Nice review! It's also fair.
In the UK there seems to have been a move for some riders to shorter travel bikes with "the good geometry". I don't think this bike is it though.
In fact I'm not sure who this bike is for really, maybe if you had a 3 bike quiver you could make the case for it, but if you were a 1 bike person, you would likely be happier overall with something a touch slacker and touch more travel, say 130mm.
One of my riding friends has jumped from a 170mm Geometron for our local rides (lots of smaller ups and downs but still 500m of vert in a 2.5hr ride, rocks, roots, drops and the occasional jump) to a Transition Spur AND a Santa Cruz Tallboy (how he managed to find not one but two bikes in stock and afford them is another couple of questions entirely...) and seems to be thoroughly enjoying his time on them.
I was tempted by a Banshee Phantom but ended up with the Banshee Prime as it was a better 1 bike solution for me.
Nov. 16, 2021, 3:40 a.m. - Dan Lees
Nice review! It's also fair. In the UK there seems to have been a move for some riders to shorter travel bikes with "the good geometry". I don't think this bike is it though. In fact I'm not sure who this bike is for really, maybe if you had a 3 bike quiver you could make the case for it, but if you were a 1 bike person, you would likely be happier overall with something a touch slacker and touch more travel, say 130mm. One of my riding friends has jumped from a 170mm Geometron for our local rides (lots of smaller ups and downs but still 500m of vert in a 2.5hr ride, rocks, roots, drops and the occasional jump) to a Transition Spur AND a Santa Cruz Tallboy (how he managed to find not one but two bikes in stock and afford them is another couple of questions entirely...) and seems to be thoroughly enjoying his time on them. I was tempted by a Banshee Phantom but ended up with the Banshee Prime as it was a better 1 bike solution for me.