Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Banshee Rune V2 Build Thread

755K views 3K replies 404 participants last post by  windv 
#1 ·
Hi everyone!

I think I´m the first to have the official and final Banshee Rune v2. Nothing but to say that this is the really first bike I see it´s almost perfect!!! Since the geometries (absolutely awesome) until the suspension system... probably the best I´ve ever try in my life ( my last bike was a Ibis mojo hd and it was a good bike too but... this Rune is outstanding)

Well.. before the photo session it´s important to point out some data to get a better idea about this kind of bike...

Frame weight --> Size L ( 3.6 kilos With shock) ( 7.9 lbs)

The main points of this bike are

Head Angle (With lyrik 170mm rc2 dh coil) --> 65º
Seat Angle --> 73,5º
Bottom Bracket Heigh --> 345mm ( So less than the geo chart even with the lyrik)
Wheelbase --> 1185mm

Bike Check (see image)

Text White Line Colorfulness Black


And the images.. ENJOY THE VIEW GUYS!! :D

Tire Wheel Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Bicycle wheel

Bicycle accessory Metal Carbon Composite material Steel

Bicycle part Bicycle accessory Bicycle Bicycle chain Bicycle drivetrain part

Tire Bicycle tire Wheel Bicycle wheel Bicycle frame

Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel

Bicycle part Bicycle Bicycle accessory Bicycle frame Bicycle handlebar

Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Tire Bicycle wheel Wheel
 
See less See more
8
#906 ·
My Rune V2! Medium size, 160 mm U-turn Coil Lyrik, 1 x 10 with 28 in the front and 11 - 36 back.
(Not shure if it works for my kind of riding, it´s an experiment)
After finding the right position I will change the stem and handlebar for Spank Spike parts.
"Chaindevice" is selfmade (out of wood), will be painted black when testing is over.
 
#912 ·
Nice build how strong are the crest wheels I was thinking of a new set for my spitfire but I was looking at flow ex and arch ex, verging more towards the flow I think for strength. How heavy are you and what kind of riding you gonna do with those wheels, I presume it will be pretty full on if you've just built up a rune!
 
This post has been deleted
#913 ·
My Wheel-Builder has recommended the WTB Frequency i23, as an Alternative to the Flow EX. He told me NOT to go with Crest or Arch EX, as these Rims/Wheels do have a Rider-Weight-Limitation of 90-100 kg. So he build up a nice Pair of WTBs on Tune Hubs for me. I weight 90 kg, so these should work fine for everything.
 
#916 ·
building up mine with 650 velocity P35's on hopes. I'm in triple figures so hoping they'll be plenty strong.

chucked some Hans Dampf Super Gravity's on there looks FAT! (nothing like pi$$ing and moaning about your frame not turning up for so long that your don't actually get around to building wheels etc up on it..!!)

Bicycle Wheel Tire Bicycles--Equipment and supplies Bicycle wheel
 
#917 ·
@ williethewaiter:

I ´m somehow new when it comes to classy, light but strong Wheels. I just followed the Recommendations my Builder gave me, so I think I´m fine and ready for 650B-only when it feels right. Plus I can go bigger Volume-Tires and have a good Ratio on Weight and Durability.
Is this your 650B-Wheelset already? Do you use the 650B Dropouts?
I haven´t seen a Hans Dampf Super Gravity in real life, but the 2.35 HD is big, almost as big as a 2.4 HR II.
 
#920 ·
yep went straight to 650 didn't even bother getting the 26inch dropouts

no real reason other than being a big rooster 650 wheels will look more in proportion on a big frame!

love big volume tyres switched to 2.4 mountain queens a while back and they're the shizz made such a diff.

110kgs at the mo after a bit of a layoff so no interest in anythign with the word 'light' in it! main reason I wanted a rune cause it ticked all the boxes MTB is all about not breaking stuff for me...

in fact one of the reasons i took a shine to this bike was Keith said somewhere 'want a lighter bike have a dump before you ride'.. something i've said about a million times in 20 years of road racing!
 
