DH Racing on a Rune!

Dean was the first customer in North america to by a Rune in late 2007, I uploaded some helmet cam footage of him before fro the woodlot. He is a dedicated trail builder and rider, and he sent me an e-mail about a race he did recently.

' On May 18th I decided it was time to put my body and my bike to the test to see what level I was riding at and just how fast I could go DOWNHILL on my Banshee Rune.

I entered the first BC Cup DH race of the 2008 season. Race the Ranch DH in Kamloops B.C......a freeride and DH hotspot in beautiful British Columbia. The only changes I made to my bike for the race was the addition of an e.13 chain guide; my bike weighed in at 32.4lbs. Besides that it was my normal everyday set-up. The course was a 1.5 km off camber steep dusty course that had a bunch of tight turns, gaps, rock gardens and a couple spots where a good pedaling bike will excel. The Rune turned out to be the perfect bike for the course.

At the start gate during a training I looked around at all the tricked out full DH bikes but I knew that the Rune was more than capable of handling a DH race. On a practice run I started my watch to gauge my time and at the bottom I compared my time with other racers and in hearing their times, I knew I was going to be competitive in my class.

The rear end of the bike tracks so well and is so stiff laterally that the off camber sections that were giving people heaps of trouble were a breeze for me. Tight turns were also a non issue and the pedaling sections were a spot were I knew I was making up good time. The bike handles the rough and gnarly sections without a peep and the 1.5" head tube kept the front end stiff and true.

On race day, I rode conservative on the top and let it all hang out in the really fast swoopy sections. I didn't make any huge mistakes and gave it my all in the pedaling sections. In the end, I came in 3rd place in my class (1.2 seconds behind second place and the winner of our class had the fastest overall time!!). Needless to say I was pleased, not only with myself, but with the bike as well. I could not ask for more out of the bike and racing it competitively certainly shows that it is a far more capable bike than what most people expect from a bike in the AM category. '

If you want to see more from Dean check out his blog.

Tearing up Taiwan

Both myself and Jay have been out here living in the factory for the last month or so working long hours 6-7 days a week to get the latest production frame to the distributors, so when an opportunity arose to go riding with some locals (Alan and Eric, both banshee fans!) on Sunday we snapped it up.

We grabbed some bikes from the factory show room (not Banshee's as we wanted to check out how some other bikes rode just for research purposes) grabbed some good wheels and very roughly tried to set up the suspension to our weights.

First stop was a 120km drive to the Giant Cup DH track, which was fun, but very very short. Jay will be racing there this weekend, so he wanted to scope some lines. The course was fun to go fast on, but not exactly challenging. Was great to be out of the office and on a bike however, even if it was somewhere around 35C with 110% humidity!

After an hour or so shredding the short DH course we piled back into the van and headed off in search of a local free ride spot (a pretty well hidden one at that, without our local guides we would never have found it! Even they seemed to get a little lost a couple of times! haha).

The top secret riding area was cool, it basically consisted of a tight single track style DH run surrounded by massive creaking bamboo Forrest's, with some jumps, tight loose turns and drops, that lead into a more open area where the jumps and drops got a bit bigger and faster, and the builders had been busy building steep tech lines into a ravine at the bottom. So a cool place with lots of variation. Big shout out to the trail builders... you know who you are!

After an hour or so of trying all the lines suddenly a massive group of other riders suddenly appeared, maybe 30 in total. and they seemed to like nothing more than seasoning a stunt as a group and pushing each other to go faster, higher and further. haha I love this kinda of vibe, so I did my best to represent, although the bike I was on was set up for someone about 20kg lighter than me, so it made things interesting. My derailleur snapped on one little rip and so the day became a fast but quiet chain less day.

By the end of the day we all had varying levels of heat stroke from riding in the tropical conditions. I'm still feeling a bit ill 3 days later, ha, Scottish people are definitely not made for the heat! I think this photo has caught me in early stages, check out my pastey white complexion!

