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     I can imagine that when Porsche designers moved the engine to the back and hit the race track they went... DDAAAAMMMMMNNNNN! That is exactly the thought that went through me head when I got on the New Prime V3. 

    I have had the pleasure or riding all of Banshees new 29rs, the Phantom, the Prime and the Titan. Usually I am a medium but on my first go around with the new Prime V3 I found myself riding a large. At 5 foot 8 and one solid half.... on a good day, riding the large for most everything was not an issue. In fact, when I took it for some gravity days the overall length and running a 35 mm stem made the thing amazing. Not Titan territory amazing, but one bike to have in your stable amazing for sure. There was one issue though, I could not get around the stack height. Being a little shorter the only trouble I ever had was with flat corners when I really had to lean the bike over. I found it a little more difficult to weight the front wheel. Be it the stack height, the 35mm stem or a combo of both. So.... I got a medium sent, slapped on my preferred 50m stem, hit the trails and DDDAAAMMMMNNNN!!!!!
   Instantly I felt like I was always riding right in the middle of the bike, 450 back end, 50mm stem at 65.5 degree head angle, this thing felt perfect. Every corner felt stable and effortless, every launch felt controlled and with no drama, I felt comfortable and in control of this sled! 

   Ok, with that excited rant out of the way, let me talk about some riding impressions here.

Climbing: You can't fault that seat angle, when you set the sag correctly based on Banshees millimeter recommendations (13.5-15.0) the back end remains stable, sits high enough to preserve a nice over the pedals feel and it moves up the trail like a little Billy Goat. No lie, this thing has managed climbs I could not do on lesser travel (different suspension system) bikes. It finds traction, hugs the ground and keeps you in a fantastic spot to just power up. Now, it is no timed hill climb champion, but the fact you can get up so much and also have a comfortable and efficient position for longer fire roads is damn amazing!

Suspension: First off... do yourself a favour and try this bike with a coil, wowzers! I did however spend most of the time riding it with the stock air setup, a Fox DPX2, and that option strikes a nice balance between control and a playful nature. The Coil just turns that 135mm's of travel into a traction factory of speed and awesomeness. 
I'm not gonna use those odd "more travel than it comes with feel" jargon everyone likes to push out. Its a 135mm of travel, well used, and offers an incredible feel across a wide variety of terrains and impacts based on how you tune your shock. Here is what I observed...

• It is sensitive
• It ramps up a lot near the end (I weight 175lbs naked).... yank out the volume reducer and that becomes a little less pronounced.
• It carry's speed really well, and seems to pickup speed on landings. No word of a lie, just like the Titan when launching off things at speed the impact, which on other bikes I rode feel like there is a slight speed reduction on impact, this system does not do that. While it may not be "Speeding up" it certainly is not slowing down and you can feel it.
• Tune the rear end for your trails and it will reward you in spades!
• And yes... it can play and pop and dance around corners just fine... especially with the Air Can on it.

That 450mm rear end: Everyone is so concerned about having short rear ends. I don't think you will even notice it(the 450 rear end) in the way you think you will. But, spend enough time riding it and you may realize you are carrying more speed through corners, have more control, climb better and feel more stable and controlled at speed. 450 rear ends in my opinion... are the way to go. Especially with the reach lengths growing and us running 35 to 50mm stems. You need to balance the bike, you need that back end to handle some of the weight reduction from the front wheels on trail bikes of today. 

Conservative reach numbers....: Or helping you strike a perfect balance?: Reach has been getting long, and rightly so, I love the open cockpit when descending and cornering, it gives you confidence, but here in Ontario and maybe even the East side of the country we are not always riding steep tech. We have a lot of flat trails, narrow trails, punchy climbs and we like to ride them fast. 35mm stems and super slack head angles force you to really pull over the front end, so a slightly conservative reach lets you run a 50mm stem, and that lets you produce a wee little more weight over the front end. Combine that with the 450 rear end and as how I started this rant... DDAAAMMMNNNN the traction is great. Not only that, it feels like a very natural and neutral position on the bike.... especially when you are getting tired.  Super short stems on longer reach frames forces you to really place your weight over the front, you have to think about it and do it. On the Prime V3 is just feels more natural, when tired, you are naturally in a better position when you stand up for that corner or that steep chute.

