First Banshee Phantom in the wild (New 29er content)

Picked up my Banshee Phantom frame from Pedals Cycles in Edinburgh yesterday. Not sure how they managed to get me one so soon before they should be here but whatever they did I’m hugely grateful. Much to recommend them as a shop, very helpful and have bent over backwards to accommodate my (slightly Diva-like in hindsight) wishes.

Built up last night, first ride today and what a bike (admittedly compared to my 10 year old heckler, but still)! Rode very like the Spitfire I demoed but without the irritating floppy steering and it pedalled up hill better. For a short travel bike I was amazed at how it rode (floated) down chunky stuff, felt so much more controlled than the heckler ever did.

But best of all every trail felt so much fun. You could feel everything you needed to but without having all sensation erased by the suspension. A big wheeled bouncy BMX if you will. Easy to manual, hop, wheelie, move around and generally ping of every lip or drop going but rolls like a monster truck.

Maybe a bit of new bike tinted spectacles going on but I’m loving it. A proper UK trail bike in my eyes.

Tasty.

Cheers, very tasty (minty fresh too).

Nice.

Ace!
I see you went with the MRP Stage forks – it’ll be interesting to hear how you get on with those.
I rode a Phantom at Dalby Forest a couple of weeks ago and it felt a lot more than it’s travel amount would suggest.

I didn’t know it came in that colour – looks fantastic!

Very nice , welcome to the Banshee riders club .

Cheers chaps.

I must confess the Stage was a bit of a gamble but it feels just as good as the Pike I tried out and loads better than the Revelation RLT Ti I had on my Heckler. I really like the ability to adjust the end stroke (akin to being able to change the bottomless tokens in the Pike whenever you want). It felt supple and plush out of the box, all of the knobs are metal and feel very positive and the whole thing feels very well put together. Still setting it up really but so far very, very impressed.

That looks great – like the new Banshee decals too!

Really like that, it’s the 1st 29er I’ve ever really thought about wanting to try out, I would love to hear a review after you’ve had some time on it. I have a spitfire v2 that I’ll be holding on to for a good few years but when the time comes to change this could be on the list!

Another look this morning and that colour has left a real impression. It doesn’t look the same on the website at all. (same with the Rune green, although that looks better on the site than in the flesh imo).

That is a very smart looking bike.

Yeah, the colour on the website is gopping. Luckily I was able to get a picture of some nail polish from Banshee that was as close as they could find so hoped and went with that!

The best description I can give is that it is like a slightly paler, greyer green than classic yeti turquoise. It looks great in daylight but yellow fluorescent tube light doesn’t do it many favours!

What size is that Lizard Skins chainstay protector? I have velcro on my Spitfire but it’s just started coming unstuck so I might order one.

The lizard skin is my old one zip tied on as it is too big. I need to order a new one so can’t help I’m afraid. If I get one and it fits I’ll let you know what size it was. I think there are dimensions on the Lizard Skins website so I was just going to measure around the stays.