Take a look at these luxury sleds! The finest carbon fibre with a super high-end finish. Even the layman recognises that these bikes are more works of art than sports equipment. However, their financing causes the brain synapses to stumble: in order to talk oneself into this purchase, reason has to be severely undermined. Let's not kid ourselves: Bikes for half the money ride just as fast and safely. For example, the aluminium version of the Giant Glory (test page 88). For the full Giant price, you can just get the naked Intense or Devinci frame. But nobody marvels, admires or whispers when you push a sensible bike through the lift queue in the bike park, and you'll probably have to do without the goose bumps that crawl up your spine when you get on one of these high-end bikes. Both companies have a long racing tradition. Intense, the cult manufacturer from Southern California, has been building the M series for racing since 1997. The first bike was called M1, but they have since moved on to M16 and the suspension travel has increased to 240 millimetres. Daring guys like worldcupper Chris Kovarik or the legendary Shaun Palmer wrote mountain bike history with these bikes. Devinci from Quebec in Canada celebrated its greatest successes with Stevie Smith, who was recently involved in an accident (see page 8). Stevie won the overall World Cup with the Wilson in 2013 and showed this year in Lourdes that the latest model is one of the fastest bikes in the world.
Duelling ground
We pitted the high-end bikes against each other in the Bohemian Forest, close to the German border. The Spicak bike park is hidden here under brightly coloured deciduous trees. The bumpy downhill track seemed ideal for the duel. In the upper section, it makes tight turns and pushes boulders under the bikers' wheels before accelerating over roots and stone fields and ending at full throttle. Just right to check not only the smoothness of the bikes, but also their manoeuvrability. And then Spicak also offers flowing jump trails such as Black Friday with drops, ramps, gaps and fast bends. Playful, manoeuvrable bikes are particularly fun on this descent.
ConclusionTwo superbikes with a similar character. The Intense proved to be more confident, safer and more comfortable, as the Devinci had the wrong fork.
Duellist 1: Intense "M-16 C" Bullit Pro
C stands for carbon fibre. Intense founder Jeff Steber first built the M16 A (aluminium) and has now followed it up with the carbon fibre version. "This is the superior material," proclaims Steber. Intense offers three complete models of the M16, the Expert, the tested Pro and the top-of-the-range Factory version for 13,000 euros. We opted for size Large, as the Intense frames are small. This means that the M16 and Wilson have the same reach: 438 millimetres. At just over 16 kilos, they also weigh roughly the same - ideal conditions for a fair duel. Like Devinci, Intense has fitted its bike with the tried-and-tested Vivid RC2 shock. It sits just above the bottom bracket and gives the bike a nice low centre of gravity. Intense continues to rely on the VPP kinematics. The nominally high bottom bracket value (460 millimetres) is not noticeable in a negative way. The motto is: sit on it, feel good. Front and rear harmonise. The Intense suspension is well-balanced and, with its tried-and-tested RockShox suspension elements, offers enormous security. Nevertheless, the M16 is not one of those railway tracks that are modern at the moment but only feel really comfortable when you're going full throttle. No, it is also an excellent park bike with easy handling. Only the long chainstays require a little more arm strength to pull the bike onto the rear wheel for the manual.
Manufacturer information
Distribution Shock Therapy, www.shock-therapy.com
Material/sizes Carbon/S,M,LXL
Price/weight without pedals 9410 Euro/16.3 kg
Measurement data
Front/rear suspension travel 200 mm/215-240 mm
Rear suspension system VPP
Equipment
Fork/damper RockShox Boxxer Worldcup/RockShox Vivid R2C
Cranks/gears SRAM X0/SRAM X01 DH
Brake system Shimano Saint
Impellers Stan's No Tubes Rapid 30 system wheelset
Tyres Maxxis Minion DHF ST 2.5
PARK 5 out of 6 points
DOWNHILL
6 out of 6 points
Performance: The performance points relate exclusively to the respective duel. They are not comparable with other duels.
Duellist 2: Devinci Wilson Carbon SL
We admit it: The Wilson started the battle with advance praise. Why? Two years ago, we tested the 26-inch Wilson and were simply thrilled. The bike proved to be the gravity highlight of the year. In 2016, the Devinci engineers not only fitted the Wilson with larger wheels, they also changed the rear shock. The shock slipped down from the top tube and now clings to the down tube. This further lowers the bike's centre of gravity. The massive carbon swingarm (only the chainstays are made of aluminium) in motocross style with its split pivot kinematics from suspension guru Dave Weagle has remained the same. The bike is sold by the German distributor either with the Boxer Worldcup (€ 8659) or the more affordable X-Fusion RV-1 - unfortunately, one might say. Because we couldn't make friends with this fork. It makes the suspension of the Wilson inharmonious. No matter how much we fiddled with the knobs, we couldn't get any more comfort out of the RV-1. Nevertheless, the Wilson is a great bike, but it couldn't shine like it did back then and clearly lost out to the Intense. We can only speculate how the duel would have ended if a Boxer Worldcup had been in the head tube. Our tip: invest around € 500 for the better fork. The handling of the two bikes from overseas is similar. The Wilson is also not a pure downhill file, but an agile park bike.
Manufacturer information
Distribution Shocker Distribution, www.shocker-distribution.com
Material/sizes Carbon/S,M,LXL
Price/weight without pedals 8109 Euro/16.2 kg
Measurement data
Front/rear suspension travel 200 mm/200 mm
Rear suspension system Split pivot
Equipment
Fork/damper X-Fusion RV1/RockShox Vivid R2C
Cranks/gears SRAM X0 DH/SRAM X01
Brake system SRAM Guide RSC
Impellers Easton Havoc system wheelset
Tyres Schwalbe Magic Mary SG Evo Vertstar 2.35
PARK 4 out of 6 points
DOWNHILL
4 out of 6 points
Performance: The performance points relate exclusively to the respective duel. They are not comparable with other duels.
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
