Legend Racers and an update

Update: June 19th
Val di Sole seeding has taken place and we have the following seeds
Marcelo Guiterrez - jr 11th spot
Matej Charvet - elite 29th
Markolf Berchtold - elite 54th

Stay up to date on all the results and check out the rest of the riders at Sicklines.com


Marcelo and Markolf are in Val di Sole now for the world championships so were excited to see how they do.
News came back the Markolf placed 5th in Vigo. We're really happy for him and hope that he has continued success. Thats a great result and there were alot of riders that he had to go up against.
I'm only showing page one but there are another 2 pages of results

The 2nd batch [2 pcs] of prototypes were finished yesterday but we're still have some tolerancing issues that need to be address, so unfortunately it looks like we're still a bit away from getting these out of the prototype stage.
Basically you have to consider the build of the weld and if you put something too close to where a bushing or linkage needs to move then the only way to get it to work is to pull out the grinder. Thats ok for a few pieces but not so great when your running production as its very time consuming and costly.
Today I'll be sorting out with Keith where we have to make some adjustments.

On a brighter note the frame without shock has shed .5lbs and now comes in at 3.82kg [8.4lbs] without shock, hanger, maxle, or RD hanger.
With the shock around 2lbs [grabbed weights from Sicklines] the Legend should be just a little over 10.5 when you add the hanger, maxle, seatclamp.

old stuff new stuff

photos of banshee riders... look here.

Racing in Taiwan

I finally got some time to post up what the heck i've been up to in Taiwan over these past couple of months.
Its been a lot of work-work-work but I still get out on the weekends and luckily have been able to plug into the local mtb scene which is totally awesome.

Since i like to share... if you're an industry type that gets over here regularily and wants to partake in all the Taiwan has to offer I suggest you contact Victor Major on his new site www.cycletaiwan.com . They have a fresh forum and we're all trying to get the word out that you DONT need to be holed up in a hotel room, and that there are some great places to ride and a lot going on so contact him or hell even email me. There are some great rides both on road and off both DH and XC.

So anyway let me share my first installment.
Big thanks to Giant Bicycles over here for sponsoring a mtb series. It was kinda fluke that I found out about actually. I found out a local, Alan who runs a local bike dealership, was buying a red wildcard and was going to be racing it, which started the little hamster in my head to get on his wheel and try to figure out what was this all about. After much haranging of ppl who can read chinese we found there was a race series and I went about signing up.

It was me and Ryan from Astrix bikes that ended up racing and the weekend before Keith and all of us went to practice the course... see tearing up taiwan.
The day of the race we decided to head down early even though we weren't on deck until around 2 o clock. Leaving at 9am we arrived 2.5 hours later in Daija, which is just north of Taichung, and grabbed an early lunch at McRaunchies where Ryan realized he lost his wallet. No biggie I got cash and can spot him, but he was still a little miffed and searching through the van realized he not only forgot his wallet but all his pads too. GAWD ryan you tool!!!
So do we drive back?? yep. So in the end I didn't get to even see the actual course and arrived just in time to 5min later get my start... it was a total rush.

The course was a freaking mudfest of epic proportions, it was not only flat but super slow and my choice of a hardtail was a good one. It was the kind of course that would see Jeff Kabush put the boots to the likes of Sam Hill considering the XC guys rode the same course in their XC loop - why are we having to wear all this gear again??
Anyway it was just great to get out, and even though it pissed down rain, the course was slow, and I only got 4th place due to a well timed stick in spokes that I had to spend time yanking out, the race had tons of people come out and watch, it was super well organized [except for No Shuttling so you had to push your bike back to the top] and its just damn good to ride your bike for any reason at all.

I made this killer mud fender out of a apple juice bottle. My contemporaries from Whistler will know what this is all about... and how well it actually works.

Thanks to William for coming out and taking pics. Some how he missed my run tho so I don't have any of me [guess i was just going too fast hehehe] but he did capture the "I forgot my Sh*t" culprit as he busts around a tree.

Anyway thats it for now.
I'll have some more coming up in the next few days of dragon boat racing, another DH race that MORE then made up for ease of this course, and there is a jump jam happening next week which I'll be going to before i leave for Canadaland the following day.

