banshee bikes industry insider

Team Banshee Australia would love to officially announce and welcome Jayne Rutter to the team.  Jayne is riding the fantastic Banshee Rampant, built up by Barspin Imports (the Australian Distributor).  Jayne will be contesting the Australian National Four Cross series along with some National Downhill Races along the way.  We are very excited to have Jayne on the team and can’t wait to see her out racing.  She has already had some success on the new bike, with podium finishes in her local Queensland Sunshine Series races. 

Cheers,

Darren Boman

Director

Barspin Imports

Email: info@barspin-imports.com.au

Web: www.barspin-imports.com.au

Rob just sent me this vid of the comp you've seen pics of before.

Banshee has 2 riders in this comp... one will be announced later when we can get a pic of him with all his bikes. Yeah its not really out there yet but i'm sure ppl will be stoked to learn who it is.

Fogelsode #4 is up!  It started out with a fun little sesh at the dirt jumps, when Cob found a big red rubber ball!  We were doing a big train and Cob ran up next to a jump and held the ball above his head.  Everyone tried to kick it but the ball was too low.  I told him to throw it up when I did a tailwhip and it went flying!  Cam said we should get someone to try to catch the ball after I hit it and things got epic after that.  Cam and I did some tailwhips and we wanted to try some other tricks.  We though of no-foot-cans but figured they would just kick the ball downward.  Not for Jamie though!  He threw some huge Indian Cans and tapped the ball with his foot on one.  He went on to hit it with some nacs after that!

A few days later, on Thanksgiving, Matt, Christian, Iggy, and I got together for a trail ride.  I had just got my Rampant back up and running so I was stoked to get back on a fully!  It was sooooo much fun, especially with the short rain we got, making everything nice and loamy.  We wanted to film it a little different than most trail videos, so we set it up as staggered pairs of riders.  I was stoked how it came together and how much fun it was to ride!  There’s going to be a lot more riding on fullies in the future so look forward to that! 

At the end there were some shots of drifting at Matt’s Ranch.  He took us up there to scope for building, so we found some lines and began to do some work.  It started raining though, but we are planning on heading out there next weekend.  He’s got a tractor too, so we should have some dialed lines runnin in no time!  Without further adieu, here’s Fogelsode #4!

-Jack

Mike spotted this and kindly scanned it and sent it over to me...thanks Mike!

(Yeah, not the most accurate report... but oh well!)

Brandon... you rock dude!!! awesome vid
Greg from Straitline gave me the link

Went to the skate park the other day and took some pictures. It was the first time I have been on my Amp and rode in a skate park since I left for Canada in late June. It felt pretty strange when I got there, but I think we got some decent pictures.

New Kali carbon Samra Helmet.

I have been working on hipping the fun box in the park.

It took a couple dozen tries to get a decent tuck.

I would like to thank Spank for hooking me up with some new Tweet Tweet Rims (waiting for hubs) and Tweet Tweet Bar and Stem …

Rob

Work is progressing very well on the new PUMP TRACK at Esher Shore bike park here in England, UK

We've been putting in alot of time recently as the weather condition have been just right for digging, and the track is really starting to take proper shape with extra lines, loops and crossovers, and much deeper height berms and bumps

Here in the UK its generally quite damp, so we have been paying full attention to install proper drainage system to stop rain water from puddling - the encouraging thing is that the Track was rideable today on my Mythic Rampant despite it raining last night

Of course the Track was not super fast as the ground was a little soft, but its great news that it was fully pumpable (no pedalling) despite recent rain!

We are currently talking to Dirt Magazine about doing a feature on the Pump Track once its all open - Easter 2010 is the expected opening date, and we will be filming short video clips of the Mythic AMP and Rampant being put through their paces on the Pump Track

Photos by Jerome Abed (KrazyJay)

Fogelsode #3 is up!  I filmed the Post Office footy while taking a break from riding during a shoot with Guy and Josh for “The Locals.”  If you think the shots I got looked epic, you should see the shots Josh got!  He’s the first one to ever set up cable-cams at Post Office and nailed some amazing shots!  A few days later we got some rain and Christian was in town and wanted to ride, so we seshed the step-up and got some shots there.  You may have heard about AT’s Showdown in San Francisco, which went down Saturday.  That’s where the rest of the vid was filmed.  The comp was crazy with HUGE jumps.  The course began with a steep hill into a giant step-down.  You were haulin’ after that, so the next jump was an 8 foot tall kicker with a 35 foot gap!  Hands down the biggest jump I’ve ever hit!

