Mythic Bikes 2008

Greetings from Mythic Bikes, England

as regular visitors to this blog and the Banshee website may know, Mythic is the UK sub-label of Banshee Bikes, Canada

For those who don't know; to cut a long story short, another distributor has the rights to use "Banshee" in the UK

We put our heads together with Banshee about 2 years back, to come up with a cool name so we can promote and sell the frames into the UK market

we are stoked to be part of Banshee, but having our own name is extra cool as it gives us our own identity

Mythic riders seem to like getting envious stares from other riders on the trails, and plenty of questions about their frames from the locals in the lift queue at Whistler Bike Park!

the 2008 range of frames is looking completely dialled, and we are soon to receive our sample frames - Rampant, Rune, Wildcard and Scythe, which will be built into high-end test bikes and sent off to the UK mags for some serious testing

In addition, i will be getting my Team Wildcard frame, which i am totally stoked about. I have been riding the Chaparral this season and although the Chap was a sick rig and up for any kind of bad abuse, it was a touch heavy for the typical UK terrain

I've been busy in the workshop getting my build parts together for the arrival of my Wildcard frame, gonna try out Stan's No-Tubes with some Syncros BHT kevlar tires to keep the rotational weight low as possible, to help with the tricks!

I've been riding BMX alot this year, and a couple of sessions in the Air Dome at Whistler last month has given me lots of confidence to try out lots of new stuff

We are also working on the Slopestyle park here at Esher Shore over the Winter, which will require lots of test riding...it's a hard life, eh?

The response to the 2008 frames here in the UK has been very very positive, with the Wildcard looking to be the stand-out seller, due to the Slopestyle "trend"...in other words a lighter weight, mid travel bike, yet tough enough to abuse, which sounds ideal for our terrain

We will also be pushing the other frames equally as hard, with the Scythe for the hard hitting freeride crowd, the Rune for the All-Mountain riders and the Rampant looking perfect for the 4X and Dual tracks that are springing up across the UK in public forests

And of course the timeless classics such as the Scirocco and Morphine which are always popular for riders looking for genuine all-rounders

As soon as the 08 samples arrive, i'm burning the midnight oil in the workshop and will get the pictures up here first

cheers!!

Rob C

VF4B Pivots

All the VF4B (Virtual Floating four bar) frames are equipped with entirely new pivot assemblies for 2008.

By reducing the complexity and part number I have made the pivots far easier to maintain, whist also reducing weight and increasing lateral stiffness.

For 2008 the Rune, Rampant and Pyre will all be using iglide polymer bearings. This decision has not been made lightly. We have considered all the pros and cons as well as done a substantial amount of field testing (actually I would say that hardcore BC trails are far better than fields for testing to the limits!)

what are the benefits?

• Increased lateral stiffness


• Reduced weight


• Reduced maintenance


• Cheaper for customers to replace


• Self lubricating

I realise that there are a lot of die hard bearing fans out there... but what you have to realise is that bearings are designed to take complete 360degree rotations like you get in bottom brackets, and not angular rotations (less than 90degrees) like you get in suspension pivots. This means that the whole load in bearings is constantly wearing out just 2 or 3 of the ball bearings in a conventional bearing, whereas the polymer bushings wear evenly due to the design.

You can find more information on the bearings here.. http://www.igus.com/show_iglide.asp and you can also order replacement bushings directly from them quickly and at a low price.

Axles:

The axles for the main pivots have been specifically designed for performance, simplicity, and ease of maintenance. This has been achieved by:

• Direct grease injection ports with set screw grease zerk


• Grease injection can be done in under 30 seconds, just unscrew the set screw, inject grease, screw in set screw. (obviously the area MUST be clean when you do this to stop grit getting in to the pivots)


• 3 parts to the axles... axle, bolt and zerk ... that's it, why over complicate things?


• Double helical groves on the axle surface to allow the grease to push under the bushings.


• Hard anodised finish to axle surface improves the life of both axles and pivots. (not seen in prototype above)

Basically the you inject the grease in through the end of the axle and it feeds through into the gap in the pivot between bushings due to the machined grease path. (you can see the grease paths in the following cross section picture).

