Banshee Paradox v3 Review - Hardtail Party

Everyone, today I'm

review

ing my Banshee Paradox v3. I know a lot of you are excited about this and have been waiting and waiting and waiting, but I wanted to put it to the test and really ride it and get to know it really well. This bike is awesome but it won't be for everyone, it's interesting, it's a tough aluminum bike and a lot of people will ride it for that reason and a friend today just said "Oh it looks like a nice bike but I wish it was steel" . he needs to watch my video and anyone who thinks that way still needs to watch my video it's really real steel where I talk a little bit about this and what Banshee has tried to do with this frame is make an aluminum frame that feels like a aluminum frame. steel.

And in some ways they did, but in some ways they did something almost better. I'm going to try to explain what this frame feels like because what we really want to know is does it ride like a steel frame and so what they've done is, "We've designed component areas here, like this Staybridge seat, so that are totally hollow and may have some give here and here back and the question is, does that make a difference? Definitely, this bike moves flexibly, that's not the right word, it doesn't move flexibly, it feels muted, it. It feels dead, it feels like you're running with a padded core, it feels like the vibrations never reach you, they hit the bike and then dissipate in these areas, so it doesn't feel like a Thai frame where it's a. little stretch and you can feel it flex and move, it doesn't feel like a steel frame, we're just comfortable everywhere, it feels muted, so on small things, small and medium bumps and most things. at less than 20 miles per hour that's not just square edged rocks, over and over again, it really takes the pain away and feels very similar to a steel bike, but the material doesn't feel like steel and it's not. better or worse than steel, it's just a different feel, it just silences that vibration in the rear, now the front triangle is quite stiff and I found it a little too stiff, that's what surprised me the most, I thought not.

I care how stiff the front is because I have a fork to handle that, but I had to keep letting the pressure out of the front a little bit to get it to react well because I could feel more stiffness in the front and it was a little bit jarring, which which was a surprise, so all this manufacturing stuff really works and can you make an aluminum frame flexible? I'm going to say yes, flexible is the wrong word, but you can make an aluminum frame not hard enough, it handles soft, it's the hands. The best aluminum bike I have ever ridden.

I would take this on over 99% of the chrome-moly frames I've ridden. I felt like it handled the bumps extremely well to the point where you speed through it and forget you're in it. a hard tail and you're going into a very steep, very rocky, very boxy tail, it hits very fast, this can only flex so much and then it feels like a normal aluminum hard tail and it just hits you and you're bouncing, it's a kind of like when you're on tires and you have great grip, great grip and then you say no and it's very noticeable, it's kind of like when you hit this, you hit the really big things and you're like, wow!

They're pushing you and it's like holding on to a wild horse for dear life and then you realize I've been pushing it so hard it was going so fast I forgot I was in a hard tail for a second and yes it has limits but every tail hard has limits this one is just nice, nice, nice, nice, bad, all of a sudden when it gets to that point and I need to paraphrase this, it's still a hard tail, it still drives like a hard tail, you can't go wrong. It's for a full suspension bike, but if you like it that much, if you're addicted to it, it will feel like you're cornering, popping manuals in the middle of nowhere, racing over things.

It has that, but it also has this quality that it's aluminum. It is very rare to find that these blows are not transferred to the rear triangle. What's not to love about this bike? As you know, when I built it I had some problems with the paint when I removed the sticker. head badge, some of this paint came with it and if you look closely I haven't given it a lot of care, which I like, it's aluminum, it's a loud bike, your kits are made of metal, you can put it on about things if you crash, no I don't care why you didn't if they were carbon.

You know it could have been an accident that cracked the carbon. I don't know, but the paint is quite fragile. I have a lot of chips up here. and I talked to Banshee about it and they know it and they are working to improve their quality control and I also had to thank Banshee a lot when they saw the video of how I didn't do it. I loved that the cable went through the bottle holder this way. They looked at it, took note, and said thank you for showing that. That highlighted some things we didn't think about and we're going to make some changes based on that.

I really appreciate a company that does that. I like the internal routing here and that it protects the derailleur cable a lot, so I wasn't a fan of that at first, but now I love it. Chain stroke is super quiet with this amazing scabbard. Protector This wheeled bike with 3-0 zip motor is a match made in heaven, you can accelerate it so hard and the wheels, along with the way it's designed, absorb impacts like you've never felt on a bike before. . Now a lot of people say it's stiff, but it's not that bad when the aluminum flexes.

Think of a paper clip that bends back and forth until it breaks. Aluminum cannot be bent as many times as steel. Aluminum is less ductile and when you bend it. it breaks faster, so people think it's bad for aluminum to bend, but we're not talking about it flexing enough to fatigue you or anything, we're talking about small vibrations that can't get through, think aluminum handlebars. aluminum, aluminum rims or wheelsets. They usually flex more than carbon wheelsets and that's why they don't hit you as much, so don't think this flexes like four inches, it's not a full suspension bike, it flexes in little ways and prevents things from transferring.

