i want a banshee phantom (don't live near mountains). different bike but banshee is doing a lot of things right, premium alloy , decent geo, decent pricing, swappable drop outs, progressive (coil friendly) linkages through the whole range, decent cable routing, and they just look great , priced right i have a build idea that would be very comfortable, very resistant to wear, as a kind of a marathon XC trail tool for long rocky rides
Phantom is an amazing platform! Ive had V3 for 2 seasons and it was such a great and capable short travel machine. Very stable at speed and that 115mm travel somehow felt bottomless. I'm longing for Banshee again and will likely end up on a Titan soon.
Thanks for the video and especially for Nick's impressions about Firebird. I was considering that one but yes, the chainstays seems too short for a modern bike.
Interesting convo! I just put the long dropouts on my XL Titan and have been blown away. One day I'd love to get some even longer ones machined and try them too
Love these discussions Brian, thanks for sharing! I have limited experience with different bikes but from a what I have learned over three years with modern bikes is that I like a slack head tube, long chainstays and high bottom bracket. I have a steel enduro bike and it has a 480 reach, 64 degree head angle and adjustable chainstays from 435 to 450mm. Currently I ride with the chainstays in the middle position so maybe 443mm. I run a bunch of spacers under the stem and 35mm rise bars with 9degree backsweep so that shortens up the reach a bit. I am 5'10" I have washed the front at times, been thinking of getting a -1 degree headset to bring the bars back a bit. I like where the front wheel is now but could easily try a 63ha and I think the shorter reach will help me weigh the front better. But first I will slide the wheel back all the way in the dropouts. My hardtail is super slack I have a -2 angleset on that bike. It makes the reach super short but the wheelbase is long. Chainstays on that bike is 438mm and reach probably around that number too. Keep the content coming, I have an injured wrist so I cant shred right now.. Cheers
I just bought a Fox 38 and had them cut the steering tube high. It rides so much better. I've only done 2 park laps, so I'll have to see how it rides along the spectrum, but I'm thinking it's going to be a lot better. Edit: for my 23 Stumpy Evo running in mixed wheel I have a WRP yoke, Cascade link with an EXT E-Storia coil. Rear suspension issue 100% solved!
I Think you would have loved the Raaw Madonna V3. High Stack but with reasonable STR, long chainstay with adjustability +/- 5mm longer/shorter for every size
The Orange Stage 7 has the best geo of any Enduro race bike that I've seen. The one review that's online praises the bike to no end. They're mad money though.
@@briancahal Yeah man, 16mm in difference between the reach and CS on a large, talk about being centered on the sucker. The size small has a 10mm longer CS than its reach which is mental. Having thrown a leg over a large (me being 177cm) at Malverns Classic last year, it felt like a perfect fit for me. SQ lab bars, 30mm stem and I couldn't imagine a better bike. Loving the content too btw 👍🏻.
I'm new to MTB and I'm certainly not racing stock, but I've been tending toward longer rear ends (especially since my wrist injury). Not having to consciously weight the front wheel is helping me feel more confident because the weight is off my wrist, and today I got the opportunity to use a longer stem (35mm -> 45mm) it feels a lot more optimal. Long, low and slack makes 0 sense to me as a beginner since I haven't really developed the technique for bike/body separation yet. I've got a Vitus Sommet 290 in Large, set up as a mullet (every 29er I've tried has buzzed me) and if I could make the rear end longer, I would. I like hearing your theories on bike handling as it differs from what the industry has been doing for the past 5 or so years.
I've ended up happy with my short cs bike by going with a 50mm stem. Definitely the shorter stems these bikes come stock with make is so easy to wash the front end.
Nice, I'd agree that putting a longer stem is often an excellent solution to getting weight on the front and getting it the front end hook up. This works great on flatter trails but I have found in the past that when you set up a bike like this it becomes a bit scary to ride on the steeps.
@@briancahal Yea, I live in vancouver and primarily ride the north shore and Squamish so no strange to the steeps. The bikes I ride on have a 63.5 and 64 deg ht angle with 180 forks. If it was less slack and shorter forked i'd agree it would be more scary.
