Happy New Year

After I got off work I did some work on my Amp and then went for a ride. It rides even better than it looks.

Banshee Amp short frame. Tweet Tweet rims, bars, stem, grips, saddle and sprocket. Deity cranks, pedals and seat post. I hope to spend the next three or four days in the skate park and then off to Thailand on Wednesday.

Not the best pictures, but I still think it looks pretty good. I will try to get some better shots before I head to Thailand.

Happy New Year

EDIT: January 2nd, I am not feeling too well, I have a sore throat and a head ache. I decided I would take it easy and try to get some better pictures of my Amp. Being out on my bike made me feel a little bit better.

Rob

WTB's Weir Escapes Harm in House Fire - BRAIN

Just read this on the Brain - [bicycle retailer and industry news].
Thank goodness they got out ok... but thats terrible news and I hope they will be alright

NOVATO, CA (BRAIN)—Mark Weir's Marin County home—that he shares with his wife, Sue, and son, Gus—burnt down Sunday evening, as a fire broke out in the garage and spread throughout their home.

The family got out safely after being alerted by the fire alarm system.

Jason Moeschler, who works with Weir at WTB, pulled up on the scene Sunday evening as the street was closed by fire trucks. Moeschler said that Weir's garage contained "one of the most magnificent collections of high end bikes ever assembled, not to mention the lifetime collection of tools and cycling memorabilia.

"It claimed everything in the garage," Moeschler added.

The house is uninhabitable, but thankfully no one was injured, Moeschler said.

—Jason Norman

Legend MkII Update

I know i’ve been getting a lot of emails about the MkII and I can only suspect Keith is getting more then twice as many as I am about our progress.

Well hopefully this gets all those new Legend MkII riders a small taste of what they can expect.

First let me just let you know a few things that have happened over the past few months. Now its no secret that we have our stuff manufactured in Taiwan but what you might not know is that I have moved to Taiwan permanently. I figured it is – at least in my opinion – important that if you want to really be involved with your production and really excel in having a premium product go out the door you need to be involved with it and be your own production manager – something that I have a long history doing. In fact I’m far from a sales guy and my comfort zone is among wurring machines, grease, dirt and sometimes even fire :P

I’ve been meeting, watching, measuring, and inspecting throughout the whole process putting the MkII into production and we’re definitely working with some real talent from the manufacturing engineers at our factory, to the forging houses, to well basically everyone that has helped in their way –sometimes big sometimes small- getting it together.   That includes the riders on the MkI that without their valuable feedback we definitely wouldn’t have near the machine that I present to you here today.

I have to say it will be nice to finally close the many years developing the bike and finally get them out to you. I can’t wait to start reading in magazines and especially on forums what peoples impressions are about this bike.

I’ve even worked on special packaging for this bike because I want whoever decides to buy a Legend MkII to enjoy the whole process of not only buying it but getting it home, opening it up, looking at it for the first time and just getting excited for when they get to build it up and ride it. I will personally be doing 100% inspection on these bikes and its the least I can do to make sure you get something that is completely dialled.

So the Legend MkII has been touched on in a previous post about the changes in geo etc that Keith has made…. Just search or hit the label Legend to the side to get the history on the bike.

View Full Album

We’ve opened forgings on all the NC’d parts to make the strong and light. We’ve had a little back and forth with a couple changes but for the most part things have gone extremely smooth. When i first saw the forged “blob” and picked up the portly part I was very concerned that the finished part was going to be a pig but a few days later the almost finished part showed up and it was 600 grams for both canoe parts together. All 6 parts jigsawed together with just clear tape holding them in place because they fit together so well.

Legend MkII first article

The Ti hardware is sheer jewelry and went together pretty easily on the first article which is what i’m showing pictures of here.

We’ve gone through T4 and need to wait 3 days before sticking it back in the oven to get it to T6. Then it will be off for the team paint finish.

With the links attached and the bearings all nicely seated and everything bolted together people sometimes say the suspension is buttery… the legend is slippery. That doesn’t mean its sloppy… the backend is super tight and flex free. Basically whatever you can get out of the shock is going to go straight into moving the backend.

