Bike Check: Isabeau Courdurier's Intense Tracer - Crankworx Les Gets 2018
Enduro World Series 2016 and 2017 silver medalist, Isabeau Courdurier, is turning her attention to a much briefer style of racing in Les Gets, with slalom being on the menu for the French racer. But instead of choosing a shorter travel, sharper handling bike for the event, she's on a 27.5'' wheeled, 165mm-travel Intense Tracer that's very close to what she'd attack an EWS race aboard. This is actually Courdurier's practice bike, however, a machine that needs to be as close to identical as possible to the one that she races on. ''It's the one I use for training, but it's really similar to the one I use for racing,'' she said, ''So it's the same components, same tires; so not much difference.'' Familiarity is key, of course.
Renthal provide the extra-short stem, and Courdurier is running HT pedals.
The twenty-four-year-old's bike is pretty straightforward, without much in the way of trickery: SRAM, a team sponsor, look after her drivetrain, suspension, and brakes, while Mavic and Hutchinson provide the rolling bits.
Courdurier admitted that she's not all that all the knowledgeable when it comes to the ''really technical features'' of her bike, so deep information on setup isn't going to be found in the article, but she did say that her suspension has been custom tuned for her needs. ''It's mostly suspension tuning because I'm really small and very light as well, so I definitely need suspension tuning,' she explained. How small and light? She's just 5' tall and 110lb, which is about what I was in grade 5, and it's probably safe to assume that both her fork and shock are sporting lighter valving all around.
It might not be your typical dual slalom rig, but it's the bike that Courdurier spends most of her time on.
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Descent half the number of times you pull the lever. :O
Guide is the first ever brake that didn't let me down or make me want to change it.
Use whatever make You happy, just dont say Shimano doesn't have inconsistent lever feel as it's a we'll known problem.
I used to run XT's but prefer the modulation of Guides.
People hate Guides, people like Guides. Whatevs.