spitter of fire.

[chonox]

Hello,

Got this frame from Stu @ Defcon Cycles - pleasure to deal with nice guy and would buy from again. Used to run a medium enduro but it felt too long hence wanted to swap to a small frame. Also felt 160mm was probably too much for me so figured dropping down to 140mm made sense - yet still would be fun on the occasional DHs. Been reading up on the V2 Spitfires for a while now and the main selling points for me were:

- CCDB option (2015 comes with inline rather than CCDB Air CS - not that I'm complaining!)
- 650B future proofing compatibility (although more than happy to run 26" atm)
- relatively affordable compared to other boutique brands
- I enjoy DH more than I do climbing but too scared to ride full DH. The 'spirit' of this bike was in line with what I wanted (The DH'ers trail bike)

Took it for its maiden voyage at the 2 new trails at Daisy Hill today and was very impressed. I do have it in 'slack' mode with 160mm forks... if I had to guess I reckon the HA is around 65.5. Taking it for a week in Queenstown next week so should be fun! Shoutout to my mate dug8713 for sorting me out big time. Spec below - parts were a multitude of new, hand me downs from enduro and bought spares as off me mate.

Frame - Banshee Spitfire V2 , Small, Blue (26" dropouts in the slackest flavour).
Rear shock - CCDB Inline
Front shock/fork - 160mm Fox 36 Float RLC Kashima
Handlebars - Renthal Fatbar cut to 740mm
Stem - Thompson 50mm
Headset - Banshee
Grips - ODI Ruffian
Saddle - Specialized Body Geometry Henge Expert
Seatpost - 125mm KS LEV
Front brake - Shimano XT (203mm RT86)
Rear brake - Shimano XT (180mm RT86)
Cranks - 170mm SRAM X01
Chain - KMC X-10
Chainring - Works Components 30t Direct Mount GXP
Pedals - Twenty6 Pre-Runner
Front derailleur - Nil
Rear derailleur - SRAM X9 Type 2 Short Cage
Rear shifter - SRAM X0
Cassette - SRAM XX 10-speed, 11-36t
Front hub - Hope Pro 2 Evo
Rear hub - Hope Pro 2 Evo
Front rim - Flow EX
Rear rim - Flow EX
F.Tyre - 26x2.3" Specialized Butcher Control - tubeless
R.Tyre - 26x2.2"Specialized Purgatory Control (have Ardents 2.25 on the way from CRC as these no longer seal tubeless due to large gash)
Total weight - No idea - don't really care either - its built chunky but surprisingly feels good.

Pre maiden voyage piccies:

Very happy with my choice.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

That's a really nice build, not much to critise there! Except for trim the cables before you accidently strangle yourself.

Are you going to try the different positions for the dropouts in the future? I found on the Rune they made quite a bit difference in feel and strangely prefered the high BB option.

 

[rsclio]

Nice work mine is on the way also from Stu

 

[lindz1817]

I have so much want for this. Love the spec too. Awesome build man, congrats. Would love to hear a more in depth ride report when you've put some more k's on it.

 

[hazza6542]

Except for trim the cables before you accidently strangle yourself.

For bar spinning obviously.

Looks awesome, great spec too.

 

[moorey]

Yeah, nice build. Can't think of a thing id really change aside from me being a shimano 1x10 man and maybe a pike. Veeeery nice mate.

 

[dug8713]

Its built up to a mighty fine steed. Keen to see how you go at Queenstown this week. Ride report!

 

[Puddleduck]

Very nice. I just got my Banshee Rune from Stu. Building it up at the moment. I too found Stu pretty good to deal with.

 

[chonox]

Cheers for the kind comments all,

Will probably try diff dropouts when I get back to Aus but while I'm in NZ will stay full slack.

I only ever used maxle type rear axles before and day before I left for QT snapped the captive screw for the 142x12 bolt in rear axle (stupid on my part). I was in a panic and nobody sells Maxles in Brisbane (shops required pre-ordering etc.) but Stu sorted me out with a new rear axle free of charge - dude's a champ.

For bar spinning obviously.

Looks awesome, great spec too.

lol this was a joke and trimmed cables look better but gosh im glad i had the extra length today. After taking a few tumbles on some super sketchy, steep, muddy,rooty, loose trails today in the bike park i bounced off a few trees etc and the bike ended up getting all twisted up ( bars 180degrees). i feel having shorter cables and hoses would have resulted in significantly more stretching.

im no dh fiend but bikes felt right at home in the bike park... i have used close to full travel but i havent noticed or felt it. ccdb inline has felt very good. im not techinically minded just enjoy riding bikes. will post photos/videos later to give better idea. mate weighed it on bathroom scales and it was touch over 30 lbs. In slackest setting bb is very low but you get used to it and it feels good. makes u huck stuff rather than risk rolling it haha.

rear specialized purgatory control wasn't cutting it on the steep and technical stuff. Rear brake would lock up nicely but felt like absolutely no control over the rear. Changed over to a minion so will see if that works better or whether I just suck.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

 

[effarr]

Great looking bike mate. I've got a Rune and it's a heap of fun.