#923 ·
nearly there - trying to get it sorted for a ride tonight. Only outstanding issues are the bash wouldn't work with the front d for now so have yanked that off and have run out of time to switch the hoses on the brakes and dropper to white ones.
new bars haven't arrived yet so have just chucked on some old ones I had laying around.. more pics later.

liking hte 650 wheel choice - looks much more in proportion! haven't sat on it yet so ignore seat height etc

Tire Wheel Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Bicycle wheel rim
 
#928 ·
I changed my stem and my bar to the new Easton Havoc 35, and I have to admit it rides like a dream. Stem length is 50 mm and bar width is 800 mm. While I thought I would shorten the bar for sure, I'm not so convinced after the ride today - I totally like it, though I'm not even riding a 800 mm bar in my downhill bike :) I guess only time will tell... Riding this - tank - is absolutely fabulous. I was worried that an enduro like this would fail on the steeper climbs but I had no problem, except hat I have to get used to the fact that I have to put my butt more behind the saddle to apply more pressure to the rear wheel when it gets steep - I guess this is due to the steep seat tube angle.

What bothers me though is that both my Reverb and the original Banshee post slip _really_ easy into the seat tube when the clamp is not tightened. From my experience, I would expect that you have to apply very little force to the seat post to push it into the tube.
During my ride, the post slipped for 5 more mm into the tube. I'm worried that there is too much tolerance and the seat tube might not be processed properly. Anyone care to take away my sorrow?

Anyway, here are a few pictures. Enjoy :)



 
#929 ·
The first feedback is gonna be 'first impressions' as the final push to get the bike complete on Friday arvo combined with rush hour traffic and fading light meant it was never going to be a long ride.

Here's the final pics - only thing missing is a bashguard (having some issues finding one that fits with the front D) and have the matching handlebars to the stem on order (yep LOUD is the theme of the build).. bars are 760 as opposed to the 780 I've been riding lately

Bicycle frame Bicycle tire Tire Wheel Bicycle wheel
Bicycle frame Bicycle handlebar Bicycle part Yellow Bicycle
Bicycle tire Yellow Bicycle wheel rim Bicycle frame Bicycle accessory


So arrived at the forest, threw the bike at a fellow ccdb owner with the base tune settings and had him have a play whilst I got changed.

One of the things I wanted in a new ride was something that looks a bit more in 'proportion'.. my old farm gate looked like it had midget wheels. Taking a look at this pic with only M and L other bikes you'll notice that the Rune doesn't look 'big' - but don't worry it is!

Wheel Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Tire Bicycle wheel


At this point I should explain what my old ride is - it'll probably make you stop reading right now because yeh it's old and it's a POS.. '08 Enduro with a Van rear coil. however I'd had a lot of work done to it and it was running super nice even the fork seemed to be finally going good after a recent service (who knew - a service makes things work better?!). I'd even started having second thoughts about whether or not I actually needed a new bike (boy how wrong I was!).

Here's a side by side size comparison old v new

Tire Bicycle tire Wheel Bicycle wheel rim Bicycle frame


Into the forest (Riverhead forest - clay base.. hasn't rained for ages so is rock hard, lots of tree roots and ruts from moto's.. it's just riding unreal right now! Can just take any line anywhere) riding up the gravel road to get to the hilltop asap the first thing I noticed was the rear end stiffness - felt good. Bike pedals very well no bobbing from the rear sits nicely

Straight into the down.. write this first section off as rear shock was totally overpowering the front and bucking me a bit. (fork feels blimin good tho) Quick stop before section two for a consult with the suspension gurus and we decide to just increase the sag for now. Drop 10psi out of the shock and straight into section 2.

HOLY FREAKIN SH*TBALLS THIS BIKE IS THE SHIZZ! Fanged it down an unfamiliar track sitting on my mates wheel.. rear feels much more balanced. immediately going faster on a new unfamiliar bike than I have ever been on my old bike. Despite having fairly slack headangle (I'm riding it in neutral chip at the mo) the handling is pretty quick and it's just super manoeuvrable on the track. The 650 wheels and no doubt the combo with some great suspension means it just rolls over the roots and ruts like they're not there.. get to the bottom laughing my ar$e off with a huge grin on my face and immediately turn around to hit it again!

