Banshee Enigma Review (2022)
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Cons:
- Very playful
- Compliant
- Fun to ride
- Able to be run as a mullet with a 120-130mm fork
- Excellent looks
- Geo is DIALED for how I like to ride
Cons:
- Not available as a complete bike, frame only
- 5.5lbs is a tad heavy for aluminum
- Cable routing near bottle bolts is a little pinched with a bottle cage
- Seat tube is longer than it needs to be
Who it's for:
- Riders looking to maximize fun over max speed or stability
- Riders who love short chainstays and manuals, bunnyhops, wheelies, and goofing around
- People willing to build up a frame or pay a shop to build it up
- Lighter riders who don't want to get beat up by a stiff frame
- Shorter riders who want a smaller feeling bike
Who it's NOT for
- xc racers
- Super tall riders who want a longer chainstay
- People wanting a complete bike
My full thoughts on the 2022 Banshee Enigma
If you remember from my first look video, this banshee enigma is a prototype. Banshee sent this to me early so I could get some time on it so I could tell you what it's about when orders go live, which is right now. This is pretty much a 27.5 version of the banshee paradox with a couple little refinements and a little tweaks to make it more 27.5 friendly. I have more time and experience on the paradox than just about any other hardtail this bike however does have a different attitude and characteristic than the paradox.
This bike is the less-mature, more sarcastic, rowdier party animal younger brother of the paradox. He didn't get straight A's in school but he had a lot of fun and had a lot of friends.
When riding the bike, I often forget it's a 27.5 . It charges like a good little trail bike. It's got the same excellent riding position as the banshee paradox has a tall stack, steep seat angl which puts you in a wonderful climbing position. If you like being over the back, hanging all your weight over the rear axle when you're climbing, this is not the bike for you. I hate that feel, but some people really like the feel of a slacker seat angle.
This has very modern geometry doesn't make it hard to ride it just makes it come alive when you're riding technical stuff or when you really have a hard obstacle to clean having all the right angles really helps that
okay this bike is like a dirt jumper with a fork and a dropper manuals are so easy this thing is so special wow this bike is really balanced some 27.5 bikes you just feel slow on them and you just wish for the 29er version i'm not wishing for that right now yeah this bike's special it's what hardtail party's all about not the absolute fastest sprinter but man it is no slouch it's comfortable it's easy to play around on it encourages playing on the trail may not be the absolute fastest up or down but it's close and it can hang but the party factor is off the charts on this thing i love banshee's tall stack on their bikes it's wonderful it means you can have a long reach and the stability of a longer wheelbase without feeling hunched over with all your weight on the front wheel that tall stack brings the bars up so you're in a more upright position instead of a hunched over forward position just like the banshee paradox this bike has some frame compliance built in they've really thought about not making it overly harsh and i appreciate that and it does make a difference it's still a hard deal though you're not going to confuse it for a full suspension bike but man it takes the sharp edge off those hits oh time to play
this thing you just think manual and you're in a manual oh this thing's fun
this thing's awesome on a pump track i think the ideal place where it's a flow trail like bentonville this would be my number one pick this and the rsd middle child that short chainstay just wants to play if you've got the skills to manual wheelie bunny hop jump man this bike will reward you and you will be smiling the whole time it sprints well i actually really like aluminum for a frame material if it's done right and banshee does it right those little spots they've machined out of the back i mean it's just not transferring every micro vibration to your body aluminum is lighter than steel it's cheaper than steel doesn't corrode i mean technically yes it oxidizes but you don't have to worry about it eating away your frame this thing's fun on flow it rewards an active rider this would be really friendly for a newer rider too i feel like 27.5 is a little bit easier to ride in general the bikes you don't have to manhandle them quite so much man this thing's light and zippy i did not expect it to sprint so well
oh what a fun bike kind of windy
oh it jumped so well i was trying to decide which trail to take this bike on in sedona for the review and quite frankly i could take it on any trail here it'd be fun on our black diamonds be fun on our double black diamonds it'd be fun on our blue trails we don't really have green trails
oh this thing is fun though one of the funnest bikes i've ever ridden
