[Closed] Banshee Spitfire

SOAP, standard Rockshox Maxles will fit too. That little end bolt only needs to be just past finger tight - 3Nm.

Just getting ready to go out for a ride and saw this...:(

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Warranty time?

I know of quite a few people who have ended up with that bolt snapping. Myself included.

Is that a mk2 frame? Gutted. Hope it all works out.

Oh dear 🙁

I cracked two Mk2 spitfires on the weld on the other end of that gusset.

Both were warranty jobs, 2 week turnaround time on both.

Yeah its a 2015 spitty. Absolutely gutted tbh but it happens. Dropped it off at local banshee dealer (skyline) today. Just sucks not being able to ride.

One of the benefits of a raw frame finish.

Yep, hard to not notice that crack. Loved the raw finish too, not to keen on the new colours.

Now I wish I'd checked this thread 2 weeks ago...I also have 26" 142mm dropouts. Would swap for or buy 650b drops.

Unlucky Volotilemike, hope it gets sorted soonest! I'm away to the garage to check my 2015 Raw frame :-/

My dropouts are sorted thanks to Geoff, if anyone wants to buy my 26" ones then email me.

Good time to check the frame over since it will be 2 years old soon. Also i've always fancied taking off the front mech cable stops for tidiness which I may do once it's out of warranty. As far as I know the new XT mechs can be run without frame stops if I ever change my mind - am I wrong?

Awesome service from Skyline and Ison. Got my bike back today all built up with shiny new frame 🙂 crap picture but you know, wanted to ride!

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Ace news, thats the kind of customer service that you remember for a long time.

I like that colour

Yeah thought Id go a bit different than the new gun metal, and this looks awesome!

Is that the new updated angles frame? Does it feel very different to the previous one?

Will just leave this here too.

[url= https://farm1.staticflickr.com/345/19084503142_74f947bdb9_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm1.staticflickr.com/345/19084503142_74f947bdb9_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/v5r4TC ]Banshee Spitfire[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/le_grande_momo/ ]Matt Cotterill[/url], on Flickr

Only had it for 3 months, took a few rides to adapt to having only ridden my HT for 9 months, but really loving it. Currently has the 150mm pikes from my BFe on after a weekend down on the Quantocks where I thought 2lbs less on the front would come in handy.

Is the new 'Gun metal' 2016 colour just the same as the Raw? Or is it a painted finish?

Yeah this has the new angles. I think the lower stand-over is noticeable, but I cant tell the difference of anything else.

Sorry I still haven't got any good photos of it!

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This bike seems the only way I can upgrade (and get 27.5 potential) without selling all of my 26" kit

I think I preferred the ride of it with 26" wheels, might go back to them to be honest. Easier uphill anyway.

will just accept that there will be more pedal smashes.

here with 26" wheels
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Looks a bit like mine, but with more bucket.
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🙂

I have seen a few of these recently and I fully agree with what dmorts says. I really really want one!

to those with the new new frame- what length stem are you running?

scruff - Member
to those with the new new frame- what length stem are you running?

I've got a Large and running a 50mm at the moment. I have a 40mm that I was going to try but haven't got around to it and not felt the need. Im just about 6ft.

Ok ta.

Is the spacing 135mm x 10mm for the 26" dropouts and is mint green still an option on 2016 new revised toptube version?

Welding beads on the raws look immensely tasty!

dmorts - Member
This bike seems the only way I can upgrade (and get 27.5 potential) without selling all of my 26" kit

This is one of the reasons I'm looking at one. I could do with newer forks anyway so would get some 650 Pikes and run them with my 26 wheels until they die.

Dont think new new ones are mint green, updated website shows yellow, gun metal or black.

Anyone running a CCDB inline on theirs and what do you think?

I'm pretty certain you can get the 26" dropouts in 10x135, 12x142 and 12x150 (they also fit the 29" bikes) whilst the 27.5 ones are 12x142 only.

Ignoring the 26 & 27.5 compatibility benefit, it's simply a bloody brilliant bike - get one!

How easy are the bearings to replace on these? Can these be done by the ham-fisted at home like with the Orange 5?

yeah get one -tis the shiz, much more fun than others. Also keep it real on 26's, the pedal strikes can be a pain every now and then, but you adapt pretty quickly.

also, and i'm bloomin surprised by this, my bearings are still fine after 18 months.

Scamper, i just changed my bearings out after 14 months and they were in pretty good nick. Got a set from Kaesae off here to replace them with. If you need his email address i can dig it out. They come highly recommended.

Only had mine since Feb - bearings seem good still.

I'm running the 650b dropouts in 142x12mm (now in the slack setting), and a 150mm 650b Pike up front and 26" wheels.

