New bike: Intense Factory Alloy 20

I am riding a 20, and it is good. Impressions from the first ride:

Lee Loves Cornering dot com.

The bike: Intense Factory Alloy 20. This thing is straight out of the box and a lot of love for less than $700.

The reason: I’ve been rocking the Intense Factory Alloy 24 and loving it. Chris Powell (pro MTB/BMX racer and mechanic for Olympic medalists Mike Day and Jill Kintner) is consulting on my BMX book. When he saw a bunch of skill sequences featuring the cruiser, he informed me that cruisers are kind of lame. Real men ride 20s or something like that. Good to know. I had to get a 20, learn to ride it then re-shoot the sequences.

The benefactor: Lars Thompsen runs Trail Head Cyclery in San Jose, CA — my favorite shop in NorCal. Lars is a good man and a great supporter. When I told him what was going on, he sent the bike. Thanks Lars!

The impressions:
I rode the 20 with the boys at The Fix this weekend.

– Wow, it’s quick! Way quicker than the cruiser, which is way quicker than the P.3, which is way quicker than the SX, which is way quicker than the Stumpjumper, which is way quicker than the Enduro, which is way quicker than the Demo 8. It’s all relative.

– It rewards perfection. When you time things right, it is a rocket ship. The pump is ridiculous!

– It punishes imperfection. When you time things wrong, it’s like hammering an anvil.

– Everything is subtle. If you lean back too far (or at all) when you manual a pair of rollers, the front end is out of control. But if you get it right … SO SWEET!

– The bike is super fun. I’m gonna ride it today.

braaap with little bs …

Easing into an effortless but alarmingly quick manual.

I didn’t expect to jump this roller-table, but the speed told me too. Yeah yeah, I know I’m stiff.

Check out the crush factor on the front tire. That’s with 50 psi. No wonder strong, fast BMXers run 60+.