I weighed the Large… no paint, shock or seat collar at 4083 grams [4.083kgs / 8.98lbs] The MkI was 4013 so I figure while we managed to take weight out of the overall frame the weight of the bearings increased our overall weight. That being said there should be a ton of places where we can get the little FEA going over it to start shaving down parts. However for now the frame at under 9 is pretty light and is VERY strong… I would suggest its almost overbuilt but still light. Under 9 is a very competitive weight… check out here for some comparable weights http://www.sicklines.com/weights/fullsuspensionframes/

The weight is still though in the right places … low and centered and that means a very well balanced and easy to corner bike.

This one is the first article which is the first one we check in a production run. The rest just got the green light from me now that i’ve checked it over and am happy with how I was able to put it together and everything fits like it should. It will be about 2 weeks until they are ready to ship. Just waiting for its special boxes to arrive, the CCDBs and RC4s to show up, I even have an Elka on the way to check for fit. Its gonna almost be like a 2nd Christmas… yeah i get excited about this stuff… can’t help it… i love bikes!

Anyway I gotta get back to the shop floor so thats it from me right now.

Resolve to go further

The next decade is almost upon us, and with the new year brings that annual tradition of making a new year resolution. So again I want to inspire you to reach that little bit further, wither it is by stepping your riding up to the next level pushing the limits of your nerve and skill, or going on an adventure that is going to push your comfort zone and fitness.

This inspiring and beautiful video was sent to me by Horst from Austria, these are his words that accompanied the e-mail:

Hi Keith!

I like to show you a video.
Me riding my wildcard in a high alpine region.
The mountain is called "hochstadel" (south of Austria).
As I saw it first, I didn´t believe we can ride 99 % of the downhill
with our bikes.

Silly Lines Reloaded from amotion.at on Vimeo.

We were lucky to do the first 1000 m difference in altitude with my bus, then we had 900 m to push and mostly carry our bikes to the top (2681 m).
On top we had some snow and also some icy passages.


(video made by Andreas Altendorfer; amotion.at)

if you like the video - and to make me a present ;-)
- post it on the banshee blog!

I also included 2 pictures:
one shows the mountain and the trail we did,


the other is a kind of promotional photo of my wildcard. ;-)



Best regards!
Horst



Thanks for the video Horst and Andreas, it shows a truly epic and great adventure with your bikes and buddies. How could a day get any better?

I hope this video will inspire you to try something new, and find that next big adventure!

Fogelsode #8: Merry Christmas!

Fogelsode #8 is up!  This week has been kind of slow, with lots of building and hanging out with the family.  Matt and I got a chance to go out and ride the step-up for a day though!  It was just an average sesh, so I wanted to do something new.  I remembered making a hip landing off to the right, two years ago when the jump was much smaller.  Since then, the lip is taller, further back, and there is a trail that goes between the straight landing and the hillside.  In order to hip it now, you would have to go much faster and clear over the trail to make it to the hillside.  I gave it a shot and it ended up working out!  With the sun beginning to set, I wanted to try some tricks on it.  I went for a topside-whip, but spun it way too fast and somehow landed backwards!  I’ve been wanting to hip-flip a jump for a while now, and figured this one would be good.  It took a few tries but I ended up sticking it and riding out clean!  Matt was getting in some sick shoulder buzzes and big 360s too!  Overall it was a fun sesh and a great time!  Also, when we were out building there have been some epic sunsets, so I grabbed the camera and got a few shots to include as well.  Hopefully everyone is enjoying the holidays and has a great New Year!

Enjoy!

Fogelsode #8: Merry Christmas! from Jack Fogelquist on Vimeo.

On a side note, I’m stoked to say the Amp is up and running again!

-Jack

Custom Rune Build

I was surfing through the forums, as I do every day incase anyone is asking questions about our frames, and to keep in touch with new trends etc, and I came across a REALLY nicely thought out high end rune build by 'Err' on the mtbr forums that I thought I would share with you all.