The front triangle is hard to see on camera, but it reminds me of a B-2 bomber. It's wide up here, it widens here, and then it narrows here. That tube looks great in person and I love the graphics. a beautifully constructed painting. I like the color, it's different, it's unique. I like the way they have the CG tabs on there so I can use my protector, which I've used a lot. Let's talk a little about the geometry of this bike. and you can look at the geographic charts and get an idea there and that's a good starting point, but those numbers don't always tell the whole story, so when you use it it's kind of a collection of all the geographic numbers together.

The first thing I noticed about this bike when I got on it and wrote it at three meters was the height of the stack, the handlebars are high, it's the highest stack I've ever felt. I usually put most of my spacers under the stem and kept removing them. spacers and putting them on top to lower the bars because that stack is significantly higher and you feel it and I like that because I go ahead and I can still put pressure on the front in the corners and when I launch myself up steep things the bars are not very low and I don't, I don't feel like my chin is, you know, I'm not leaning into the bike, it feels upright and more comfortable for me, I really like that feeling, that also means that it comes in.

The manuals are easy for me, which surprised me because it has a 430 chainstay which is short, it's not as short as my middle son's who is 4:15, and I thought it would be very difficult to access the manuals, but in reality it is not and they are manuals. pretty good, it's not as playful and fun as my middle son, it's like 95% as playful as that, but it's the most playful I've felt in 4:30 pods and it handles downhill extremely well, this bike takes corners Extremely good. I'll give it a 10 out of 10 for the climbs in the corners. I'll give it a 10 out of 10 for fun.

I'll give it a nine point five out of ten. Slightly shorter chains. These are a little more fun for me. It doesn't feel like a dirt jumper with a dropper, it feels like a full enduro bike. Every time I get a bike to

review

, I ask myself if I would take this on the High Line with a hangover or pigs and that helps me know how comfortable I am. On steep, difficult, technical terrain, this bike never made me wonder if I would ride it after the first ride. I'm sure I'll use it because I want to see how far I can push this rear end. ending that's pretty smooth and softens the wrong word that's just muted in a good way and B I want to see where the limit of this thing is because it just wants to go faster and faster and faster and this thing loves to charge.

I never felt like the reach was too long. I never felt like this head angle was too loose or too steep. It just felt perfect, so the geometry was dialed in on this. The bottom bracket is lower, which I like. The lower bottom bracket lowers the center of gravity, especially when you're cornering with your feet, it really wants to dance and when you corner through your feet, it just feels so planted, but you'll get more pedal strokes if you're not careful when synchronize the pedals. I'll take it any day. a higher bottom bracket, so compared to my middle child, this one has a lower bottom bracket and a higher stack, both qualities I like.

The middle son has a shorter chain stay and that's a quality I prefer, so I like them both for different reasons. Party mode. It's an 11, it just wants to explode and jump everything and smash everywhere and go as fast as possible and whether you prefer to get out of everything or stick to the ground and plow things, it does extremely well for a

hardtail

bike. I like that it's metal, if it were carbon, I would take care of it a little more, but it's not carbon, and this is like if it were a band, it would be the Ramones, it's like punk rock in every way, it's so raw, but no I do.

I know the backends are somewhat refined. This is probably the bike I feel most comfortable on any trail, no matter what. I feel totally safe and comfortable taking this bike on that trail. I also ran this bike in plus mode with 2.8 and it actually had more clearance than this with two fours in the rear, so I think I could even get away with a 3o in the rear. I don't think it's the right setup for a 300 on this bike, but with two eights this thing was grippy. I turned things up and it was actually easier to access the manuals and the fun factor increased when I put those 2.8 plus tires on it and I had a blast and ran them with a padded core in the rear and it felt good that way. so it's a little faster on the 29.

It feels a little more like a road bike. If I was racing enduro, I'd rather have this one with two eights or this one with these wheels. It would be a difficult question because the frame is capable of absorbing much of the trail noise and not transferring it to your body. I think I would go with the two 9's on the racks because these wheels are meant to swallow the bumps, just like this frame swallows the bumps and if you put those two together it's just a really cool combination, I would wholeheartedly endorse it on either the settings there, it didn't feel like a disadvantage at all with plus tires, it just felt different with different features, it was a little more fun, a little less daring, I just wanted to go beyond speed. all the time and wanting to mess around and blow things up so maybe I'd say I'd give this a fun 9.2 with a 29 so I'm like a 9.6 with a 27 5 what a cool bike this thing is awesome , from all my heart.

I recommend it if you like high stack, modern geometry and want to attack things. I had a great time putting it together. Thanks

banshee

for submitting this for review. I'm sure you'll see this in more videos, as always check out my others. bike reviews watch my video building this subscribe if you want to hear more content like this the stoke factor is off the charts on this it's a blast to ride it it's a riot you can see that in all my videos of me riding it and it's so composed on the gnarly trails it I was able to find thanks for looking there is a

party

in the mountains and you are invited