you know a lot of people have purchased paradoxes and then put 27.5 plus wheels on them and it's okay like that but it's not great the chain stays a little long it makes the bottom bracket super low so your pedal striking everywhere and i just felt like it didn't quite suit that frame even though i love plus tires on most hardtails that frame is really best as a 29er this frame on the other hand really comes alive it feels like a mix of a few of my favorite frames oh this is so good
it just turns your trail into a playground
man it's quick it's kind of got a lightning fast xc feel to it my goodness it still doesn't quite hold momentum like a 29er but it's not far behind some of these 27.5 bikes just feel lethargic and slow to pick up speed man
this thing is a rocket up and down it just feels so light
what a fun bike man so yeah this thing feels like a combination of a few of my favorite bikes feels like a banshee paradox meets the rsd middle child
it's got the lightweight zippy acceleration of the paradox but the playfulness of the middle child what a truly fantastic modern hardtail yeah this thing is what hard teal party's all about just having fun it's amazing on tech climbs incredible on flow a lot of people on my bike consultation service that's the service i offer for people who need help picking the right bike for their riding style and budget and local terrain a lot of people have machine built flowy jump trails in them man this is going to be one of my top recommendations for that so much fun and you know would be cool you could actually run this as a mullet and you could actually run almost any 27.5 bike as a mullet provided you swap out the fork
if you love popping off every route and rock this is your bike holy cow so this bike's very special as you can tell i love this bike and i think banshee's going to sell a ton of them just like they did the paradox it has so many good carryovers from the paradox but with a more playful flavor to it and i know a lot of people don't like the word playful in reviews let me describe what playful means to me it means when you see a root in the trail you accelerate toward it and boost off it to see how far you can jump this bike wants you to do that and it responds to that extremely well it sees a little goalie or a dip and it wants you to manual through it this thing feels like a dirt jumper with a big old fork people that are coming from a bmx background or a dirt jump background or even a motocross background that just want a bike that's super fun this is such a good choice for you i think it'd be the perfect bentonville bike absolutely perfect bentonville bike i think it'd be fantastic on blue flow trails with lots of jumps this bike jumps so easily it just has kind of a skatepark vibe to it and if that's how you approach riding like the whole world is your skate park to just goof around on and not necessarily get the fastest time down the trail i think this would be an excellent choice for you i think this would be an excellent choice for newer riders who have the budget to get a great hard tail and are going to grow into it and not just buy a 1500 hardtail to see if they like it and then throw that away and get something else a little bit later this bike is so easy to ride and easy to control it's really good for smaller riders too that short tucked in chain stay makes it really easy for smaller riders to hop up things and place the bike where you want it because it it doesn't just feel like a barge with a really long chainstay where it just feels stable and connected to the ground all the time this bike is not the world's most stable straight liner it's not twitchy but that short rear end means it can change direction really well and for speeds under 20 miles an hour that makes it super fun the geo's absolutely dialed on this thing i wouldn't change a thing about the geometry for what it's meant for so a lot of people don't know how to make a 27.5 bike a mullet or a 29 or a mullet here's the thing you need to know this is a 27.5 fork it's 150 millimeters of travel here it's the same height from here to here as a 130 mil 29er now then you need to take into account that a 29er tire is three quarters of an inch taller so probably a 120 maybe 125 mil fork on here would give it the exact same geometry that it's right now with a 29er front wheel now mullets are fun i don't know that they're like the end-all be-all i don't feel like i need to make this a mullet i feel like as a 27.5 it actually suits it really well i don't feel the fork diving a whole lot um if you like hucking off stuff and like harder landings with all your weight on the bike you might prefer a little bit more fork like this over a mullet i think if i were to race enduro i'd get the paradox but if i wanted to take a bike to the bike park and just play the whole time and it had to be a hard tail i'd get one of these and throw a 29 or fork 120 mil like a beefy 120 mil like a pike or a helm or a fox 36 maybe even a fox 34 and run a 29 up front with a nice wide tire i don't like a wider tire in the back than the front that does weird things that makes the front end slide before the back end and i want to have some oversteer not under steer i want the back end to slide before the front so i prefer more grip in the front than the back this bike has a fun element to it that very very few other