Legend Funn

It was Saturday morning, woke up and had swapped over the parts from the Scythe onto the Legend in record time. Unfortunately we didn't make record time to the show and ended up driving around for 4 hours looking for the convention center. Things to note in future... don't use maps in show guides, and just because people live in the city doesn't mean they'll know where the location is for a massive convention center which has been under construction for 6 years - taxi drivers and police included??!!

Its Sunday now and I'm relaxing in the lounge with Gabriel from Brazil and throwing this up online.

We went by the Funn both to see the Funn girls [Cosmic and Joan] and also to see Ollie cause I needed to get my pricelist and OE catalog. We spec Funn stuff on our bikes and they also are our team sponsors so its always good to say hi to the guys.

Gabriel says we're going to the bar with the Funn people tonight so I gotta finish up my meetings and put on my party helmet.

Legend 14th March

Frame looks freaking amazing... thats all I can say. Its painted and everything is on it and I'm very pleased with how it went together.

Its just after 1am and the guys didn't show up with the parts until about 11pm so building it is a no go I'm just too tired. I did however stay up long enough to take a whack o pics in the studio and Jason at Sicklines has them and is doing the editing right now. Expect to see him post them up by the end of the day here.
I will take the frame to the show tomorrow and then while everyone is partying after the show i'll build it up in my hotel room for Saturday and Sunday.

Legend 13th March

Shows on right now and I'm here at the factory missing a bunch of appointments.

Its lunchtime so I figured I could squeeze in a quick post before I need to go downstairs and start filing more space into the tight tolerances so I can get the lower link to fit together in a little smoother before we send this bad boy off to paint. I don't want to paint it and then have to adjust anything so I might as well since I'm still waiting for the axles to get here from the subcontractor.

This is all part of the prototype process anyway to figure out how your tolerances are and what kind of changes you need to be to make production go easier. I'm actually suprised we haven't run into more problems but everthings coming together nicely *knock wood*.
I'm very pleased with how easy it is to install the shock with everything together - it basically just slides in through the front and bolts up easy.

The weight is 10.67lbs with shock but we still need to add paint and 4 aluminum axles, but then we get to take away weight because they forgot to do the inside windows on the driveside aluminum seatpost mast. My guess is it will be around 10.9 with everything done... of course we'll weigh it after its painted with everything in it. Production will be lighter as there are just a ton of places to shave weight off.
UPDATE: Jason [sicklines] just had me weigh the shock [with pin and spacers minus bolts] The spring on it is way too heavy at 500# but it came in at 2.65lbs... so in theory the Legend without shock is 8lbs ... still need to add and minus as above. I'm really stoked on that weight... wonder if we could shave a pound off and beat the Socom in weight...

This will probably be the last post on the Legend and you'll need to check Sicklines.com for the next bit after its painted and assembled. Then you can come back here a few days later for tons more pics and other tidbits of information.

The Legend Mk1 will be the culmination of 3 long years to get this thing done. I will also be posting something on the speculation that we some how copied Canfield and might even get a quote from Lance and Chris who I know personally to go on the record that both of us knew nothing of each others projects until last August when we both found out we were doing something somewhat similar in suspension style but still different, in pivots, wheel path travel... well you name a characteristic and I'll guarantee its different. In fact I still remember the exact place and time when it happened.

Again thanks for the comments about me posting this stuff up.

Legend update 12th of March

W0w...
things are just crazy as the show is tomorrow and we're scrambling to get this done.
The rear triangle has gone off to heat treat and is back. If you look you can see how the metal looks like its been cooked a little... well thats how it looks after its finished T4'd.

The rocker is pretty much complete and you can't see from this pic but there is a hole that goes through the middle of center part that helps to remove weight. Also you'll notice the little groove on the edges of the rocker.... that's where the cables go and that little hole is where the zip tie slides into to hold the cable in place. We're pretty pleased with the smooth lines the cables run and it should help with crisp shifts.

The lower link is big, strong, and stiff with massive axles that should keep that backend from squirling around making the bike track great in the corners. The axles, again, will be similar to the VF4B axles with the grease ports and are aluminum to lighten the bike again.

I've weighed the rear swingarm without any of the pivots and exactly as you see in the picture. Its 2.65lbs exactly. that leaves us with 5-6lbs to play with for the front triangle and all the links. So far its on target for the 10.5lbs mark for the whole thing... infact we're looking at it and thinking its still overbuilt even at 10.5lbs. but rather this then having it underbuilt.

I'm glad i'm here to document it coming together for you. I've been getting emails from riders who are stoked to be a part of the process even though you can't be here at least maybe you can appreciate the pressure we're under and the challenges we're facing getting something like this put together.

