My new love

Happy Birthday Trey

Check out this birthday cake … and wish Trey a happy 16th birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREY  … from everyone at Banshee Bikes.

Keep Riding.

Rob Dunnet

Save Esher Shore Bike Park!!

here is a quick heads up for any UK riders

the future of the Esher Shore Bike Park in Surrey, South-East England is under threat

basically, the bike park is run as a "not for profit" company, meaning it does not aim to "make money", but to cover its running costs which are primarily the rent of the site, and liability insurance to protect the bike park from being sued if accidents occur

For More CLICK HERE ...

US Open Course Previews by Team Geronimo

Team Geronimo Course Preview

Brandon Hayward edit

Brandon Hayward - NNP Productions from Nic Genovese on Vimeo.

Lookin sick bro!!!!

Dustin Greenall spring edit by Nic Genovese

Dustin Greenall Spring Promo from Nic Genovese on Vimeo.

IMBA + Banshee

Banshee's very own, Linden Carlson, was featured in one of this years calender photos for IMBA.

Pro GRT #2 Race Report from Graeme Pitts

The Venue:

Such a pleasure to have arrived at Plattekill mountain in New York State. This resort is definitely legendary, and the antithesis of Gucci - it is a down-to-earth, family-friendly place that makes me want to come back every year. The riding is epic. This year the weather gods were kind and only deposited a sprinkling of moisture the night before the race. Kudos to JDD for a seamless event - the Pro GRTs this year are running like clockwork, turning heads and getting attention from the global racing community.

The Course:

The same course we ran for Jr. World Championships Qualifier '08. Rooty, tight in the trees with a couple of good-sized hucks thrown in for fun. Enough steepness to keep the WC guys happy and enough flat so that it wasn't going to be won on skill alone. I really enjoyed riding and racing the course because it's awesome, technical and requires a fun, playful riding style to be able to hit quickly and ride fast, and a lot of commitment for the hucks. I'm having a particularly great time riding this year with Team Geronimo teammates Michael and Brian Buell.

For more from Graeme CLICK HERE ...

Esher Pump Track is open

its finally open...Esher Pump Track

more info at www.eshershore.com

Counting down to our Banshee Kiara Rage DH race!

The trailbuilders had a huge session yesterday after completing close to 90% of the race track.
Check out our pride and joy, the Banshee Kiara Rage DH track in full HD in this video!
Turn up the volume, pump up the bass and enjoy the video!

More on the Banshee Kiara Rage race HERE<--

Marthin’s 19 Pound Baby

FOR SPECS ON THIS BEAUTY CLICK HERE …

Going for Distance

Like my hero Ricky Bobby, James has decided that it is time to go fast. The only difference between James and my hero Ricky is that James likes to go fast and hit jumps. With the right combination of jump and speed anything can happen. For me flying 25 or 30 feet on my Amp is not my idea of safe. Would much rather hit it first on my Wildcard. But James is a little bit different, he builds something and then will hit i with whatever bike he has. With both my Amp and Wildcard out of commission I was left to watch and shoot pictures.

 

FOR MORE PICTURES CLICK HERE …

ProGRT #2: Plattekill Course Preview by Team Geronimo

More from Team Geronimo's Brian Buell

Mike Montgomery on vitalmtb

We have been waiting for Mike to get used to his bikes before we made a formal announcement that Mike is now on the Banshee Team. We are working on something more formal than this but if Mike being on Banshee is a secret it is one of the worst kept secrets in biking. Listen to Mike talked about the Amp (“It’s the best bike I have ever ridden …”) and Rampant (“You can beat the dick out of it off any big hit, but yet when it comes to like pedalling it’s your hard tail …”).

Wait for something more formal … but Mike Montgomery is on Banshee …

Spotlight: Mike Montgomery - More Mountain Bike Videos

Thanks to Justin and VitalMTB …

Keep Riding.

Rob Dunnet

Doping Allegations

I was wondering around the net this morning while eating breakfast and I found this article. CLICK HERE. Basically Floyd Landis (if you do not follow road racing click here) is making allegations against several American Racers. I hate to be the one to point fingers but it is time we clean up the mountain biking industry. Greg from Straitline Components  has been on HGH for years. If you have never seen him with his shirt off you may not have noticed it. I found a picture from last years Interbike …

It is clear from this picture that he is on something. Let’s clean up the industry …

Keep Riding.

Rob Dunnet

Aeron Learmonth’s Super Post

We have some new grassroots riders this season. I will introduce them later in the month when their bikes have all been finished. I sent an email out this week asking that they start using the Banshee Team Blog. Paul Genovese posted, Nic Genovese posted for Brandon Hayward and an awesome edit of Dustin Greenall. Then this morning I noticed a new post from Aeron Learmonth … it was three or four weeks worth of posts all mashing into one. Click here to read the whole post. There are a couple cool videos in there, you might want a snack and something to drink.

My favorite video from Aeron Learmonth May Marathon Blog is below. Check it out …

Keep Riding. Keep Blogging.

Rob Dunnet

The Locals

Summer’s just around the corner, which means filmmaker Josh Talatzko’s comming to town to shoot his upcoming film “The Locals”.  He just released a rad teaser showing some of the stuff we worked on this last fall.  Gonna be good!

 

-Jack

Getting nasty in Nathrop

This last weekend was the second installment of the Mountain States Cup race series. We had a great weekend of pouring rain good enough to test my rain gear, and sunshine hot enough to make me put on my funny sun ray fighting hat. Yeah, I might have walked around looking like I was ready to rock out on my gardening, but the racing was still SICK.

The two fellas on team Banshee deadbros racing this weekend were Nick Hansch and Curt Clementson, who have both been persuing their talents relentlessly. The courses had both been buffed to perfection by the crew at Mountain States Cup, and the dual slalom had even recieved a drenching of magnesium chloride to ensure fast times. The rain that drove us all out of practice on Friday made the courses run like Interstate 70 on Saturday, hard and fast from gate to finish line.

FOR RESULTS CLICK HERE ...

Nic Genovese

You may have noticed that a couple web edits featuring Banshee Team Riders have popped up on www.pinkbike.com and www.vimeo.com in the last couple of weeks.

FOR VIDEOS CLICK HERE … IT IS WORTH IT …

Paul Genovese

Hey guys, Paul here from grassroots.Just though I would post up some shots from my season so far.

First is a 360 from my recent trip to kelowna, where I rode with other team riders: Dustin Greenall and Brandon Hayward.

The rest are some recent shots from my local jump park, which is coming along very nicely If I do say so myself..

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES AND VIDEO ...

The Resurrection of the San Pi

James has been hard at work here in Kaohsiung. It is nice to come home and find new jumps just waiting for me. We rode most of Sunday afternoon, the trail was fast and the jumps felt good … the only problem is both James and I felt like we had SARS or Swine Flu.

We managed to get some pictures to show the trail, most with little to no style. We will do better next week.

FOR MORE PICTURES CLICK HERE ...

Photos from Esher Pump Track

Big thanks to Steve Behr of Stockfile photography for these wicked images he shot of me riding my Rampant on the Esher Pump Track for MBUK magazine

Esher Pump Track update

We keep getting calls, emails and tweets from riders wondering when the hell the Esher Pump Track is going to open?

we are nearly there...we are fixing all the "niggles" like blow-outs (where the clay cap is too thin and has delaminated through to the sand underlayer) and reinforcements of the tops of berms, and general cleaning up!

As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words" so less of my inane babble, here are the pictures...but the pictures are so quickly "out of date" we have already done loads of work since these pictures were taken 5 days ago!



FOR MORE CLICK HERE ...

Fogelsode #24: Sea Otter and Post Office Jam

Well, better late than never I suppose.  This Sea Otter was my favorite to date, with rad trains on the downhill course, perfect weather, and good times with the crew!  Epic got me set-up with their Epic HD helmet cam so that I could get some onboard footage of the downhill course.  It worked out great, and I ended up filming with that most of the time because I could ride and film at the same time!

The Post Office Jam was about as perfect as it could have been!  With rain showing up on the forecast, everyone was unsure as they rolled up to the jumps.  It was overcast, and looked like it could rain any second, but it didn’t, resulting in my favorite type of weather to ride in.  Everyone had a good time and threw down, with some highlights being Brandon’s corked 720, the longest train Post Office has ever seen, and Alex Pro going for a swim.  It was definitely one of the most fun days of riding that I’ve had; seshin’ all day with tons of riders that I don’t see very often!  Plus nobody got hurt!  To top it all off,we ended the day with some hefty burritos at Gordos. 

Enjoy!

 

 

-Jack

Dustin Get’s POD on Pinkbike

Maribor - Walk and Talk

Banshee / Mythic Factory Team - Downhill Division

Banshee/Mythic Factory Team is very proud to announce the signing of Adam Brayton and Tom Deacon for 2010 World Cup DH season.

