Does anyone know who Scott Sharples is? If you dont you may want to look it up. He knows his stuff and has great vision in regards to the future of the industry. I know Scott was involved in the completion of the bike and the target market. If you look around out there not to many bikes have ISCG guides because they werent ever supposed to be bashed into anything in that area. If you want a chainguide run the E13 XCX or something similiar. They lower roller and bash isnt necessary on a lot of these trail bikes. I have been using one for over a year on a Carbon Nomad, along with multiple bikes I have set up for customers. They are less weight and with the new Shimano XTR Shadow + it seems this enduro type trail bike has come around full circle. Quit living in the past w/ old guide setups and pieces these new bikes didnt need. Kinda like the single crown 160+ travel forks. Get on board or dont complain about something you wont ever ride anyways. Intense also is aware of making bikes over seas isnt the way they want to keep selling bikes but if you have to keep making parts ahead of the competition you have to make sacrifices. I dont see anyone complaining about the Carbon V10 which is completely made overseas. Also Trek only makes the top Road bikes, Fuels and Remedy models in the USA. All other carbon bikes are made over seas. Keep the rubber side down