I think tomorrow I'll be able to show you a complete frame after the front triangle comes out of heat treat tonight. It will then go onto paint and at the show I'll be assembling the frame with all the parts.
Yesterday I just picked up brand new brakes from Funn... the Drop ins and a set of Drop outs... So big thanks to Ollie, Lynn and the rest of the people at Funn for sticking around late and getting that together for us.
I'll have a seperate post for the mayhem of driving around downtown Taichung on a couple of scooters looking for a new laptop for Gabriel from Session.

Oh and I just got news Markolf and the rest of the team in Brazil pretty much owned the podium at last weekends races. It will be nice when Gabriel can hand deliver the Legend to Markolf and see how he does with a true Banshee world cup race bike under him.

Ok, i'm out... gotta get back to all my emails. If you haven't heard from me for a day its because I didn't have internet access in Taichung but expect a message from me shortly.

Legend Mk1 update again

We've hogged out the inside of the "canoe" and created the little windows inside as well as outside.
Not only do these little windows look cool they serve a greater purpose by turning the piece into an I-beam. This shape is actually much stronger then if we were to just make the piece without the windows. So although generally you won't see this when looking at the bike the importance of doing it far from asthetics.
It does cost more to do the added machining but in addition to strength there is a further reduction in weight as well.
It will always be function before form at Banshee and we will compromise on looks before we compromise on strength, or performance but its nice when both can come together to make something beauty.

Update: later that day...
Ok now we have the back part started in the NC and have both halves of the canoe now.
The rear swingarm is being welded up and hopefully we can get into the oven for heat treating to T4 today.
All aluminum after its welded needs to be aged for strength. To age it faster you stick it in an oven but if you're willing to wait a month you can let it age naturally.
After heat treating to T4 we wait 3 days and then heat treat again but to T6 however I still think its best to let it still age a bit naturally after getting to T6 before you start riding the frame.

Weekend number 2 in TW

I had to stay at the factory on Saturday to be around for the Legend production so I missed out on Sat. ride. Steve [Niner] followed Lance [Canfield] off a ladder stepdown and the bike he was riding had too soft of front springs and basically spiked one of his crank arms into the ground which catapulted him sideways into a tree.
They got back to the factory around 10pm and Steve was totally worked. He figures he might have either cracked or broke a rib.

So its now Sunday as we leave Steve back at the factory and Me, Lance and Chris [both Canfield brothers] head out for a rip. We pass under Lance's favorite sign... we don't have a clue what it means but its got a skull and crossbones so I guess its a warning of some sort - ah ignorance is bliss.

I decided to ride a fully this time and we loaded up the Scream. It was definitely a lot faster and made the stair runs a lot smoother.
We all got in 2 runs and then it was time to do some trail maintenance.

We basically just built up a few berms, added a sweet hip to a current jump that was in the top section -Chris sent it on the last run after we finished the trail work and it looked flowy and sweet.
We built up the lip on the gap jump and basically did a few other things.

This week everyone in the industry who has any business over here -which is everyone practically- will be here for the Taipei show.

Gabriel, our Brazilian distributor-Session, is flying in tomorrow. I got his MSN message yesterday and hes bringing his Morphine with him. He told me he was riding around hamsterland [amsterdam] doing a little urban burn and visiting his friends before flying out here. I'm really glad he's coming because he's a good digger and I already scoped out where I want to build a set of dirtjumps... surprise ... as I hand him a shovel greeting him at the airport tomorrow.

Lance goes home on Friday -I think- so we're going to try to get out on wednesday for a little rip with whoever arrives this week. The ride might include Tom Delacy from WTB as he did mention an urban assault in Taipei; Harry from Hayes suspension and Ollie from Funn might be coerced into throwing on the gear but we'll have to see cause most people will be pretty busy getting ready for the show.

Anyway... it was getting dark and we wrapped it up for the day. Got in a couple more runs and then it was off to sushi express to chow down.
Each plate represents 30NTD which is equal to about $1.00US. Each plate has about 2pcs of sushi on it and when the bring you a beer the also bring 3 plates. At the end of the meal they add up all your plates and figure out your total.
We ended up with 42 plates which was about $40 for 3 and included 3 beers. Its such a great deal [about $14 per person] and your totally stuffed when you leave.

I wish i had some riding pictures but I hate to stop when I got the mojo flowing and you're trying to keep up with a redbull rampage alumni and his brother who races elite in the US. I think I faired pretty well... all those years on the Shore help to hone ones Ninja riding reflexes.

Well I'm out... look for more Legend updates this week as we should have it together before Friday if all goes well.

Wildcards galore....

The UK market seems to have really taken the Wildcard to heart...its the bike that everyone is asking us about, even if MBUK called it the "Wildcat" in their current magazine "next month preview" (don't worry we have got in touch to correct them...)

