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Banshee Bikes are no stangers to the UK: the photo on the company’s leaflet shows Nicky T., tech editor of southerndownhillracing.co.uk, riding a Banshee on the Aston DH course. But the Canadian company has no firm UK distribution.
Banshee started life as an in-house bike brand for a Vancouver IBD but word got out and demand grew. It was the creation of Pippin Osborne, who co-founded MTB components company Syncros in 1985, selling it in 1996.
"Syncros was started by two guys in a garage, and over ten years we grew it into a $10m company. The people who bought it took two years to make it into a $2m company," Osborne told BikeBiz.co.uk.
Syncros was subsequently sold to GT, and so is now owned by Pacific Cycles.
Banshee frames – such as the 45-pound, eight-inches-of-travel Scream or the hardtail Morphine – are super-strong, with a ten-year warranty programme. The frames are made from Easton RAD tubes. They come equipped with either a "Gucci spec" or a "Journeyman spec." The Gucci spec includes FSA cromo cranks, Hayes disc brakes and XT drivetrain.
Banshee is part of PCT Innovations, a company owned by Osborne and two others.
PIC:
Lensman Steve Behr and MBUK’s Finlay Paton. The next issue of MBUK will have five or six shots from Interbike advertising an Interbike special for the following issue.