Soon adapt to the pedal strikes and adjust technique accordingly, though I wand the 160mm Pike air shaft and when I want a new chainset I'll go down to 170mm.

CCDB Inline is awesome. Not got any spacers in mine as I didn't get any, but never felt the need to get some - feels more than the 140mm travel.

Oh dear, found this crack earlier this week. Waiting on answer from shop who passed pics to Banshee UK importer.

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🙁

Thats 3 of us with cracks around the same area, slightly concerning. Hopefully my 2016 frame is better.

I was the opposite with the bearings, the bottom ones were completely seized, but I didn't clean it very often. So my fault

It still an awesome bike though so it doesnt matter.

I spent the last week trying to decide between the Spitfire and a Bronson c (v1). During this morning ride my buddies where pushing me towards the Santa Cruz: it's carbon! It's lighter! Yes, I said... But the Spitfire is tough! Unbreakable! And now I see three cracks in two pages! I know every frame can break but in this case all frames are cracked in the same place, it looks like a design issue... The funny thing is that there's a cracked Bronson a few threads below...

Three cracked Spitfires on a thread all about Spitfires, and it's over a year old.
VS
One cracked Bronson on a new thread about that cracked Bronson.

I'll keep my Spitfire.

I know 5 people running spitfires, very hard 🙂 Not one hint of trouble or cracked frames.

Get one, saying that they are very different bikes from the Bronson. A test ride might be in order.

The reason I got mine was because after test riding a few others, it was by far the most fun. 😀

Buy one.

Loving mine (the one in the bucket above), hammered it at FoD and Bpw last weekend. Loved every minute on it.

May have a cracked frame, but it hasn't put me off the Spitfire. Cannot wait to get back out when frame is sorted. A fantastic all-rounder of a bike, that is way more capable than I'll ever be.

Thank you for your feedback. This morning I spent a little time on a large Bronson and it felt too small... probably I'll give a look to the Transition Scout too (with a 150mm fork?).

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Top of Great Hill a couple of weeks ago. No trouble pedalling up, loads of fun smashing my way down! 😀

Hi guys,

I'm considering getting myself a spitfire, I've been offered a pretty good deal on a virtually new 2015 model in Large - unfortunately there are no dealers anywhere near me so a demo is pretty much impossible. My question is at 6'2", is a Large going to be big enough? Looking at the numbers the reach seems fine and is pretty much in line with other bikes I've ridden but the seat tube seems pretty short.

Any opinions etc would be very welcome - I'm in devon so if anyone is around here and has a large I could throw a leg over that would also be cool

Seat tube length shouldn't be a problem unless you have incredibly long legs or already own a dropper post which isn't very long. If you stick a 400mm dropper up to full post extension on a large Spitfire that gives you 770mm from saddle rails to BB centre. See how your current bike compares!

Im 6ft 2 and a half and I ride an XL spitty with a 50mm stem. Its a 2013 model - is it only 2016 that has the different dimensions?

its absolutely perfect sizing for me. I have v long arms (plus size on the ape index) for my height.

I test rode an 'old' large Rune (2012 ed) which has a .2 inch shorter top tube than the large spitty and the Rune was noticeably too short for me so decided to go XL (but note the TT was very slightly shorter)

at 6ft 2 it could be spot on for you but that's my experience.

I'm 6ft1 and found a large spitfire ever so slightly small with a 50mm stem/780 bars,still rideable but I always wanted a little more reach. It's worth noting on the V2 banshees the reach stated is for the high position and it drops by 6mm per position, so it's actually 12mm shorter than stated in slack

It's worth noting on the V2 banshees the reach stated is for the high position and it drops by 6mm per position, so it's actually 12mm shorter than stated in slack

I'm pretty certain that the reach and stack numbers are for the neutral flipchip setting and it does get longer or shorter by 5mm when you go steeper or slacker.

On the new one has anyone set the chain line over wrong on purpose for 1x drivetrain. I did on my heckler and it was better, spitfire BB without the splined ISCG seems to be 68 so more spacers to play with.

For info, I had to use a slim BB spacer in addition to the 2.5 normal one to take up the slack due to not using the ISCG.

Just put mine up for sale in the classifieds if anyone is interested in a nice example? http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/2014-banshee-spitfire-sixc-xtr-hope-e4s-reverb-pikes

new one-
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@Chipbutty Any update on your warranty frame? What colour did you go for? 🙂

Hi Volatilemike,

Still waiting. The bike shop was hoping to have received it last week! Fingers crossed this week. Ive asked for the Gun Metal or Black.

Hope you get it sorted soon mate.

What fork are you guys running? Thinking about changing from my 2013 slant as the damper has blown twice now.

Anybody using a mattoc pro?

