Looking to sell the pride and joy of my youth. My circa 1998 Intense M1. I purchased this bike around 2000/2001 from pro rider Alister King who had at the time recently rode it to victory in the 1999 British downhill masters championship, and then again into a 2nd place finish the following year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Mountain_Biking_Championships
The bike was I believe is one of only 5 built for the intense/Kawasaki factory race team, which were only around for a couple of seasons. When I bought it the original Kawasaki livery, had be painted over in a pretty crass DIY red white and blue colour scheme, to celebrate the recent British championship. I subsequently stripped and repainted it red to resemble the later early 00’s frames with the more “modern” livery.
It’s been upgraded and maintained over the years with no expense spared on parts, but it still retains many of the original components including some extremely rare and highly desirable original and factory parts. If you’re looking to restore to an original retro spec, I probably still have some of the original components knocking around, so would be happy to include whatever I can find.
Components list as follows:
The bike was I believe is one of only 5 built for the intense/Kawasaki factory race team, which were only around for a couple of seasons. When I bought it the original Kawasaki livery, had be painted over in a pretty crass DIY red white and blue colour scheme, to celebrate the recent British championship. I subsequently stripped and repainted it red to resemble the later early 00’s frames with the more “modern” livery.
It’s been upgraded and maintained over the years with no expense spared on parts, but it still retains many of the original components including some extremely rare and highly desirable original and factory parts. If you’re looking to restore to an original retro spec, I probably still have some of the original components knocking around, so would be happy to include whatever I can find.
Components list as follows:
- Intense M1 frame with factory serial number “M9111 KING” stamped on the bottom bracket. Measures approx. 49cm from bb to bottom of seat post and 70cm from bb to top of the Chris king headset. No dents or big gouges outside of paint anywhere I can tell, though paintwork is chipped and scratched as expected for its age and use.
- The rear swing arm assembly I was told by Ali was a factory prototype, I’m not sure exactly what the differences were, but I’ve read it has a lot more adjustability including some unique horizontal dropouts. Either way, it’s a beautiful bit of engineering which looks great in its raw aluminium state.
- I installed the longer 5th element rear shock as a more adjustable upgrade. I was planning on sourcing a dropped top yoke for the forks to pair with it, but never managed to find one which I knew would fit. I may have the original fox rear shock hiding somewhere which I’ll include if found.
- Rockshox boxxer forks original to the bike, I think they were around 150mm travel this year. Painted and stickered a couple of times, with the usual scuffs and chips, but the forks and stanchions themselves are in excellent condition underneath. These along with the rear shocks were routinely serviced and tuned up until I stopped riding frequently a number of years back, and they still feel butter smooth.
- The wheels were upgraded to top of the line disk only Mavic D321 rims laced to a hope bulb hub up front, and a super expensive Hadley rear hub. The later was professionally serviced before I quit riding. Rims and hubs are in excellent almost “as new” condition. They currently sit on 2.3” Nokian Gazzaloddi tires also in great condition.
- Brakes were upgraded from hope C2 to Hope M4s. Could probably do with a rebleed to get the best back out of them again. I think the original C2s might still be knocking around, so if I find them, I’ll include them as well.
- The original bars got bent in a crash, and were replaced with a set of blue azonic pyramid double wides. These are in excellent condition and were only cut down a fraction from their original width. Yeti grips. Unbranded alloy bar ends have taken a few knocks.
- Bars sit on the original and extremely rare MrDirt wild thing stem in a raw unpainted finish. It’s a truly Beautiful bit of CNC, probably worth a pretty penny on its own, and I’ve turned down offers in excess of £100 for it as probably my favourite component on the bike.
- Its running the original Sram 9.0 rear derailer with grip shift shifter, original Race face cranks and single front ring. Its protected by the original dual plate blackspire bash guard, which I’ll admit never really seemed to sit right for me, but I never lost a chain, so I had no reason to ever change it. The rear cassette was originally a close ratio set from a road bike, which was fine for downhill, but an absolute nightmare to pedal back up, so it had to go!
- DMR v12 sealed pedals
- Race face XY seat post, Titec beserker downhill saddle, useable but has a chunk missing out of the back foam
Attachments
Last edited:
