Primo.

[mikesee]

Built and ridden.


























































Build:
-HS pressed in like butter. Very hot, sexy butter.
-I need to come up with a better chainguide. Bottom roller is good. Lack of a top roller is not so good.
-Had to clean the edges of the dropout pierce with a scribe--tolerances were so tight I couldn't get the Maxle through at first. 30 seconds to locate the tool, 10 seconds to take the square edge off.
-Had hoped for real "raw"--none of this clearcoated nancyboy stuff...
-Cable routing seems clunky, but probably just because it's new to me. Can't yet see how I'd improve it, so it must be working.
-Maxle placement no worky--have to remove the rear der from the frame to be able to turn the lever. Either that or just forget about removing/installing the wheel! Fortunately it's an easy fix that only requires a running change to the (replaceable) dropouts.
-Plenty of tire clearance for my 1 x 9 setup. Need to fine tune the chainring's lateral position for better chainline in the gears I use most often.
-135 dropouts, seatpost, and QR seat clamp were all included. Nice.

Ride:
-Started with rear shock at ~140#. Rode for ~30 minutes, felt like I kept getting into the bottom-out ramp despite the fact that my riding can currently be described as 'milquetoast'. Added 20psi. Better, sitting higher, but spikey on square edges now. Tried to reduce the bottom out resistance by 'dialing it down' via the blue knob on the reservoir. Nope--just came off in my hand. Can drop the PSI in the Boost Valve (and I did--to about 100) but the dial is ornamental on my damper. Feels much better at 100psi. Except that there's a sticker *right there* telling you to keep it above 125. Meh?

If I only get one word to describe it: Brickshithouse.



More later.

MC

[lazymuf]

Woottttt....hot hot stuff....Gimme a prime anytime man......

[Enel]

If I only get one word to describe it: Brickshithouse.

MC

How brickshithousey weight wise? Or is it one of those if you have to ask, you don't get the purpose of the bike sort of things?

[mikesee]

How brickshithousey weight wise? Or is it one of those if you have to ask, you don't get the purpose of the bike sort of things?

When I pull a ~9# frame/shock out of a box, my mind does not immediately leap to lycra and number plates. But I do breathe heavy.

That said, it's waaaaaaaay too early (for me) to know how much the weight will determine the 'purpose'.

I've got a 150mm coil fork and coil shock on standby. Lighter wheels/lighter tires also. As always, will swap and fiddle to try to uncover as much of the potential as I can.

[DFYFZX]

Looks like 34lbs to me

[Enel]

When I pull a ~9# frame/shock out of a box, my mind does not immediately leap to lycra and number plates. But I do breathe heavy.

That said, it's waaaaaaaay too early (for me) to know how much the weight will determine the 'purpose'.

I've got a 150mm coil fork and coil shock on standby. Lighter wheels/lighter tires also. As always, will swap and fiddle to try to uncover as much of the potential as I can.

It looks like you are starting with the high and steep setting on the drop outs. Coupled with a longer fork, that might get you just where you like it

[FM]

When I pull a ~9# frame/shock out of a box, my mind does not immediately leap to lycra and number plates.

Couple of thoughts.
Measured the tubes with a caliper, the downtube on the prime is significantly larger than the one on my Rune. She's stiff & beefy

8.5lbs seems to be the weight range for the medium long travel 29'ers that are on the market (i.e. intense T29, shinobi?) and that's generally with an Rp23. The DHX-air is .5lbs heavier than an rp23. My build came in around 33lbs with a coil shock, big tires, steel chainguide and dropper post... not too bad. These are prototypes for testing, I'm sure places can be found to shave weight, if it's a priority. Otoh.. slack and beefy...maybe lycra and number plates weren't the intent!

[mikesee]

Combine the weight, the fact that it comes with a piggyback and a Maxle, has cable guides for a dropper *and* a hammer, plus the 1.5" HT, and few will leap to the conclusion that it's anything other than a trail bike.

But what *kind* of trail bike? From what I've seen, the guys at Banshee are ripping riders whom live in close proximity to some A+ tech trails. But tech trails come in lots of shapes and sizes--so the question remains.

Big tires can be 800 to 1400g, wide rims can be 500 to 800g, and component spec can easily mean a difference of a few pounds. Add that all up and you could have a ~32# poppy, floaty, manually, and carvy machine. On the other end you might get a 38# plow bike.

I've got most of what's needed here to hit both ends of that spectrum. And I've got similar bikes in the quiver already--at each end of that spectrum. So there's zero pressure on the Prime to become anything other than what it is. Whatever that turns out to be.

Looking forward to the process of finding out.

MC

[eurospek]

Any full bike shots?

