Costco Members: Intense 951 XC Mountain Bike (various frame sizes) Expired

For any trail you will pedal yourself up, you will spend 70-80% of the time pedalling up and 30-20% of the time rolling down.

XC is a form of racing, and even "entry" XC bikes offer a stiffer, less forgiving ride to optimize efficiency over suspension losses. The rear suspension is there for traction, not comfort, and tires are optimized for low rolling resistance, not forgiving traction and grip in really rocky sections.
The XC model is more aimed towards people who want the best possible times in XC races and/or favor pedaling efficiency but are ofc less forgiving going down. thus - IMHO - it is wrong to recommend this as a "beginners" ride. If anything, it is less beginner-friendly.

The Trail bikes are supposed to be equally balanced for DH and going up, longer travels, bigger diameter fork, wider wheels/tires etc ofc make it less efficient than the XC but geometry and pedaling efficiency cater for a balanced experience. Can ride up, can do bit more technical downs, can be jumped with more authority / less worries something will be damaged etc. That said, XC bikes today are far more capable than Trail bikes were less than a decade ago, and trail bikes that go to 140-150mm rear travels are simply "monsters" that blend into the "All Mountain/Enduro" classes that can indeed tackle a lot. Thus mountain bike trails today, are far, far more technical than what would be ridden by the average MTBer a decade ago.

These look like OK speced for the $, from a company brand like Intense that is more of a boutique than a value brand. People mentioned Trek, well, Trek is much more of a volume brand than this, and I would personally pick the 951 Trail easily over a similarly priced Trek Fuel EX 7, mainly because of the Fork / Shocks that are speced and are definately a notch (or two, the RS 35 is a mediocre fork even for $2K bikes, forget it for a $3.2K IMHO) better with the Intense. Brakes are also a bit better with the Intense, and this is PRETTY important. The latter also has a bit more aggressive geometry and more travel. The NX drivetrain is meh in both cases, and for that $ they should consider GX RD/Shifter or IMHO go for Shimano M6100, but it is what it is (I suspect that too many companies stick with SX/NX just to make use of the stockpiles/tooling for HG hubs, but they could at a minimum use a NX HG cassette with GX RD + shifter for a 3.2K bike).

Note that modern MTBs are getting really, really long and for riders that cannot "hinge" at 90 deg and ride really aggressively over the front wheel, this will be uncomfortable and/or you won't be able to weigh the front tire enough. You will also find it far harder as a beginner to flip/toss/pull the bike into manuals, bunny hop etc.
If you are in-between sizes or at the low-end of the size, really consider sizing down. Don't let your ego think that "you can handle" the L because you are 5'11 on a good day and whatnot. My 2c

Lots of good info in this thread, also lots of bad info from people that are not into mountain biking and just feel like commenting on something they know nothing about. If you can't afford this, go buy a Schwinn Axum for $400 from Walmart and discuss that instead...

TLDR of my take on this, is this is definitely a buy if are looking for a short travel 29er with a great carbon fiber frame and mid level components and an affordable price point (for a CF framed full suspension bike). Similarly specked bikes from other respectable brands (Trek, Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, YT, etc.) currently cost $3600-$4200.

A few comments about the XC version, since that's a great fit for the type of trails I ride:

- This isn't really a hardcore XC race bike. It's more of a down country or regular trail short travel 29er type bike. This is the same frame that's used on the Intense Sniper T, without the fancy titanium hardware. The tune of the Fox Rhythm 34 fork employed here should not be as stiff as what's on the Fox Stepcast 34 forks being used on the Sniper T.

- This frame was originally designed for the Intense Sniper (non-T), which has 100mm/100mm travel, and then adapted for the longer 120mm/120mm travel Sniper T variant without really changing the frame, so what was originally a 77.5 ̊/74.0 ̊ head tube/seat tube angles slackened the geometry into 76.5 ̊/73.0 ̊ head tube/seat tube angles instead. While the 66.5 ̊ head tube able is considered good for a short travel 29er, most current short travel 29ers have a seat tube angle in the 74.5-77 ̊ range. In practical terms this means that on the 951 this will put the rider at a disadvantage when going uphill due to the center of gravity being shifted backwards.

- Regarding components, lots of comments about this being entry/low level components. This is just isn't the case. All components being used here are midgrade in quality. SRAM NX Eagle is solid, and uses trickle down technology from GX/X01/XX1 Eagle, just not the fancy materials that save a bit a weight. Same with the Fox Rhythm fork - uses the same Grip damper that's in the Fox Performance fork, which some actually prefer to the Fit 4 damper in the Performance Elite/Factory. Should be more than sufficient for most, unless you need the extra compression adjustments in the Fit 4 or Grip 2 dampers. The TRP Slate T4 are very solid brakes. Comparable in performance/features to Shimano 7120 SLX or SRAM G2 RS.

- On the pricing front, Intense charges $2999 for just the the Sniper T frame, which granted has a better shock and titanium hardware. For component prices:
$400 - NX Eagle Groupset, including the DUB bottom bracket.
$320 - TRP Slate T4 brakes with rotors
$650 - Fox Rhythm 34
$400 - Cockpit (dropper, seat, stem, bar, grips)
$300 - WTB i29 wheelset with generic inhouse hubs

In all, this is about a $5000 build kit that they are selling for $3200, so IMHO a pretty good deal as long as this is what you want.

Most hobbies are expensive. Many of them are expensive up front.

MTB really isn't. You could get a great hardtail for $1200-1500 or a Full sus for $2000+ and they could last you years as long as you maintain them.

Sure there are consumables like tires and so on, but the yearly cost of ownership really isn't that high.

Ive been riding for almost 4 years and I just recently had to change out a pair of knee pads.

It depends on where and how you ride and if you take care of your stuff.

Carbon bikes are great but, they aren't necessary especially if you're on a budget.