Hello Scythe!

Banshee describes the Scythe as a bike that simply put, just works. That it definitely is, but unfortunately it is overlooked by a lot of riders as its stock geometry is more on the freeride side of things.

Using a 8.5 x 2.5 shock over the stock 8.75 x 2.75 shock, the geo settles to something in the right ball park for dh. Here is my experience of the first 3 months on the Scythe with this set up.

Deity pedals, one of those great bike parts that fly under the radar.

A little bit on my set up:
Parts are all transferred from my rune previously, I did have to build up a new wheel set as the rear is a 150mm for the scythe. Wheels are ZTR Fows laced to Hope Pro 2s, i cannot believe how light these wheels are, definitely gives the bike a very different feel. Easy to move around and accelerates well. Nothing special about the rest of the set up really. The build comes to around 37lbs with tubes, and just under 37lbs tubeless.

With the shorter stroke shock, the two travel options reduce to 7.3 and 6.4 inches from 8 and 7 inches. The only geometry that i measure was the head angle, it's 65.5 degrees now the rear travel at the 7in setting and the fork at 7.5 inches.

I could go a bit slacker by taking the fork up to 8 inches but the geo it working fine the way it is now. The bike was easy to get used to, single pivot in the back, nothing fancy going on in the links, nice geometry all made it a very simple machine. Nothing that will catch you out and surprise you, i felt right at home on it.
I am really impressed with the 2009 dhx, its quite an improvement over dhxs of past. Due to my light body weight, it normally means i am not able to run much compression damping using the pro pedal and boost valve before it felt really harsh on the higher speed hits. Not the case with the 09 dhx, it's almost a pity that they are replacing it with rc4 already.

This combined with the light wheels and simple frame make for a very good ride, it really feels glued to the ground and has loads of grip. A good mate of my agreed too, said it rides better than his full on dh bike.

yes, i still hate pedalling. so why carry extra gears?

cut down spikes, best served wet or dry

There isn't really any particular thing to shout about with this bike, that's not to say it's dull or rubbish. There are no fancy linkages in the suspension, clean lines that are functional as opposed to being pretty.

It's the whole package that makes this bike a great bike, one thing comes to mind when i think about this bike. What santa cruz used to say for their super 8: it's like a sharp axe in a world of broken chain saws.

At the end of the day it passes the biggest test, it puts a huge smile on my face!



Adam.
Fakawi |Banshee