Intense has lifted the covers on the latest version of its Spider trail bike. The 2015 Spider 275 is a playful looking, short travel aluminium trail rig.
The switch to today's default wheel size is the immediately obvious change, but the Spider 275 frame also has heavily revised suspension and geometry that mimics that of longer travel bikes.
Above the bottom bracket shell you'll now find a pivot, which is positioned to allow Intense to keep the frame's chainstay length to just 419mm (16.5in). At the opposite end of the chainstay, the shock can be positioned to offer either 115mm (4.5in) or 130mm (5.1in) of travel.
The frame's front centre measurement has been stretched to suit today's stubby stem and there's a 67 degree head angle – slack for a 130mm travel machine, but not overly so. The seat angle is a climb-friendly 75.5 degrees, another advantage of that new pivot location.
The £2,999 / US$2,999 Foundation build Spider 275 proves that you can go Intense without facing bankruptcy
The Spider features all the standards and features you'd normally expect from an Intense bike, including a 142x12mm rear end, bottle cage mounts, routing for an internal dropper post and Intense's grease port equipped serviceable pivots.
Intense offers the Spider 275 in three off-the-peg builds. The Foundation is just £2,999 / US$2,999 / AU$4,699, but then there's a big jump up to the mid- and top-range bikes. They cost £4,699 / $5,650 (Expert build) and £4,999 / $5,999 (PRO build) respectively. The Spider 275 is also available in a frame-only option with a Cane Creek DBinline shock for £1,899 / US$2,199 / AU$3,199.