The Step-Down!

The First Jump!

The last two jumps had 8 foot lips as well, with smaller gaps.  The format was a 1 hour qualifying jam where the top 16 qualify.  They move onto a dual-slalom type “showdown” bracket where 16th qualifier and 1st place qualifier each do one run, and the better run moves on.  This is done 15th against 2nd, 14th against 3rd, and so on.  Same goes for the next three rounds until the winner is determined.  I thought it was pretty cool because it was totally different from any other jump comp.  It would have been nice for each rider to get 2 runs instead of 1 though.  In the qualifying jam I did some tailwhips over the 2nd double and threw a cork flip, 3whips, and a flipwhip on the last.  The last jump was hard to clear, especially for flipping it, but I ended up riding out of most things.  I’m stoked on the flipwhip!  I ended up seat-landing and riding out, which was a relief as it was the first one I tried to dirt!

I ended up qualifying 14th, so I made it in!  In my final run I tailwhipped the 2nd jump and tried a 3-whip on the 3rd.  I missed my bike when I went to kick it and tried to bring it around, but landed sketchy and slid out.  It was a sick day though!  I was stoked alone on hitting those jumps, so getting to ride them all day with everyone was awesome!  My friend Iggy filmed the whole day so I could have some footage to use for the video.  Overall it was an awesome comp and I can’t wait till the next one! 

Also, word on the street is my friend Mike could be getting the ramps from the comp, so we’ll definitely be busy building, riding, and shooting if that’s the case!

Anyway, here’s Fogelsode #3!  Enjoy!

-Jack

My brother James and I have been building jumps at a spot in Taiwan for the past two years. Most of our free time is spent there digging and riding. We both spent most of the summer and some of the fall in Canada. Basically no one maintained our jumps and trails for four months. When I got back to Kaohsiung we went to the jumps to check it out. James had already been a couple weeks earlier and I did not believe him when he told me what shape the jumps were in.

standing on the landing for the first jump looking up towards the trail head

the second jump, which is in pretty good shape, if we could ride into it

on the left is the landing for the second jump, on the right is our wood jump

there is a berm in the grass there somewhere

grass everywhere

We are not sure what we are going to do now. The plan is to make a decent sized trick style step up and then work from there.

Rob

Here at Freeborn Bikes, UK importer of Mythic bikes, we are getting ready for a huge media assault in the New Year

My good friend Jerome Abed has been tasked to create a series of short videos featuring all of our import brands, riders and both our stores, which will be put on new media platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, and embedded as video in the new Freeborn website due Feb 2010

Here is a sample video from Jerome (Krazy Jey to his friends) showing our Esher Store

We are shooting 'bike check' videos on each of the models soon (like Jay from Banshee did last year), and a couple of action videos featuring the Rampant, AMP and Wildcard at Esher Shore

http://www.youtube.com/user/krazyjey#p/u/0/gKjqGntQe0Y

The racing season is not over here in Asia!

Our team rider Gig won the Elite Women's DH race in the Lubuk Linggau National MTB Challenge (DH and XC) in Indonesia last weekend.

Gig flying on her Scythe! (all 3 pics by Adee Rocker)

Gig racing in her DH garb...(pic by Yamm)

I just watched this and Dustin kills it. Check it out …

Fogelsode #2 is online!  The beginning was shot at Post Office when Cob and I got out there just after sunrise to do a photoshoot with Justin Brantley.  I have to say, it felt weird riding so early, but was cool at the same time and offered some really nice lighting!  As always, Justin nailed some dialed shots, like this one:

Later in the week Matt and I headed out to the Aptos Step-Up and filmed a couple quick shots because the sunset was looking epic.  I tried some flipwhips and ended up getting my first one to pedals!  A couple days later, Guy and I seshed the Scotts Valley Step-Up so Guy could relearn his tricks after taking about two months off from riding because he had three back-to-back concussions.  We ended the day by meeting up with Iggy and Matt at the new pumptrack that we are working on, and tested out what we have so far.  Enjoy!