Banshee Bikes (Mythic Bikes in the UK), high end mountain bike frame producers, is proud to announce that Adam Brayton, the 20 year old ripper from the Lake District in England, and Tom Deacon, the 23 year old current British National Points Series Elite Champion from Shropshire, England, will be representing them next season on the UCI World Cup DH circuit. Both will be riding Banshee’s all new Legend MkII DH race bike.


For more pictures words and videos CLICK HERE ...

Wildcard jungle trance...

Solo ride |FakawiTribe.com from MDH on Vimeo.

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

Just got back from a trip to Moab/Fruita with the HLC boys. We did 4 days of riding in moab, a day in fruita, and a day floating down the colorado river. I have ridden porcupine rim on many bikes, the rune reminded me of how far bikes have come. Pedals and climbs better than some 5" bikes but hucks like a 7" bike! Honorable mention for the kindshock seatpost, which has been working great. Very handy for a long pedaly descent like porc rim. I am loving this bike!

On the way down at like 2am, we passed a car with a black Rune on the back somewhere in Idaho.... the next day at the slickrock trailhead, we saw the same car and bike! Reed from Oregon, wassup!

A few rune pics:
Looking out over Castle Valley, from LPS
READ MORE ...

Freeride/3 - Città di Castello. Raid con Justyn Norek

Segnali un Bracconiere (Report a Poacher): Jay sent me this link http://www.iopedalo.it/freeride/freeride-3-citta-di-castello-raid-con-justyn-norek. Then I used my ninja language skills to translate it into English. If it is a little strange I apologize …. my Italian is a little rusty. For article in Italian click the link.

READ MORE ...

18 hours of Fruita

This last weekend was another good time in the western Colorado desert. The race was held at Highline Lake outside of Fruita, and was the infamous 18 hours of Fruita. It was a good turnout with several teams and even a bunch of solo riders. Starting at midnight, the race kept going non stop until six in the evening on a 6.5 mile course around the lake. I had left thursday on my xtracycle to spectate and help run support for our own Darin Binion. Upon arrival, I was stoked to be in good weather with starry skies for the race night. Meeting up with Darin, Dave, Devon and the Stomparrilaz crew, I was immediately fed a big plate of pasta at the trailer. If you know the Stompa's, you know that the sound bike was there to pump out the music and great food and good times follow it wherever it goes blasting music loud enough to drown out everything else including the organizer's stereo. Yes, it was a bit of a party. And we were all there to give Darin support in every way.
Turns out, that support must have been pretty good, because it helped Darin on his way to becoming the new solo rider champion. In the start, there were ten solo men in an open class. At the end of the 18 hours, Darin was in first place with 28 laps, totaling 177 miles through the night. The next racer behind him had 25 laps, and a fully geared bike racing against Darin's single speed, and still couldn't quite catch him. The nearest competitor to Darin had to stop due to hydration issues four hours before the end of the race, we wished him well while prepping for our boy's next lap. Dave kept making sure that food, liquid and supplements were ready all night while I slept on the ground a few feet away, snoring and cussing in my sleep I'm sure.
My camera batteries had died on the way out from Glenwood, so I didn't get any shots worthy of showing off. I'm sorry for that, Darin, but a huge congratulations from everyone is in order. This was an amazing race, with good food and a lot of free beer from New Belgium. Darin ended up with a shocking $80 purse, little wooden 1st place trophy around his neck, and some cool swag from the organizers. Darin is one of the owners of The Gear Exchange, in Glenwood Springs, CO, so if you have a hankerin' for a new Banshee bike, drop on by and see him. If you know Darin, buy that man a cold one and don't let him play off that incredible performance. He got more laps by himself than a lot of the teams of up to 8 racers. See ya next time, NiraD!

Linden

Wildcard Aaron LaRocque

I met Aaron at Interbike 2009, he was a little bit too busy to talk to me so I came to the conclusion that he was a pretentious a**. Sure he was under a lot of stress because his video What’s Next was playing live over Pinkbike, but that is no reason to ignore his biggest fan.

“Jack Who? I’m Aaron LaRocque.”

Aaron has a big head ... click to see him in action ...

Messing around..

Jason Headley and I had a little experiment today. The plan was to try make something like the matrix stop time and move around camera effect. Only problem was you need 20+ high quality cameras set up in the right spot to create such an effect. So we tried to switch it around and use just 1 camera but do the jump 20 times from a slightly different angle each time. Since it required to do the same trick 20+ times we decided to do a basic trick so I could just do the same thing over and over. This was the result of our first go, it’s rough but something different.