Light is getting low now so manage a couple more tracks back to the carpark. More of the same - just riding as fast as poss everything just felt so natural! Wasn't expecting at all to be able to just jump on a new rig and feel like it's made for me! just absolutely rails around corners.. ahh the satisfaction of making a good purchase sets you up for a good evening...

1. Get back to car park do a little dance - i'd describe it as a cross between the running man with a bt of gangnam chucked in..
2. Crack a couple of beers
3. Drive home, feeling so emotional start composing a poem in my head expressing my love for Keith and the new Rune
4. Get home, wake kids to hi five them.
5. Say nice things to the wife - immediately raising her suspicions
6. Get yelled at by the wife about buying a new bike - pretend to listen but really I'm thinking how I can manage a midweek sneak down to Queenstown as well as trying to progress this damn poem... poetry not my strength - stuck on opening line 'there once was a man named keith...'
7. Think the yelling has stopped. Review my decision on going for the 'loud' build. Previous bike builds have just been red, black and white because my wife is bikelexic - they all look the same to her.. there's no hiding this sucker in the garage!
Wheel Tire Bicycle tire Bicycle frame Bicycle wheel


8. Drink more beer - feel happy looking forward to Sunday and a longer ride
9. Try to end the arvo / evening by thinking hmmm what would make this day perfect.. give the wife my most enticing smile mixed with blue steel... this does not appear to work so have to cut my losses there.
10. Feel annoyed that I have to wait until Sunday for next test cause i'm on daddy day care on Sat while the missus attends hens do
11. Sleep.

So to summarise EXTREMELY HAPPY so far.
 
#933 · (Edited)
9. Try to end the arvo / evening by thinking hmmm what would make this day perfect.. give the wife my most enticing smile mixed with blue steel... this does not appear to work so have to cut my losses there.
I didn't know anyone could overcome Blue Steel!

Hair Head Nose Mouth Lip


Also your build would look awesome with some green bars.

Darkness Night Line Black Black-and-white
 
#930 ·
so on to ride no 2 - the usual sunday bunch ride. same location different tracks. only bummer was that for the first time in a few weeks it rained in the morning so wasn't going to be the super fast dry run was gonna be a bit more slippery - no matter just being greedy complaining about that!

only changes over the weekend were dropping a bit of air out of the fork after having loads of travel left in the first test ride and a couple of tweaks to the low speed rebound.

before I bought this bike I spent HOURS trying to decide whether or not to buy a talas type fork so one of my big concerns was how this thing was going to go up steep climbs with the slack head angle and the 'long' fork... so one of todays test was to hit a super steep climb - left a 22 on the front and a 36 on the rear for this reason. (btw 22 no good as can only use about half the sprockets then the chain hits the chainstay - will be sticking a 26 on there).

I used the dropper function on my old fork all the time - but forgot to lift back up all the frikkin time too which was the reason for flagging it. Was kinda sh*tting myself that i'd end up with an old bike i had a few years back which was a giant trance - that thing was trying to do backflips anytime it pointed sharply upwards.

first grinding climb up into the forest had me reaching for the lower gears - and good news the front end felt just fine. Defo 'light' but to me just the right amount - makes it easy to pick up the front end and lift it over objects - old bike I had to use the power of greyskull to get the front end up.

so onto the downs - steep and techy... as you've probably guessed from part 1 here comes the big smile!! just eats roots for breakfast and man I just feel like I've got so much more to come from this bike. Using a type 2 rear mech with no guide at the mo - getting very minimal noise and no probs with losing a chain so still undecided if I need one as yet

just touching on size for a second - totally different setup on this bike from old. much shorter and I knew that was going to be the case - felt strange to see the hub way out in front of the bars but in no way did it feel short at all. A few weeks back I was down in Q'town riding with a former Aussie downhill champ and one thing I noticed was the way he really got forward on the bike and bent his elbows out - the short position really encourages this type of riding and it feels good!

onto the super steep hill time to see if i could make it up - short answer yes! if only i didn't slip on a tree root.. all concerns about the front end on the bike being too light were well and truly put to bed. no issues here folks!

