My downhill Bike

I picked up this bike at the end of last summer for $1100 from Craig's List and road it at keystone and vail for the end of the downhill season. Over the winter I upgraded a few key components and now it rides like a dream!

It is a medium Intense M1, I am not sure of the year but I think it is one of the latter models of the M1 before it was replaced by the M3. At the end of the season I was torn as to whether the size of the frame was correct for me. For some reason the bike felt really good in the steep trails at Vail but just didn't feel right at Keystone. But I couldn't decide if it was me not being comfortable riding all the time in crouch position or something about the sizing of the bike.

when I got the bike from craigslist it came with:
- Stock wheels - 3" tires with a 26" front and 24" rear doublewide Sun Rims
- Stock Stratos fork
- XTR rear derailleur
- Chris King headset
- Vanilla RC coil rear suspension
- Hayes Brakes

I changed:
- the stock Stratos fork to a Boxxer Team, this was a really nice upgrade as the fork was about 2lbs lighter and just flat out a far superior fork. The bike now absolutely floats through the fast and rocky stuff at Keystone where as before I never really felt like I could open up the speed in those conditions. It always felt good in the smoother terrain at Vail but now it rides amazing at keystone as well.

- The wheels and tires I changed to Mavic DeeTrax hubs/rims and am running 2.7" Maxxis minion DH front and 2.5" Maxxis minion DH rear. This was another great change that lightened the bike by another 2'lbs (approx).

- Replaced the rear drive chain area to now be a Shimano road cassette rear and Shimano 105 Road rear dérailleur. These changes were based on advice from Alex at The Fix. With the old rear 24" wheel and the longer rear dérailleur I used to always get the chain sucked down inside the swing arm and trapped against the tire. Now the chain line has no problems at all.

- Added MRP bashguard and Chain Tensioner. I did this at the end of last summer to try and fix the problem where the chain would bounce down between the swing arm and the tire when going fast through small bump terrain.

Intense M1 - 42lbs with pedals
Fork: Boxxer Team 8" Travel
Rear Suspension: Vanilla RC 8" Travel
Front Wheel: Mavix Deetrax, 2.7" Maxxis Minion DHF
Rear Wheel: Mavix Deetrax, 2.5" Maxxis Minion DHR
Cranks: Race Face with Azonic Flats and single front ring
Bash + Chain Guide: MRP
Rear dérailleur: Shimano 105 road