I havent done THAT much riding on it, nor a huge variety of terrain, but i feel i have enough for a SHORT term review.
Braking, while most of my initial opinions were that it would suck, or at least not be exceptional, i am presently surprised. It isn't the easiest (at least for me) to tell about braking forces on a bike with such small travel. i haven't noticed any major problems either way with braking. It seems pretty neutral.
Pedaling, Its great, i got mixed reviews when i was debating buying the bike itself, but im very pleased with the pedaling. mine came with a DHX air 5.0 and i keep the propedal on for cruising around town, but, even with it off-its still great. I rode 15 miles on road yesterday, than 11 today, back to back and it was great. (its also nice to have a full seatpost)
cornering, AMAZING-im almost speechless with this 1. While i havent had too much time on the trails with it, on the pavement in front of my house, i can get the bike REALLY low, i feel that if i had the balls to drag the bars, its completely possible. (however, this could be the 2.1 tubeless small block 8 tires) when i carve hard, even with very high PSI, it still wants to peel the tires off the rims, and it feels like there is sufficient force to burp a tire, if this ever becomes an issues, back to tubes for me. 10/10 on cornering-which is great for me, as this will be my 4x bike.
bumps, While i generally feel that anything under 6 inches of travel (ive only run it at 5 inches of travel) rides like total garbage as far as absorbing bumps and rocks on the trail, the banshee does a great job with it. It really feels like the travel you have, is designed well and seems to do a great job for eating bumps. for a bike with 5 inches of travel, you get as much of that squishy DH bike feel as you can, not having the extra 10 pounds and 5 inches of suspension. It is marketed as a "slopestyle" bike, NOT a 4x bike, so that could be why it does a better job than most of the little 4x bikes ive ridden, but im more than satisfied with how it rides, and im sure i can get alot out of the shock as it is.
jumping, while limited to some smaller dirt jumps, it jumps much like a slope-style bike would, which is great because its supposed to do that. It seems to have a nice "pop" to it which can be either love it or hate it, i am not super fond of it, but its grown on me to an extent. (i wont blame this on banshee however, as its supposed to do tricks, not race)
Major parts that factor into review is a 36 talas fork, frame has a DHX air. 819 rims with tubeless small block 8s, brakes are code 5s.
Braking, while most of my initial opinions were that it would suck, or at least not be exceptional, i am presently surprised. It isn't the easiest (at least for me) to tell about braking forces on a bike with such small travel. i haven't noticed any major problems either way with braking. It seems pretty neutral.
Pedaling, Its great, i got mixed reviews when i was debating buying the bike itself, but im very pleased with the pedaling. mine came with a DHX air 5.0 and i keep the propedal on for cruising around town, but, even with it off-its still great. I rode 15 miles on road yesterday, than 11 today, back to back and it was great. (its also nice to have a full seatpost)
cornering, AMAZING-im almost speechless with this 1. While i havent had too much time on the trails with it, on the pavement in front of my house, i can get the bike REALLY low, i feel that if i had the balls to drag the bars, its completely possible. (however, this could be the 2.1 tubeless small block 8 tires) when i carve hard, even with very high PSI, it still wants to peel the tires off the rims, and it feels like there is sufficient force to burp a tire, if this ever becomes an issues, back to tubes for me. 10/10 on cornering-which is great for me, as this will be my 4x bike.
bumps, While i generally feel that anything under 6 inches of travel (ive only run it at 5 inches of travel) rides like total garbage as far as absorbing bumps and rocks on the trail, the banshee does a great job with it. It really feels like the travel you have, is designed well and seems to do a great job for eating bumps. for a bike with 5 inches of travel, you get as much of that squishy DH bike feel as you can, not having the extra 10 pounds and 5 inches of suspension. It is marketed as a "slopestyle" bike, NOT a 4x bike, so that could be why it does a better job than most of the little 4x bikes ive ridden, but im more than satisfied with how it rides, and im sure i can get alot out of the shock as it is.
jumping, while limited to some smaller dirt jumps, it jumps much like a slope-style bike would, which is great because its supposed to do that. It seems to have a nice "pop" to it which can be either love it or hate it, i am not super fond of it, but its grown on me to an extent. (i wont blame this on banshee however, as its supposed to do tricks, not race)
Major parts that factor into review is a 36 talas fork, frame has a DHX air. 819 rims with tubeless small block 8s, brakes are code 5s.
