Its head angle is a super-slack 66 degrees and its seat tube is raked back to artificially lengthen the cockpit as the seatpost is extended. There’s not a hint of cross-country in the M-1’s frame numbers. Suspension travel is eight inches in the rear and seven inches are available from its team-issue Manitou X-Vert-C, MRD fork. While previous M-1s had a plethora of adjustments, the latest version has only three shock mounting positions?and there is no provision for wheelbase adjustments. The reason for the longer stroke is to force a greater volume of fluid through the shock piston, thus making the damping circuit more sensitive to valving. The entire linkage has been reconfigured to operate with a three-inch-stroke shock. The compression strut is more rigid, as is the one-piece machined swing link. The rear suspension is the four-bar linkage that Intense pioneered in the downhill scene. Easton stickers on the rear suspension hint that Intense is shaving weight off their flagship descender to increase its pedaling performance?it rides and feels lighter than any true downhiller we?ve tested to date. The swingarm is beefier and now sports a Horst link dropout that frees up the suspension from any braking forces. The entire upper section is a one-piece monocoque fabrication, welded to a single tubular downtube. The latest M-1 front section is strengthened and streamlined. In fact, it is a back-up machine that will be pressed into service the moment we return it?if we actually do return it. Ours was set up exactly as the ones the top Intense team members receive. Not surprisingly, the newest M-1 is a simpler, faster and better-handling chassis than its predecessors.
Now, this monocoque superbike has been totally revamped?packed full of the knowledge and experience that Intense has gleaned from the traveling circus we often refer to as the pro downhill circuit. It has won friends and influenced rivals on the downhill pro circuit for over five years. MBA readers should be well informed on the history of the Intense M-1. If you want to have a lot of fun racing downhill and don?t have a trust fund to cash in, the Iron Horse is the fast lane to the fun factor. If you need to win World Cups, buy the M-1. The SGS DH won?t deliver the performance of the Intense, but all you have to do is flash some cash at your Iron Horse dealer and you could be racing downhill a couple of hours later. Sure, the SGS DH isn?t cheap, but it’s about two grand less than a competitive pro bike like the Intense M-1. Iron Horse decided to produce a turn-key sport-racing machine that carried a relatively affordable $3500 price tag. No wonder downhill racing has been slow to catch on. Because of this anomaly, downhillers have had to cobble up downhill bikes from cross-country machines, or purchase an expensive chassis from a custom-frame builder. Paradoxically, the ones who sponsor heavyweight pro teams are the worst offenders. Unless you are a serious downhill racer, you?d probably be better off purchasing a complete bike off the shelf?which is where Iron Horse enters the picture.ĭarn few bike companies offer complete downhill racing bikes.
There’s no telling how many different hubs, axle diameters and disc brake combinations there are available. The fork and shock damping and spring rates must be balanced the crankset, chain guide, bottom bracket and cogset must operate with your chosen shifting bits. You must choose every component and each system must be compatible. There’s a great deal of time and effort involved in piecing together a custom machine like the M-1. For one thing, the complete Iron Horse can be purchased for slightly more than the sticker price of the Intense’s frame only. There are, however, compelling reasons that we chose to compare the performance of the cost-is-no-object Intense M1 with an affordable downhill racing machine from our friends at Iron Horse. It would be like putting odds on Woody Allen in a title bout against Evander Hollyfield.
When you pit an affordable mountain bike against a professional racing model, you can?t really call it a shootout.