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<--

Malaysian DH Super Series 2010 Race#2

Race Gallery Here
FakawiTribe.com

Malaysian DH Super Series Race#1: Mt Austin JB

Tonnes of Racing Pics Here<---------

New Banshee Website ... in process

Now I realize this is probably the first time ever somebody has posted the link to an unfinished bike website but I thought you guys might find it cool to watch how it comes together.
Its kinda like how we design our bikes too so heck might as well do it with our site to so you can follow along and see the process.
I did sneek the link in an earlier bike post but figured a lot of you guys didn't see it so here it is again. http://www.intangible-logic.com/banshee/
have FUN

Am I on Crack?

Ok so I go to google ... type in Pinkbike and the above image comes up.
Is that a link to Banshee under the Pinkbike link?
Rob checked his google and it never came up like that but mine did. Anyway its tripping me out and thought I'd share.

Fakawi Banshee Team podiums in Specialized DH Championship

4th UKDI-Specialized International Downhill Championships, Indonesia.
16-18 October 2009.

FakawiBanshee Team rider Gig from Thailand notched an impressive 2nd place losing to Risa Suseanty of Indonesia in the women's category.

Rizal "Redride" on the other hand managed a 4th place in the Men's Master A category. More pics to come...

Gig in her glory!

Rizal ..another podium

Gig on her Scythe. [Pic by Meita Glen]

Rizal on the Legend mk1, airborne at the rockdrop

Krempl, our Deity sponsor, pinning it!

The Claw! That's a 5m high road gap.. "That's the biggest road gap I have done in 3 years" claims the Claw!

What's Next - Aaron Laroque's Video

What's Next - Aaron Laroque

You can download it in higher quality here...

Interbike 2009

So its been a very crazy week getting ready and doing the show.

I'll have more pics soon but so far here are links to some of the media visits.

the spitfire
http://www.sicklines.com/2009/09/25/video-2010-banshee-spitfire/

the paradox here



Scroll down to see Zac's Legend
http://nsmb.com/3297-dirty-demo/
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Interbike-Day-2-2009.html

So we're slowly making our way back but stopped in to say hi to the guys at Tam Cycles in Mill Valley and grab a quick ride, and then play in Mark Weirs backyard before we head up to ride Ashland.
This years interbike sure will be a memorable one. I'll make sure I do another post with all the dirty little details like our booth not showing up, our demo tents blowing away and now having to sleep in the truck cause all the hotels from San Fran to San Rafeal are booked up... crazy I woke up with the smell of stale beer, feet, and ass. I've been in the same pair of boxers for 3days and i need a shower bad! Small sacrifice to pay for getting to ride this beautiful part of the world.

Sitting in a Starbucks in Novato but i should be home soon and will catch up with lots of pics and stuff.

Juride vids and a party invite

Julien my European distributor just sent me a couple vids that he wanted to share. Check'm out.... I really want to try his bike park... looks like fun.

A teaser for our bike party wich will happen in two weeks, The last edition it was 2500 persons on the place!

The rider is Sakoline too with his scythe!

A very funny trail we built in our mountains, riding in those little stones is like powder skiing ;) riders: Zwo and Sakoline( scythe and WC)

4th Bukit Cermin Downhill Challenge 2009

Congrats to Rizal from Team Fakawi Banshee and Haris from R.O.A.M. for coming in 4th and 5th respectively in the Men's Open category in the 4th BC Downhill Challenge 09 yesterday!

Here are some pics of Banshee riders spotted in the race..
(and more pictures on FakawiTribe.com)

Are there more Banshees than any other brand featured in Pinkbike POD's?

Brandon H adding to the list throwing out a super can on his rampant. Props to Matt Butterworth for the shot.
Comment here...

Banshee or not Banshee? Banshee, of course!

From Paulo in Brazil:

Are you thinking in doing an update on your ride? I was. Have you thought about Banshee? I did. And I could not be happier with my decision.

I’m 41 years old. So you can guess that I’m not into big jumps, DH races, 360s, backflips and all. Also I don’t like competition. Don’t like the stress involved on that. My joy is ride all day long with friends (always trails with more than 40 km longer), lots of climbing, , appreciating the views on top of the hills and, of course, going fast downhill as much as I can. Pure all mountain.


For that I wanted a bike with more travel that could give enough confidence to go faster than today. Also I wanted a bike with good climbing skills, because I do that a lot. The logical step was tried to get another Cannondale since I was riding a Jekyll for 4 years. However, the prices for new models were too high for my bucks and the guys there (despite my attempts) did not help. Apparently, my old, but in excellent shape bike, did not worthy a penny for then. They loose me right there and I decided go for a change.