What makes this build stand out for me is that he has chosen very specifically the parts to get the exact geometry he is after (like K9 cups to get a 65.5degree head angle) and keeping it light but plush to shred downhill trails. He also opted for the great option of a custom tuned Elka Stage 5.

Shout out to Ian @ Chromag and Drop N' Zone for help with the build.

Check it out!



Frame - Med '10 Rune, Ekla w/Ti spring
Fork - '10 Float 36 RC2, custom decals and blue ano removed
HS - K9 angle reducer cups w/cane creek bearings
Cap - Gravity Whip cap
Stem - Chromag Ranger, 50 mm, pewter, 160g
Bars - Chromag Fubars OS X, white/grey, 30", 320g uncut
Grips - Gravity lock-ons, white
Fr Brake - Elixr CR, 203 mm
Rr Brake - Elixr CR, 185 mm
Rr Shifter - XO
Saddle - Chromag Lynx, Ti rails
FR Post - Thomson Elite
AM Post - Joplin
Clamp - Chromag, 35.0, Pewter
Cranks - XTR, 175 mm, w/32t Blackspire Monoveloce
Guide - MRP Mini-G2
Cassette - XTR 11-34
Rr Der - X9, med cage
Chain - PC990 Hollow-pin
Pedals - Twenty6 Rally Ti
AM Wheels - DT 1750 w/DT tubeless kit, Schwalbe Fat Alberts, 2.4
FR Wheels - Mavic DeeMax, Schwalbe Mudd Mary, 2.35
Rear Axle - DT RWS 10 mm


To read the whole threadand get deatails on geometry and build choices, click the mtbr link above.

Best of Aptos (Jack Fogelquist)

Jack is in this video, he is my hero …

And Merry Christmas.

Rob

Edit: added these two videos, all credit goes to Jordan Holmes on pinkbike.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay

We want to wish you all very happy holidays, and hope that you all manage to get our for a ride come rain or snow!

What can I give you all for Christmas?? Hmmm well how about some inspirational material?

King of the Animal House Finals Video from Ryan Fudger on Vimeo.

(thanks to Jack for finding this gem and posting it on twitter where I poached it! haha)

I hope that after you have had a few days to digest all that Christmas lunch, that you can celebrate the start of the next decade and have a happy Hogmany (what we call new year here in Scotland). Bring on 2010!!

Keith & Jay

Fogelsode #7: XC Trails, Downhill Trails, and Building Trails

The rain let up this week, making for some dialed trails!  Everyone was busy on Tuesday, so I decided to go out for a little cross-country solo ride.  I rode this cool trail that I hadn’t ridden in ages.  It was the first trail that I ever went mountain biking on and I used to ride it as much as I could, so it was cool going back and riding it now.  I was anxious to make a self-filmed video too, so it was fun to try that!  It really makes you think about choosing angles carefully, but it ended up working out well and I’m stoked on how it came together.

A few days later, the crew met up and ran some shuttles on some sick downhill trails.  With the dirt nice and wet, it made for some fast berms and slick lines.  It was cool to have a big group to sesh trails with too.

We got a little rain as well, so we hiked up in the woods and made some progress on a new line.  It’s shaping up to be pretty sweet, but it’s still got a ways to go.  Overall just been having lots of good times riding tons of trails this week!

Enjoy!

Fogelsode #7: XC Trails, Downhill Trails, and Building Trails from Jack Fogelquist on Vimeo.

-Jack

Paul Genovese 2009

Paul Genovese is a 15 year old from my home town; Fernie, British Columbia. When I was home in the summer I first started hearing stories from the 13 year old dirt jumpers, then I asked some friends about him and they all described him the same way a quiet, young local with great style and bike control. I met him and his brother Nic (who is pretty good with a camera) at the local dirt jumps and I had to agree with my friends. Paul is a  super nice guy who does not say a lot and knows how to ride a bike. Watch out for him in 2010 …

Check out more pictures on videos on pinkbike. http://nickag52.pinkbike.com/

Rob

Snow ride

We've had snow in London, England for about a week now, which is unusual (to get snow this side of Christmas)

Central London is pretty clear, but higher ground is still covered with a thick blanket



I've done a couple of night rides in the snow this week which is always fun, but took advantage of being off on a Sunday, and headed out at 9am up into the Heath


It's harder work and a little slower, but huge fun and its always nice to come back with a clean bike as everything is frozen solid!

