Wildcard Version 2.0- More than just a dream?

A follow up response to http://bansheebikes.blogspot.com/2009/08/banshee-wildcard-long-term-review.html

As my eyelids struggled to compete against the force of gravity, a few thoughts tripped on my mind’s doorstep. What if money grew on trees? What if first time homebuyers didn’t need a 25 year mortgage? What if I could change whatever I wanted on the Banshee Wildcard?

As my eyelids regained their crown as the daily Awake Champion, I began to contemplate the thoughts that only moments ago occupied my cerebrum. The first two questions were quickly dismissed as I remembered a wise and BIG philosopher once said, “Mo money, mo problems.”

But what if I could change whatever I wanted on the Banshee Wildcard? What would I change?

In my opinion, the Wildcard was initially designed as a slopestyle bike, but due to its versatile geometry it soon found its niche as a true jack-of-all-trades bike capable of slopestyle esque riding and freeriding. As a result, most riders who choose to purchase the Wildcard also spend a great deal of riding time on the trails.

With the above disclaimer in mind, there are three and a half revisions I would like to suggest. The first is revision is around the area of geometry. The Wildcard is an excellent all around platform suitable for climbing, jumping, descending, and cornering. However, I would like to see a slightly lower bottom bracket height of approximately ¾ of an inch (bringing the bottom bracket height to 13.15” on my current set up), and a slacker head angle by one degree (bringing my current head angle to 66 degrees), while the rest of the geometry numbers remain the same.

With a lower bottom bracket height, the Wildcard would have a lower center of gravity and in my opinion, be even better at railing through high-speed corners. With a slacker head angle, the Wildcard would be even more stable when pointed down steep descents. Of course the drawback of having a lower bottom bracket height means more bottom bracket, crank, and pedal smashes while having a slacker head angle means having a slower turning response for slopestyle maneuvers.

The second area of revision is around weight. While by no means heavy at 8.92lbs (for an anodized finish DHX air 5.0 equipped size small), a loss of ½ a pound would place the Wildcard ahead of its competitor the Transition BottleRocket and be one more reason to hand over the green (or brown bills) to Banshee Bikes.

The third area of revision is around appearance. With riding hotspots like Whistler peppered with wildly finished carbon fiber helmets and TLD superhero suits, riders are definitely spending money on their riding kits. My preference would be to see anodized links to colour match or colour clash the anodized finish on the Wildcard. Banshee specific decal kits (think Rock Shox like) for the wet paint Wildcards would also be a draw for all the sticker-crazed groms.

The last half revision is around price. The reason I claim this to be a half revision is because while the Wildcard is a fairly pricy frame, you definitely get what you pay for. It is a solid frame, backed by a great warranty, and a standup company. However in tough economic times, what will entice new riders to purchase a Wildcard over similarly priced frames? I believe my first three suggestions are the key.

Wildcard Version 2.0, am I still dreaming?

C.C.

Minus 4

I came back to Fernie after Interbike and was not impressed with the temperature. I have not seen single digits on a thermometer since I left Canada in the fall of 2003.  A couple days later it rained in town and I awoke to fresh snow on top of the mountains. (the view from my brother’s place, we are working on the inside but there is no furnace)

This week the low has been –4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit) and not only is there snow on the mountains but in the mornings there is snow in town. I have not given up on riding and have been going out every other day.

(there was a little bit of snow this morning, but nothing major)

I have been riding the same trail a couple of days a week. It is perfect for my Wildcard and can be ridden in under an hour. And with the weather changes it is almost like a new trail every time I ride it.

  (at the top of my climb)

If you are some where warm enjoy it. And if you live some where and the weather is starting to get cold, ride as many days as you can before the snow comes.

Keep riding,

Rob

P.S. I love my Wildcard.

mission

went on a photo mission with linden last night. no plan or photo in mind, just to capture something cool. i think we did it!

Testing testing 1, 2 ... Tree!

As many of you know I've been testing a Spitfire prototype for a few months now to see how it rides. Last weekend I headed down to the Scottish borders with my mate Alan to ride Innerleithen. This trip was mainly to test the Spitfire with a different shock setup, but also to have some fun on the national level DH courses on my big bike, and to get a bit more fitness back before I go in for more major surgery next week (I can hardly wait!...<- sarcasm!). I hardly got any sleep the night before the ride due to the gale that was howling at my window and the rain hammering the glass, and unfortunately the weather didn't look much better when I got up. Alan arrived and we loaded his car up with my spitfire and legend; his rune was already on the roof.