   So, if you have made it this far you can probably guess I am in love with this new Prime V3, it is the benchmark for geometry now when looking at other manufactures frames to try. From here on out...everything will be compared to this bike from now on... that is until this bike gets better!

Oh, and one last thing.... it always helps to let the bike choose its name. In this case, Optimus Prime seemed only fitting. I swear it rides #MOREAWESOMER when you theme build it, and there isn't much more awesome that Optimus Prime!

     Lockdowns and travel restrictions meant riding local was the only real option for most of the season, and around here in southern Ontario that means mainly flat trails, minor elevation that is usually just short and steep and not a huge variety in terrain. However, what it does offer is tight riding, plenty of exposed roots and rocks and when it gets a little wet, depending on where you are riding (Niagara in this case), slippery surfaces. All can be really fun and challenging to ride at speed… i have a few crashed this season that prove that!

   Before we go any further, here is a spoiler alert, and you can choose to read further, or take the spoiler as Titan Ride Gospel. This bike is the only bike you need in your stable of bikes….

BIKE SETUP/RIDER DETAILS

• Age: 41
• Ride mentality: I wanna go fast  - I pick the fastest line, scrub the jumps and pedal strike in corners because I start to sprint too early!
• Weight: 175lbs
• Height: 176cm
• Bike: Medium
• Fork: 170 and 160 tested
• Stem length: 50mm
• Bar rise: 15mm
• Bar width: 770 Currently (Tested 790 and 800)

The bikes Numbers…. And how it seems to work some Greek God levels of magic!

     When you look at the numbers on the Titan, in particular the chainstay length with the headangle it doesn’t seem to make sense for tight and twisty slower flat trails. Let’s just say… I was pleasantly wrong…. get into that further down.

     The headangle at 64.5 in the lower setting (65 high) seems to favour the idea of the bike being pointed down, and while park riding certainly is one terrain where this bike absolutely excels, the overall layout of this bike when taken together gives you an amazing package able to transition between Flat Trails to Gravity Thrills! I will say this has to do with the combined modest reach number, the lengthened chainstay length and in my case, running it with a 50mm stem to pull you out front a little more.

     Now, about the chainstay length. 452mm. Seems long doesn’t it? I spend a lot of time riding a 432mm chainstay on a few other bikes I get to keep around, but what marginal gains you get in the shorter chainstay snap I feel you loose in the all out stability and corn-a-bility (is that word???) you get with the Titan. My other go to bike from another brand has a slightly longer reach, but much shorter chainstays. It is fun to ride, don’t get me wrong, but the Titan just hauls ass with less drama.

     I think the three things on this bike, Chainstay length, Reach and Headangle have been well balanced to blend together a bike that is both nimble when you want it to be, and stable when you push it.. a bit of Bruce lee with a heavy helping of Rambo thrown together!

Tight Trails to Gravity Thrills!

    As mentioned before, because of the local covid restrictions I was forced to spend a lot of time on the bike riding local, more XC type trails. But, this worked to the bikes favour because I spent a lot of time trying different tires, wheels and travel options. Done in an effort to to get the most out of fun days riding up and down, to long days pedaling around with the XC crowd on their 2.25 29rs. What I discovered is that with a few changes the Titan becomes extremely versatile and actually had me riding faster over long pedal sections compared my previous lighter weight, lower travel, skinner tire’d bikes of the past!

