I owned an '18 Smash in Raw as well and it was a really great bike. Had some great trips and races on it and basically only replaced it because of new bike lust. Had it with an MRP Ribbon Coil I still ride and a SD air that really came alive after it received some tuning to get rid of bucking and spiking.
However I had a few issues that go contrary to what you write above Andrew:
\- Frame alignment was kinda bad, the rear dropout where 144 instead of 148mm so I always had to spread the rear triangle to finagle the wheel in there. Shock also didn't go in smoothly without loosening the link.
\- While nice from an adjustment point of view the angular bearings were hard to set-up properly and they lasted not very long for me. Which brings me to the next point in that the cut-outs that you mention were not fully machined and I had to use a blind bearing puller to pull out the outer bearing races stuck in the frame. Because you can't pull angular bearings with the inner race..
All minor things and I am sure the customer service support is much easier in North America (I am in Germany and had to order via a UK distributor) but I am much happier on my Banshee Titan now.
Feb. 3, 2023, midnight - Carmel
I owned an '18 Smash in Raw as well and it was a really great bike. Had some great trips and races on it and basically only replaced it because of new bike lust. Had it with an MRP Ribbon Coil I still ride and a SD air that really came alive after it received some tuning to get rid of bucking and spiking. However I had a few issues that go contrary to what you write above Andrew: \- Frame alignment was kinda bad, the rear dropout where 144 instead of 148mm so I always had to spread the rear triangle to finagle the wheel in there. Shock also didn't go in smoothly without loosening the link. \- While nice from an adjustment point of view the angular bearings were hard to set-up properly and they lasted not very long for me. Which brings me to the next point in that the cut-outs that you mention were not fully machined and I had to use a blind bearing puller to pull out the outer bearing races stuck in the frame. Because you can't pull angular bearings with the inner race.. All minor things and I am sure the customer service support is much easier in North America (I am in Germany and had to order via a UK distributor) but I am much happier on my Banshee Titan now.