Here's a small selection of some of the Wildcard's we have built up / sold in the past couple months, although there are others out there that I don't have photos for

Most riders seems to be going with a Domain, Lyric or similar 6" fork, and we've sold more with the DHX Air shock although some riders have opted for the DHX coil

We have sold out our next shipment, and are taking orders for the following shipment already, and the MBUK magazine test hasn't even come out yet!

I've had some good news that they have put the Wildcard up against the Specialized SX Trail, the Norco 6 (x2?) and the Iron Horse 6.4 (?) which are all heavy duty all-mtn / light freeride bikes, so at least they haven't tried to mis-test it against the SC Nomad or Specialized Enduro SL...

The magazine goes to print soon, and should be on the shop shelves at the start of April; James from Freeborn and I are heading off on Wednesday to shoot the photos for the bike test (the actual bike test and the bike test photos are done seperately), and finally I get to bring my Wildcard home...its been away for 4 months which has seemed like an eternity

I'll bring you more news about the test when the mag hits the shelves

cheers!

Rob C



Phil's new WC




Latest "Dirt" magazine with Freeborn advert featuring Wildcard




Jason's WC with Lyric Coil U-Turn forks


John's WC with Marzocchi Z-1 FR forks


Nick's WC with Lyric Coil U-Turn forks


Rob B's WC with Domain Coil U-Turn forks


My WC with Lyric 2-Step forks

Legend part 2

The Legend is coming along quite nicely.
The hydroformed tubesets are here and many of the CNC parts are close to being done. We still have the lower link to get started on and I think thats next on deck.
The last peice will be the seattube mast that incorporates the mainswingarm pivot, BB shell, and the rocker pivot and we need to get this one perfect as everything is built around this part.

This frame is proving to be quite the challenge and I have been assured it will be the most expensive one the factory has ever made but this is more an exercise in seeing what we can do then about how to make the most money.

Me and Ryan [designer of many DH race bikes] have placed a friendly bet on how much it will weigh and I am guessing under 10.5 lbs with 9.5"x3 stroke shock. He said we could definitely get more weight out of it but we both agreed that we should keep it strong as I do want to have this as a more then 1 season race frame. Also even at 10.5lbs you're still going to end up with a sub 40lb race bike; that will be around what the Sundays and DHR's are building up to so its not the lightest [Intense Socom or the Patriot] but its right in there with what is considered to be the best of the best.

Anyway its Saturday right now and tomorrow is a riding day so maybe on Monday I'll have another update if I see some significant progress.
Me, Steve [Niner], Lance and Chris [Canfield], Ryan [Astrix] will be going out for a rip tomorrow. Me and Ryan had to work today but the rest of the crew brought shovels to buff out Speedtrap so hopefully the weather will be sweet and they cleaned up that burm to gap for added pop and speed.
Last night was a blast cause after dinner we went to the Jhongli go-karts and everyone was pretty even in skill. Heading into the last chicane i got bumped sideways and then Lance T-boned me so hard i got this freaking fist sized purple bruise on my back from the whiplash in the seat hahahahaha. I was wondering what that pain was when I woke up this morning... crazy but goodtimes for sure.

Well I gotta get back at it here but of course I'll keep posting up pics as I get them. As always, thanks for the comments they're always fun to read.

Riders rigs

Just poking around on our Malaysian/Singapore distributors site and found this beauty.There are more pics here on the Fakawi Tribes website

If you have have a freshie, and want the world to see your pride and joy send me a link and I'll be happy to post it. I know me and Keith are totally stoked when we see how people have built them up and each one is unique so its a real treat for us to see them.

Legend Proto

I'm sure some of you are curious about the Legend so here are a few pics of some of the CNC pieces.
In making the prototype we are forced to hog out quite a bit of material to get the programs dialled and figure out the shape and fit. You don't want to open expensive tooling until you are 100% sure that everything is perfect.

I must say that figuring out how to clamp the peices in the NC machine, tool selection and other considerations really test the critical thinking and creativity of the players involved.
Its a ton of fun watching it come together but it'll be nice when I see the torches come out and it starts being assembled.
I will have more pictures and some video i'll upload if I can find a firewire card for my laptop over here.

What you can see is the left side of the downtube "canoe" which will end up being the pocket for the shock. The reason we chose to do it this way rather then using a tube and just welding a shock mount on top of it, say like the SC V10, meant we lowered the COG [center of gravity] that much further. When you are dealing with a 9lb frame and a shock that is almost 2lbs this can be a noticable difference.
The 3D model above left is what we orginally started with but as you can see the final shape will be that much different [above right 3d model]. Even after all this work there will probably be a few changes to make it easier to manufacture.
The plan is to have everthing ready for the Taiwan show that starts next Thursday so we will be definitely working the weekend and late into the night to put this thing together.

I've already promised Jason at Sicklines the exclusive first look so you'll need to check out his site to see the first finished proto. I'll post it up here a few days later with my comments and lots more pictures of all the small details.