    First things first, I have to get this out of the way. I never insulted this bike by slapping on anything less than a 2.35 tire on it, nor did I ever count grams when changing things. Weight was never a consideration, ride stability and fun were the only deciding factors when swapping things up. With that out of the way, forgetting about weight and putting more consideration on ride stability, ability and the “FUN” factor when swapping things out you may find you ride faster, longer and have a lot more fun than counting grams will ever give you.
    I first noticed this on a long 4min flat and twisty section of local trail. Riding Wild Enduros front and rear on the Titan consistently resulted in me riding faster than any bike previous. 100% this was due to how much more entry and exit speed the bike and the tires produced. I replicated similar results on a different bike with the same tires, however felt a little bit more at the limit of traction. This likely due to the more balanced front to rear layout on the Titan.
    So I took it a little further and swapped down to a 2.35 Trail tire on a 27mm internal width WeAreOne carbon wheel and things changed even further. This bike has an amazing ability, just from switching the wheels and tires to completely change and increase the range of ride possibilities of the bike. The change just resulted in a setup that felt great to pedal all day long and offered great corner and climbing characteristics for trail days. But, just swap back up to heavier wheels, gripper tires (Wild Enduros) and it feels and acts like a proper gravity day machine.

    Most of these changes were done leaving the fork at the recommended 170mm travel. But I will say this, if you own this bike, do yourself a favour and swap in a 160 air setup, or change the coil spring configuration down to 160mm and go for a trail ride… Holly-Snikies! Just that little change, that little headangle change, the slightly shorter front centre and the slightly steeper seatangle really make this thing a great trail bike. I waited too long to do this. The Titan was already a great sit down and pedal climber, but with that change, noticeably less effort to work the bike up those short and punchy climbs, and just as easy to sit and pedal up the long ones. The added and awesome effect of the shorter travel fork was the general trail ride confidence. I seemed to be able to put a little more weight over the front and the balance was much changed in such that flat corners felt more effortless.. and we have a lot of them around here.

    Crap.. almost forgot to even talk about this bike and how it rode once it was used for lift access… what is wrong with me? Let’s blame it on Covid forcing me to spend 90% of the time riding this bike on local trails.
    I was able to get up to Horseshoe bike park a few weeks in a row to really let loose on this thing. It took a few runs, and a tire swap to get use to it, but when I did I found myself hunting down PB’s. I blasted past previous ones from my younger years and if not for a crash (not my fault… I will add some video links), I likely would have seen another PB though line perfection and knowing this bike had more speed to offer in the corners. 
The Titan had no issues handling some of the tight line changes, holding a line at speed and even with just 155mm of travel took a few overshoots to flat with little drama. A lot of the trails had some deep sand, but with the tire swap and a healthy amount of credit to the longer chainstay and balanced reach the bike soared through with little drama. I like control and staying in it, no desire for me to shralp through berms and corners, the fastest line for me is the one where control is maintained. 170 upfront, 155 out back and for me this bike rides just as well at the park as any big travel bike I have had in the past, geometry, balance and smart suspension help this bike excel on lift days… but will also let you ride back up to the top and pedal 20kms to get back home if that is your flavour.

So here is the deal…. this bike can be the one bike you keep in your car for traveling and riding everywhere. Keep an extra wheelset handy, if you are confident enough to alter the forks travel, keep those parts handy too. You can have an all day trial friendly bike and a lift access bruiser all in one with just a few changes when the day warrants it.
Don’t let the numbers freak you out. Yes it looks longer than most of today's flavour of bikes (although that is changing with the praise and success of other bikes. I am thinking Pole, Nukeproof, and the Grim Donut [LOL]) but it certainly does not make it any less of a playful bike. It can handle tight switchbacks and snappy berms just as well as others, but the flip side is it holds a line better, feels more confident at speed and when you get tired it allows you a little more body position errors and still escape out of the other side. I used to comment that the bike felt slower in corners, but the reality is that it handles them more confidently, and what I was mis-diagnosing for slower was actually the bike riding faster because it had a larger range of stability on tap in those situations.
      This bike has been an emotional rollercoaster for me this year. I acquired it on the belief that it would ultimately let me ride faster in my Master Enduro dreams, covid messed that up this season, and because of that I initially didn’t give it as much attention as it deserved. Partly because of Covid, but also because I was more emotionally drawn to another bike in my stable. I wanted that other bike to be faster and fun’r to ride, but every time I got back onto the Titan I was rewarded with more speed and more control…. sometimes not as fun, but the racer in me likes the speed and the control. The Titan will ultimately let me build upon that and hopefully when we all can get back to racing, help me slay a few personal Enduro goals in the coming seasons.

