Banshee Spitfire


Banshee Spitfire

I put this bike together with the intention of riding it in the Alps.  It never made it to the Alps, but that's a story for another time.


Manitou Mattoc hex axle

The frame is from 2016 and I experimented with various combinations of suspension and setups.  The final and best combo was the an all Manitou setup with a Mattoc upfront and a McLeod in the rear.  Manitou's suspension offerings may be under-rated but once dialed in are superb.


Manitou McLeod rear shock on a Banshee Spitfire

I ran the Banshee with 26" wheels, 160mm fork up front and the 26" dropouts in the highest setting.  This made for the best combination of handling but without a bottom bracket that was dragging on the ground.


Banshee Spitfire 26

The Spitty frame isn't the lightest out there but I did have the weight of this bike as low as 12.5kg.  Even the final "burlier" iteration with Syntace W35 rims and chunky tyres was well under 13kg.

Related articles:

Banshee Spitfire

Here are the geometry details for the 2016 frames:

Specialized 142+ hub in Banshee Spitfire

In Specialized's infinite wisdom, they decided to make a 142mm wide hub where everything on the drive side was spaced 2mm further out.  This means the cassette (and cassette lockring) are 2mm closer to the driveside dropout....

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