Norwegian" Intense M1 Shaun Palmer Tribute bike "NOT the USA Flag bike" :)

[Lowman]

Hello people
Diclaime :So ,this thread is going to be alot of pictures in one go,as the project is " kinda" finished.That said..its not finished..but i am well into the project..and the project started one year ago
Here Goes
So...one of my dreambikes ever..was and still is, the Intense m1 bike.
This bike had a massive input on my interest for downhill bikes in the mid 90"s.And i am definetly not alone feeling that way .
And Shaun Palmer,he need no introduction. He was the guy that brought a proper motorcross vibe into downhilling, and his involvement with Intense was and is iconic.
His Intense bikes are sooo iconic its not even funny.
I do love the USA flag bike, and its definetly the bike that wowed people.But to me,the earlier 1995"ish yellow version just speaks to me in a different way .
So i had to make one for myself.
As i started this build, i was unsure on how to move forward,,as there are obviously some parts "not easy to come by"...the obvious one beeing the factory boxxer fork. amongst some other team goodies.
So that made me name my build " A Tribute " build..cause its not really a replica...
But as the build moved forward, my ocd kept speaking to me,,that " you need to make it as close to Shaun Palmers bike as possible".
So that became my thing.
I hope to make his bike,justice,,as it really is an important parts of the DH history.
So...i started with the build ,when i was lucky to come across a frame that seems to be an early one.There are many opinions on how to determine the year of production of these frames...but for me,i have not been able to come close to a set conclusion to which year this is. Though i have contacted Intense hq,and they stated that my frame is a 1995, though many other Intense enthusiasts,,states that it is an early one at least,and most likely a 1997.
Eitherway.
The frame was red when i received it
I redid the paint in yellow.
Bmw Dakar Gelb is the main color
And the red rear frame,is Ferrari Rosso

Also sourced a nice _Judy DHO ,as i want to stick to a fork that is " closer" to the 1995/1996 Boxxer factory fork.


The original, that i am replicating


Keep on reading, as i will make further posts

 

[Lowman]

So i decided that i wanted to make some progress with the main thing...which obviously is the frame
As the frame was powdercoated, i decided to keep that color as a base coat..making it very durable.
So i sanded it down ,and made the frame ready to receive some new paint ,in form of a lovely color i picked out to be somewhat close to the original.Also, a color that makes it " my own" in a way
BMW Dakar Gelb for the main frame
And Ferrari Rosso for the rear frame


Turned out pretty good i think. Abit lighter yellow than Shaun Palmers bike..but it works for sure


By the way.A little " detail" that i find confusing..but at the same time somewhat reasurring that it is an early version frame,is that my frame has the small main pivot for the main swingarm.


Further
I had already got made some custom decals to put on the bike
I actually requested these made ,by a seller on Ebay,.that supplies other decal kits.
So he came back to me after not replying for many months...and he showed me that he had made them..and wanted me to confirm if it was what i was looking for ..and it was indeed.
So they went on the bike super quick
The location of the iconic SWAG decal..will be repositioned later on
Also mocked it up with my Judy DHO


MAAAN that came alive straight away .So happy just getting to this point



You also may noticed that i got mounted a lovely set of Red anodized Chris King head set bearings My favourite headsetbearing kit

 

[Lowman]

At this pooint.. i was like ." maan i need to make this bike " as close to Shaun Palmers bike as possible
And i started to look into the fork.
The stanchions needed to be black as the Boxxer factory fork.
And at some point,i wanted to make some custom Boxxer factory esque decals for it
I soon realised that i had the parts i neede to make the stanchion project come true.
I went down in the basement,and had a look at my bikes, and behold...my Kona SexxThree ,that i had bought a Judy XLC fork for, earlier...had black stanchions.I was in heaven..almost like winning the lottery
So i took the forks appart..and swapped the stanchions over.To be honest i haven done much other work to the fork,than to do the stanchion swap..but i will have to do some more work to the fork to make it perfect mechanically.Just to give it a good service that is.



Looks fantastic i think


My collection. Im holding my team ridden JUDY Dho fork that was on my team ridden STS DH ,that resulted in me getting the STS Lobo later on.



Love it



Now on to the fork decals
Alot of work went into replicating these boxxer factory decals
Ive studied pictures, taking measurements as best as i could based on photos only.
I got a friend that works in the print/commercial/web designer industry kinda...and he was able to make the decals for me.
I had one first edition printed, where the size of the Boxxer logo was not as it should
But second time around,,it was alot better..and what i ended up settling with
I feel this is One of the coolest " things" i have done in the build...in a way ...
Peeling off the horrible repro Judy Dho decals


I kinda like the bare look


But THIS is definetly better


Also one of the special parts i needed,,was a ringle front hub..and what could be better than sourcing a Judy Dho "Boxxer "Ringle hub

 

[Lowman]

Next up...was another "oh i need to make the bike more alike Shaun Palmers bike
I NEED to equip the bike with lovely Magura Raceline rim brakes! No disc brakes allowed on this space
The rear upper chainstay on my bike did for some reason NOT have the mounts for cantilevers,so i was in a desperate hunt for a chainstay with cantilever mounts.
A task i saw as somewhat impossible..for what is the odds of someone having a rear frame setup , just laying around
To my big surprise..i was approached by a guy from the states,,that had the cantilevered chainstay,,and the old style lower chainstay
And the crazy thing is that he wanted me to have the parts for free,as he like the build.So ..i accepted..but of course paid shipping
And the parts came home..and i was just sooooo stoked about this.
I redid them in the Ferrari Rosso red




Abit undecided to which lower chainstay to use
Shaun palmers bike had a reinforced custom made lower chainstay on his bike...and I dont..Though i have the " fat" late style lower chainstay...so to this day..im a bit unsure which one to go for.
It kinda looks cool with the early "thin" version too...

 

[Lowman]

Next up...I was turning my attention to the " components of the bike,and fine tuning " which route am i going"
And again....i was determined more than ever..to get all the components right...at least to do my best

Initially i got a NOS MRP chaindevice laying around..which i have been unsure of which bike i wanted to put it on
I trial fitted it to my Gt StS Lobo...but that bike needed to be like it was when i built it initially back in 1998
So i trial fitted it to the Intense..and it just did not feel right.
The only problem was that...getting hold of a Mr Dirt chainguide like the one on Palmers bike would be a difficult task
But i was lucky again. A chap from the uk had one laying around.And again...i got this for dirt cheap.

So i am superstoked getting hold of this important part..that is also somewhat distinctive to the look of the bike
Here is the MRP one first.I dont have a picture of it mounted though..


Here it is mounted on my Gt Sts Lobo ,,on the RaceFace crank

Eitherway ..here is the lovely MrDirt chaindevice mounted,,,kinda ...on the Intense

 

[1552]

Really great work