rest of the ride followed the same theme - lots of steep ups and steep downs with a fast flowy downhill chucked in. had the confidence to ride a steep g-out that had been head f*&king me since I busted a collarbone so another box ticked.

the suspension gurus on the ride were observing and thought the bike was riding well so the base tune is pretty good just a couple of minor adjustments seemed to be more about finding the right level of sag. The Vengeance fork is a great bit of kit - super plush straight out of the box. Won't go on about that too much as it's pretty well documented that my old e150 is a piece of junk so would expect anything of quality would feel great. Very happy with the level of stiffness in the fork too - the one good quality I was scared of losing going to a single crown. no probs there..

finished on a tight and techy trail done at slow speed - bike just felt great that amazing maneuverability came into play again.

back to the carpark feeling full of extreme man love for this bike and what Keith has achieved - kudos to that man!!

if you're thinking of getting one just stop thinking about it and go buy it right now I'm farked if I know what you could find to not like about it!
 
#932 ·
is it really visually smaller than the ibis, cause ibis in real life seems tiny to me. i also see that you're running a flatbar and no spacers inder your stem..... so as low as possible.... how do you compare ultra low stack of the rune compared yo one of the highest stacks that the enduro has???? any issues in body position?

it does look tiny :)

great great writeup
 
#936 ·
yeh weird huh? I had those flat bars on the enduro and didn't like it despite it being the super highest front end on the planet with that stupid stem. currently has some 3.5 rise renthalls on it and i found that good til i got on new bike

I think I just didn't like it because I had a bad crash landing a jump that busted my c'bone which I blamed on my weight being too far forward thanks to those bars being flat - when in reality it was just that I was being soft and going too slow, along with the fact I followed someone in who weighed half of me who flew the jump and I landed like a scud missile.

I am planning on sticking on some bars with a 2.5cm rise (see below.. looooud!) but too be honest the flat bars feel blimin good.. Struggling to explain why I can go from needing the highest rise in the world to feeling good on a super low rise.. must have something to do with the headangle for a start. Tis most odd but am not gonna spend too much worrying about something that feels so good!

haven't had a chance to jump this thing yet (not exactly the worlds biggest jumper anyway - fat ba$tards aren't made to fly) so will see how that goes when I get a chance

Green Colorfulness Line Parallel
 
#937 ·
Willie, I think you may be mistaken. You state the bike is shorter- that's not the case. The Chainstays are definitley shorter, the ETT is the same, but the reach is actually longer- which would be attributable to a steeper seat tube angle. If you're running the same size on your new V2, you should be able to run a shorter stem with the longer reach. I'm running a 60mm on my medium, and I definitely feel like I have some more room than when I was running a 65mm on my V1.

BTW- your bike looks great! Gotta love the Vengeance too.
 
#938 ·
im afraid to say that i think those runes look like a dogs dinner. its not the tidiest looking machine. this thread is a mess too!

lets hope it rides better than it looks.

banshee have got a cheek sending them out with green decals (on the yellow) without telling the world first. i bailed out from buying one when they did this. its shoddy practice.

this new effort from banshee is suspect.
 
#942 ·
Some people do spend some time putting their bikes together with components that mesh and stick to a color scheme that they have in mind. Me personally, I am all about sticking to my color scheme. Not to toot my own horn (TOOT TOOT) but I can shred and the bike looks good doing it!! I also think that it could be a miscalculation on Banshee's part sending this thing out with green decals.......However I will try to give them the benefit of the doubt and say....Maybe its just that the decals they are using are in fact black. Since the screaming yellow paint is "sunshine bright" it comes through the black making it appear green but they (Banshee) is in such a rush trying to get these orders filled and keep the customers happy. In the end the bike will do all the talking and I have a feeling these yellow Runes talk REALLY REALLY LOUD!

HOLLA!!
 
#943 ·
Bottom line: if you advertise something as X, and it turns out to be Y, you deserve to be called out for it. Likewise, if a customer wants it to be X, and it turns out to be Y, that customer is allowed to have whatever reaction they want, including returning the frame. They are the buyer, and are entitled to make choices on what they want. If my advertised black and white frame comes back as black and pink, you can be damned sure Banshee will be getting their frame back.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top