bikes have it just makes you want to smile and party and play everywhere and that's why we named the channel hardtail party to encourage people to have fun on the trail none of us are going to be olympic athletes most of us are never going to win our local cross country race or enduro race and maybe you are but what i love about mountain biking is playing around with friends getting out in nature taking myself a little bit less seriously and not counting grams and watts and kom times and just getting out there turning all those electronics off and just having fun on the trail and this bike is your ticket to fun most 27.5 bikes are slower than 29ers this one is faster than some 29ers i felt like this bike was zippier and peppier and more playful and better than the trek rosco 9 in every way now that doesn't mean it's perfect for every trail i don't think this bike is really going to make green trails come alive i'm going to say blue and black range is really it's it's happy spot yes you could do double black on it no problem the 29er wheels i feel give you a little bit more stability and actually a little bit longer chainstay gives you a little bit more stability and really really demanding stuff so for double blacks i actually prefer the paradox this will do it no problem but i give the paradox like a 10 edge in that stuff but for blue flow trails with jumps and berms and just you know 15 to 20 mile an hour speeds just just kind of flowing everywhere and having fun man this is one of my favorite bikes for that terrain one of my favorite bikes for learning to bunny hop manual jump around play around even minor trial stuff if you want to learn how to get up really technical climbs that involve hops in it man i think it'd be a great choice for that so who's this bike not for not for cross-country people not for people who don't need a dropper if you feel like you don't need a dropper in your life this bike's not really for you because this bike wants to get the dropper out of the way and pretend it's a bmx bike i don't think this would be my first choice for someone who wants stable outright maximum speed the paradox and a couple other bikes are better for that i think super tall riders like people over six one six two i think you're probably gonna prefer the paradox because this has that short rear end and it wants to like wheely and and play around and when you're a tall person on a short chainstay bike usually most of my tall patrons that i consult with prefer longer chainstays for a little bit more planted feel and a little bit more balance between the front and the back of the bike that said some of my six foot six patrons that consult with me have a trek stash and they run that slammed all the way forward and they love a short chainstay so i try not to paint with too broad of a brush but i do think taller riders are going to gravitate more toward the paradox that's what i would recommend it's just ever so slightly longer in the rear end and it just feels a little bit more glued to the ground and less likely to lift the front on you know with small body english just like the paradox these are available as frame only so this is not for people who are hoping to just get a complete bike that they pay a certain amount it shows up done you're going to have to source parts and find someone to build it or learn to build it yourself and on that note if you need help knowing how best to spend your money you know maybe you've decided this is the bike you want i offer a service over on patreon where i consult with people and help them know how to maximize their dollar you know if you've got you're gonna buy this frame and you've got two thousand dollars to spend on it and you don't know if you should pour that all into a super high-end fork and get a super low-end drivetrain or spend it all on a wireless 1 000 drivetrain and get the budget fork i work with people and help them maximize their budget so a lot of people will consult with me give me their budget and say hey here's what i'm looking for what wheel should i get what fork should i get what crank should i get what matters you know does it matter to get the very best brakes should i get a medium tier brake or a low end brake and i love helping people navigate this crazy world of standards and components and know what would work well for them in their situation so if that's something you're interested in become a patron i've got a link to in the description below or if you want to pick my brain on all the hard deals i've ridden i've ridden more modern hardtails than anyone on the planet and you can watch the free reviews of them here on this channel but if you really want to pick my brain about how bike a compares to bike b and which one would be a better fit for you i do that all through patreon that's my main business that's how i put food on my table i'm so grateful for the amazing patrons out there you guys are awesome and you make this channel possible so let's wrap it up pros and cons cons just like the paradox we i wish they'd had a little standoff for the water bottle mount so it wasn't the same height as the cables that's easily fixed you can go get a spacer at your hardware