First Look: Intense Uzzi VPX

When Intense Cycle's owner and creator, Jeff Steber, invited us to his Southern California factory to "check out some new stuff," we knew it'd be worth the harrowing, white-knuckle trip over the mountains from our South Orange county office to Temecula on the infamous serpentine canyon pass, highway 74. We weren't disappointed.

Where it all happens---The Intense Cycles factory

We arrived in time for a full-factory tour, revealing all machines and tooling necessary to design, prototype and manufacture some of the world's most sought-after mountain bike frames. While strolling past a massive heat-treating machine and frame jigs, a low-profile battleship-gray bike caught our eye. It was a prototype of the new Uzzi VPX, Intense's entry into the growing freeride market. It is designed to achieve eight-inches of travel without sacrificing pedaling efficiency by using a Virtual Pivot Point set-up. With the VPX, Intense will have cross-country, downhill, freeride and trail bikes all equipped with the Santa Cruz patented VPP design. To ensure that the VPX will stand up to the toughest abuse, a super-reinforced, one-point-five head tube is used along with replaceable dropouts and beefed-up linkage. The efficient suspension design coupled with a frame and rear shock weight of 8.5-lbs makes it much more than a typical freeride bike, it's almost like a trail bike on steroids.

The Uzzi VPX frame will be available in November with a standard Manitou Swinger shock for $2,150 or with a Ti spring Swinger shock for $2,250. Intense will also offer pre-built full bikes with either a downhill or freeride build kit.

The beefed-up linkage of the 8-inch travel VPX

Like the rest of the line, the VPX will be made entirely at Intense's Temecula factory. Every aspect, from design to welding to heat treatment, is completed under one roof, making powder-coating and monocoque stamping the only things not done in house. It's an impressive setup. But, as far as bike companies go, Intense is in an awkward stage. At 100 frames per week, they really can't be called small builders, yet industry giants like Trek and Cannondale dwarf them. But Steber uses this to his advantage by focusing only on top-quality, race-level bikes. In a bottom-line focused industry, Steber could have opted to outsource labor to cheaper countries; instead he keeps his edge by overseeing every step of production.

Before venturing into frame building, Steber created ultra high-end guitars, furniture and other marvels of custom carpentry. The same artistic skill and craftsmanship are apparent with one look at the beautifully machined suspension links and consistently smooth welds. Maybe it's that background that helped give Intense its unique business approach. Either way, with such worldwide popularity, it's clear that Steber is taking things in the right direction.

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