Thursday, May 10, 2012

Banshee Legend MK II Test

We received the frame in a nice box that had all of the Legend's attribute on it. The first thing I noticed upon opening the box was the excellent finish of the frame. It had very nice welds and looked very polished and well thought out. Banshee had people there checking frames during production to make sure they were within spec.

We assembled it and put it up on the scales. With the above list and DH tubes it came in at 40lbs even with pedals. Not bad considering it is a large frame. All the parts went in easily and assembly was a standard affair with no issues. We put The Cane Creek -.5 Angle cup in making our test bike HA 63.3 degrees. It was plenty slack and low as is. In fact for tight and twisty areas I would suggest the 0 degree or even flipping the -.5 the other way to be 64.3 degrees instead. Keep in mind this is personal preference.
 Features
- 8" (203mm) travel

- All performance characteristics have been painstakingly and carefully scrutinized to make this a single purpose world cup level race bike. The goal was to make one of the fastests race bikes regardless of cost or time it took.

- Over 4 years in development - was the design engineers [Keith Scott] thesis at Durham University to get his Masters in Mechanical engineering.

- 4 Prototypes ridden in world cups and world championships. Its first ever race brought home the 2008 Pan American Championship.

- 60 Preproductions of the Legend MkI were ridden and tested on the world cup circuit, national level races, and regional competitions all across the globe to gain feedback in over 4 race seasons in different terrains and conditions, from a varied skill level of riders; 12 of which were also engineer/racers that gave valuable input. Everything was on the table to modify, change or scrap and many things were as it developed into the MkII version

- Tuned virtual pivot design includes an anti-sag component under heavy pedal acceleration, and a minimal amount of tuned-in squat so under hard braking it helps balance the bike as the fork starts to dive thus letting the bike go into corners fairly level.

- All CNC'd parts are forged first for optimal strength to weight ratio.

- Hydroformed 7005 butted aluminum tubes putting the strength were it needs to be. All hand welded, aligned multiple times between heattreats before assembling, with 100% final quality checks by either Keith or Jay.

- The "canoe" includes hardpoints for shock basement, mainpivot, and seattube pivot creating an incredibly light but very strong and stiff area where the "business" happens

- Easy access to all the shock dials for quick changing of settings.

- Titanium pivot hardware for strength and lightness.

- All top of the line full compliment bearings, don't just make the suspension "buttery" smooth but more "slippery" smooth.

- We've worked with all the major shock manufacturers to ensure our suspension kinematics work perfect with the shocks standard tunes right out of the box. However for maximum performance some shock manufacturers will tune to your weight, terrain, and style of riding and we have provided our suspension rates to most shock manufacturers and can do so for your favorite tuning center if they send us an email.

- Lowest center of gravity and low BB height helps cornering stability.

- Centralized weight for stability in the air.

- Internally ribbed seat and chainstays for increased stiffness.

- 1.5 headtube so you have flexibility in headset cup choices.

- 12x150 Maxle for quick tire changes.


Banshee Legend MKII Review

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