And then I saw the Intense 2951 downhill 29er - it just looked so "right". At this point 29ers were just taking off in the US, virtually non-existant in the UK, and entirely dedicated to XC - the Intense 2951 might just have been a joke or mad experiment but the idea had me hooked. I had to try out the 29er idea on my next build.
In combination with the alterations to my DH frame design to route the chain just underneath the swingarm and pivot I got hold of some more cheap mild-steel tubing and set to work again:
Rather proud of my handiwork I couldn't help but paint up the bike and kit it out with colour-coordinated components; it wasn't as pretty as the Intense but to this day I'm still pretty happy with the way this came out:
I was a bit disappointed to find I still had problems with the chain - while I could pedal slightly further than the previous attempt this frame still had a habit of killing whatever was routing the chain. The bike also felt very weird under pedalling, the chain tension pulls the wheel down which is very efficient but does mean the rear feels like it's bobbing about all over the place. This chain tension also meant the suspension didn't feel as plush as the Tank however this bike did actually work - for breif periods of time anyway.
This bike, as pictured above saw a good day of uplift-assisted downhilling at Cwm Carn - it performed admirably. It ironed out the trail bumps like no other bike I've ridden, it gripped like crazy, it felt amazingly stable but also cornered just fine. It even jumped pretty well. What really impressed me was just how much confidence the bike gave me - when I rode the same tracks on a 26er I was all over the place, the 29er DH made the difficult track easy - I could focus entirely on carrying speed, what line I wanted to take and generally just enjoying the trail; on the 26er I spent the entire time hanging on for dear life, struggling to make the next corner. Despire the chain troubles it seemed like I was on to something here.
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