Banshee rune

In the tradition of recommending what you own what about a nukeproof mega tr? proven big bike pedigree in a more trail friendly format

Get on really well with mine (26″) takes a 160 fork tons of stand over and perfect for 90% of my riding

It does doesn’t it? 🙂

I used to feel like I was ragging my Soul right to its limits – now I feel like the Spitfire laughs at my attempts and tells me to ride faster and jump further…

Pivot Mach 6.

I have a Rune and it’s a brilliant bike, you won’t break any climbing records but for such a big bike it climbs well. The spitfire is a more rounded bike for all day in the saddle or epic distances, the rune is a winch and plummet bike.
Mine is built up in 650b flavour, CCDBcs, flow ex on hope hubs, fox 34 fit adjust, renthal fatbar, reverb stealth and weighs in at 32.5lb but like insaid it doesn’t pedal like it.

More spitfire love here. The suspensions works so well and as said previously once set up right the CCDB can be just left to do it’s thing. It’s as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. The CCDB also complements the Pikes as they have very similar feeling damping qualities. Mine has 26 inch wheels at the moment but the Pikes are 650b so if I ever feel the need it’ll be a straight swap.

Gotta say, I’ve not found much to be negative about. Maybe it’s a little heavy…

JCL seriously. The rune is like a tank and the spitfire isn’t some lightweight race machine.

OP…

As this is the singletrackworldwideweb.com/net and a biggish drop is 3 feet/biggish jump 8 feet, we need to know how big biggish is in real world facts and figures? (I think JCB is thinking 16-18st, but it could easily be 12-14st).

I’m only asking as you might not really need a burly bike (bigishness dependant).

Are you talking about the original version? The v2 has pretty big tubes, hydroforming and a reputation for being stiff, especially compared to the v1.

JCL – sorry but you are just plain wrong. All Banshee bIkes are renown for their stiffness these days. Read any review and it will tell you as much. I am by no means a light rider and weigh in at 15 stone kitted out and my bike is very solid.

As for the frame tubing, look at the pics! The top tube and the down tube are hydroformed and there are all sorts of reinforcements in the rear triangle with internal ribbing etc.

Have you ridden one?

Well I’ll give you that about the Bronson, I test rode before I got my Spitfire and didn’t enjoy at all ….

I just find this confusing seeing as owners and testers all seem to consider it a stiff frame and the designer himself goes on about stiffness mattering more than lightness. I do agree that heavier riders (of similar pace) need stiffer frames but could you have been noticing an issue with the cranks or rear wheel rather than the frame? Or did an overly stiff alternate frame cloud your judgment?

Keith @ Banshee was very helpful when I emailed him – I suspect he’ll give you a straight answer on Rune vs Spitfire at least.

Well I checked the pivots and spoke tension and everything seemed good. It’s the only one I’ve ridden so maybe it missed heat treating!? At the time I was riding a 26″ Stumpy Evo which is hardly the last word in stiffness.

Wouldn’t put me off at all but if I was 16 stone it might.