After a lot of research and reading (Unfortunately Banshee is best known as a DH bike in Brazil and I come from a XC/AM scene) I decided to get a Rune. I was afraid at first, because all my friends ride C-dales, or other pop brands out there and I have to listen a lot of “you’ll regret, it is too heavy” from then. But they all were wrong.

In fact, it is a little bit heavier than my previous bike. Really a bit. I decide just to take all the parts I already had and install it in the new frame. The weight difference regards the frame itself, a bit higher in the Rune. The only changes I really make were the tires (now I have a 2.4 Maxxis Advantage in front, for confidence going down, and a 2.1 Velociraptor in the rear, for traction) and the brakes (I installed a brand new pair of Elixir CR).

The rest is a mix of XT Cranks and hubs, X9 rear derailleur/shifters, FSA bars, Selle Italia saddle, with a seat post that came with the frame, Manitou Nixon IT Fork, Fox RP23 with Propedal shock, and Sun wheels. If they are not the best parts, are not the worse either. The result is a pretty light weight (14kg, 30.8lbs) for a bike with this travel. Besides that, all the its other qualities compensating everything.


The climbing is amazing. I was wondering if all that reviews I read were right. Yes, they were. So far, not a single bob, even with the propedal off. Just pedal and feel the energy going direct to the traction. I already feel the difference on those top hills I always have had problems with. In flat areas, the bike accelerates very quickly, like a sports car asking for more power as you step the gas. I’m really very pleased with that.

Going down is another blessing. With 150 mm of travel rear and front, I’m just ignoring the path I’ve been riding in it. I just point the bars and let it go. The bike swallows everything in its way. Also, I love the way the rear wheel is always in contact with the ground (except some jumps, of course), transmitting the energy for increase the speed. My confidence is growing day by day.

The bottom line is: I’m love with my Banshee. I’m really really happy with it and started to spread the Banshee’s gospel to everybody I run into on the bushes. Long live to guys there. May they can continue doing this marvelous job.

PH – new Banshee enthusiast



P.S.: I’m selling my Jekyll. Drop me a line if you are interested. I’m flexible doing business.

From Russia with Love - 3

Hi there Jay and Keith,


Just back from ultimate roadtrip to Ural mountains (more that 1000 miles one way by car )
Please find attached some photos (many thanks for most of them to mr. Vados)
The weather was great, we visited Russian Downhill Championship (were not riding cause we don't have licenses, it's not so easy to get them here (too much money for almast nothing), so we just have some fun riding local downhill and freeride courses.


The mountain itself is not so big (about 1300ft between top and bottom), but its the only resort that provides modern lift working at summer. So we had about one week of fun riding.


Anyway, Scythe performs far better than my chap last year in thee same conditions )
Many thanks for great bikes,


Best regards,
Mike

Dual Downhil Race, Saraburi Thailand 25-26th July 2009

Team Fakawi Banshee received an invitation to race at this year's Maxrider Dual Downhill Race in Sara Buri Thailand from our team partners In Bangkok about 2 months back.
The idea of racing downhill against another competitor captured our imagination and the whole team signed up for the race.

Due to some unfortunate chain of events, Rizal, Stanley and Allen had to pull out last minute, leaving only Robby and me available to go racing. Their loss!
A few fellow downhillers from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia tagged along to join in the dual downhill fray.


We arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on the 24th July and we were whisked away to the foothills of Jedkot National park by our hosts Na Der and gang to our cosy little mountain chalets. As soon as we settled in, we quickly assembled the bikes and headed up to the Maxrider/Kona Bike Park at the top of the mountains for some practise runs.

Now in its second year, the Dual Downhill race offers a unique way of racing downhill in this region. The race track was designed almost parallel to each other, all built from scratch, carved out into the mountainous terrains of the Jedkod National Park.

The race lines are divided into lines A and B, each with a distance of 1.61km and 1.53km respectively. Both run fairly close to each other so you can actually see and hear your competitor racing right next to you. Both lines are pretty fast with many jumps, gap jumps and rocky sections thrown in.

Lines A and B were originally designed to cross each other somewhere in the middle of the trail but it was rerouted to criss-cross after riders who were equally fast started crashing into each other during practice runs.. (No one is gonna give way during racing conditions!)

