Here is a video, albeit a bit a ghetto, of Chris Soininen’s runs at Crankworx 2007. Congrationalutions once again to both Chris and Alan for going so well at Crankworx and doing everyone proud.

For those of you in the know, Chris was riding a prototype Banshee frame. Dubbed the “Wildcard” this frame is built specifically for slopestyle riding. We will have info and details on this frame soon, in the meantime be sure to check out the Banshee Insider Blog Wildcard page for a whole lot of info.

We will be offering this frame with a variety of shock options (Manitout ISX 6 / Manitou Swinger / Fox DHX 5.0 / Fox DHX Air) with prices ranging between $2,200 and $2,300.On top of that this bad boy will be available as a complete bike, the below pimped out build up will only cost $4,900.

All the VF4B (Virtual Floating four bar) frames are equipped with entirely new pivot assemblies for 2008.
By reducing the complexity and part number I have made the pivots far easier to maintain, whist also reducing weight and increasing lateral stiffness.
For 2008 the Rune, Rampant and Pyre will all be using iglide polymer bearings. This decision has not been made lightly. We have considered all the pros and cons as well as done a substantial amount of field testing (actually I would say that hardcore BC trails are far better than fields for testing to the limits!)
what are the benefits?

• Increased lateral stiffness
• Reduced weight
• Reduced maintenance
• Cheaper for customers to replace
• Self lubricating

I realise that there are a lot of die hard bearing fans out there… but what you have to realise is that bearings are designed to take complete 360degree rotations like you get in bottom brackets, and not angular rotations (less than 90degrees) like you get in suspension pivots. This means that the whole load in bearings is constantly wearing out just 2 or 3 of the ball bearings in a conventional bearing, whereas the polymer bushings wear evenly due to the design.
You can find more information on the bearings here.. http://www.igus.com/show_iglide.asp and you can also order replacement bushings directly from them quickly and at a low price.
Axles:

The axles for the main pivots have been specifically designed for performance, simplicity, and ease of maintenance. This has been achieved by:

• Direct grease injection ports with set screw grease zerk
• Grease injection can be done in under 30 seconds, just unscrew the set screw, inject grease, screw in set screw. (obviously the area MUST be clean when you do this to stop grit getting in to the pivots)
• 3 parts to the axles… axle, bolt and zerk … that’s it, why over complicate things?
• Double helical groves on the axle surface to allow the grease to push under the bushings.
• Hard anodised finish to axle surface improves the life of both axles and pivots. (not seen in prototype above)

Basically the you inject the grease in through the end of the axle and it feeds through into the gap in the pivot between bushings due to the machined grease path. (you can see the grease paths in the following cross section picture).

Yes the bushings are self lubricating, so if they remain clean then there is no need to even grease the pivots, however if you suspect there is some grit in there then injecting grease can force out the grit without harming the bushings.

After spending months testing and abusing the prototypes that all had the new pivot assemblies we are very confident that they will help improve your riding experience.

Source: Banshee Insider Blog

 King of Ballarat round 2 will be on this weekend. If you can possibly make it then do as the last one was great, really organised, lots of fun had and some REALLY good prizes up for grabs! So we will see you there right?

The trailer for New World Disorder 8 and as always the bar has been raised. I absolutely love the NWD series, they continually step it up year after year with bigger tricks, better music, slicker editing and an overall better package. I will let the preview speak for itself, especially as it is feature one of my favourite bands, Billy Talent.

[R]evolution Issue 10 is out now guys. This issue’s coming dialed in with a huge feature on the Jr Worlds Team, the second half of our ‘Getting a government funded MTB park in your town’ article, a full wrap-up of the World Cups, How to crank grind handrails, Faces at the races, MC sign’s off, Niki Gudex’s miPOD, Rennie’s V1* Pro Bike Check, Dave Musgrove interviews himself, Gripsport industry.AU, Sea Otter and the US Open.

But best of all, along with [R]evolution we are running a “Christmas in July” comp were you get the chance to take home a swag of Straitline and Gamut in all its white glory. So make sure you head to the news stands for your chance to win it.

Congratulations must goto our XXIV/Banshee/Gamut/Straitline Factory Team riders Alan Hepburn and Chris Soininen who both made it into the Crankworx Kokanee Slopestyle event. The lads ventured over to Whistler with the aims of getting into the event but things got off to a bad start. They we’re informed that they would not be granted a given entry into the event and they would have to go into the “Lottery” to win an entry into the event. Basically any man and his dog, heck, even my great aunty could have bought a ticket and hoped they won the lottery to gain an entry into the event. So needless to say everyone was a little bit worried, least of which Alan and Chris.

So after some painful and nail-biting delays the lads found out that they gained entry into qualification. Unfortunately Alan didn’t make the cut (still sourcing information) but Chris made it into the finals and placed a very respectable 17th in his first ever Slopestyle comp. Well done to boy the guys, they have done extremely well and have turned alot of heads on their way. I will get the guys to do a full write up of their adventures and blow by blow account of their runs and post it up soon.

In the meantime, surf on over to the Banshee Bikes Inside Blog for the latest on what Banshee and the team is up to:

Banshee Bikes Inside Blog