If its snows in your area, take advantage and get out and ride your bike!

happy trails...

Rob C

Tasmania roadtrip

2 weeks ago i got on a plane and headed for tasmania to participate in a couple contests. The first contest was held in a little town called Launceston. It was held on a locals farm with the course being short but sweet. It consisted of a small set up drop to right hand berm/speed jump/ normal jump/ big right hand berm and then into the ramp to dirt trick jump. There was an open class but i wasn't really aloud to compete because the prizes were bike products that i couldn't really use anyway. So that was a bummer but i did get to ride a fair bit and ended up judging the contest. I woke up the next morning with a big picture in the local newspaper tho so that was cool.

The second jam was at the Downhill nationals in hobart. After a little tweaking with the shovel when we arrived the jumps felt alright, pretty small but good enough to pull out some tricks.

here's a real short edit of me from that jam.

It's good to see a couple of contest popping up here in Australia, there really is never any contest here through out the year. How ever there is a real decent one coming up on January 16-17th during the national DH event here in my home town. Its sponsored by Barspin Imports (dealer of Banshee) which is great, this contest will be great for the Australian scene. Keep in touch for a big right up on that event.

I'd also like o thank my sponsors for helping out too.

Banshee

Geax

Straitline

Raceface

:)

Alan,

Laotian Beauty

My brothers and I are planning a bicycle tour through Laos in January. My brothers were there years ago, they missed a bus and ended up walking 30+ kilometers to the next town. Ever since then they have been talking about riding through Laos. I have been there twice and both times I wish I would have had my bike with me.

This week I received the Laotian Vientos. I have been riding my Viento and I am in love with it. It is like my Amp and Wildcard got together and had a love child.

 

Viento All Mountain Jack Knife Build: Large Frame, Spank Vomax Rims on Chosen Hubs, Maxxis Larsen TT tires. Fox Talas RC2, Spank Subrosa Saddle, Spank Spike Stem and Bars, Juicy 5 Brakes. I have been doing some trail riding and have been loving it. It is great to be back on a XC style bike.

   

Happy Trails,

Rob

Australia’s first ever National Dirt Jump Competition

Barspin Imports and Banshee in Australia have just won main sponsorship rights of Australia’s first ever National Dirt Jump Competition!  It’s the inaugural event and promises to be absolutely huge with sensational prizes (both cash and frames) on offer.  We’re looking for talented dirt jumpers from all over Australia to head on down to Adelaide to show off their stuff on the Eagle MTB Park jumps, which just happen to be built by Banshee’s own Alan Hepburn and friends. 

For more information on how you can register, just email info@barspin-imports.com.au or check out the official website:  www.eaglechamps.com.au

Categories will be:  Open “Pro” (19y.o.+ and all age sponsored riders), Dirt Dudes (all U19 with no sponsorship), and the crowd’s favourite, all in, Best Trick!!   Prizes include Banshees Rampant and Amp frames along with some good cash prizes and riding gear.  The Dirt Dude winner will also get a sponsorship package from Barspin Imports.  That’s got to tempt you into a road trip! 

Cheers all,

Darren (Barspin Imports – proudly distributing Banshee in Australia).

Legend MkII production

I just wanted to share with you all some photos from the factory showing progression of the MkII legends.
In there photos you will get an idea of new forged parts which are stronger and lighter than MkI (we are still waiting for some shock basement parts, hence no pics). You will also get a first glimps of the (steel) samples to check tolerances of what will be the new titanium pivot axles and bolts, that will come as stock with all Legend MkII frames.