Thanks for reading…. 
“DirtMurderR”

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The following is just the measure change in degrees or millimeters, not the angles observed. With these number you can transpose those based on the geometry figures outlined by banshee, but don't forget to account also for fork axle/crown changes as well.

  Here is how these two were set up for the measurements:
PHANTOM V3 - 140 Fox 34 - Seatpost @730mm
TITAN - 170 Z1 - Seatpost @730mm
​   When wheels were changed the tire type was kept identical, just the diameter changed.

Figures were pretty similar, and no.. they are likely not 100% Accurate, but, they will give you a good idea how the mullet set-up will effect the bikes geometry.

It was a pretty hard hit to the hard packed, rock exposed dirt path... but I walked away from it!

The Leatt DBX 3.0 was a helmet I chose to give a try at using after a previous seasons crash left me with a broken jaw and a better part of 24hrs worth of memory loss. The helmet did its job there too, but it wasn't as "Sophisticated" as the DBX 3.0, and this time around I wanted to add a few more features between the ground and my brain to the helmet equation. 

The previous Helmet was using CONEHEAD tech, but that was it. Now I know several brands use this in their helmets (Leatt included in some DH models, as well as POC, FOXHEAD, KALI), I wanted something like that, plus rotational defense. So,  this brings in their 360 Turbine tech. Add to that a "3D In-Moulded impact foam" and breakaway visor and there are now a few new features added between my brain and the dirt.

So, whats it all mean... well, no one likes to actually test helmets as they are intended too, but in this case I did unfortunately get too!
Leading up to it here is what I have to say about the helmet...

Fit was fantastic, was snug everywhere without being uncomfortable, never felt like I needed to move the helmet or relieve tension during a ride. The 360 Turbines... never noticed them (unlike another rotation system with great claims, but an awkward feeling on my head).
I did notice one thing however... watch your glasses selection. I like the larger lens'd and full frame MTB glasses, but with this helmet having some good coverage, the front drops a little lower than my previous helmet. This in turn pushed down on the glasses and forced the nose bridge to put some uncomfortable pressure on my face. Maybe my head is not as tall as others, or maybe it is that the helmets awesome coverage created this issue. Not wanting to change my glasses, I learned to deal with it. In fact, it was a handy little feature when shiat got really rough and both the helmet and the glasses were forced to stay in place.

So I crashed... launched into the ground head first sliding down the trail the hole time just saying to myself as I slid.... "NOT THE HEAD, NOT THE HEAD!" I really didn't want another concussion added to my count. Appears... I escaped that fate!
Helmet did its job, the 3D foam and impact foam took the impact and shattered.
The visor broke out of the way to prevent it from catching trail debris and wrenching my head around.
The buckle... never let loose
The exterior shell bears the signs of rock hits and scrapes, but nothing penetrated through the shell.
And... I remember the whole thing, got up walked away from it and did not experience any post concussion type symptoms to cause me to believe I had another one!


So, that helmet is dead.... whats next!
Well, I want ConeHead type Tech again, and I want some rotational protection... these are non-debatable items now, especially after two of my hardest crashes ever.
So, I have a Kali to test... has both those features. But, I like having two helmets on hand at all times... So maybe a TLD as well. Has MIPS, plus a breakaway visor and their dual density EPP + EPS liner as well!

So... watch for more Helmet reviews this season!

[the] Dirt MUrderR