2009 Banshee Scythe frame

The first Banshee I ever rode was a Scream Mk II.  I rented it for an afternoon of riding with my brother-in-law in Nelson last summer and was seriously underwhelmed with it.  Heavy, plodding and water-bed are all terms I could use to describe the way it felt.  After that experience, I never imagined I would be interested in a Banshee, but then things began to change.  First, the Rune appeared on the market, and the entire riding world began to take notice – Banshee was doing things differently.  With the introduction of the Scythe, I was in love, and new I would do almost anything in my power to get my dirty paws on one.  I decided to take the success I had with the “Booze Bike” article here on NSMB and spin it into the best deal I could get on a Scythe.  Lucky for me, the Banshee team were willing to work with me and Trail Bicycles in Courtenay to come up with an offer I couldn’t refuse.

 The Scythe – Built with almost enough random parts to qualify as a franken bike. But not quite.

The frame is very well put together, and the gloss white finish I chose really makes it stand out.  Simple but stylish decals and an attractive head badge let you know who made this bike without being overly loud.  The blocky forged bottom bracket/main pivot combo looks meaty and confidence inspiring and the welds are all clean and well executed.  Beefy tubes, a 1.5 inch head tube and well designed forgings for all the linkage plates and drop-outs show serious attention to detail in the design.  Overall the frame is simple and stylish looking without being ostentatious.

The Build
The Scythe was assembled with loving care and attention in the ‘man cave’.  The build was a mix of parts off of a 2006 Devinci Ollie I bought used this spring and rode for all of a month, some “new to me” parts that I had picked up here and there and some brand new parts to fill in the gaps.  The goal of this build is to have a DH capable bike that will be able to stand up to the abuse of the Mount Washington Bike Park without weighing 50 lbs, or costing a mint.

A Marzocchi 888 RC2X with integrated stem and flat crowns sits up front, and pairs up very well with the rear end.  The frame came equipped with a Fox DHX 5.0 rear shock with very useful adjustability including bottom out, boost valve, pro pedal and rebound.

 Mmm carbon fibre (or maybe faux CF- Ed.) – it may be old, but this little carbon fibre chunk of bling still works like new.  Photo ~ John Bazett.

The drivetrain I pieced together is a bit of a hash of new, used and even vintage components.  The donor frame for most of the components came with Saint shifting, and I really wasn’t happy with that set up, not to mention that the Scythe’s Maxle precluded the use of the old style Saint rear derailleur.  I was forced to use my “spare” rather vintage but lightly used SRAM ESP 9.0 full carbon rear derailleur.  This was mated up with a relatively new X-9 shifter stolen off one of my other bikes, Truvativ Hussefelt cranks that had been sitting around the shop for a while, a brand new FSA Gravity Lite chain guide, Envy 34 tooth chain ring and a new chain.  While this hodgepodge of parts sounds like a recipe for disaster, it all fit together like a well oiled clock and with a bit of tuning help from the fine people at Trail Bicycles in Courtenay, it has worked flawlessly right from the start.

 The hodge podge of parts came together nicely. Photo ~ John Bazett.

The wheelset reflects well on the rest of the bikes mixed bag of parts.  The front wheel combines a Syncros Race 20 mm through axle hub with DPS-32 rim (complete with peeling decals).  The back wheel consists of a very loud Hadley 150 mm by 12 mm through axle hub and a Mavic EX-325 rim.  Initially both front and back wheels were wrapped with 2.5 inch Maxxis High Roller DH tires.

 The attractive Banshee headbadge.  Location – the Mancave. Photo by John Bazett.

Brakes are a set of older but well cared for Saints with eight inch rotors and rare but popular Danger Boy levers.  The cock-pit is finished off with a nice, wide and light Bontrager “Big Earl” riser bar, Oury ODI lock-on grips and the Banshee supplied Praxys seat post with a rather non-descript and small “Viper” branded seat.  Wellgo flats of unknown model provide a solid footing for rocking this bike down hill.

The entire build weighed in at a respectable 43.14 lbs (frame is a medium).

The frame has four different rear travel/head angle set-up options.  Either 7 or 8 inches of travel and “DH” or “FR” head-angle adjustment.  I initially had the shock in the 7 inch and “DH” settings for the lowest bottom bracket and slackest head angle possible.  In this configuration the bottom bracket height is 14.5 inches and the head angle is 65 degrees.

First Rides
To be honest, my first ride on this bike was terrible.  The stock 450 lb spring is probably a little too light for my 200 lbs of hardness, and I didn’t spend any time tuning the shock to actually work the way I wanted it too.  I also forgot to take some air out of the rear tire after inflating it to about 50 psi to seat the bead properly.  Needless to say, the bike thwacked and bounced all the way down the trail.

 Turning and burning with the Scythe.  location – Dodge City Down Hill (DCDH) – Cumberland BC, Photo ~ John Bazett.

After that rather harsh first introduction, I let some air out of the rear tire, tweaked the rear shock and got ready to race the Port Alberni “Drop Zone” DH, the last stop on this year’s Island Cup circuit.  Setting up the rear shock involved adding a few clicks of “bottom out resistance” to make things more progressive, almost no pro-pedal to keep things active and just enough rebound to not ricochet me off the seat after a drop or a hit.  I also took off almost all of the preload and twisted the spring around to the point where it just held tension.  This has the bike set up with a very plush and responsive top end for the shock stroke with progressively more resistance towards the end of the stroke.  Just what you need for DH racing, and it matches the characteristics of the 888 with all of its legendary Marzocchi plushness to a tee.

For a first race on a new bike, the Port Alberni course may not have been the best choice.  With quite a few “mandatory drops” and heinous ride-arounds for any of the optional lines, this is a course that combines steeps, sketchiness and enough burliness to make anyone happy.  Unfortunately, I am not the most talented DH rider, and combined with a fall on my first practice run, and my still “getting used to” the Scythe had me end up third from last in intermediate…  At least I have a time to beat for next year!

 Getting air on the Scythe – DH style – trail DCDH, Cumberland.  Photo ~ John Bazett.

But, I can’t blame the equipment on this one.  In fact, the Scythe is probably the main reason I made it down the course in one piece at all.  The rear end feels very stiff which can be attributed to the extra linkage that takes the Scythe from simply being another single-pivot bike to being something else completely.  Combined with all the small features that make the frame look so nice, and some proper suspension set-up, and this bike has been a blast to ride so far.

In the coming months, I will be taking the Scythe up to Mount Washington to put some serious DH laps in, racing the Bear Mountain Challenge – a course I know very well having lived in Abbotsford for a couple of years, and the BC Cup here on the Island.  I will play with the suspension settings to see what works the best, and keep on tweaking all of the little things to see if this frame is a keeper.  So far, I’m in love; we will just have to see if the honeymoon ends, or if this blossoms into a true long term committed relationship.  Let the Reaping begin!

Ridden a Banshee?  A first generation Scream or Morphine or something more recent?  Any questions for Rewoga?  Serve ’em up here…