Typical scenery in the Scottish Borders

The drive down was pretty nice, as the rain has subsided and the sun was beaming. We did our mandatory on route stop at the shops and picked up some energy drinks for after the ride and muesli bars and bananas for good healthy sustenance. We drove past Glentress where there looked to be hundreds of riders as per usual, and 10 mins later arrived at an empty Innerleithen car park. I guess the weather had put people off due to the exposed nature of the trails??

The rain had stopped but there was still a strong cold wind (gusting up to 90mph according to the weather forecast I saw that evening) that meant we rushed to get bikes ready and head off to start the 20ish km XC loop. The first hour or so was spent on the long slog of a climb. There were a few semi tech sections with some smooth rock obstacles to get up and over, which in the wet was a bit tricky (did I mention the rain had started again?) as my tires liked to spin out from time to time, but I made it up most of it without dabbing despite being a poor technical climber. I have to admit that I needed to stop more than once to get my breath back and stretch out my legs a bit. Not sure if it was the cold, but my legs seemed tired from the start, maybe it was just one of those days?

I'd set the spitfire up in steeper taller setting for the climb to help with pedaling over anything technical. It worked really well. I was playing around a bit with pro pedal to see how it felt, and definitely decided that the spitfire really doesn't need it, it made little to no noticeable difference with pedal bob, as there isn't really any bob anyway, but when I came across a tech rough section the pro pedal made the bike feel a bit harsh and I felt I had less traction than with pro pedal off.

Alan on his rune battling gravity and the wind!

Things got pretty interesting / hilarious when we exited the trees as we approached the summit of the trail. This is where the wind really showed us who was boss (rain had stopped again thankfully). I have taken a couple of photos of the start of this section before the wind really kicked in. The gale was hitting us side on (luckily blowng more uphill than down), but made those switchbacks pretty crazy, as you had to try and balance on the bike on the single track against the power of the gusty wind which blew me clean off my bike twice and caused me to ride off into the heather a whole bunch of times. 90mph side winds on a bike are a blast... I was laughing my head off.

With the wind more behind him, Alan was off!

As we got to the top (we both took an unintentional shortcut straight over the deep heather thanks to the wind) we tried to shelter in a little wind hollow that had been made for such days. It didn't offer much protection, but helped a bit. We chowed down as quickly as we could, knowing that the whole trail was pretty much downhill singletrack from here on it. Woohoo!

Our shelter from the weather. And no, it was not sunny for long!

I took a couple of pics, as the weather was pretty epic (doesn't show too well in my little camera phone snaps I'm afraid), and then is started to hail! Ah yes, just what you want when in shorts and T-shirt in 90mph gusts... It was somewhat stingy!

Spitfire in its natural habitat.

The descent was great fun, fast flowy singletrack that the spitfire just carved up. The top section was a bit sketchy at times, as there were quite a few small jumps in the trail... but even these small jumps were dangerous with such a strong side wind, I almost landed off the side of the trail on one of them. so from that point on we were scrubbing our way down.

I know none of the photos really show it, but trust me it was crazy windy!

The trail varied a fair bit on the way down. It was nearly all flowy, but the terrain changed between gravel, rocks (including lots of nasty sharp ones that were hidden behind small drops) and really nice loamy sections through the trees. The one word that always springs to mind when I think of high speed riding on the spitfire is CARVE... you get that feeling like you do on ski's or a board when you perfectly hold the edge and accelerate out of corners. I was grinning the whole way down (in the rain... yeah it was back again).

Before we completed the loop we took a little excursion to hike a bike up the side of a fast DH run called 'make or Brake'. This was an open jump style run, a but like a-line, except smaller and on gravel. It was fun to ride down, but the wind really mean that getting air was not an option, so we had to take it pretty easy unfortunately. We then linked back up with the end of the XC loop and rode a really nice pumpy traverse section back to the car, where we sheltered from the horizontal downpour that was now upon us.

A couple of sannies and some energy drinks later and it was time to hit the DH course. At this point I grabbed the Legend... well wouldn't you? Alan once again grabbed his trusty rune (it really is a true do it all bike) and we hiked a bike for about 40 mins or so to the top of a run called Crest run. neither of us had ridden it before, but were both looking forward to that blind run where you have no idea what is coming.