Keith and Rob get airbourne

Keith turned up today at Esher, back from Taiwan and a nasty bout of Asian Flu :(

its been pretty cold and damp the last week here in England, but the sun came out yesterday, and today the Slopestyle park started drying out, and was ready for an after-hours session....



I am loving my Wildcard with the new Domain fork, and am also running a much thinner and lighter tire combo which is making my bike feel super smooth on the dirt jumps for that all important "boost" off the lips



the new Slopestyle park is coming along well, and we finally got the construction of the final trick jump nailed and completed last night after shifting a couple more tonnes of dirt



Keith put in a solid ride on his AMP, considering the scary jumps in the new Slopestyle park on the expert line, and Esher local "hot carl" worked on his jumping technique on his tank-like Demo 7

we've got 2 weeks until the MBUK Shore Showdown Jam, where the Slopestyle park gets its opening, and its looking good, we've got some clearing up to do, and if we get the time, we'll add some additional stunts

Phase 1 of the SS park build is almost done, but Phase 2 will add lots more stunts and sneaky transfers

cheers!

Rob c

My bike just got better

June 12, 2008

Published by nato

My bike just got better.

Well it is still a wetter than normal spring here in the "sunny" okanagan valley but it is a good time to get the trails buffed before they dry out.
I spent a few hours last nite tuning the in-run and lip on my new stunt up Addiction. It is a step-up to bowled table to step down that you need to time just right to make the gaps. It also threads through trees.
I had over 60 lbs on my backpack, chainsaw, pickaxe, shovel, spikes, hammer,etc. pushing my Banshee Wildcard up the trail to work. Fun ride out thou!

Today i got the gillard bug and decided to try my bikes 5" travel setting for the first time. Wow! I thought i had a wicked bike before but this is just plane awesome! We hit up "Yo-Mama" with a few buds and i was instantly loving the increased pop and speed through the corners. Yo-Mama has some tight corners with doubles mid corner, and some nice senders. I was a little wet once we got into the trees but still super fun.
Next up was FistsFirst which has some dialed new berms which were a blast rifling through. There is a big step down hip that you can send 30+ feet down that was minty, but the slimy logride to gap after it was moldy. After Fistfirst we pushed up to RubHerDown, love the lighter weight Wildcard on the hike-a-bike bits. I found an axe left by some partiers that will work perfect for building so I stuck that in my pack and drop into my buddies trail, RubHerDown.

RubHerDown was good as always, feels like you are off the ground half the time. Next up we were off to Boss Hog to finish the lap. There is a huge amount of new blow down even from a few weeks back that has been nicely taken care of. Props to the builders and maintenance guys up there. Watched the look of fear in a buddies eyes as he nose cased the big step up on the HOG and just about got tossed. Good times fer sure. Finished off Boss and I watched the bikes while they got the trucks. I buffed up a little step down to puddle jump at the lower parking lot that i had built last year while waiting. The weather looked to be clearing over Postil so i decided that would be good for an afternoon rip.
I crept my little Fireflee down the access road swearing that i would not be taking it up there again. The road is brutally rough, in a little car with bagged out shocks and struts. Drive across town and get to Postil just in time time to jump in with a group of three heading up Addiction. As i gear up i realize i left my pack with all my tools and first aid gear up Gillard. Grrrrrrr.... grits teeth. So did a quick rip with the groms i got a ride up with and then booked it back up Gillard. The road was a little better the second time up and atleast my bag still there. Back over to Postil and met up with my bud Randy who hits just about all the big stuff and is a 50+ grampa. Did another 3 laps and sessioned the big line up top till we were all pooped.
Had so much fun i could not believe i was riding a 5" bike. Drops that were making me nervous last year on my old 8" DH are a new place to try throwing tricks now. Fun fun.

Thanks to the boys at Banshee bikes, Straitline components, Stpectrum techwear, and Outbound Cycle, for all your support.

World cup Downhill – Vallnord

Words and Pictures from Matej Charvat who rode a Scythe at the world cup in Andora.

'Second World cup of this season was for the first time ever in Andorra - Vallnord. It is really nice place with big mountains everywhere. There are so many different downhill and freeride singletracks, which make this area ideal for mountainbiking.

