WHO IS SHAUN PALMER?
Palmer came into mountain biking from the world of snowboarding, where
he owned Palmer snowboards and won pretty much any event he turned his hand to.
Still the highest paid mountain biker on record, he put the USA on the map as a
country to contend with in downhill and slalom.
WHY IS THIS A SUPER BIKE?
- The most
influential DH bike of all time, the M1 set a new benchmark for bike designers
and cemented the importance and influence of Intense Cycles
- Troy Lee
Designs provided Palmer with this bespoke paintjob to spur him on at the 1996
World Championships in Cairns, Australia
- 165mm (6.5in) of stiction free, fully adjustable rear suspension
elevated the M1’s performance and allowed Palmer to really attack the World Cup
tracks
Shaun Palmer’s custom 1996 World Champs Intense M1
When Shaun Palmer entered the world of downhill mountain biking wearing
motocross gear and riding an Intense M1, the sport changed overnight. Soon all
the major race teams were using branded-up M1s and the motocross image spread
thick and fast.
Bucking the trend
Before the M1, the bikes being raced downhill were just slightly evolved
XC rigs. Not only was Intense Cycles boss Jeff Steber ahead of the times with
his downhillspecific design but, because he had the resources to fabricate his
own prototype frames, he was also able to constantly progress it and turn it
into a world-beater.
The original M1 appeared in 1994, using a MacPherson Strut suspension
design and the semi-monocoque construction that would become Intense’s
trademark look. After Easton turned down a request from Jeff to make special
formed tubing for these early bikes, he got to work hand-forming prototype
frames over wooden bucks using zero temper, 0.065in thick aluminium sheet.
As the frame design came on, Jeff put together a race team with
motocross racing friends Mike Metzger and Randy Lawrence plus their pal Shaun
Palmer, a pro snowboarder and an established motocross rider too. Bit by bit
the design was refined, and by 1996 it was decided that Palmer and Lawrence
would travel to all the NORBA nationals and Palmer would race World Cups for
the first time. The M1 was the talk of the pits, as was Palmer, who turned up a
relative nobody and took the race scene by storm on a bike designed from the
ground up to win races. “It featured adjustable chainstay length, head angle,
shock rate and BB height,” Jeff remembers. “And Palmer always ended up running
the lowest BB height and slackest head angle.”
That year, Palmer made it no secret that he was hungry to snatch the
coveted World Champion title from France’s Nico Vouilloz. To help him, Jeff
produced a custom M1 with a 585mm effective top tube, 68-degree head angle and
1,118mm wheelbase – pretty extreme numbers back then, when XC riders were
teetering around on 73-degree head angles. It also weighed just 16.3kg (36lb)
in an era when most downhill bikes weighed several pounds more because they
were built unnecessarily tough.
Jeff used cartridge bearings throughout the rear end to combat stiction
and had to custom-make rear shocks because nothing out there would do the job.
“I couldn’t get Fox to make the prototype shock I wanted,” he tells us. “So I
basically downsized moto shocks from Works Performance and Kuster.” His
innovations didn’t go unnoticed though, and by the time he returned from a successful
European World Cup trip and headed to the NORBA national at Big Bear Lake in
California, there was a prototype Fox shock waiting for him. “The bike really
came together for us at this point,” Jeff remembers. “We also received a first prototype
of the MRP chain guide, which used urethane rollers. By the time the Worlds
rolled around, the bike and geometry were dialled, and the rest is history.”
Palmer represented the USA at the World Championships that year with a
custom stars-and-bars Troy Lee Designs paintjob on his Intense and the national
colours on his jersey. He rode the ass off the M1 in a faultless display of
bike handling and determination – but was pipped to the post by just 0.15
seconds by his French rival. Palmer himself was frustrated with second place,
but it was a huge result for the USA. “I was at the 1996 Interbike show in
Anaheim, California and it was announced over the intercom that Shaun Palmer,
racing for the USA on his Intense M1, had just taken the silver medal,
milliseconds behind the gold,” says Jeff. “I still see that day as a defining moment
in Intense Cycles’ history.”
PROTOTYPE SHOCK
When Jeff started making the M1 there was no such thing as a downhill
shock, so he made them himself with parts from Works and Kuster moto shocks. This
is the prototype Fox Vanilla given to Jeff at the Big Bear NORBA race in 1996.
CROWNING GLORY
The twin-crown RockShox Boxxer was the first real downhill race fork, with
150mm (5.9in) of travel. Palmer’s span smoothly in a Chris King NoThreadSet.
CERAMIC RIMS
Mavic’s SUP rims were designed for the best possible braking with rim brakes.
The ceramic coating gave traction to the brake pads, and the SUP design was the
strongest and most reliable around.
HIGH ROLLER
MRP’s gamechanging chain device span on silent urethane rollers and sandwiched
the chain between two plates of aluminium to ensure it stayed on. Palmer used
it with 44 to 48t
chainrings.
CLASSIC COCKPIT
An Azonic Double Wall bar with a huge 3in rise graced the front of
Palmer’s M1, with a Club Roost cross brace for extra stiffness and security.
The CNC machined Azonic Shorty stem wasn’t so short though, at around 80mm.
CUSTOM BRAKING
Magura HS33 Racelite hydraulic rim brakes did the stopping. Not content
with the standard brake booster, Jeff made a custom Intense brake booster so that
the powerful brake wouldn’t flex the frame at the bosses and would deliver
maximum power to the rim.
PRICE: Priceless!
