Has this been posted and I missed it?
M6 discontinued?
- Thread starter Joe W.Cup
- Start date
No point in having both M6 and 951 produced I guess...
Not going to stop me from getting one ;]
Not going to stop me from getting one ;]
Looks like the M6, Socom, and Spider FRO have all been moved to the archives.
Highly doubt they're going to produce the M6 Evo.
yeah i think that's the more likely case..
951 replaces the Socom (suppose you get the Uzzi if you wanted something less slack)
M6 EVO replaces the M6?
That's too bad, I thought it was the baddest bike in the line up. I guess any of the wrinkles have been ironed out with the 951, because didn't the WC guys prefered M6 over the 951? Especially the bigger, burly tracks.
Well, the WC guys can get whatever frame they want whenever... So I mean don't necessarily need to offer those to public.
Don't get me wrong, I hope they do... the Evo is freakin sick.
Don't get me wrong, I hope they do... the Evo is freakin sick.
That's one sexy frame!!!
There has been no official word out of Intense yet about the M6 EVO going into production but I have pretty good feeling we will be seeing it early 2010.
Words from Jeff Steber:The 951 is almost opposite the M6 in personality.
It started out as the new Socom redesign project but turned into a whole new thing and filled the request from our pro racers for a more tight coarse bike.
The linkage was designed to yeild more spring energy to make it snappier & quicker out of the turns. Having the ramp up gives you some platform to push against, inturn the951 will bunny hop , launch jumps, skip over woops etc. better as the M6 follows the terrain better.
It is a smooth linier ramp up and that is why it works well & yes it is hard to bottom it.
The 951 is very plush in the begining and well into the usable travel and so it tracks great also.
In the end we really liked the feel or personality of the 951 and felt this met the need and offered something different.
Words from Jeff Steber:The 951 is almost opposite the M6 in personality.
It started out as the new Socom redesign project but turned into a whole new thing and filled the request from our pro racers for a more tight coarse bike.
The linkage was designed to yeild more spring energy to make it snappier & quicker out of the turns. Having the ramp up gives you some platform to push against, inturn the951 will bunny hop , launch jumps, skip over woops etc. better as the M6 follows the terrain better.
It is a smooth linier ramp up and that is why it works well & yes it is hard to bottom it.
The 951 is very plush in the begining and well into the usable travel and so it tracks great also.
In the end we really liked the feel or personality of the 951 and felt this met the need and offered something different.
if anyone knows the value of selling to the public what they make for their racers, it's Intense. that's been their brand from the very beginning.
I was gonna say, I thought that was part of their business model.
You never know man, never know...
Directly from the horses mouth on teh M6 evo..... " The Evo was never intended to be sold or ridden very long, its purpose is testing, very few will ever get the opportunity to ride them, we used its adjustability to come up with the 951's geo, Its cool we have a bike we can go through, add a ton of options. The go out, ride it till we find what we like and build a bike to match it. You might find some of the adjustments coming available on other bike, but the evo just isnt going to be sold as a production bike.""
I was at a Demo, and asked very specifically about the M6 evo, that was the drawn out answer.
I was at a Demo, and asked very specifically about the M6 evo, that was the drawn out answer.
I was told something else.......
...and that would be?
That is will see production in 2010, but not before spring, they are currently really busy with the 951 frames
As much as I do like some of the Intense frames, I'd be concerned about being a long term owner of one. Things like this make me wonder - since 2007, they have had...4 or 5 different DH frames? M3, M6, 951, Socom, M6 Evo (maybe, maybe not). These production runs have got to be pretty damn small, and getting spares for these more than 1 or 2 years after purchase cannot be the easiest thing in the world.
I know quite a few guys still rocking their M1's, and that is the #1 thing they worry about with the frame. They all know something about it will break eventually, but being SOL on parts has them looking at other options.
It kind of reminds me how Honda makes significant chassis changes to their dirt bikes EVERY YEAR.
I know quite a few guys still rocking their M1's, and that is the #1 thing they worry about with the frame. They all know something about it will break eventually, but being SOL on parts has them looking at other options.
It kind of reminds me how Honda makes significant chassis changes to their dirt bikes EVERY YEAR.
As long as they keep to make their bikes inhouse I think they should still be able to produce/sell spares for older bikes.
Not the case as far as I know. A mate of mine cracked the swing link on his M3 in the last few months, and had an absoloute ball ache of a time getting the part for it. In fact I think for a while he had to run an M6 link giving him 7 inches of travel. Intense told him they didn't have any parts for him. In the end I think he got one from a WC mechanic in Morzine, sold it and bought a Sunday.
, sold it and bought a Sunday.
i bet that tasted good
Well means there is one less reason to buy from inhouse companies. Well at least some of them. What is the real point of making your frames like that when the support is below par of some of the ones made in Asia? A sticker?Not the case as far as I know. A mate of mine cracked the swing link on his M3 in the last few months, and had an absoloute ball ache of a time getting the part for it. In fact I think for a while he had to run an M6 link giving him 7 inches of travel. Intense told him they didn't have any parts for him. In the end I think he got one from a WC mechanic in Morzine, sold it and bought a Sunday.