store or even run some of the nuts from your valve stem even just putting them on there spaces it up just enough so that your bottle cage can get out of the way i wouldn't mind losing this i know a lot of people love the look of that and it strengthens it i could probably run a shorter dropper i don't feel like 150 is a problem for me because of the small wheels it just fits well but man a 175 would be really cool the looks of this frame are fantastic i don't mind a little bit of internal routing for a shifter because i'm not changing those often and i'm glad the brake housing is fully external and everything is external except the dropper of course like all bikes and this little spot in the chainstay that's pretty tidy it actually keeps the cable from getting frayed and getting chewed up i really like how they machine these out that gives it just enough flex to not transmit the harshest vibrations to your body and these seem to flex more the harder you ride if you're just kind of a mellow rider just kind of bumbling down the trail you're not going to feel that flex it's when you're kind of attacking the trail that that makes the most sense you won't notice flex it doesn't feel like a flat tire it doesn't feel like suspension you just are less beat up on a trail where on another hard tail you'd be more beat up some people read too much into it and some people don't read enough into it it's never going to make this smooth like a full suspension no hardtail will ever be smooth like a full suspension but it's a world of a difference from something like that common saw meta or most aluminum hardtails that most people have ridden this is just a little bit more supple than the ragley big al and the ragley mbop so it's not like earth shattering and i feel like it's more supple than a lot of steel bikes however like a hand-built steel bike that hasn't gone through iso testing is going to be noticeably more compliant than even this those bikes are special because they don't have to be overbuilt that iso testing we'll talk about that more in another episode but iso testing that's where they destroy the frames and make sure they can handle certain loads that iso testing is way overkill and it's good for a company to not get sued for building unsafe bikes and hurting people but it's so overkill that it hurts a lot of the rise on a lot of the bikes and so when you can go with something unique like this with machined out parts so that it still has some flex put back into it or when you can go with a custom one-off hand-built frame by one of these small builders that i feature the ride quality is night and day even from something supple like this it's just so magical on those hand-built frames so there you have it banshee's knocked it out of the park with yet another amazing hardtail if i had to get this over the paradox which would i get it depends if i'm a charger and i care about speeds and i want to go fast even if i wanted to build it up like an xc bike i'd pick the paradox if i were racing enduro and i cared about going fast i'd get the paradox if playfulness is more important to me then fast i'd get one of these this thing just has you know 15 percent more playfulness than the paradox and the paradox has 10 percent more seriousness for charging hard and going fast and being stable it's such an exciting time to be a mountain biker right now and we have so many great options there are some bad options out there too don't get me wrong but being able to pick between this and the paradox just means you get to pick which flavor of greatness you want you want something fast or do you want something pretty fast and playful and it's not to say the paradox isn't playful but this is on an entirely different level and bravo to banshee thanks you guys for getting this to me early and thank you for picking my brain on this a year and a half ago when we were starting to talk about this model and running geo by me and you know thinking about it with me i think we've really got a home run here i'm not affiliated with banshee i just really like those guys and i love their stuff and i appreciate them sending bikes in to review on this channel thanks for watching everybody if you need custom advice links in the description below if you enjoyed this and you learned something and you want to be notified every time i drop a video hit that subscribe button and if you learned something hit the like button that helps a lot of other people find this stuff thanks for watching everybody there's a party in the mountains and you're invited
This bike is the less-mature, more sarcastic, rowdier party animal younger brother of the paradox. He didn't get straight A's in school but he had a lot of fun and had a lot of friends.
When riding the bike, I often forget it's a 27.5 . It charges like a good little trail bike. It's got the same excellent riding position as the banshee paradox has a tall stack, steep seat angl which puts you in a wonderful climbing position. If you like being over the back, hanging all your weight over the rear axle when you're climbing, this is not the bike for you. I hate that feel, but some people really like the feel of a slacker seat angle.