It was a great trail, especially the top section which was pretty steep and technical, reminded me a bit of a cross between '19th Hole' in Squamish, and 'Ride Don't Slide' in Whistler. The later parts was more of a high speed loamy blast with lots of slippery tree roots. I was shattered at the start of the run, and by the bottom I was ready to call it a day. My body isn't yet back to real fitness, but these days certainly help.

We loaded up and headed home, where I had a nice beef stew for dinner. Perfect! It was a great day made even more memorable by the adverse weather conditions. Thanks Alan, and the trail crew who work on the trails down there! (Trail map for Innerleithen)

Quick, follow that sun!

You can follow some forum discussion about the spitfire here if you're interested. Feel free to chip in your thoughts. There is no doubt that my prototype is good, but in my opinion it isn't yet great. However the production frames will have a whole bunch of small improvements that will take it to that next level.

(Big shout out to Alan for picking me up on a bunch of occasions... I really should learn to drive sometime!)

This pic isn't actually from that day, just a nice one of the forth road bridge I took while out the week before.

Autumn is here

About a week and a half ago, I was stoked on the hot, dry days which were just starting to be clipped by the nights drawing in, as England goes from the end of Summer into Autumn (Fall to our Canadian and American friends)

For riding BMX at the local skatepark (which is floodlit) it was awesome riding weather and I enjoyed a run of mountain bike night rides, and BMX park sessions back to back over that week

Since that week (which now seems a lifetime ago), the weather has suddenly turned, with cold, wet and very windy weather showing up to let us know that Autumn has arrived - which I suppose should not be surprising considering its now October!

I was hoping for an "Indian Summer" (a late summer running through Autumn) but who knows...it might go dry next week (global warming??)!

Its still great Mountain Biking weather, I went out night riding tonight and did not have to wear a jacket, as despite the rain and wind, its actually still warm enough to ride in shorts and jersey

Some night lights, a crud catcher and watching out for fallen branches / trees on the trails = still a great ride, I powered my Mythic up some brutual climbs and technical descents in the woodland above my house in NW London ;)

Happy Autumn / Fall trails to everyone!

cheers

Rob C
London, England

What's Next - Aaron Laroque's Video

What's Next - Aaron Laroque

You can download it in higher quality here...

Banshee Colorado published again

The most recent issue of Mountain Flyer Magazine featured a double page spread of Banshee's very own Linden Carlson on the proto Paradox. Scope the shot!


Yup its a single speed and yes it is rigid. Oh and the shot was taken at about 12700 ft.

The Phantom Jump

2 or 3 years ago my friends and I found a cool line back in the woods with what seemed to be an impossibly big jump at the end.  Granted, we were 15, but it was still huge.  We wanted to see someone hit it soooo badly, but as we checked back every once in a while, we just found that it had become more and more overgrown.  As we progressed we began to consider rebuilding the jump, but never did.  It remained the “Phantom Jump”.  Recently, we showed filmmaker Josh Talatzko, and he was super stoked on it!  He was totally down to help work on it so we could hit it for his movie “The Locals”.  After a couple build days, many gallons of water, and lots of practice runs, it was ready to hit!  It was really dark, so I only got 4 runs in.  The first run I went off at almost full speed from the drop before, ditching the bike midair and landing basically to flat on my feet!  Luckily I was ok, and the next 3 runs went much better!  It’s a crazy jump because it’s got a full 6 and a half foot steep dirt jump lip, but with a 20 foot gap.  The landing is a little harsh from the height, but nothing the Rampant couldn’t handle!  We had a chance to head out there today so I could hit it some more.  It’s definitely one of the biggest jumps I’ve ever hit, if not the biggest, so it felt really sick just to be in the air that long.  I started to trick it with some tables, a 1-foot x-up, no-foot-cans, and wanted to tailwhip it.  Justin got out his camera gear and I went for it!

I’ve never tailwhipped a jump that big, but I spun it fast, got back on the pedals, nosed it in, and rode out smooth!  It was soooo satisfying riding out clean, as the jump has been somewhat legendary around here and I’ve wanted to hit it for so long!  All I can say is watch for “The Locals,” as Josh kills it with the camera and already has some epic shots lined up for this jump!  I’m sure this won’t be the only trick you’ll see thrown on it either!

 

-Jack

 

Photo Credit:  Justin Brantley

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.

StepBrother!

Got this video from my Facebook...
check out the climbing ability of the Banshee RUNE!
Proud Rune owner Nazri got on a Rune for the first time tackled the stairs faster than anyone can climb up by foot!