Bigger. Better. Faster. More. And don't forget lighter. The Intense M3, already the cream of the crop of downhill race bikes, has evolved once again. After a season of rigorous testing and tweaking, Intense unveils the latest edition, the M6 FRO. It's all about excess, a bike that demands to be pushed to the limits. After all it is designated FRO -- For Race Only. Chris Kovarik once described his M3 as the fastest effin bike he's ever ridden -- well, the M6 FRO already has the distinction of being the fastest bike on Planet Earth. In September 2007, Austria's Markus Stoeckl rode the Intense M6 FRO to a World Record top speed of 130.7 mph in the Chilean Alps, shattering the previous record by better than 14 mph. And that's before it even hit production. The history books will show that Intense Cycles began work on the original M1 downhill frame in 1993. It was modest by today's standards, delivering a total of 5” of travel. In 1994 the M1 went into full production, and twelve quick months later Intense became the global superpower of downhill. The Intense Cycles Factory Team and development staff during those salad days included legendary downhill racers Shaun Palmer and Randy Lawrence. The Intense M1 scorched the World Cup circuit and by 1997 corporate industry giants with bottomless R&D budgets like Mongoose and Giant rebadged M1's with their own decals in order to stay competitive. The historic M1 morphed into the M3, and now, today's Intense M6 FRO. Intense continues to dominate the downhill scene unabated. The M6 FRO features 9.1" of VPP travel, made possible by a specially designed 10.5 x 3.5 Manitou Revox Coilshock -- or, for an upcharge of $575, you can select a Cane Creek Double Barrel with titanium spring. The new low leverage ratio (2.6 to 1) VPP suspension design of the M6 FRO allows you to run a lighter spring rate which in turn allows the shock to work more efficiently. The Intense M6 FRO's abundant travel doesn't come at the expense of quick handling or excellent maneuverability. In fact, the nearly two years Intense spent developing the monocoque frame design of the M6 frame has again resulted in geometry improvements like a 64.5 degree head tube angle, and a low 13.75 bottom bracket height, that allow the bike to handle with more agility than any previous generation of the frame. And, it doesn't hurt that Intense shaved a couple hundred grams from the beast either. Intense recommends the use of a 180mm-203 mm fork and a 165mm-170 mm crankset on the M6 FRO. It's available in Intense Red, Stealth Black, Pearl White, or Works (raw aluminum). It uses a 31.6mm seatpost and is 8” rotor compatible. The M6 features ISCG 05 tabs, and uses a 12mm rear axle (not included). Please specify your preference for 150mm or 135mm rear hub spacing in the comments section at checkout.
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configure/buy M6 FRO
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