This has very modern geometry doesn't make it hard to ride it just makes it come alive when you're riding technical stuff or when you really have a hard obstacle to clean having all the right angles really helps that
okay this bike is like a dirt jumper with a fork and a dropper manuals are so easy this thing is so special wow this bike is really balanced some 27.5 bikes you just feel slow on them and you just wish for the 29er version i'm not wishing for that right now yeah this bike's special it's what hardtail party's all about not the absolute fastest sprinter but man it is no slouch it's comfortable it's easy to play around on it encourages playing on the trail may not be the absolute fastest up or down but it's close and it can hang but the party factor is off the charts on this thing i love banshee's tall stack on their bikes it's wonderful it means you can have a long reach and the stability of a longer wheelbase without feeling hunched over with all your weight on the front wheel that tall stack brings the bars up so you're in a more upright position instead of a hunched over forward position just like the banshee paradox this bike has some frame compliance built in they've really thought about not making it overly harsh and i appreciate that and it does make a difference it's still a hard deal though you're not going to confuse it for a full suspension bike but man it takes the sharp edge off those hits oh time to play
this thing you just think manual and you're in a manual oh this thing's fun
this thing's awesome on a pump track i think the ideal place where it's a flow trail like bentonville this would be my number one pick this and the rsd middle child that short chainstay just wants to play if you've got the skills to manual wheelie bunny hop jump man this bike will reward you and you will be smiling the whole time it sprints well i actually really like aluminum for a frame material if it's done right and banshee does it right those little spots they've machined out of the back i mean it's just not transferring every micro vibration to your body aluminum is lighter than steel it's cheaper than steel doesn't corrode i mean technically yes it oxidizes but you don't have to worry about it eating away your frame this thing's fun on flow it rewards an active rider this would be really friendly for a newer rider too i feel like 27.5 is a little bit easier to ride in general the bikes you don't have to manhandle them quite so much man this thing's light and zippy i did not expect it to sprint so well
oh what a fun bike kind of windy
oh it jumped so well i was trying to decide which trail to take this bike on in sedona for the review and quite frankly i could take it on any trail here it'd be fun on our black diamonds be fun on our double black diamonds it'd be fun on our blue trails we don't really have green trails
oh this thing is fun though one of the funnest bikes i've ever ridden
you know a lot of people have purchased paradoxes and then put 27.5 plus wheels on them and it's okay like that but it's not great the chain stays a little long it makes the bottom bracket super low so your pedal striking everywhere and i just felt like it didn't quite suit that frame even though i love plus tires on most hardtails that frame is really best as a 29er this frame on the other hand really comes alive it feels like a mix of a few of my favorite frames oh this is so good
it just turns your trail into a playground
man it's quick it's kind of got a lightning fast xc feel to it my goodness it still doesn't quite hold momentum like a 29er but it's not far behind some of these 27.5 bikes just feel lethargic and slow to pick up speed man
this thing is a rocket up and down it just feels so light
what a fun bike man so yeah this thing feels like a combination of a few of my favorite bikes feels like a banshee paradox meets the rsd middle child
it's got the lightweight zippy acceleration of the paradox but the playfulness of the middle child what a truly fantastic modern hardtail yeah this thing is what hard teal party's all about just having fun it's amazing on tech climbs incredible on flow a lot of people on my bike consultation service that's the service i offer for people who need help picking the right bike for their riding style and budget and local terrain a lot of people have machine built flowy jump trails in them man this is going to be one of my top recommendations for that so much fun and you know would be cool you could actually run this as a mullet and you could actually run almost any 27.5 bike as a mullet provided you swap out the fork
if you love popping off every route and rock this is your bike holy cow so this bike's very special as you can tell i love this bike and i think banshee's going to sell a ton of them just like they did the paradox it has so many good carryovers from the paradox but with a more playful flavor to it and i know a lot of people don't like the word playful in reviews let me describe what playful means to me it means when you see a root in the trail you accelerate toward it and boost off it to see how far you can jump this bike wants you to do that and it responds to that extremely well it sees a little goalie or a dip and it wants you to manual through it this thing feels like a dirt jumper with a big old fork people that are coming from a bmx background or a dirt jump background or even a motocross background that just want a bike that's super fun this is such a good choice for you i think it'd be the perfect bentonville bike absolutely perfect bentonville bike i think it'd be fantastic on blue flow trails with lots of jumps this bike jumps so easily it just has kind of a skatepark vibe to it and if that's how you approach riding like the whole world is your skate park to just goof around on and not necessarily get the fastest time down the trail i think this would be an excellent choice for you i think this would be an excellent choice for newer riders who have the budget to get a great hard tail and are