Both lines end at the finish line with a dramatic 9 foot gap jump right into the finishing line. This is pretty exciting to watch for the spectators especially when the two riders approach the finishing lines together.

The racers in the Junior, Elite, Men's Masters A and B are matched to their competitor randomly. Each racer has to race each race line. The racer who wins both races will move on to the next round. If there was a tie, the riders will race again, sudden death style, with the race line picked at a toss of a coin.

The race is actually a test of both speed and stamina because the winners will keep racing all the way to the finals in many rounds.

I was matched to race with a superfit Thai police sargeant and I had my ass kicked in both races. I was out in round one itself. Racing with after a nasty crash during practise run the day before didn't help much either. My whole body was screaming in pain but the adrenaline rush of racing downhill against another rider did numb the pain a little.

It was quite an exhilarating experience racing in the Maxrider Cup Dual Downhill..everyone had a real blast.

Me on my trusty Wildcard (pic by Rudy)

Robby on the Scythe. (pic by Rudy)

The Fakawi Banshee team along with our fellow racers, Uncle Bully, Mann, Yamm, Finn, Lano, Nas, Azman, ManJB, Fahmi, Tat Siong and Wendy would like to thank our most gracious Thai hosts and Na Der from Maxrider for treating us like VIP racers!

We'll definitely be back for more double race action next year for sure!

some photos here on FakawiTribe.com

This one's for you, Jay!

-Fakawi

Healing Vibes to Kenny.

DH ripper, Legend test rider and my good mate Kenny Howard, has just been chatting to me on this amazing invention called the tinterweb.


At the weekend he took a spill on a supermoto bike while practising in Seattle area. The bike crushed and twisted his leg when the front wheel washed out on him and, but typical Kenny thought nothing much of it and rode back to the pits where he figured he had dislocated his Knee, so drove himself to hospital.

Turns out that he had a tibial plateau fracture (break just below the knee, but close enough that it has likely affected the joint), so he is now stuck with a full leg (crotch to toe) splint awaiting more scans from the doc. It is likely that he have to go 3 months without walking, then 6 months before knee surgery as it is likely he has a lot of ligament damage as well. So will be out of riding for a year or so.


Tough times bud! I'm sending you healing vibes, and I'm sure lots of the Banshee family will be doing the same when they read this. I hope that things turn out better than originally thought and that you do your normal super fast healing.

Mad Trapper Panorama

Off to the next leg of the BC Cup.
Invermere and Panorama resort for the Mad Trapper race.
Should be there for practice on Saturday and hopefully the weather is a lot nicer then it was last weekend.
I should have something up on the blog by Monday.
Look forward to see all whose going.
For more information on the race
http://media.intrawest.com/panorama/pdf/Mad_Trapper_Downhill_2009.pdf
and here
http://www.panoramaresort.com/index.htm

Arduum or Ardoom depending on how your race went

It was wet it was dark and it was knar.

It was however a lot of fun, very well organized… so much so that riders were only a few minutes behind when their official times to start were. So huge thanks to all the organizers, time keeper, commisares, first aid guys, and sponsors for putting on a great event.

Now lets get to some pictures.

First was the Trident Banshee Industry team. Thanks Michelle for you 3rd place finish.

As well as Dean Wilkes [Legend] and Tom Thorton [Scythe]

Tom placed 1st in Citizen senior and Dean placed 3rd in the same sandbagger class. EDIT: Dean actually came second to get a Banshee 1- 2! Not sure how they placed overall but those guys are fast so don’t let the class fool you.

Left: Michelle after the rock drop Right: Dean hitting the rock drop

Dalen and Zac were also racing and although podiums we’re not in the cards they were happy with their runs and to have survived Ardoom.

Left: Dalen eating shit before a hip gap. Can’t blame him as it was really greasy and finding traction was the order of the day. Right is Zac taking the chicken line. I guess his bike’s to pretty to get all dirty. You can see the white splotches in the pictures were rain drops and at times it was coming down real hard.

My cousin was one of the smart ones with golf umbrella put to good use on Sunday .

Some guys weren’t so lucky and I saw a few mangled bikes and bodies coming down the mountain. I hope this guy is ok and is healed up for next weeks Panorama race

Taking pics was not easy, everything was soaked, it was dark, and the amount of red eyes I had to fix was insane. So if you see your pic and your eyes look all f’d I tried my best.

Here is the rest of the riders that I managed to get. There was quite a few racers competing but I managed to get a few of you… enjoy.

View Full Album

Tyler from Pinkbike giving out the awards and prizes.