Yes the bushings are self lubricating, so if they remain clean then there is no need to even grease the pivots, however if you suspect there is some grit in there then injecting grease can force out the grit without harming the bushings.

After spending months testing and abusing the prototypes that all had the new pivot assemblies we are very confident that they will help improve your riding experience.

720 roadtrip Czech Republic

Last week I took a road trip around Czech Republic which was organized by my good friend from 720.cz website.


13 cars, about 30 people, riding, trawling, camping, having party and fun. One week on the road. We spend perfect time riding every day one or two different locations like bikeparks, local freeride and dirt jump spots or secret trails.

Kamil Tatarkovic (Kona Les Gets, 3th man from 4x world cup 2006) and me at his backyard





I have an Banshee Pyre in test. The bike was build little more for freeride and it was perfect on all kind of trails, dirt, 4x track, freeride singletracks... Geometry and suspension system worked great, but it ts still a light enduro frame. I thing that new burlier Rune will be excellent do-it-all bike.


Check few pictures from trip:

Rampant and other stuff

Got the Rampant pics up in the gallery now [see the previous post on how to access it]. It would have been nice to show it in the other team color because you've all already seen the red and white version. I know I should have weighed all the complete bikes but I forgot - sorry - I'll try to do it when I'm in Germany next week.

Make sure you check out the difference between this pic and the earlier pics of the rampant prototype, which is namely the custom hydroformed 7005 tubeset. The shapes are just awesome and all flowy and the differences can be seen on the Wilcard, and Rune also.

Yes... its the dog and pony show time of year again which will see me globe trotting around meeting everyone again.

I'll be in Friedrichschafen for the Eurobike show, then fly straight to Montreal where the BTAC show is - we plan to do the dirt demo where we will have all the bikes [except the Legend], then a few weeks later is the Interbike dirt demo which should be pretty cool.

I'll definitely be looking forward to seeing a few of you.

So no I'm just waiting to get the Scythe which may or may not be done before I leave... well maybe leave, because Typhoon [hurricane] Sepat, which they are classifying as a Super Typhoon, is headed our way and it should hit land very close to the time I'm suppose to fly out.

What I didn't realize is the hurricane is approaching from the East and even if there was a window to the west China has a no fly zone so we wouldn't have much room to maneavour; there is a chance i may be grounded.

If so me and Lance are probably going to find a few lawn chairs and have a beer outside... should be pretty funny.

More 2008 pics

I'll let the pics speak for themselves






















more

2008 bikes

2008 Pictures

I will be uploading more as i take them. They are the raw studio shots before processing, I thought it would be neat to show them with the strings hanging down and stuff before I process them for the catalog and web.



I'll also try to take some pics of the behind the scenes look.

I've got more on the trip and Lance from Canfield and Ryan from Astrix say hi. I've been hanging out with those guys while I'm here. Luckily I missed racing in the hill climb they did before I arrived and both are still hurting as it was 75K ride uphill, in basically a mild hurricane... maybe I'll get Lance to jump on here and give the gory details.

anyway I gotta get back at er

Legend Geometry..

I feel it is important to gain feedback about the legend geometry at this stage (before design is complete) as the nature of the legend design means that adjusting geometry at a later date is very difficult to do!

I know a lot of you are eager to know more about the Legend (DH race specific frame), so I'll give you all a bit of an inside scoop!

7.5 - 8.5" adjustable travel

DH Specific geometry (again adjustable)

Very low center of gravityLight weight but with strength where it needs it

....and the linkage is totally new to banshee, and in a sense..the industry (however I have been working on fine tuning it for 2 years now to get the best possible performance)

So here is the early geometry that I have put together. Please comment on changes you would like to be seen made! I want to design the best bike possible, so the more feedback I get from the riders the better!Please give me some feedback... I want to get the geometry of this bike right the first time!!

Colorado Banshee World

Hello to all! Just to introduce myself, my name is Linden Carlson. I'm 27, a Colorado native and I love bicycles. I grew up riding BMX and dirt bikes in the desert hills around Fruita, CO. Now I ride Banshee and feel incredibly fortunate to be their Colorado sales rep/rider. I operate out of Glenwood Springs CO, because it is a great place to be on two wheels.

