Banshee Bikes 2008

Technology

All Banshee Bike Frames are designed using state of the art technology such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and 3D CAD in conjunction with linkage design software and of course thousands of hours of test riding and mechanical load testing. All our frames are designed by fully qualified mechanical engineers, and tested by some of the industries
top athletes who seem to be able to push the limits beyond us mere mortals! We use the most modern manufacturing processes available such as hydroforming and cold form extrusion, and work with engineers from our bearing and bushing suppliers to produce some of the finest frames in the world.

Virtual Floating 4 Bar Pivot (VF4P)

• Incredibly stiff
• Amazing pedaling performance
• Anti-squat feature
• Active under braking
• Light-weight
• Dialled in wheelpath
• Tuned in leverage ratio for a nice progressive rise through the whole stroke

The VF4B linkage is more then just a link between the front triangle and the chainstay. Imagine it as a kind
of holistic approach to designing the suspension system with the goal being best in class performance.

Great pedaling starts with stiffness and this is achieved by fi rst triangulating the seat and chainstay pivots. Moving the rocker pivot high and a link pivot low on the seatube means the forces have less effect on twisting the rear swing arm. A tuned rearward axle path at the start of the travel means the tire will be in contact “gripping” with the square edge bump longer helping you move up the toughest sections. The anti-squat design uses just the right amount of chain-growth from the pedal forces to counter suspension bob which you’ll fi nd most noticable when hammering out of the saddle.

The design stays fully active under hard braking allowing it stay in contact with the ground longer.

VF4P Pivots

All the VF4B (Virtual Floating four bar) frames are equipped with entirely new pivot assemblies for 2008. By reducing the
complexity we have made the pivots far easier to maintain, whilst also reducing weight and increasing lateral stiffness.
For 2008 the Rune, Rampant and Pyre will all be using iglide polymer bearings. This decision has not been made lightly.

What are the benefits?
• Increased lateral stiffness
• Reduced weight
• Reduced maintenance
• Lower costs for customers to replace
• Self lubricating

Bearings are designed to take complete 360degree rotations like you get in bottom brackets, and not angular rotations
(less than 90degrees) like you get in suspension pivots. This means that the whole load in bearings is constantly wearing
out just 2 or 3 of the ball bearings in a conventional bearing, whereas the polymer bushings wear evenly due to the design.

Axles for VF4P

The axles for the main pivots have been specifi cally designed for performance, simplicity, and ease of maintenance. This has been achieved by:
• Direct grease injection ports with set screw grease zerk
• Grease injection can be done in under 30 seconds, just unscrew the set screw, inject grease, screw in set screw. (obviously the area MUST be clean when you do this to stop grit getting in to the pivots)
• 3 parts to the axles... axle, bolt and zerk ... that’s it, why over complicate things?
• Double helical groves on the axle surface to allow the grease to push under the bushings.
• Hard anodised fi nish to axle surface improves the life of both axles and pivots. (not seen in prototype at side)

Basically you inject the grease in through the end of the axle and it feeds through into the gap in the pivot between bushings due to the machined grease path.

Turner 4 Bar Suspension

• Incredibly stiff, strong, low maintence design to take punishment
• Great pedaling performance due to main pivot location inline with chainline
• Tuned leverage ratio to be progressive through the travel

The Turner 4bar design also known as a Fauxbar is characterised by a rear axle [b] pivoting around a main swingarm pivot [a], where the shock is activated by walking beams. This style of suspension is not the same as a single pivot because the Turner 4bar lets you dial in the leverage ratio at each point in the travel.

Leverage ratio is most simply described as: if rear axle [diagram 1(b)] moves 3”, shock stroke [diagram 1(e)] will move 1”. With the walking beam or other 4bar designs including FSRs, VPPs etc. you calculate the stroke vs the rear axle at each point through the stroke because the ratio changes. For our designs we have a descending leverage ratio that starts out at around 3:1 but then ends up closer to 2:1 at bottom out.

With higher leverage at the start it means there is more leverage over the shock and it is easier to move the back wheel. What this translates into is small bump compliance. As the rear wheel goes through its travel it becomes harder to compress the shock [progressivity]. Consider the shock, where coils and large volume air have a linear rate, with a progressive frame and a linear shock you end up with slight progressivity when you put them together. This means when
you do a drop it will ramp up nicely making it harder to bottom out.

Stiffness is acheived by having no pivot between the main pivot [diagram 1(a)] and the rear axle [diagram 1(b)]. This means 2 things: Pedaling effi ciency is good because you have the power going directly into the rear wheel without
having a pivot robbing some of that power. The second thing is the backend is stiffer letting your back wheel track better because again the backend is stiffer.

Why not use the VF4B? Simply these frames [wildcard, scythe] will see much more abuse and will be taking large drops. The VF4B has an anti-sag component which causes the backend to fi rm up with some intial chain growth [platform]. Conversely though doing a large drop creates pedal kickback and this is something you don’t want when landing a huge drop. The VF4B bikes just aren’t required to take the abuse or drops so thats why a virtual pivot style works so great for them.

Custom Banshee Designed Hydroformed Tubes

All the new 2008 frame models from banshee come with triple butted top and down tube sets that are custom designed by us for each frame. Hydroformed tubes are much stronger than conventional tubes and gussets as they achieve the same second moment of area and end weld interface, but since there are no welds for gussets the tubes are lighter and stronger than the tubes we have previously used. All the frames use either forged or cold form hollow extrusion BB shells, yokes and pivot mounts for high strength to weight ratio.

Shock Block

The seatstay “shock block” sweep helps to take some of the harshness off the ride while not compromising the lateral
rigidity.

Ribbed Seat and Chainstays

The internal rib in the chainstays and seat stays increases the lateral stiffness of the rear triangle. Stiff feels light and effi cient because energy robbing frame flex is eliminated. The rider feels more confidence negotiating tricky technical sections.

Headtubes

Hourglass

The hourglass shape is designed to put the strength where its needed and eliminate material where its not. Think of it like a triple butted spoke... strong on the ends, thin in the middle

Pony Kegger / Kegger

Arguable the strongest headtube on the market. On the outside it gives a nice big surface to weld the tubes on to. On the
inside the its got the “beef” to eliminate any chance of ovalization

One Point Five

The One Point Five headtube besides having a large surface for the tubes to weld against, and being super strong and
light for its sizes, also allows you to run zero stack headsets which is great for lowering the front end and steepening the angles slightly