[MartinS]

Most of the tubeset on the Prime's seem to come from the Legend DH frame, the seatstays, chainstays and TT are identical to my DHer, these proto's will take anything that can be thrown at them (my XL build is probably 35lbs). As for Maxle clearance I had no interferance with my XT shadow derailleur.
Jealous that you can ride yours, I'm buried in snow that is currently being rained on making it good and slick.

[mikesee]

Most of the tubeset on the Prime's seem to come from the Legend DH frame, the seatstays, chainstays and TT are identical to my DHer, these proto's will take anything that can be thrown at them (my XL build is probably 35lbs). As for Maxle clearance I had no interferance with my XT shadow derailleur.
Jealous that you can ride yours, I'm buried in snow that is currently being rained on making it good and slick.

Maxle doesn't interfere with the der *or* the housing on yours?

It's mostly the housing on mine, but where you have one you usually have the other...

[mikesee]

Any full bike shots?

Oh yeah--lots of 'em and it is one sexy mofo...

[MartinS]

Maxle doesn't interfere with the der *or* the housing on yours?

It's mostly the housing on mine, but where you have one you usually have the other...

It is relatively clear of both, the lever just brushes the housing on the last couple of turns or so when snugging things up, but I barely noticed because the housing just move out of the way and it is near the end of the lever.

[jncarpenter]

It is relatively clear of both, the lever just brushes the housing on the last couple of turns or so when snugging things up, but I barely noticed because the housing just move out of the way and it is near the end of the lever.

I assume you do know that your lever in that picture is in the "full open" position? I would not ride it like that (for the kids at home)

[MartinS]

I assume you do know that your lever in that picture is in the "full open" position? I would not ride it like that (for the kids at home)

Yup, I intentionally did that to show where the lever would hit the housing when installing or removing the wheel.

[eMcK]

You got a Manitou Tower 140 on there?

(I'm sure if you wanted to talk about it you would have posted a pic with the whole fork).

Going to be an interesting year for 120mm+ travel 29ers.

[Brougham]

Yup, I intentionally did that to show where the lever would hit the housing when installing or removing the wheel.

So the dropout is threaded L side?

[Calhoun]

So the dropout is threaded L side?

my thoughts exactly.

on the Scythe the threads are on the drive side.

[mikesee]

Permission was granted to let fly with whole bike pics--sounds like the fork might be getting close to production.


Dunno what they're calling it (Tower? Minute? Mower?!), but it's air sprung, tapered, 140mm travel, and with a simple, slick, tool-free 15mm TA.



Looking forward to a few days of red rock chunk on it this weekend.

MC

[bog]

my thoughts exactly.

on the Scythe the threads are on the drive side.

It is strange that the Maxle is on the non-usual side. It does provide some protection to the derailleur and d-hanger though.

[eurospek]

Permission was granted to let fly with whole bike pics--sounds like the fork might be getting close to production.


Dunno what they're calling it (Tower? Minute? Mower?!), but it's air sprung, tapered, 140mm travel, and with a simple, slick, tool-free 15mm TA.



Looking forward to a few days of red rock chunk on it this weekend.

MC

Very nice!!!!

[LyNx]

Nice shots as usual Mike. Not sure why all the hush, hush on the fork, pics were taken and shown way back last year when the proto was first brought to the US for Sea Otter, with the 140mm Tower fork, only difference was it didn't have the 15mm TA that we all knew they were going to be doing. Have they done anything with the stanchions? Guess you can't answer that yet. But from their comments seemed they weren't going up in size there.

[mikesee]

Not sure why all the hush, hush on the fork, pics were taken and shown way back last year

Not the same chassis, nor damper, nor axle, nor crown, nor steerer. In other words, totally new from the ground up.

Keep up these shenanigans and you'll lose your resident-know-it-all status...

[builttoride]

Yeah, that 'proto' tower 140 we had at Sea Otter was really just an aesthetic proto, they told us that it was not a true indication of the real deal as they were still working on a bunch of things... From what I have heard the production Tower 140 (or whatever they are going to call it) will be a good fork... although personally I wish they had stuck with 20mm axle and not jumped on the 15mm band wagon, I guess they have to choose what they feel will sell best. I personally see no reason to reduce the stiffness without any real weight saving benefit (haha I am not a fan of 15mm axles if you hadn't guessed, I personally believe that they are just a marketing tool to sell new wheels and forks, feel free to try and sell it to me if you wish). That said, the Hex lock style axle that Manitou uses is definitely the stiffest axle design out there.

[LyNx]

Well that's good to hear Mike, but as Keith said, we knew it wouldn't be like what they had, but we knew it would be coming. Glad you know it all

Not the same chassis, nor damper, nor axle, nor crown, nor steerer. In other words, totally new from the ground up.

Keep up these shenanigans and you'll lose your resident-know-it-all status...