As there was raining for about almost 3 weeks before the race, the DH course was wet and soft on few places, but on the others there have been hardpack which absorbed water. This combination was really hard to choose tires for and also for riding on still changing surface on one course.

Qualify was on Sunday morning. It was raining at night, so the course was really wet. It was really difficult to ride without fall or big mistake. I rode carefully, did few small mistakes and qualified on 61st place of 231 riders.

I changed tires for the finals because of the track was much dryer than in qualify. There was really dry surface on the open sections and in woods it was still something like peanutbutter mud. I did really smooth run, but unfortunately my back wheel was flat. It happened about in first third of course. Bad luck. I finished my run on 73rd place.

Next race is UCI C1 race of Czech National Series in Spindleruv Mlyn(CZE) on 14th-15th June. '

MYTHIC WILDCARD

I get alot of kids emailing me asking for pictures of my Wildcard, so to stop the flood of emails, here ya go!!








cheers!

Rob C

Esher Slopestyle park

time is running out fast, we've got less than 3 weeks to go until the "2008 MBUK Shore Showdown Jam" but with all hands on deck the new Slopestyle park is coming along very well












tonight we finished the intermediate line by completing the "kona" box and landing / berm, although the third stunt (currently a big dirt volcano) needs rebuilding - its going to have a timber launch added to the front to pick up extra speed for the kona box



John "Jesus" Holme managed to throw the chain off his Scirocco and put a large hole in his shin, and i also had a drivetrain related "incident" (not throwing a chain but having a collision with a chainring)




messing around - tiretap on timber tabletop




more messing around - nose wheelie on timber tabletop




air time on the expert line

I'll get some photos up of the "finished" slopestyle park in a week or two, although there are already plans to add a gap to elevated wallride, 40 foot wide x 15 foot high quarter pipe at the back, a timber booter to hip landing and all kinds of other sneaky stuntage where we can

big thanks to Robert Bigwood and Chris Seager-Smith for the photos

cheers!

Rob C

forking abuse...

rockshox classed the Lyric as an "all mountain fork" and after 7 months, maybe they were right!


whilst the Lyric's 2-step function still functions 100% ( a big contrast to the '07 forks which were problematic) and the seals are running sweet (again a contrast to '07), the physical structure of the forks has had enough of me using my Wildcard as an oversized, sprung BMX bike

as we have been building the Esher slopestyle park, we have been riding the sh*t out everything we have built - some stunts and jumps worked, others didn't and got torn down

this has meant lots of overshoots and ugly landings, plus the constant temptations of being a bmx rider let loose on a sprung bike in a bike park..." can i footjam on my MTB?", "what if i do a 2 foot high bunnhop to fakie rollback off the lip of a dirt jump?" and so on...

the Lyric held up well, but has developed a scary crackling noise which has been getting louder and louder

warranty is 3 weeks away, as is the Esher Shore 08 Jam, and we've still got to finish the slopestyle park which means i need a working bike

Domain 318 Coil U-turn stepped in, huge thanks to Freeborn bikes (www.freeborn.co.uk) for the hook up, and I am rocking again

the Domain is nearly 1 lb heavier but feels much burlier with its steel stanchions and steel steerer, plus the coil u-turn (115mm-160mm) get more progressive as you wind it down, which is perfect for DJ action where the 115mm setting makes the Wildcard feel really responsive

to be clear, i always rode my Lyric 2-step on the 115mm setting, apart from a couple of times using it on 160mm on bigger gaps jumps (freeride style), with the Domain i can run it around 130mm for the bigger gaps to provide more of a cushion yet keep the more nimble handling

very impressed with both the Domain fork and the Wildcard in the slopestyle park, its still a burly bike that will take serious abuse, but nimble enough to session the jumps and mess around doing silly bmx tricks....

cheers!

rob c

Hi Banshee Bros

I just want to tell You that i have started to jump some jumps. www.hcfr.pl is Polish best and largest mtb website , they asked me about big cool interview and this shot (32 + ft triple) is part of that interview. I will put it here when it will be done.
I can't go huge till september but i'm happy that i'm riding
Thanks Peter " SZWED" Szwedowski
photo by : Michal Sikora