In early March I emailed Banshee about the cost of the Amp and the availability of it in Taiwan. Although bikes are made here in Taiwan, it can be difficult buying them here. Jay emailed me back and put me in touch with the Taiwanese distributor. I met Jay by chance (I am a bit of a stalker) at the Taipei Bike show in March. I started talking to him about how we (my brother and I) have been trying to start more of a freeride/dirt jump scene in the south of Taiwan. We talked a bit about bikes in general and the riding here in Taiwan. I told him that we have a unique opportunity here in Kaohsiung because there isn’t much building going on and because we are foreigners a lot of people hear about what we are doing. He said to give him a call after the bike show to talk about the possibilities of getting us on some Banshee bikes.
After bugging Jay for a couple of weeks I came home from work to find four boxes waiting for me. The boxes were a lot lighter than I thought they would be. And I was like a four year old at Christmas when I got upstairs and opened them up. 
boxes fresh from the factory pretty happy to have some new frames
My brother and I ordered an Amp and a Wildcard each. It can be difficult to find the right parts here in Taiwan and I was an idiot and let my fork be sold on the promise of only waiting a weekend for a new one. So we have had the frames for a couple of weeks and have only built up a Wildcard and an Amp. 
james' amp, regular size frame, x fusion velvet r fork, dt swiss ex 5.1 on bear's hubs, maxxis larsen tt tires
I have only spent a day on my Wildcard but I am already in love with it. I have ridden a lot of bikes and this bike is one of a kind. I am not sure I have the vocabulary to describe exactly what I like about it.
better pictures to come, was taken 5 minutes ago. medium wildcard, fox talas 36 (at 160mm in picture), deity cranks, pedals, bar and stem, halo sas rims on tank hubs. testing a x fusion h3 rear shock.
We will do some reviews once we get all the bikes going and have ridden them for a bit. And we will get some riding pictures up in the next week or so.
Rob
