1998 Intense M1 SL Intense/Kawasaki Team Bike (Custom for Ali King)

FYI: This is not my bike, I helped Ali get it back as we are friends and am helping him find the parts and info he needs, he is also not a member but I asked if he wouldn't mind me posting on his behalf.

You may have seen this bike for sale since 2020 on here (Retrobike) for many years and then marketplace in the end.
The seller was never very responsive (I heard this from numerous people) and definitely didn't want to budge on price. This bike was custom built by Intense for Ali King (having your name stamped into the BB by the Intense factory is a pretty sweet detail) who raced for the Intense/Kawasaki DH Team back in the late 90's and took this bike on to the 1999 British Masters DH champs.
Ali who now resides not far from me here in Australia hit up the owner a few times to try and buy it the bike back a couple of years ago but the owner never replied, the same thing happened with the latest post on marketplace.
I was frustrated for him so I took it upon myself to try and get this bike back to Ali so I hit the owner up and after days and days no reply, I asked again and to my surprise had a reply to which the guy gave me him number and said to use whatsapp. Now with a direct line to him I explained that I do not live close to his location but have a friend who does (Alis brother lived 15 mins away) so my new friends Martin who I have never met or spoken to went along to see the bike and offer a slightly lower price which the owner excepted!
So the bike that was built, raced and sold by Ali is now after 25 years back (well almost it jsut needed t be shipped to Australia) in his possession.
Ali wants to build it back up to original spec which 90% of the parts are there but also is planning on repainting it back to the Original Kawasaki/Intense colours.

What a great story and nice effort on your part to get the bike back to its rightful home!

Moving on to the next chapter of this build, the bike had finally arrived in Australia.
Ali wasted no time taking photos of the frame and started planning out which components he wanted to use. As a member of the Intense/Kawasaki team, all riders were required to use the same frame, but they had some flexibility when it came to the components.

Take, for instance, a photo of Ali riding: he’s running a Shimano XTR rear derailleur paired with a SRAM GripShift shifter—a rather unconventional mix. If you look closely, you’ll also notice the shifter is mounted at an unusual angle. I asked Ali about it, and he explained that, coming from a motocross background, he positioned it that way because it reminded him of a motorcycle throttle. A personal touch, blending style and familiarity.

Once the frame arrived, Ali began by stripping down the forks. However, when it came to the frame, he wanted to do it properly. It was a more involved job, so he sent it to a local vapor blaster. (If you're restoring an old bike, vapor blasting is definitely the way to go—it's far less abrasive than sand or bead blasting and gives a far superior finish.)

The next day, Ali messaged me: "Look what the blaster found!" Attached was a photo showing the frame covered in an unexpected amount of filler. We were both puzzled—why was it there? What was it trying to hide?

Another day passed, and Ali messaged again, this time with some good news: the filler wasn’t hiding any structural damage. Relieved, I started thinking—why would the previous owner have used so much filler in the first place?

Looking at the clues, it seems the frame had been stripped and repainted red, and it featured the more modern 2001+ decals. My theory is that a previous owner was trying to make this 1998 frame resemble a newer 2001+ model, which had different frame lines and design elements. A bit of a disguise, perhaps—but a fascinating detail in the bike's history.

But also how many people can say they have a custom Intense M1 with your name stamped into the BB ? The pic after vapour blast even for me makes it feel super special so Ali must be over the moon!

Ali needed some parts for this build on the list was Tioga DH 2.5 and 2.3 tires but he wanted 2 fronts something he used to do also due to a MX background, luckily I put a wanted ad up and we found some NOS tires here in Australia and within a few hours we secured some that were NOS.

Parts we are still trying to find are
Fox RC 7.5" x 2"
XTR M952 Short Cage Rear Mech
maybe some different rims and hubs.