed a trick. Slow on the uptake, many seem to have a very wrong idea of what 29” wheeled bikes are all about. Or at least a restricted view – never has there been such a twisted perspective, restraint on a grand scale. A world of steep head angles on 4–5” travel bikes with triple chainsets, skinny 120mm forks offering no validity to the trail world in which most riders live. It’s all a bit weird.
Many wheels have rolled through the Dirt doors but no bike has ever stirred so much positive energy as this bike. There’s no hint of top–spin either, for it is an out–and–out bruiser of a trail/enduro variety. This medium sized frame has a combination of the correct angles and suspension inches that place it in the perfect 5–6” sector that few have managed to capture. Neither too much nor too little, neither too slack or too steep, it has bottom bracket, wheelbase and downtube dimensions that all lead in one direction – harassing your mates.>>
