Paradox Pron

I don't think i need to say anything here. If you want to learn more we have a few earlier post here. Green is the medium and the Orange is a large

Kenny's day out on his new Legend.

Rangers Path – Mt Snowdon – highest ‘mountain’ in Wales and England.

Got up bright and early on Sunday morning, looked outside to confirm the weather conditions which were forecasted good, however all I saw was darkness, bloody winter. So final bit of bike maintenance to my mate James’ Turner (swapping derailleur as he bent and snapped it on Friday).

Loaded up and hit the road to Snowdon, weather was fantastic as soon as sun came up, around 0 degrees though, but the sun was shining. Arrived at base of hill and starting dressing up warm and strapping helmets and armour to our bags and bikes. Then just as we were about to set off James noticed something strange with his bike...a flatty on the front...bastards! BUT, on closer inspection this wasn’t your ordinary pinch flat, hows about a melted front tyre from being too close to the car exhaust when on the bike rack. Not cool at all. So after knocking on the hostel nearby, hoping for someone to randomly have a tyre, he gave up and chucked his bike in the car and we started walking, me with my Legend and him without a bike.

It’s a menace of a climb to be fair, I’ve always come from up the LLanberis side which is a further but shallower climb, this Rangers Path was a pain. There were some monstrous rocks and no real sign of a line for a bike down, it all looked a bit too much. Still I plodded on, it got colder and the wind started blowing.

Soon we were in the clouds and there was some snow on the ground.

This snow was soon enough blanketing everything with an annoying icy crust to it. It was pretty much a whiteout, I lost sign of James walking about 10m in front of me, these weather conditions were hardcore, still the thought of battering the hell out of my new Banshee Legend urged me on.

Finally I made it to the train tracks where the Rangers Path meets the LLanberis one, the snow completely covered the tracks. I wasn’t going any further, the top was only another 5 mins away but in these conditions the view was going to be, how shall I say it, limited.

I set the helmet cam up and downed trousers to put my knee pads on, it was bloody freezing. I was all set. James turned around and started running down. The ride was on.

The snow section was just so icy I was drifting every corner with my foot out, I was even drifting on the straights when I got shot off line by hidden rocks below the snow. My hands starting to get really cold and after a few minutes I was so glad to be out of the clouds and onto the rocky steep sections. This is where the bike came into its own, it was eating up even the stupidest line choices by me. (To be fair there aren’t really any line, just the line you happen to be stuck on) Some horrible drops onto even worse transitions comprised of razor sharp jumbled rocks begging to grab the front wheel and eat it, the bike is a true psycho and loved it. The Cane Creek Double Barrel is just sublime and suited perfectly to the Legend. The geometry is spot on and the travel seems endless, which is quite something as my previous DH rig was a V10 and this eats up the same shit no problems. I was also really surprised how much grip I was given, I mean I wasn’t expecting much having pumped by tyres up to roadie pressures so as to survive the razor rocks, but the suspension was supple and active, truly mint.

I stopped several times en-route to the bottom, to get the blood back in my hands and let the arm-pump subside, and to wait for James to catch up. Some of the views were amazing, so I didn’t mind having a sit down and a relax.

Big thanks to Keith and Jay for the opportunity to get one of the first batch of Legends, you guys have done a great job with his frame, a la Ronald McFatty, 'I'm loving it!'

Kenny Howard (UK)

Helmet cam footage!

Redefinition of the 29r hardtail?

They said it couldn't be done and thats why I am so stoked to introduce the Paradox - clearly the name fits.

So what did we do that was so special? Lets have a look at the numbers first before the bike pron.

	offset	travel	fork height	Head Angle	BB 2.1 tire	trail 2.1	BB 2.4 tire	trail 2.4	drop	effective seat angle	actual
Reba 09	46	120	526	69.5	12	87.7	12.4	91.7	62	72	70.3
		100	506	70.5	11.7	80.9	12.1	84.7	69	73	71.2
Reba 08	39	100	510	70.16	11.8	90.6	12.2	94.4	67	72.7	70.9

Frame	Size	effective toptube	head tube	Chainstay
Xlarge	22	25.3	4.3	17.0
Large	19.5	24.2	4.3	17.0
Medium	17	23.2	4.3	17.0

Paradox gearing comparison using 1x9 and hammerschmidt



Primarily we built this around a 120mm fork and now that you can get a 100-120mm adjustable travel Reba for 2010 with a solid 20mm axle, we felt it was a good time for us to add something to the market that was missing.

The numbers look great and with the super short chainstays at 17.0 and the ability to still put in a large 2.4 tire we can get that Banshee feel. This will be a fast, flickable [what a flickable 29r??!!] that you can adjust to more XC feel or the switch of the Uturn get that all mountain feel and see how far you can push your limits.

The medium frame weighs 4.7lbs, which isn't the lightest 29r hardtail out there, but what amounts to less then a lb actually gets you an incredibly strong, efficient, and laterally stiff hardtail... something Banshee has always been known for.

This should be the choice for those clydesdales that like 29r's but until now have had few choices.

Those who aren't familiar with our Sun tubes in our seat and chainstays will be pleased to know there is an internal rib through the middle which creates a super stiff backend. It also allows us to include our "shock block" seatstays. The sweep in the seatstays actually performs an important function as it takes away any harshness out of the frame but laterally it remains super stiff.

We went with vertical drops because this bike was made for the people who appreciate the benefits of a 29r but don't necessarily want to punish themselves with a single speed.


Its a fun 29r for the weekend dude... like me... and I plan to use my Paradox for everything from commuting, to my All mountian North Shore expeditions and heck I may even see how it fairs for the more freeridey stuff I do like drops and skinnies. I figure it might fair pretty good on 7th where there are a lot of root holes and should allow me to roll right through them - I can't wait!!!
BUT!!!! do not sell this bike short for speed. Its stiff and efficient and with the right build it can be very competitive if you do decide you want to do a few season racing on it.

We also added 4 cable guides under the top tube for a front derailleur, rear derailleur, rear brake AND cable actuated adjustable seatoost like the Crank bros. Joplin. This will probably be my personal setup, with the adjustable seatpost, but I haven't decided on dualring/RG with FD or go 1x9 with a chainguide - oh the variations are endless.

If you're sold on the SRAM Hammerschmidt we got you covered as well. ISCG05 with the cable guides in place will allow you to install the HS with now worries at all. We'll show you how in a few days when all the parts arrive and we build one up.

The frame will come with a 2 year warranty and for the first few runs of frames I'll be offering them at a special price, that i'm working out with our distributors and dealers. This will be limited time thing but I can't wait to get feedback from as many of you as possible so thats why i'm going to offer this. I know we nailed it on this one, I just want to know what you think.

Best thing is it still looks like a classic hardtail, the fit, function, quality, and look, are beyond what i hoped we would end up with. I haven't been this excited about a hardtail since my Giant ATX back in the early 90s.

new Mythic website on the way

It's been a great season for Mythic bikes in the UK during 2008, and going into 2009 we are seeing some changes in the frame line-up, gone are the Scirocco and Morphine, and we welcome new arrivals the AMP and Legend Mk1 frames to the family

It's time for a new website for Mythic, and I am going to be busy over the Winter working on this alongside rebuilding trails in the Esher Shore bike park and running Freeborn's Esher bike shop

Holding page is found here, more to come soon www.mythic-bikes.co.uk

cheers!

Rob c

Banshee rider spotted in Colorado Photo Annual

Colorado based magazine Mountain Flyer Magazine just came out with there 2008 photo annual. The mag follows the Rockey Mountain area race scene and culture. If you can't find it in your area head over to mountainflyer.com to get your copy.