All in all a great day was had by all. thanks again to our guides. It was great to be out on a bike, and really good fun to ride some new spots with some local guys and get a feel for the vibe over here. It rocks!

Colorado Banshee In New Mexico

Angel Fire NM hosted the season opener DH race for the third stop on the MSC series. Monday morning we woke up to snow all the way down to the parking lot. The muddy conditions made for interesting practice. Thankfully mother nature turned in favor for racing and by Monday morning the course was ready to rip. Team Dead Bros Banshee had two racers, Rachel Bauer and Linden Carlson, competing in the dh races. This was Rachel's first pro women's dh race and she killed the course. With a strong sixth place finish, Rachel put a dent in the standings. Linden finished... somewhere in the pack. His single speed Scream's drive train blew up 2/3rd the way down the course. "I learned running single speed is not for dh bikes" Linden told us at the end. The CO Banshee crew will continue killin' it on our bikes cause we love our bikes!


Linden Carlson rollin' hard through the nasty rock gardens.


High flying Rachel Bauer cruising fast to a sixth place finish in her first Pro DH race.

For Immediate Release

Dead Bros Banshee Team rider Rachel Bauer rolls her way to a fifth place finish in the Chili Challenge MX race. The third stop for the Mountain States Cup Series and second pro gravity race for Bauer, she has proven to be a contender in the Women's Pro Class. Last year was Bauer's first year ever racing gravity! Now in the pro class, and patiently waiting for her Legend, Bauer plans to put a dent in the pro class this year.

Banshee rider Linden Carlson is set to race DH Monday on his custom, SINGLE SPEED, Scream. Curt Clemens unfortunately had a bad ankle roll and is out for the weekend.

Marcelo's Legend

Marcelo's bike:
With numerous first place finishes under his belt Marcelo should be off to the worlds next month and hopefully he'll do pretty well.
Thanks to his dad and mechanic Hernando we've really been able to dial in the prototype and all future Legend riders will benefit from his hard work.

Currently at 17.4kg / 38.28lbs its not as light as the Socom [yet] but the next 2 protos that we're working on right now and should have completed in the next week will see a reduction. further significant weightWe've shaved material from the lower link, it will come sans paint and further machining inside the "canoe" will really drop it down more.

We found out that giving a bike to a rider the day he needs to raceAfter the first race where Marcelo won the Pan American championship isn't always the best thing to do. Its actually amazing he won as the spring rate was way to strong so he was barely using up any of the travel. The brakes weren't dialled and neither was the suspension so basically when the frame got back into the shop it was completely torn down and even every pivot was removed. In fact even now Hernando is pulling the bike completely apart, what seems like every week and checking over ever detail of the bike.
Soon we'll have another 2 produced as there were alot of changes that were made and then after that we'll start on the 50.
It has been longer then expected to get this bike off the ground and trust me I've been under a tremendous amount of pressure to push this into the market but I've always said and will keep saying that it will take as much time as it needs so that we do it right and that it is one of the fastest DH race bikes.

Nato [Nathan Kemila] in Kelowna

So I have now had the chance to take my Wildcard to different trails to see how it performs. Went for a rip up Powers Creek on Saturday with a couple of buds. We rode Builders and had a blast ripping down the fast flowy bits, popping off every little root and rock as natural lips. That trail is tight in spots and the quicker angles and light weight are a treat.

Sunday i rode at Gillard with a nice 4 pack of shredders. Lots of groups from out of town here enjoying the trails and beautiful weather. Did a couple of laps of Kerplop which has seen lots of forced changes after the wind storm last year knocked down hundreds of trees of that trail alone. The local trail builders have been hard at work getting everything as good as it was and better. A few stunts are still no goes but ther are some nice new features that are a blast. Right near the bottom there is a sweet step up to table to step down that i got a nice manny on, so fun.