Look forward to some action shots from NZ if you get some!

Cheers

Leon

 

[whitey89]

Sweet build man, Im about to build up one very similar! Have fun in NZ

 

[chonox]

Had to fly straight to work and havent been back since so videos been a little bit delayed. but here it is as promised - warning - im not very good but i rekon its good for a laugh

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/387709/

Everyone needs to do QT once in their life - I've been lucky enough to go twice!

Bike definitely outperformed me so I'm stoked with my choice - churs!

 

[teK--]

lol this was a joke and trimmed cables look better but gosh im glad i had the extra length today. After taking a few tumbles on some super sketchy, steep, muddy,rooty, loose trails today in the bike park i bounced off a few trees etc and the bike ended up getting all twisted up ( bars 180degrees). i feel having shorter cables and hoses would have resulted in significantly more stretching.

Lookin great there are lot of Spitties going around lately! Choice colour.

Re cable lengths just have enough to turn the bar slightly past 180degrees (200?).

 

[Luco]

Great video! Those trails look so good; smooth and fast! Liked how you included your stacks too!
Think I'm gonna pull the trigger on a spitfire soon.... Thanks for posting.

 

[Korbzy]

Had to fly straight to work and havent been back since so videos been a little bit delayed. but here it is as promised - warning - im not very good but i rekon its good for a laugh

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/387709/

Everyone needs to do QT once in their life - I've been lucky enough to go twice!

Bike definitely outperformed me so I'm stoked with my choice - churs!

Can you share your experiences on taking your bike over, looking at doing QT too. Any tips?

 

[chonox]

Lookin great there are lot of Spitties going around lately! Choice colour.

Re cable lengths just have enough to turn the bar slightly past 180degrees (200?).

Yeah I didn't really plan it out that way was more of a laziness thing but it worked out in my favour. Was set on getting raw but they weren't in stock - in retrospect loving the blue though. It's a great bike at a great price point with excellent distributor support so I can see why their popping up everywhere.

Great video! Those trails look so good; smooth and fast! Liked how you included your stacks too!
Think I'm gonna pull the trigger on a spitfire soon.... Thanks for posting.

Yeah man - I coulda made a 1 hour feature length movie of my stacks. I picked the faster flowing trails because steep techy stuff isn't as exciting on the gopro - not at the speeds I was going anyway.. hah!

Can you share your experiences on taking your bike over, looking at doing QT too. Any tips?

I've been twice now. First time I took the cardboard box second time I borrowed a mates bike bag. I'm not a big guy and found the box to be hard to transport around but it got the job done and was cheap. Bike bag definitely was alot easier in that it was more compact and had more straps etc - would have been even better if it had wheels (http://www.scott-sports.com/global/en/products/2186230001222/SCOTT-Classic-Bike-Transport-Bag/) . I personally will be looking to buy a second hand bike bag on the cheap similar to the one I linked except maybe with wheels if I can find one as they were light yet still seemed to get the job done.

Make sure you weigh yourself - its very easy to go in overweight for checked in luggage and you pretty much need just the bare essentials for a riding holiday. Try and organise it so you don't need to take tools over (other than on the trail type stuff, tube repair kit, multitool etc).

As far as stripping the frame I was more paranoid the first time and more lazy the 2nd time. Both times turned out fine but maybe I was lucky.

I took air out of tires and suspension, just took off the handle bars with all controls attached and taped it to fork lowers. Loosened stem and turned it 180 degrees to save space. Both wheels off. Wrapped frame/fork with a bit of bubble wrap and plonked it in the centre with a bit of cardboard on each side and then the wheels propped up against the frame outside of the cardboard bits sandwiching the frame (rotors facing towards frame). Fill her out by placing knee pads/arm pads/helmets/clothes and whatever else you won't be allowed to take as onboard luggage for added protection in the gaps.

My main concern was probably leaving the rotors on and the rear dereailleur on but it turned out fine. Its an extra 10 mins of work so I'd probably recommend doing it. Worst case scenario something breaks but there's plenty of bike shops in NZ - just makes your trip that little bit more expensive.

Hope this helps.

 

[Korbzy]

Wasnt expecting such a detailed post lol, thanks! I was having a look at air nzs extra luggage and looks like for an extra $120 you can have an extra 23kgs which seems pretty good. I was looking at taking my bike with me to europe but the extra 20kg will cost me $1900... so probably better hiring a bike for a few weeks