Just back from a road trip with a dozen of us riding some fun stuff in Wales - BPW, Antur and then actually having to pedal uphill at Llandegla. The Spitfire was totally brilliant and the limiting factor was definitely my forearms after two days of uplift... Great to revisit Llandegla for the first time in 4 years and be able to hit all the drops smoothly and backside quite a lot of the jumps - progress! I think Antur was my favourite - love those wide rocky sections where you have to spot your line and link a series of moves through them, a real mental and technical challenge.

Considering the battering our bikes got (a mix of modern 6" bikes, the oldest being a couple of SB66s and Coverts), I was shocked that our sum total of mechanicals was a main pivot finally going sloppy, a new 1x11 drivetrain being a bit finicky, one puncture and one broken spoke (and the only 2x bike dropping its chain far too often!) Not bad for over 200,000' of descending between us!

:)... I'd definitely have got the pedalling out of the way on day 1....

Sounds great Chief. @Volatilemike, I'm running Pikes at 150mm. Had them 18 months and also been on a SC Solo with the 140 air spring. Great fork, no issues yet.

:)... I'd definitely have got the pedalling out of the way on day 1....

We definitely felt like that when we did Swinley on the way back from two days in Wales a couple of years ago - lots of pedalling but no descents! Very confusing... Some of the group rode Cwmcarn on the Friday too - and were definitely feeling it come Monday!

Llandegla just felt so easy after the speed of the blues at BPW and the tech of the reds and blacks at BPW and Antur - it was just a fun flowy cruise rather than pinning it everywhere. And my legs rather enjoyed getting to turn the pedals, I'm quite good at that for short bursts. Finished off with a good few laps of the pumptrack, which was the only time I missed my hardtail!

The Spitfire just had its biannual clean - I barely recognise it without its usual brown camouflage... 😉

Awesome Antur!

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So this happened yesterday on a step down, thankfully my spitty was ok. The wheel er, is not.

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I have taken wheels in that condition and beat them against a tree until they were sufficiently straight to ride on. And then had them straightened up afterwards and continued to use them

I have taken wheels in that condition and beat them against a tree

iv not read all the posts, but has anyone ridden the spitfire & rune?

Iv an xl rune, and would like to know if there is much difference in pedaling? the rune is ok on the climbs but would the spitfire be much easier pedalled?

I know a guy who has ridden (and I think owned) both. He has opted for the Rune, simply as he has a DH background and wants to still race it occasionally. He still does some pretty big XC style rides on it as well. Personally I never tried the Rune as I just didn't need that much travel which was just going to cause more weight!

yes, iv done a few 30/40 mile rides on the rune, bit of an overkill on most but i like it for the bigger hits and uplifts days.

would love a ride on a spitfire to see the difference, dont know anyone with one local (especially an XL)

I am no expert in these things, but with the same shock, I'd expected they'd use their travel in the same way, so should pedal similarly - the real world difference might just be the weight.

I don't think there is that much difference in weight (going by posts on MBR). The Spitty is pretty well built.

I think I should have bought a Spitfire. I love my Rune but it is overkill for most of my riding so is going (I think).

The Spitfire has a bit more anti-squat and less travel in which to bob, so it'll be a more efficient pedaller - whether it's a big enough difference to be worth having one as well as a Rune is hard to say. I haven't ridden a Rune but I don't find the Spitfire climbs or pedals any slower than my hardtail. The weight difference vs the Rune is definitely insignificant.

I have both and I prefer my Rune. There's not much difference in (noticeable) weight,although I do have slightly better kit on the Rune,( I don't think there's a large weight difference in the actual builds). The Spitfire climbs a bit better- With the Spitfire you don't feel any pedal bob although you can see the suspension moving- with the Rune you notice the suspension moving more but it doesn't feel 'bobish if you know what I mean if you've ridden a KS Link .( I think KS Link is a smashing suspension set up- as good as any I've tried.) But the difference is minimal and I only notice it as a comparison as I ride both.

The traction is superb on both. (NB I'm a plodder on the ups anyway) . The Rune is way better on the downs though- it just feels right, but the spitfire is still a hoot and a holler too.

So I guess my point is whatever you've got, enjoy them and don't regret that you might have bought the wrong one.

My warranty replacement frame has arrived at shop :-). Will post up pics once I've rebuilt it.

Here she is in Black
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Lush

I'm now in the market for a Spitfire frame, don't suppose anyone is thinking of selling a large V2?!

Does anyone know if a 420mm Reverb fits all the way down in a large frame?

I have a 420 mm reverb stealth in my medium, if that is any help. Guess a couple of inches below the reverb collar are sticking out above the seat post clamp (which is where I need it). I could go into the garage and measure if you needed.

No that's all I need to know, thanks for your help.

Wilko, yes fits easily
.