Intense M1 identification

[Lowman]

Hey there people
Long time no see. I finally have sourced myself a Intense M1...as its one of my favourite DH bikes all time.
And this particular frame..was bought kinda" sight unseen"..as it is repainted..and the frame number was not visible through the powdercoat.
Also , the frame has some conflicting details as to which year it is
Now when i have finally got it home..i have filed down the powdercoat,and a frame number is visible..and im kinda dissapointed ,,,cause to me ,,it seems like it is a may 2001 version...which is " not" what it was advertised as...though i was aware of not actually knowing for sure.BUT, as far as i was able to investigate myself...it did seem to match up to the sellers statement,that it was somewhat of a 1999" ish version.
Eitherway...here are some pics
I hope you guys can chime in with your knowledge.
What i also would like to know,is the reason for this frame having the small main pivot,also my frame seems to be missing the two holes between the main pivot and the BB hole...These two holes missing,is often seen on the bikes with bigger main pivot.Ill post a picture of a black one,where i show what i mean with these two holes.
Also,,it seems that the original color to the bike was green,,,at least that is the first layer of paint before revealing the bare aluminium.Though it might have been repainted from bare metal..i dont know. Would be cool if it was a " Kawasaki" team bike..hah...
Cheers from Norway ,Stefan

 

[Cloverleaf]

2000/2001 were FSR with the Fox Vanilla RC shock. Visually they were similar to the later 5th shocked bikes but the front end was actually pretty different up close/side by side.

The previous gen single pivot/linkage driven shock bikes like your one there seemed to go through a lot of changes on an almost run to run basis rather than being specific model years. The main pivot on the black bike looks to have come from the later FSR bikes with the larger axle size so I'd hazard a guess and say it was '99. I've got some mag articles torn out that I could have a look through to see if the pivot changes were obvious. My guess would be that the red frame is somewhere between '98 (for the larger chain stays) and '99 whenever the larger pivot and later BB assembly appeared.

 

[Cloverleaf]

Looking at the article I found it references the 22mm main pivot bearing (i.e your red frame) as '97. Tomac ran a proto 35mm main pivot (i.e the black one) during the '97 season which became the spec for '98. I reckon you've got a '97 frame there (I thought they switched to the larger chainstays at the same time as the larger pivot but it seems not). The blue shock end suggests it's also a Van Rx rather than RC which would further suggest the earlier date ('98 frames apparently came with the RC and nobody would revert to the rebound only shock as an upgrade, assuming it's the original of course).

 

[Lowman]

Looking at the article I found it references the 22mm main pivot bearing (i.e your red frame) as '97. Tomac ran a proto 35mm main pivot (i.e the black one) during the '97 season which became the spec for '98. I reckon you've got a '97 frame there (I thought they switched to the larger chainstays at the same time as the larger pivot but it seems not). The blue shock end suggests it's also a Van Rx rather than RC which would further suggest the earlier date ('98 frames apparently came with the RC and nobody would revert to the rebound only shock as an upgrade, assuming it's the original of course).

hey there
Thank you for taking your time to reply
But i am still left like a question mark... The serial number indicates all other than what we are all " thinking....it says basically(from what i have found out) that it is a Small 2001, May production frame..So this is basically my main question..and what i dont seem to get an answer to

 

[rentedmule]

The front triangle looks much earlier than an '01 to me. My serial number decodes to an '00 and the shape of the indentations on the frame are different and there's one on the seat mast that isn't present on yours or the black frame:

20240323_153753 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

Mine also lacks the options for different upper shock mounting that yours has. I think it looks like the early frames Cloverleaf - resident M1 guru - mentioned.

 

[Cloverleaf]

I see lots of people quoting ways to decode Intense frame numbers but none seem to match the earlier pre-FSR frames as they don't follow the same format, usually being like yours as an S with multiple digits after that don't coincide with years or anything else. Basically, it's an Intense M1, it's probably '97, and it has a frame number. Short of emailing Intense and asking them to confirm what it means I don't think you're going to get anything of value from trying to decode it. For sizing I'd measure the BB to seat clamp for size, IIRC it was 17" for small, 18" for medium and 19" for large, but I might be mis-remembering that bit.