I became involved with Banshee after I bought a Morphine frame through a shop that was sponsoring me. I was so impressed the when I heard about a sales representative position, I jumped on it. Not for money, but for the passion of such bikes and to break into the industry that I love. People deserve to see these bikes, to ride them and understand what it is to ride a great machine.

I also work with Devon Balet Photography. You have probably see more shots of me than you realized in the '06 and '07 catalogues and many more to come. Devon and I are at every Mountain States Cup race, or at least in the nearby hills finding great places to ride, take photos and just hang out.

Devon is a well trained photographer , but his natural ability to light and capture a moment is stunning. At 24 years old, he has a glorious career ahead of him that will be long and prosperous. Other than that, he climbs rocks like a spun monkey, can more than hold his own on a mountain bike and is simply a cool guy. When he's not taking photos of me charging wild flowers or hucking my corpse over some spooky gap, I am stoked to be his assistant. He rides a beautiful Scirocco, and along with being the official photographer for Team Dead Bros/Banshee, he puts his nine years of bike mechanic skills to the good use on our Banshee Bikes. He works really hard for free bikes and photo credits, no money, so he gets mad props for all his help. I could not have pulled this all together without him.

Speaking of the team, we are mostly amateurs running expert across the roster. We have a few valuable sponsorships. Banshee bikes being first on the list with a great deal for riders on bikes. Jay and the crew are really laid back and just completely friendly and helpful. We couldn'tbe lined up with a better bike company. We also have the Gear Exchange helping us out. This has to be the coolest shop in Glenwood Springs, and in my opinion, the entire Roaring Fork Valley. Darren and Kendall have been so supportive and help out whenever they can. I am proud to be one of their sponsored athletes. Culligan Water, of Carbondale CO, is helping is out with some expenses and making sure we aren't thirsty by giving us all the bottles of water we can drink. Come see us in Keystone for some high quality H20. Culligan has been my employer for almost 4 years and I really like everyone. They're a great set of people and have taught me a lot when I'm not ditching work to ride.

Team Dead Bros/Banshee is looking ahead to next year. I think we'll have a couple of pro spots open and a place for a dedicated youth. I'd like a hardcore XC rider, man or woman, to round out the team. To find out more write an email to noslrac669@yahoo.com and apply.

Thanks for reading this blog, all you hardcore riders, ragers and fans are the people that make our subculture so great. I love going from town to town, meeting new people and exploring all the local scenes. I'll be in Keystone for the next MSC race. Devon will be there too. Don't be shy. We'll be there to have a good time and help out so track us down and hay hi. I'll be the guy on the blue and white Scream trying to reach terminal velocity. Peace out!

On a personal note, R.I.P Peter Jessup: you are irreplaceable.

Bow Cycles 50th

So a big congrats to bow cycle for reaching their 50th year in operation. I was invited to quite the party and few people can put on a party like the guys at bow.

I decided to ride the rocket out there and 11 hours later I arrived at Bow Lake to stay at the Num Ti Jah Lodge between Lake Louise and Jasper. Really an amazing place and you need to be careful to not run off the road because everywhere you look are sights to behold. Great place to ride anything on 2 wheels.

Also on the way out I passed through Kamloops and had lunch with Matt Brooks. I met him working at the Bike Ranch and he was setting up a sprinkler system; I have to say I'm pretty amazed with some of the stuff they had in there... actually I'm kinda jealous because I wish the city of Vancouver would do something like that... I'm thinking Stanley Park, maybe get rid of the flower garden and put in a few dirt jump and pump track lines. Parks are for having fun not looking at shrubberies.

Next day I rode into Calgary for the party.

They pretty much cleared out the store of all the bikes and product, set up a stage, and a concession area and there were at least two bars serving up wine and all the free pilsner you could drink.

Before the festivities got under way there was a road crit around a few blocks the store is located on and I managed to get a few shots of a crash that happened in one of the corners.

Finally when all 700 guests were fed we were entertained by Canadian rock legends April Wine which Specialized was good enough to fly in for the event. Norco and Kona alumni were all on hand and everyone had a great time.

Personal thanks to Kurt, Kev, Fransky, Cristie, and Terry -- oh and can't forget Brian and Jimmy. Thanks for the invite!!!!

A day later and I'm off to Taiwan.

I'll have a report tomorrow or the next day.