Intense will fab stuff for you if you know who to talk to and don't act like a tool(big bike biz no no).
I like the fact that intense makes many different bikes. They are on top of thier game. The public can see a WC rider on a bike and if there is aenough demand Intense can have the bike on bike shop floors in a couple weeks. That is the beauty of doing everything in house except for painting/powder coating.
I like the fact that intense makes many different bikes. They are on top of thier game. The public can see a WC rider on a bike and if there is aenough demand Intense can have the bike on bike shop floors in a couple weeks. That is the beauty of doing everything in house except for painting/powder coating.
Exactly why I like "in house" companies! Plus I'm all about supporting the "Made in America" logo when I can.Are all the Santa Cruz bike still made in the US? I thought I heard that a couple were actually being made overseas. I was thinking that Rob was better then that.
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The fast development proces is nice but looking at how much delays my friend had when waiting for his uzzi (supposedly delayed due to the whole 951 thing) it doesn't always work like it should.
To be successful you have to keep production where the volume is. You are going to run into these issues no matter how large of a operation you have.
It is better than waiting 2 weeks for the bike to float accross the Pacific just to find out there was a mess up during fabrication in Taiwan and the frames need to be sent back, scrapped and rebuilt.
It is better than waiting 2 weeks for the bike to float accross the Pacific just to find out there was a mess up during fabrication in Taiwan and the frames need to be sent back, scrapped and rebuilt.
It was much more due to 951 development if I remember right. They pushed the dates because they were not bound by orders in the factories so it can swing both ways. Though I may be not fully informed. Still I don't really care where my bike is done as long as it's done and does what it should.
I don't know if they are that much different from other manufacturers in terms of model turnover. Every model is made 3-4 years then replaced with a newer model. M6 production was short though, like 2 years.
Good thing about Intense is that their frames are modular, e.g. the newer lower links from VPP2 models fit VPP1 bikes, Socom and old Uzzi shared same rear triangle, all replaceable DOs are compatible (before switch to G3)....
And they always try to help you out when things go wrong in my experience.
With M1 parts is a hit or miss. Some parts they still have, others they don't. But show me any other manufacturer's DH bike from 2003 (last year they made it) that you still can get on hold of spare parts! Once in a while cheap NOS spares and used frames show up on ebay, so to keep the old bikes rolling this might be the way to go.
IT sucks the M6 didnt have a very long life. IMO its still there flag ship bike and if I was rocking WC tracks daily it would be my choice.
I think the fact that Intense is constantly raising the bar, changing their product line and able to keep there old products alive says alot about them.
Intense 4 life.
I think the fact that Intense is constantly raising the bar, changing their product line and able to keep there old products alive says alot about them.
Intense 4 life.
I don't know, maybe I have different expectations from a bike company, but if I have paid two and half thousand pounds for a frame, I don't expect to have to be 'in' with guys in the company just to get spare parts for it. Likewise, of course I wouldn't be a tool on the phone to anyone, but I don't want to have to kiss ring to get decent service. The M1 I can understand a lack of parts for, not the M3 or later. Sometimes I think the bike industry gets away with a lot of nonsense and basically forgetting that we are paying customers by playing on the 'community' bro-love thing.
On a personal note, you'd need to have me at gun point to spend my own hard earned on an Intense. Crack happy, squint from the factory, overpriced and undersupported, not to mention vulgar designs. (All in my opinion of course
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This looks like a trend now. First Yeti dropping the 303dh. (Or at least it is not on there web site). Now Intense axing the M6. Both are replaced with more active designs. There appears to be a trend to lighter more agile bikes going on here.
Are the days of point and plow over???
Are the days of point and plow over???
As long as the WC tracks will look like Schladming, Val di sole or Maribor I'm quite sure that big stable bikes will still be usefull
I am pretty sure that the V10 remains the only bike in their line up to be made on these shores, there may be one other though I can't remember.
Are all the Santa Cruz bike still made in the US? I thought I heard that a couple were actually being made overseas. I was thinking that Rob was better then that.
I thought the V10 was outsourced last year? Doesnt it just say designed in USA on the frame now?
I'm 99.9% positive that you are correct about the V10 being made here in the States.
I don't think any of them are made in the US anymore... even the V10
Pretty sure nothing SC is made in the US anymore, in a video about the new Syndicate bikes with the longer shock they talked about how they had to alter existing frames to get the shock to fit because retooling the factory for a few frames was not cost effective. If they had their own production facility they could easily fab a prototype.
Not for a while now. I remember 2 or so years ago some buddies were waiting for ages for the 08 v-10's because they had huge supplier/mfg issues over in taiwan and the frames took forever to get across the pond.