going to grow into it and not just buy a 1500 hardtail to see if they like it and then throw that away and get something else a little bit later this bike is so easy to ride and easy to control it's really good for smaller riders too that short tucked in chain stay makes it really easy for smaller riders to hop up things and place the bike where you want it because it it doesn't just feel like a barge with a really long chainstay where it just feels stable and connected to the ground all the time this bike is not the world's most stable straight liner it's not twitchy but that short rear end means it can change direction really well and for speeds under 20 miles an hour that makes it super fun the geo's absolutely dialed on this thing i wouldn't change a thing about the geometry for what it's meant for so a lot of people don't know how to make a 27.5 bike a mullet or a 29 or a mullet here's the thing you need to know this is a 27.5 fork it's 150 millimeters of travel here it's the same height from here to here as a 130 mil 29er now then you need to take into account that a 29er tire is three quarters of an inch taller so probably a 120 maybe 125 mil fork on here would give it the exact same geometry that it's right now with a 29er front wheel now mullets are fun i don't know that they're like the end-all be-all i don't feel like i need to make this a mullet i feel like as a 27.5 it actually suits it really well i don't feel the fork diving a whole lot um if you like hucking off stuff and like harder landings with all your weight on the bike you might prefer a little bit more fork like this over a mullet i think if i were to race enduro i'd get the paradox but if i wanted to take a bike to the bike park and just play the whole time and it had to be a hard tail i'd get one of these and throw a 29 or fork 120 mil like a beefy 120 mil like a pike or a helm or a fox 36 maybe even a fox 34 and run a 29 up front with a nice wide tire i don't like a wider tire in the back than the front that does weird things that makes the front end slide before the back end and i want to have some oversteer not under steer i want the back end to slide before the front so i prefer more grip in the front than the back this bike has a fun element to it that very very few other bikes have it just makes you want to smile and party and play everywhere and that's why we named the channel hardtail party to encourage people to have fun on the trail none of us are going to be olympic athletes most of us are never going to win our local cross country race or enduro race and maybe you are but what i love about mountain biking is playing around with friends getting out in nature taking myself a little bit less seriously and not counting grams and watts and kom times and just getting out there turning all those electronics off and just having fun on the trail and this bike is your ticket to fun most 27.5 bikes are slower than 29ers this one is faster than some 29ers i felt like this bike was zippier and peppier and more playful and better than the trek rosco 9 in every way now that doesn't mean it's perfect for every trail i don't think this bike is really going to make green trails come alive i'm going to say blue and black range is really it's it's happy spot yes you could do double black on it no problem the 29er wheels i feel give you a little bit more stability and actually a little bit longer chainstay gives you a little bit more stability and really really demanding stuff so for double blacks i actually prefer the paradox this will do it no problem but i give the paradox like a 10 edge in that stuff but for blue flow trails with jumps and berms and just you know 15 to 20 mile an hour speeds just just kind of flowing everywhere and having fun man this is one of my favorite bikes for that terrain one of my favorite bikes for learning to bunny hop manual jump around play around even minor trial stuff if you want to learn how to get up really technical climbs that involve hops in it man i think it'd be a great choice for that so who's this bike not for not for cross-country people not for people who don't need a dropper if you feel like you don't need a dropper in your life this bike's not really for you because this bike wants to get the dropper out of the way and pretend it's a bmx bike i don't think this would be my first choice for someone who wants stable outright maximum speed the paradox and a couple other bikes are better for that i think super tall riders like people over six one six two i think you're probably gonna prefer the paradox because this has that short rear end and it wants to like wheely and and play around and when you're a tall person on a short chainstay bike usually most of my tall patrons that i consult with prefer longer chainstays for a little bit more planted feel and a little bit more balance between the front and the back of the bike that said some of my six foot six patrons that consult with me have a trek stash and they run that slammed all the way forward and they love a short chainstay so i try not to paint with too broad of a brush but i do think taller riders are going to gravitate more toward the paradox that's what i would recommend it's just ever so slightly longer in the rear end and it just feels a little bit more glued to the ground and less likely to lift the front on you know with small body english just like the paradox these are available as frame only so this is not for people who are hoping to just get a complete bike that they pay a certain amount it shows up done you're going to have to source parts and find someone to build it or learn to build it yourself and on that note if you need help knowing how best to spend your money you know maybe you've decided this is the bike you want i offer a service over on patreon where i consult with people and help them know how to maximize their dollar you know if you've got you're gonna buy this frame and you've got two thousand dollars to spend on it and you don't know if you should