Thursday, August 28, 2008

Rune off for Review

Hey All,

As you avid blog readers would be aware, earlier this year we “lost” a Banshee Rune in transit to Australian Mountain Bike magazine; in other words the freight company lost it, but we suspect it was stolen. Long story short, we got stooged by the freight company and had nothing left to show for our efforts, it didn’t even make it to the magazine, so we didn’t even get the review. It sucked!

But at the end of the day, it might have been a blessing in disguise as I ended up building the Rune of dreams. I set out with the intention of making the perfect build for this bike, with money as no object...the aim was to build the ultimate ride at all costs. Rough calculations work this baby out to be in the $10,000+ AUD range too! Holy smokes!

But it looks like every penny of it and rides like $1,000,000 dollars. I could harp on about how well it pedals, ascends, descends, corners, monos, etc. But in a nutshell, this bike is “Fun!”. No matter what you are doing on it, you just have an absolute blast...it’s perfect!

We sent it off to AMB and low and behold it did arrive this time (thank god!) and they seem to be very impressed with it. The review won’t be on shelves until November but it sounds very positive and they liked the bike so much it will be getting a double page spread feature review. Stoked! So keep tuned for that.

For any Aussies or travellers coming to the Mt Stromlo World Cup this weekend, keep an eye out for me hooning around on it and come and say hi...and buy me beer!

"Final" Spec:

  • Frame: Banshee Rune (Large, Team Polish / Black)
  • Shock: Fox DHX Air 5.0
  • Forks: Fox 36 Talas RC2 (custom painted gloss black to match the frame)
  • Headset: FSA Orbit Xtreme Pro (1.5 reducing to 1-1/8)
  • Cranks: Raceface Atlas AM (running on Shimano Deore XT BB) w/ Gamut P30 Bashring and Red Chainring Bolts
  • Pedals: Time Atac Carbon XS
  • Rear Mech: SRAM X0
  • Front Mech: Shimano Deore XT
  • Shifters: SRAM X0 Trigger
  • Brakes: Avid Juicy Ultimate w/ Straitline Levers, 180mm Front, 160mm Rear
  • Wheels: Industry Nine DH (823 Rim, Custom Red to Black Fade, DT 10mm RWS Rear Skewer, 20mm Front)
  • Tyres: Kenda Nevegal w/ Prototype "Spex" Tubeless Sealant (OzRiders.com.au)
  • Bar: Easton Monkey Lite Carbon XC
  • Stem: Thomson Elite X4 (70mm)
  • Seat: Fizik Gobi
  • Seat-collar: Salsa Q/R
  • Weight: 14.4 Kg (31.7lbs)

Cheers,

Ken (XXIV Imports)

Click for more pics...