On lap one we hit up RubHerDown after Kerplop then on to Boss Hog. Rubber down is mint. Nice little drop into a super cool double next to a big tree that you can tire tap or foot plant off as you jump past. Great trail but you gotta stay on the brakes or you over shoot big time.

Boss Hog is sick as usual, a bit of wind damage on some minor stuff but all the big fun lines are ready to rock. Our group caught up to another at the Boss Hog step-up.

After little jump sesh there we headed down to the base. On lap 2 we hit Kerplop up to Hucking Grass Hole, the burliest trail up Gillard for big stunts. The trail is a little bit of a push up but so worth it. We get to the top and my head is a little swimy from just having cereal for breakfast and riding thru lunch. After a few in runs at the big step up table sender drop i decided to wait till next time when i had some more energy, time, and my bigboy pants on.

The rest of Hucking was super cool with the big dubs into the elevated ladder bridge hip wall thing, and the hang time off the booter at the end. Got a call from my wife and said see ya to the boys and raced down lower Boss while they hit up Dirty.

After taking my Wildcard down a wide range of terrain i am very confident that this will be a great year. What ever the trail throws up, i know my bike can take it.
Big thanks to Banshee for the awesome frame, Straitline for all the sick parts to hang off it, Spectrum Techware for clothes, and Outbound Cycle for anything else I need. Thanks for reading, Nato.

9/10 AMB Pyre review

Wow... we got a great review in Australian Mountain Biker Mag.
Pick up a copy of AMB for more info but here is a page on the Pyre and what they thought of it

Hallo My Bros!!

What's up it's me again.
Just want to tell how happy in my life i'm now.
I'm riding and building every day .
We are building new trails it's six pack name "a**l trails"
first double is 13 ft long 7 ft high ( landing is about 8 ft high) it's done , second one is 22 ft long will be 8 ft high ( landing 9 ft ) and third one it will be monster 30 ft long 9 ft take off and landing 11 ft high .
I'm building 2 one on this shot can't wait to hit it on my BANSHEE CHAP !!Thanks !!

MYTHIC T-SHIRTS

The guys at Freeborn delivered a big 'old box to our Esher store today, and it was full of these cool Mythic T-Shirts, as modelled by yours truly ;)

they are available in both our Horsham and Esher stores, or from our website www.freeborn.co.uk. priced at £12.99, and available in sizes small-medium-large-x large

cheers!

Rob C

What to look out for this summer...

All the Banshee Legend Mk1 frames from this pre production limited set will come in any main frame colour... as long as it is polished 7005 T6 Aluminium, with a choice of 5 ano colours for the suspension links. (colours are a rough aproximation, they will look better in reaility!)

The frames are not ready to roll yet due to a number of delays and issues we have had to sort out, but keep your eyes peeled this summer!

Biking in Beautiful Bali!

Andreas from Bali sent us this race report...

'Bali, April 26, 2008


For the first time a Urban DH was held in Indonesia on the island of Bali utilizing the famous Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park (GWK) for the event. The race start was high up at the Garuda Wisnu statue and the finish was at the stone quarry below.


The race was split in three categories and Banshee Bikes had two podium finishes.

Master C, 1st place Andreas Kuhn on a 08 Banshee Scythe and Master B,

2nd place by Iwan on a 07 Banshee Scream

Andreas'

Toms Viento

Tom just sent a pic of his new ride. We don't get near enough pics of Pyre, and Viento riders so I'm happy to throw this one up.
Congrats Tom and I hope she treats you well.

Jay and all at Freeborn,
Got the frame on Friday after a bit of a mission across the country, got it built by the small hours of Saturday morning, and gave her a first ride on Saturday, all I can say is. Nice!
Long time waiting but worth it!
Spec is:
2007 ‘zocchi XC SL700’s 80-120mm
Easton AM Havoc Wheelset
08 Avid Juicy 7’s with 185 front rotor
Raceface Atlas AM Cranks & rings
’08 XT Mechs, shifters and Cassette (incl. the pimp shadow mech)

Attached is a picture for you, I think it looks real good, need to shorten the rear brake hose but I can’t see the point in doing that til I next need to bleed it.