 

[Lowman]

I see lots of people quoting ways to decode Intense frame numbers but none seem to match the earlier pre-FSR frames as they don't follow the same format, usually being like yours as an S with multiple digits after that don't coincide with years or anything else. Basically, it's an Intense M1, it's probably '97, and it has a frame number. Short of emailing Intense and asking them to confirm what it means I don't think you're going to get anything of value from trying to decode it. For sizing I'd measure the BB to seat clamp for size, IIRC it was 17" for small, 18" for medium and 19" for large, but I might be mis-remembering that bit.

Thank you . Well..the size is 17inches from top of seat tube..to center of the BB. Yeah i have been thinking about emailing Intense..but others have done this..and barely getting an answer even for the most " common " questions. So... Yes i hear you what you are saying bout the frame number..but there is just something in me that struggles to see that the serial number does not have a production year and month in it...And to be honest..i cant " rest" until i have something firm form of evidence to the subject So i might as well just email them and see..and hope And keep on posting posts around the interwebs until someone comes up with some answers What i have found though of details that seems to matter...is as follows: Number of mounting holes for rear shock to the front frame.Mine has 4,,older ones seems to have often 5. Small main pivot,,,seems just like the old way of doing it to me. The rear seatstay has no canti mounts...of course they could have been swapped out as they are really not a part of the frame obviously. My frame also has the reinforcment of the rear shock mount...like the front part of the rearshock mount..is welded downwards alongside the frame...(number 2 in this picture )

 

[Lowman]

The front triangle looks much earlier than an '01 to me. My serial number decodes to an '00 and the shape of the indentations on the frame are different and there's one on the seat mast that isn't present on yours or the black frame:

20240323_153753 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

Mine also lacks the options for different upper shock mounting that yours has. I think it looks like the early frames Cloverleaf - resident M1 guru - mentioned.

Yes of course mine is older that your frame. This is the part i dont understand..that i always thought that the new type frame like the one you have..came in 2001....and the one i had was not later than 2000. But obviously its all in the details..and when the switchover is ,is not known to me at least... But i am very hung up on the serial number..All info i have gathered..tells me that my serial number says that my frame is a Small, 2000, May production bike.......And i just cannot wrap my head around that..cause i didnt think they made that design of frame in 2001..,,,.Arrrghh this is doing my ocd head in

 

[Cloverleaf]

It may well be in there, but it doesn't conform to the later decoding that's for sure; my frame is AM22**, so A (M1), M (Medium), Feb '02, plus the frame number. The thing with intense is that they made things in small batches which is good because they could change things easily, and they did, regularly. The M1 I just picked up is only a few months older than my original one, yet the front end has the twist in pigtail style brake hose guides, whereas my later one had zip tie ones, on the front at least. The seat stays were the pigtail. Then on the numerous sets of replacement seat stays I had there was everything from pigtail, enclosed holes you needed to thread them through, and zip ties, plus a number of combinations with replaceable and non-replaceable hangers. In fact the one thing you could say they were consistent in was being inconsistent! Similarly, the last of the Fox damped FSR frames had the same beefier head tubes as the 5th ones.

These are a few magazine bits I've found that may be interesting given how many slight tweaks they depict over the space of a few years - note the Kawasaki frame has the 35mm pivot bearings and large aluminium axle setup common to all the later FSR frames.

Kawasaki '98:

Team MBI '98:

MBUK production review '96:

Palmer prototype '96(?):

Catalogue shot from '96-97ish:

 

[M124]

Looking at the article I found it references the 22mm main pivot bearing (i.e your red frame) as '97. Tomac ran a proto 35mm main pivot (i.e the black one) during the '97 season which became the spec for '98. I reckon you've got a '97 frame there (I thought they switched to the larger chainstays at the same time as the larger pivot but it seems not). The blue shock end suggests it's also a Van Rx rather than RC which would further suggest the earlier date ('98 frames apparently came with the RC and nobody would revert to the rebound only shock as an upgrade, assuming it's the original of course).

This.
As cloverleaf said there were small upgrades from batch to batch, the frame looks to be sometime in 97( or possibly 96 with a later chain stay added),has the same narrower 4 bolt shock mounting and was likely made between the first two pics where the larger pivot and chainstay was added from the team bikes.
yellow I think is late 96 early 97. green one is 97, leigh Donovan picture is her mongoose 97 team bike .