Ok so I go to google ... type in Pinkbike and the above image comes up.
Is that a link to Banshee under the Pinkbike link?
Rob checked his google and it never came up like that but mine did. Anyway its tripping me out and thought I'd share.

Last summer I was chilling out in the Whistler air dome with our team rider Alan Hepburn, and got chatting to a very proud father who was there with his kid. His kid's name is Dakota Martin and he is a name to watch out for in the future as even at the age of 12 he was pulling massive no foot cans and back flips with good style.



I helped out and offered him a grass roots deal, since him and his dad were heavily involved in their local biking scene, so felt like it was about time the bike industry gave something back. (Not to mention the kid kills it!)


So last week Dakota e-mailed me to tell me that he is now officially the fastest 13 yr old on a BMX in Canada, after winning his age class at the Canadian BMX Nationals. He is currently classed #1 in Canada and #6 in the states for BMX racing.



He also sent me some pics of him riding his Wildcard. That half pipe is one that he and his dad built in their backyard in Kelowna, BC. They also open up their yard to local riders to ride it and keep the kids off the street! Good people!



So the kid has speed and style, as well as a good attitude and determination to progress in the sport, and the support of a proud family. That sounds like a winning combo to me. He just needs to learn to smile for the camera! haha


Dakota Martin remember that name!

Asian Cycling Confederation MTB Championships comes to Melaka, Malaysia for 2009.

This is the race on the UCI race calendar where racers in the asian continent come to compete and earn their UCI points.

Among the contestants qualifying for the race were our very own Fakawi Banshee Team riders Stanly Jalip JR riding for Malaysia in the Elite men's category and Ausanee Pradupyard flying Thailand flag in the Elite women's category.) Both racing on their Banshee Legend Mk1s.

Stanly Jalip JR (Malaysia) and Ausanee Pradupyard (Thailand) with their Banshee Legend Mk1s.

Stanly doing the drop..pic by Rizal

1st-Ario Sejati Popo (Indonesia) 2:39.498

2nd-Naoli Idegawa (Japan)2:43.617

3rd- Jarupeng "Golden Boy"Tanaphon (Thailand) 2:50.283

4th- Nagata (Japan) 2:51

5th- Tan Hong Chun (Singapore) 2:55

More Pics at FakawiTribe.com

Clayton and I road-tripped down to Woodward last week and met up with James and Jake.  We got all checked in and headed down to the Hanger.  The place is HUGE with a giant park, 14 foot halfpipe, a street area, and the foam pit.  It was super sick getting to ride the foam pit because I’ve never been to one and had some tricks I wanted to try.  Everyone threw down left with at least one new trick that they landed on the resi.  We did a ton of filming and I finally got around to putting the footy together.  This is the first episode of a series of web videos I will be making throughout the season called “Fogelsodes”.  Enjoy!

-Jack

As you may have known, I spent most of last season making a full length movie that shows the various spots that we have to ride here in the Aptos/Santa Cruz area.  The film is called “LOCations” as it shows the different “locations” around here and riders in it are locals or “locs.”  The project has been a long one, but now it’s all on pinkbike.com, waiting for you to watch! 

The full movie can be seen here!

Here’s the article about it on pinkbike!

I also uploaded the individual sections so you won’t have to stream through the full movie to watch a certain part, so those are right here!

I’m really stoked on how it turned out and hope you enjoy it!

-Jack

So at Interbike it was awesome when the crew at Mtbr.com came by to give us not one but 2 best of awards. One was given to a bike we aren’t even making anymore but no surprise its still popular is the Scirocco a previous best of winner in the freeride hardtail category.

New however was the Banshee Amp and well deservedly so as its a killer little bike.

I’m still hoping some of our other bikes start popping up. I know the Wildcard was only a mere 5 reviews with 5 chili’s away from getting a best of but maybe next year.

Don’t forget to review your bikes guys… its really cool to get the feedback from our riders and its what keeps us doing what we love to do… building bikes for you guys to enjoy.