Trey Currie’s Amp

For Trey's thoughts on his Amp and spec list CLICK HERE ...

Pick up a T.

Hey guys,

So after Sea Otter, I hung out with Jack Fogelquist for a few days holiday in California.

On the Monday we went to the world famous 'Post Office' jumps in Aptos, which it would seem are about to be plowed for land development, which is a real shame, however the bike community in that area is so strong and active, that I'm sure an even bigger and better jump spot will rise from the ashes. What a great day was had by all!

At the jump jam I was talking to the photographer Jason Peters who showed me a T'shirt he had made based on one of his photos. The following words are from Jason.


'JDPETERS.COM Tuck Tee's are based off a photo by Jason Peters of a BMX rider at the world famous Post Office Jumps in Aptos, CA. The Tuck tee is printed on Tultex shirts which are made out of 100% cotton and is printed by DIY shirts in Costa Masa. This is the only run of this shirt that will be made and they are going quickly, so get yours now! Shirts come in three colors, Black, Navy Blue, White and come in all sizes from small to XL. The price has been dropped to $12! To buy a shirt email me at info@jdpeters.com or go to the Ebay page.'

I actually happen to be wearing mine now, and it fits and looks great. Thanks Jason! So why not pick up a bargain and visit his e-bay shop... in a way, if the post office jumps do get destroyed, at least you will have a bit of history.

Introducing Cam Rouch

Team Banshee Australia would love to introduce to you our newest rider, Cam Rouch.   Cam is only 17 years old and already has had some impressive results in dirt jump!  He came 3^rd in the recent Australian Dirt Jump Competition and we were so impressed with his attitude and style, we just had to sign him up.

Cam – “I Hopped on the bike when I was 4, started dirt jumping 10 years later.  My favorite trick is a 360 unturndowns and I’m currently learning Super Flips and double whips.  In the next 12 months I hope to build some trails up, have fun, learn some more new tricks and attend more comps. Oh yeah, and maybe fit University in somewhere too!” 

Cam recently attended Australia’s first round of a Freeride Competition in Sydney and placed 5^th – which is quite amazing given he did it on his dirt jump bike.  Here’s what he had to say:

“The comp was interesting to say the least. Practice went well and I was completing north-shore sections I couldn’t do before and getting the dirt jumps smooth and consistent. When it came to the comp I aimed for a clean but very good run. X-up the first jumps to tailwhip the second jump, then into the north-shore and off the biggest drop there which was so rough. Then I did the wallride but at the bottom of the hill they had these 10 meter distance jumps which would be scary enough on a downhill bike let alone a dirtjump bike. The next run I stepped it up with a no foot can and just missed out on my 360 tailwhip. Continuing down the hill I did a different north-shore and that was it.
Looking back at the comp I felt I rode well and smoothly and made friends with everyone at the competition. I ended up placing 5th in A grade when looking at the course I was proud of considering I was riding a dirtjump bike against a bunch of 20 something year old downhill riders that just hucked everything. The whole comp was judged by their mates as well which explains why a backflip tuck no hander and a 360 tailwhip didn’t rate as highly as a bar humped flip to case or a 30 foot distance jump to flat! Haha”

Awesome stuff Cam!!  You’ll see more of Cam on his brand new Banshee Amp!!   Welcome to Team Banshee Australia mate!! 

We’re stoked

Barspin Imports.

Ran Berko to cause a Megavalanche on his Rune

Ran Berko is once again going to compete in the Megavalance event. More news to come.

(sweet shot of Ran on his Cove)

(I think this was pinkbike POD … I was wrong once before though)

 

(race run on his Wildcard to a second place finish)

More information to come about Ran and the Megavalanche as soon as I have it.

Keep Riding.

Rob Dunnet

[R]EVOLUTION AUSTRALIAN MTB MAGAZINE

After a 6 months absence from [R]evolution mag its finally back and churning out issues again. I got a couple cool photos published thanks to Jason Headley and his photography magic. Also booked my plane ticket for Canada this season, so cant wait to get there on June 1st .

Woburn Pump Track session

Great fun session last weekend at Woburn Sands' Pump Track

Rob C (Rampant), John (AMP), Dan (SXT), Mike (Chaparral/AMP) and friends...

Video made by John "Jesus" Holme

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/135144/

Upside Down and Underground: Best Trick Recap

Fogel and Montgomery threw down hard! Montgomery took the win with a 360 superman seat grab. Good work guys.