Yoann rides a bigger bike that guy shreds. But it comes down to what your style of riding and what you are comfortable with. I am 6’1 185cm I went with the XL size banshee I haven’t ridden yet still building it up. I am super excited about this thanks for the share
Yeah I think bigger sizing is all good as long as it’s balanced. If I were to get this bike again I’m not sure if I’d go with the large or the xl. Curious how it goes for you
@@briancahal yeah I was riding a commencal meta tr v4 size L. 490mm and 435 cs awesome bike but I rode a XL Rocky Mountain altitude with the longer CS setting dude I felt so neutral and actually more playful on the bike and that reach is a 510mm just a tad stretched out with a 40mm stem. Just gotta get up to par jumping. So I did my research funny the Rocky is my dads he wanted to get that Titan a couple of years back lol now I have it.
Ive been eyeing Titan for a while, but not sure what size frame tj go with...@5'9" im typically between sizes but find myself more comfortable on large frames more often.. I had a v3 Phantom few years ago and it fot me great...but when looking at Titan im not ao sure Large would be best fit, any thoughts? I did recently ride 2024 Pivot Firebird in size Large and would not size down to Med frame in thsat bike. Thank you.
Don't have a titan but for the DH Rockies race season I got a Banshee Legend XL (480 reach, 473 cs, 645 stack) and I'm pairing it with a wacky stem which is honestly more like a moto clamp - 18mm reach, 38mm rise. I also have a custom link to make the bike mullet and reduce progression to about 17%. Gonna test a lot of ideas out!
For a while I've thought that wheelbase has a bigger impact on how a bike actually 'feels' and rides than reach. Seems to me the industry is too focused on reach numbers as a way of choosing a bike. Personally I think it's better to think of reach as a fit measurement rather than being a defining performance measurement.
Im very interested in the Banshee Titan. Where did you land on the Geometron? Long reach experiment over? How does the rear suspension feel compare between these 2 bikes?
Long reach experiment isn't over haha I've got a couple more things to try on the geometron and want to spend some more time on it. It's been too long since I've ridden the banshee so I don't think I can give a fair comparison
Nice opinions on the Banshee Titan. Just wondering how tall are you guys and what size are you riding? I have an Evil Offering, Its a large and has 490reach, I'm 183cm am I'm starting to feel like it might be to long. I think I might get a shorter stem. I just came across this vlog after watching Rulezman swearing by the Banshee and long reach but short stem.
For me personally it kills the fun. I figured out that for me reach should be the same as chainstay or probably chain stay a bit shorter by 1-2 cm at 170 mm 27.5 fork and 64° head angle. I also have a relatively high stack for my height, that also influences the weight distribution.
Would love to here your take on an evil Offering or wreckoning to take this conversation is the other direction of wheelbases. I've never seemed to jive with the longer wheelbase on my altitude.
I've ridden the reckoning briefly. Unfortunately I think Evil is a bit behind on chain stay length and the ones I've ridden have felt unbalanced and light on the front wheel. I actually love their suspension, it feels incredible and if they adopted some size specific chain stays I think they would be great. Wheel base wise I think they operate in a similar window to a lot of other brands.
Shorter the chainstay, the more weight is over the rear tire. Ideal riding position/technique, you should be able to drive force through your feet and get both ends of the bike to dig in. In an ideal world you wouldn’t be weighting your hands significantly in corners/while pumping. If your rear end is too short. You pump the axis of a corner and the rear wheel digs in, but the front doesn’t grab as hard and understeers. A good example of this is Jeff Kendall-weeds video on the Shuttle SL today. He washes the front and can’t comprehend why it happened… It’s pretty obvious what happened, and that’s on a medium.
@@briancahalthis is an interesting conversation and one I was going to ask. But Evil is targeting “fun” rather than “race” type ride. Jumping, jibbing, manualing, etc. I have been looking at a Phantom (I’m on a 2019 Following now) and my main concern is the long CS will make it harder to do those things and ultimately be less fun, even if it is faster pointed down. Though I will say the RM Element cornered more naturally than my Following and it’s only 5mm longer CS.
Both are great bikes but they are different. I would be hard-pressed to say which one I liked better, plus it's been a bit longer since I've ridden the banshee. I'd love to ride one again and compare.
Yeah i was interested in this comment too, because out of all the bikes you've ridden lately, the banshee and the dreadnought seem to share similar geo with that high stack and chainstay length, albeit the forbidden having longer reach numbers and a totally different suspension design with that high-pivot.
I think it mainly comes down to suspension performance and how the high pivot effects things. The banshees suspension is really good but feels a bit more conventional. Super predictable and a little more playful and efficient especially with the 450 chain stay. If you want something that's going to be a bit more composed suspension wise through the roughest stuff and like the fact that the chain stay lengthens through the travel the dreadnought is probably better.
