Banshee Prime - Coming Together
Last week I posted pictures of the Banshee Prime CNC parts. During the week Pacific Prototype Wizard Teddy completed the front and rear triangles. In the excitement we have started ordering parts for the initial frames to see how they roll.![photo]()
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Next week we will have an assembled frame and Keith will give some of his Engineering insight into the Prime. If you have any questions for Keith feel free to ask them in the comment section of this post.
Keep Riding.
Rob Dunnet
Front triangle fresh from welding ready for T4 and T6 heat treating.
Front triangle bottom bracket and pivots.
Here are Prime front and rear triangles fresh from T4 heat treating. The complete frames will go into T6 on Thursday and we should have assembled frames next week.
The drop outs are adjustable and interchangeable = geometry options. Making the Prime versatile right out of the box. (Currently 150x12 and 135x10 options, if the demand is great enough for the new 142 spec we will look into offering it.)
The rear triangle has come together nicely and will give the Prime a distinct look, while remaining 100% Banshee.
While the 2D paper drawing of the Prime gave me a good idea of what the completed frame will look like. I will go one step further and offer a more 3D view ...
The Front and Rear triangle fit together nicely.
And for all of the Banshee fans and 29er fans I will leave you with a rough idea of what the frame will look like once complete. Love it or hate it, that is going to be one sexy Banshee.
Next week we will have an assembled frame and Keith will give some of his Engineering insight into the Prime. If you have any questions for Keith feel free to ask them in the comment section of this post.
Keep Riding.
Rob Dunnet
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I love my Rune and I will definitely be looking at the Prime if I decide to go 29". As someone else said, size does matter.
cleghornphotography.zenfolio.com/p699597404/h168f83f8#h168f83f8
The fork was covered, so your guess is as good as mine (Dorado most likely). You might get more info here:
www.vitalmtb.com/features/One-Year-Later-Intense-2951-29er-DH-Prototype,112
This isn't in the same league as a 2951, but maybe closer to a Lenz Behemoth, since the Prime has 130mm of travel (29er wheels makes it feel like 150-160mm). It'd go better with some of the 140mm forks out there like the Reba RL Maxle Lite or 44 TST2 Air 15QR.
If you want a 29er DH that's available now, check out the Lenz PBJ. Check with Mike at www.lacemine29.com for wheels to go with it.
BTW bike looks great, all the element of the design seem extremely convenient to make the chainstay as short as possible. 29ers seem to speak to me more and more lately, as something that can push the boundaries of do-it-all bikes even further. Perhaps some fun factor might be lost, but there's more to MTB than just hedonism
I love 853 and love 893 even more but when i talked to the Reynolds guy they didn't do the 893 in the tube sizes that we need.
Also when we look at the BB shell/main pivot forging those parts would be very difficult to machine and break a lot of tools in the process. So if you want to make this bike in steel it would look very very much different and it would actually cost a lot more too.
But steel definitely makes some beautiful bikes.
I am more and more drawn into this ecobike (no I don't mean this el-bike cr... something
During the process metal is cut, forged, cnc'd so its light industry... it does use electricity to power the machines but probably the same as an office building. The dirty stuff is probably the anodizing and painting but no dirtier then painting your house or changing the oil in your car...make sure you dispose of the crap properly and not down the drain.
In the end nothing is totally green... electric cars a powered by electricity that comes normally from coal, oil, nuclear or...but its good to be aware and responsible as much as you can.
www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/4512.html
and then what you need to do for say aluminum
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_recycling
So if you want to be Eco then make your bike out of some kind of metal WakiDesigns
www.environmentalleader.com/2010/10/06/toxic-industrial-spill-kills-four-people-injures-120-in-hungary
Oh the things we do in the name of progress...
Anyway, obviously that has nothing to do with Banshee, just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.
I'm wondering: how long are your bikes are usually in testing before you release them.
Also, I remember reading about the geometry for this a while ago on PB and I'm wondering if there's been any major changes since the original computer models. How confident are you that the tweaks in geo for 29" wheels will be enough, based on previous experience? Obviously there haven't been very many 29" AM bikes yet, so there's not many mistakes of others to learn from, right?
Some more info on the aluminum process for those that care to read.
After reading that article on carbonfiber recycling(the energy consumption for making it in the first place
Another thing is that most probably we don't need so light bikes, we are fooled into believing that lighter is better. That would be true in case of XC Marathons on fireroads, with minimal obstacles. That would be true if there was a discipline of MTB called UPHILL. For everything else form Trail to DH: momentum is most riders friend. I believe any HT under 12kg can be considered lightweight, as well as AM under 15kg and DH under 18kgs.
RideON! Kitchen scales just screw up our sport!
I have heard the matching fork for this is coming soon. Rumor has it the Maverick DUC36 carbon will be available late this year. I have a good friend close the Maverick, he says that fork will do 140mm, nice short 550mm A/C and stonger than a Fox 40 at about 4.5lbs. Sounds good to me.
Hey, Brule, T-bone, Mr. Maine, you're right when you say it takes time for some to adjust to change; I think I'm still in the process of that adjustment.
Not that I´m a twoniner-fan myself but don´t we all wanna go faster down the hill? It´s like that skinsuit debate a couple of years back where the UCI banned them because it was deemed more important to look "moto" than going faster down the hill. The sport needs to decide where it is going.
Moreover, this seems akin to using block spacers to lift a truck just to accommodate bigger tires... kinda mickey mouse. The right way is to just get bigger suspension!
MOBBINN!!!!!!!!!!!!
just an observation....
yes it's small, but that's why it will be strong. i suspect is is a chunk of solid aluminium, about an inch thick and 2 inches long. you won't be breaking that