When Eamonn and I were talking to Dan from On Top Bike Shop in January, he was raving about a new freeride bike called the Banshee Scream - a bike that was finally perfect for riding the Shore. Being new bike sluts, we are always on the lookout for a rig that is better than whatever we have at the moment. The only problem with this new one was that the arrival date wasn't until April. As I write this, due to shipping delays, we've only had the frames to test for a month.

Dan was, as usual, a really nice guy, loaning Eamonn and I his Banshee while we waited for our test models. This gave us a couple of rides before we got on our bikes in early June so we're going to give a little overview of what we tested this month then at the end of the summer we're coming back with the full review. We feel that we can give a better review on the bike after we've had a summer of rides on it.

We'll start with my preview-review this week. Then, when Eamonn gets back from guiding a B.C. Freeride Tour, he'll post his preliminary test.

My test sessions were only a couple of weeks long due to the arrival of my new boy, Dane. However, I still got five days in - enough to get a bit of a teaser for how the bike's going to ride. The Banshee Scream comes equipped with 8" of rear travel (you can adjust to 7" or 6" - but why bother I say) and an adjustable wheel base which implements adjuster bolts in the horizontal drop-outs. I had mine set on the shortest setting which was great for the tight turns, drops and log rides on Boogieman and Circus as well as flat landings on Starfish, but it was a little choppy for the high speed downhill on Ned's. I was pleasantly surprised to feel my rear wheel sticking through all of the steep gnarly turns on GMG though . The different wheel base settings will have to be analyzed in the complete review due late August.

The bike climbed well in all situations: logging road grinding up Fromme, uphill log rides on Circus and Air Supply and tight uphill corners on Pink Starfish and Boogieman. The Banshee's four bar linkage design creates a solid rear triangle which probably explains why the bike climbs so well. When I really appreciated the stiffness of the rear end was on the skinnies. The bike had a stiff feel in the back - a treat for pedaling the 10 foot high 5" wide epitomizer logs on Circus or getting turned on the Air Supply swivel totter.

As a preliminary test these five rides have given me a great feeling for how well the Banshee rides. I'm excited to try it out on the big downhill rides in Nelson, Khaslo, Kamloops and Whistler as well as all my hometown favourites - Woodlot, Squamish, Cypress, Fromme and Seymour.