Production is right on schedule right now, as we just wait for the last forgings to arrive, then it will be all systems go for January shipping.

Alan on VitalMTB

Banshee shredder Alan Hepburn nabbed a pic in VitalMTB's coverage from the first round of Aussie nationals. Well done, mate!


Photo: Damien Breach

Dustin in POD

Chilean Helmet Cam

Ever wandered what it would be like to go mountain biking in Chile? Well this should give you a taster. Thanks to Rodrigo for sending these in to us. I have to say that these are some of the best quality helmet cam videos I have seen.



Without further ado... I introduce Rodrigo Casasempere and buddies from Chile. Rodrigo is riding the scythe in all vids.

Esher Shore on Dirt Mag website

Billy from Dirt Magazine has put up some news about the Pump Track we are currently building at Esher Shore bike park here in South-East England

Looks like the Dirt Guys are going to visit Esher next season for a session...

thanks Billy!

http://dirtmountainbike.com/news/esher-shore-pump-track-news.html

Fogelsode #6: Stormy Week with Sandy Drifts

This week has been filled with much anticipated rain!  It’s been POURING like crazy over the past few days, and stormy all week!  It’s been great for building, but not so much for filming.  We were able to get some shots though.  The beginning was shot at that freeride trail up in Santa Cruz.  We only got a few shots in until it started raining, so we bombed a trail back down to the cars and headed home.  A few days later, we checked out an old trail that we used to ride all the time when we first got into mountain biking.  The trail is super sandy, so it’s the best this time of year when the water keeps it together.  It ended up being a lot more fun than we thought, with some fast drifty corners and tight single-track!  We were really low on light though, and nabbed some shots before it got completely dark!  It was raining pretty good on Friday and Saturday was just insane!  It’s looking like the rain will let up for a week, so some major building is going to go down!

Enjoy!

Fogelsode #6: Stormy Week with Sandy Drifts from Jack Fogelquist on Vimeo.

 

-Jack

Ausanee wins Silver in XXVth SEA Games!

Congratulations to Team Fakawi Banshee rider Ausanee for bagging the silver medal for Thailand in the women's DH event at the 25th South East Asian Games, currently ongoing at Vientiane, Laos.

Her 6 months of tough training at her national bike camp finally paid off.

The games race track was pretty flat and pedally with some BMX-style tabletop jumps and plenty of corners and techy sections.
Ausanee initially wanted to race on her Wildcard but opted for her Legend Mk1 to gobble up some of the gnarly sections of the track.

check out her race result HERE.

Ryan and Jayne Podium in Tasmania

Hi Banshee fans, it's Darren here from Barspin Imports, down here in Hobart, Tasmania (Australia) for the first round of our National Series. We're absolutely stoked to report that both Ryan Hunt & Jayne Rutter both scored themselves 2nd place podiums in Elite Four Cross. Ryan on his Amp and Jayne on her Rampant.
Tomorrow sees the boys Ryan and Ben Power contest the Elite and U19 Downhill respectively. Hopefully we'll be able to report more Banshee goodness.
Cheers all, from Tassie.

have RAMPANT, will travel

"It's amazing what you see whilst travelling on the train"

Or so an older gentleman told me, when he saw my Mythic Rampant, and spent the journey asking me about the suspension, disc brakes and aluminium frame forming

Turned out he was a retired engineer who had worked for Rolls Royce doing some pioneering work with aluminium alloys!

happy trails (and trains) !

Rob C

Mountain States Cup Info

Linden just sent me this.

Whats really cool is that Banshee will have to full on teams competing at all the MSC races.

Banshee Deadbros Racing and Banshee Team Geronimo.

So write the dates in your calender if you can make it out.

I left the sponsors at the bottom because even though Yeti is our competition they still should get the nod for supporting the race series… so don’t rag on me for advertising Yeti on the Banshee blog :P

THE INSIDE SCOOP ON THE 2010 MSC SEASON
FROM BIGFOOT PRODUCTIONS

Hey all you fat-tire fanatics! It may feel like the season has just ended, but we want to keep you up to date on all the new happenings from inside the Mountain States Cup so you can plan for next season. RaceMSC is now on Twitter so you can stay tuned for updates. We’ll post the latest news—like schedule updates, when course maps and descriptions are available, host contests for cool prizes and race entries and more! If you’re wondering what’s the latest and greatest, then this is where you’ll find it, and on www.racemsc.com, of course!

