What would you do? Heckler or Intense 5.5?

[madrider]

I dropped by Performance last week to pick up a garage bike hook and saw one of the 2004 Intense 5.5 frames (sm) for $675. Against my better judgement, I picked it up, it seemed too good to pass up. I thought I would replace my 2006 Heckler with the VPP Intense for aggressive XC...
So I took the Heckler today out and l LOVE riding it, and it is little-to-no maintenance. However, it does have one flaw: because of the single pivot design, the chain length changes when going over some rough stuff, causing some minor ghost shifting. Either way, I have just lived with it so far.
Should I give the Intense a shot, or return it and keep riding the SC?
BTW- I just picked up a Nomad recently and am loving the VPP design...

[J_Sims]

Huckler or 5.5 and you just picked up a Nomad recently??? You are as bad as me... I would ride the Nomad sell the other 2 and build either a true BIG bike or a SS to offset the Nomad... Of course this is said not knowing what else you have in the quiver...

Just my 2 cents

[madrider]

ouch! SS'ers scare me, that looks hard core..

The Nomad IS my big bike , I'm not planning any DH races anytime soon...

and my hardtail is an old school GT Lightning Ti...

[Jman]

Wow a Nomad, Heckler AND Intense...wish I had your problem. Keep the Nomad and build up a new HT that you could make SS one day??? Just my .02 worth...

[Pain Freak]

And I thought I had issues. Get a grip, son. That's to many similar bikes. Go for the ss like Jeff said, it's a lot more fun then pain.

I really like the 5.5 the best though.

[cjwally]

Exactly...Keep Nomad sell the rest. Get a SS to balance out the Nomad...

[Sprockethead]

Get rid of both the Heckler and 5.5 and get a true XC bike. If you like FS, go for a 4" bike, there are so many out there. I have 2 wheelsets for my Nomad, one heavy for bike park days and one light for AM use. It's been great and the Nomad is quite capable of being an all day AM bike or DH/FR bike.

Though my friends keep tellin' me I need a true DH bike.

[J_Sims]

Originally Posted by Sprockethead

Get ride of both the Heckler and 5.5 and get a true XC bike. If you like FS, go for a 4" bike, there are so many out there. I have 2 wheelsets for my Nomad, one heavy for bike park days and one light for AM use. It's been great and the Nomad is quite capable of being an all day AM bike or DH/FR bike.

Though my friends keep tellin' me I need a true DH bike.

Let's order that sucker up.... Big Bike Big Bike Big Bike for Andy!!!!!

[ArrrKelly]

Your Heckler should not be ghost shifting. Is your chain too slack?

[guero]

Keep it in the SC family, keep the Huckler. i kinda miss my huckler (sold it to an str member), but i do love my dawg equally as much as i love my SC SuperLight.

[bjammin]

Keep the 5.5, dump the Heckler and the Nomad. Use new found money to build up BIG bike and a SS29er.
...your quiver is almost complete [SIZE=1]*road bike*[/SIZE]

[stinkyrider]

Like bjammin said,
I'd dump the heckler and nomad and get a DH bike.

[un-kola]

So many options! Three bikes with similar travel.I agree with Pain Freak,C.J.,and Sprockethead.Keep the Nomad,sell the other two,and build either a SS or a 3"-4"travel lightweight xc rig.I have a 5.5 myself which is my do everything ride.I too like the VPP setup as it fits my riding style,(slow & choppy!). - Lloyd

[Wicked Smot]

Funny...you ask for help choosing between 2 killer bikes and you get five people telling you to dump it all and build a SS.

I guess I'm just not part of the "Unnecessarily Limit My Gearing Options So I Can Say I Rode That Trail on a SS Club."

I would go with the 5.5 with a light build and keep the Nomad plush to get the best of both worlds. This is similar to the way I have my bikes set up. I'd definitely take the 5.5 over the Heckler from a climbing standpoint. Nice problem to have though.

[mechmann]

the 5.5 is a capable blike.

so is the Heckler.

i personally think that both of these bikes are really not that good because they are in between two areas (XC and AM)

IMO a good XC bike is going to be sub 25lbs and have 4" rear travel or less (like HT or the Angry Inch)

IMO a good agressive trail bike has 6"+ of travel and can take big stuff without breaking. Intense Uzzi would be a good example. i guess that i define AM as almost freeride...

also, when i talk about travel, i also mean geometry. slacker is better for AM/FR. my XC bike has about as steep of a HTA as my road bike!

if i had to choose i would go with the VPP bike over the single pivot.

[Dave92]

dude try the 5.5 and btw i have a nomad too arent they totally awesome.