A day in the Life of the Aussies

Ok, so maybe it was filmed over more than just a day, but whatever the case it represents just how crazy ans skillful these guys are! Our riders are Alan (1st in movie, who also edited it together) and Chris (last, but by no means least!)

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/20397/

On another note, big shout out to Jarret who went down hard while filming some freeride stuff for the second installment of this vid and was out cold for a considerable length of time by all accounts, hope your vision is back to single and your feeling ok man!

Matt Brooks update

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give you all an update on my recovery and some plans for the end of the season. As far as my recovery goes, I have recently undergone surgery for an acl replacement in my left knee. The surgery went very smooth an a full recoup is expected. Unfortunately, I will need to under go roughly 6 months of physio before I am home free, but I have a mag trainer and a bit of a home gym going so that should get me off to a good start.

Matt


Well we all wish you a speed recovery because the season is here and you definitely don't want to totally miss it.
I'm sure the Bike Ranch in Kamploops has missed your building skills

Sooke Bike Club... premieres Seasons

The Sooke Bike Club is stoked to be hosting the Vancouver Island Premiere of Seasons, the latest film by the Collective.

The premiere is going off
May 9th, 2008, 7:30pm in Sooke at Edward Milne Community School, 6218 Sooke Rd.
Tickets are $7 ($2 of which goes into trail building fund) $5 for students.
For more info call Lorien at 250 642-3123 or
email lorien@sookebikeclub.com.

There will also be swag, draw prizes and aseparate raffle for a Banshee Rampant frame. Thanks to Banshee and Trident for stepping up to support us!

The Sooke Bike Club is a newly forming group of advocates and trail builders in Sooke BC. working to make sure the trails are as buff as possible and remain accessible to all riders. Here's a few pics of me riding my Scream around Sooke.

Thanks,

Russ Campbell

Boo Lorrienne riding a Knolly hahahaha. Thats cool, I know and have ridden with Noel he's a good guy, but I couldn't help myself hehehe.
Jay

Scott Alleyn gets pinkbike POD!

Check it out on Pinkbike.

Props to Scott (who helped design the Banshee Amp) for being a little insane and pulling crazy tricks, but also massive props to Dishboy for his awesome photos!

Brasilian DH & 4X race action

Jason at Sick lines found this video of the Brasilian championships from a couple of weeks ago and sent me the link. Keep an eye out for some riders on Scythes (taking top 10 spots) and also Markolf on his Legend who takes home the gold in DH...by over 18seconds!!!!

DH Video

Also click on the link to the 4X video to see banshee take 1st and 3rd. Would have been 1 and 2, but you'll see that they kinda collide with each other a bit in the second last turn of the final. Still a great weekend for Banshee in Brasil.

4X Video

Well done to all our racers down there, I hope this is a taste of whats to come for the rest of the season! Markolf who got his second gold of the weekend said that the banshee Rampant was the best 4X bike that he has ever ridden.

See results here

Val Di Sole, Italy DH test race results

Just got news from Jirka our distributor in CZE that Matej Charvat [see him here] placed 28th in the Mens Elite... ok 28th doesn't sound that great but he beat out the likes of Ruaridh Cunningham, Duncan Rifle, Nathan Rennie and other well known names... the field was deep with the usual suspects taking top spots and Sam Hill once again came out on top.
However Matej did an awesome job piloting his Scythe to such a great place in the standings. A great rider can make almost any bike fast but I think its a safe bet that even though the Scythe is a freeride bike it can double as a pretty competitive race bike in a pinch.
I can't wait until he gets his Legend Mk1 and then we'll see how much faster he can be.
Big congrats Matej... we're all really proud of you!!!

There was a whole other page of results but I only put the first one up