We’ve been working hard this fall to concoct a schedule that is going to bring you the best racing in the region, the freshest tracks, and new venues so you can experience more of what Colorado has to offer.

Without further ado we are excited to announce our 2010 Mountain States Cup schedule!

The series will kick off in Fruita, Colorado April 24-25 with an early season off-road time trial prologue and epic backcountry cross country race at Rabbit Valley Rally. Then the gravity season kicks in gear alongside the endurance events with the classic Chalk Creek Stampede in Nathrop, CO (May 15-16); Chile Challenge in Angel Fire, NM (June 5-6- not Memorial Day weekend!), Wildflower Rush in Crested Butte, CO (June 26-27); and Blast the Mass in Snowmass Village, CO (July 10-11).
After USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships concludes at SolVista in Granby Ranch, CO (July 15-18), the Mountain States Cup takes a turn for new venues including Keystone Revival in Keystone, CO (August 7-8); Full Tilt in Telluride in Telluride, CO (August 22-23); the Winter Park Pursuit in Winter Park, CO (September 4-6); and the Fall Classic in Breckenridge, CO (September 11-12).

All Mountain States Cup events will be qualifiers for USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships.

We are also excited to announce a new pricing structure for the 2010 season. We are bringing back the multiple race discounts—sign up for two races for the weekend and receive $5 off; sign up for three and receive $10 off. We have also lowered the pricing for junior and CAT 3 (beginners). We will have all information on pricing and the MSC season pass available on www.racemsc.com as soon as we do the big website update to reflect the 2010 season.
VAST Action will be back on board as the official photographer of the Mountain States Cup for 2010. If you haven’t checked out your images from the 2009 season, then visit vastaction.com today and keyword in your name for a quick search. They have custom prints, poster, mugs, mouse pads and digital files or get them all with the VAST PASS. Just enter the following code into the promo box and click the green arrow to apply the discounts.

10% OFF discount code: MSC200910
25% OFF with purchase of $200 or more discount code: MSC200925
Great for teams or a season long VAST PASS!

We are excited to see you all this next season. Feel free to email us at info@racemsc.com or contact us at 720-407-6142 with any questions, comments, suggestions or pretty much anything you’d like to share. We stoked on making this one of the best seasons yet and hearing from you makes that possible. We’re not quite ready to go live with the website update, but wanted to get you the latest info pronto! Our goal is to keep you informed all-season long as soon as we have details to share. This newsletter is just the first step in getting the word out, so pass it on to your friends, your family, your teammates, your neighbor, internet forums, and the person standing in line next to you at the grocery store. And check back to www.racemsc.com before the year’s end to see all this info live!

2010 Mountain States Cup Series Schedule

April 24-25
Rabbit Valley Rally
Fruita, CO
TT and XC

May 15-16
Chalk Creek Stampede
Nathrop, CO
XC, STXC, 4X, DS

June 5-6
Chile Challenge
Angel Fire, NM
XC, DH, 4X, SD

June 26-27
Wildflower Rush
Crested Butte, CO
XC, DH, 4X, SD

July 10-11
Blast the Mass
Snowmass Village, CO
XC, STXC, DH, DH, SD

August 7-8
Keystone Revival
Keystone, CO
XC, STXC, DH, SD

August 22-23
Full Tilt in Telluride
Telluride, CO
XC, HC, DH, 4X

September 4-6
Winter Park Pursuit
Winter Park, CO
XC, STXC, DH, 4X, SD

September 10-12

Fall Classic

Breckenridge, CO

STXC, TT, XC

Bigfoot Production
info@bigfootproduction.com
www.yeticycles.com
www.racemsc.com
www.solvistanationals.com