pour that all into a super high-end fork and get a super low-end drivetrain or spend it all on a wireless 1 000 drivetrain and get the budget fork i work with people and help them maximize their budget so a lot of people will consult with me give me their budget and say hey here's what i'm looking for what wheel should i get what fork should i get what crank should i get what matters you know does it matter to get the very best brakes should i get a medium tier brake or a low end brake and i love helping people navigate this crazy world of standards and components and know what would work well for them in their situation so if that's something you're interested in become a patron i've got a link to in the description below or if you want to pick my brain on all the hard deals i've ridden i've ridden more modern hardtails than anyone on the planet and you can watch the free reviews of them here on this channel but if you really want to pick my brain about how bike a compares to bike b and which one would be a better fit for you i do that all through patreon that's my main business that's how i put food on my table i'm so grateful for the amazing patrons out there you guys are awesome and you make this channel possible so let's wrap it up pros and cons cons just like the paradox we i wish they'd had a little standoff for the water bottle mount so it wasn't the same height as the cables that's easily fixed you can go get a spacer at your hardware store or even run some of the nuts from your valve stem even just putting them on there spaces it up just enough so that your bottle cage can get out of the way i wouldn't mind losing this i know a lot of people love the look of that and it strengthens it i could probably run a shorter dropper i don't feel like 150 is a problem for me because of the small wheels it just fits well but man a 175 would be really cool the looks of this frame are fantastic i don't mind a little bit of internal routing for a shifter because i'm not changing those often and i'm glad the brake housing is fully external and everything is external except the dropper of course like all bikes and this little spot in the chainstay that's pretty tidy it actually keeps the cable from getting frayed and getting chewed up i really like how they machine these out that gives it just enough flex to not transmit the harshest vibrations to your body and these seem to flex more the harder you ride if you're just kind of a mellow rider just kind of bumbling down the trail you're not going to feel that flex it's when you're kind of attacking the trail that that makes the most sense you won't notice flex it doesn't feel like a flat tire it doesn't feel like suspension you just are less beat up on a trail where on another hard tail you'd be more beat up some people read too much into it and some people don't read enough into it it's never going to make this smooth like a full suspension no hardtail will ever be smooth like a full suspension but it's a world of a difference from something like that common saw meta or most aluminum hardtails that most people have ridden this is just a little bit more supple than the ragley big al and the ragley mbop so it's not like earth shattering and i feel like it's more supple than a lot of steel bikes however like a hand-built steel bike that hasn't gone through iso testing is going to be noticeably more compliant than even this those bikes are special because they don't have to be overbuilt that iso testing we'll talk about that more in another episode but iso testing that's where they destroy the frames and make sure they can handle certain loads that iso testing is way overkill and it's good for a company to not get sued for building unsafe bikes and hurting people but it's so overkill that it hurts a lot of the rise on a lot of the bikes and so when you can go with something unique like this with machined out parts so that it still has some flex put back into it or when you can go with a custom one-off hand-built frame by one of these small builders that i feature the ride quality is night and day even from something supple like this it's just so magical on those hand-built frames so there you have it banshee's knocked it out of the park with yet another amazing hardtail if i had to get this over the paradox which would i get it depends if i'm a charger and i care about speeds and i want to go fast even if i wanted to build it up like an xc bike i'd pick the paradox if i were racing enduro and i cared about going fast i'd get the paradox if playfulness is more important to me then fast i'd get one of these this thing just has you know 15 percent more playfulness than the paradox and the paradox has 10 percent more seriousness for charging hard and going fast and being stable it's such an exciting time to be a mountain biker right now and we have so many great options there are some bad options out there too don't get me wrong but being able to pick between this and the paradox just means you get to pick which flavor of greatness you want you want something fast or do you want something pretty fast and playful and it's not to say the paradox isn't playful but this is on an entirely different level and bravo to banshee thanks you guys for getting this to me early and thank you for picking my brain on this a year and a half ago when we were starting to talk about this model and running geo by me and you know thinking about it with me i think we've really got a home run here i'm not affiliated with banshee i just really like those guys and i love their stuff and i appreciate them sending bikes in to review on this channel thanks for watching everybody if you need custom advice links in the description below if you enjoyed this and you learned something and you want to be notified every time i drop a video hit that subscribe button and if you learned something hit the like button that helps a lot of other people find this stuff thanks for watching everybody there's a party in the mountains and you're invited