We thought it would be fun to give you a glimpse into the bikes that we (the guys who work at Joyride Cycles) build and ride ourselves.  Like you, all of us have different riding styles, and we like to build bikes that fit our specific needs.  

Today's featured ride is a bike that I've owned for two seasons now and have had a ton of fun riding and racing.  It has actually hung as a pathetic parted out frame for most of last year, so it's really fair to say that it's been ridden for a good season.  But I decided to bring it back to life a few months ago and now it's back to it's former glory.  Maybe even a little better now that its adorned with purple components.  

The frame is a 2010 Banshee Rampant, size short.  The Rampant is a 4" travel dedicated dirt jump, slope style, 4x, slalom type frame.  I'm a hack dirt jumper with a sick rear wheel kick-out trick I do.  And I'm not a slope stylist, but I do loves to ride and race some 4x and dual slalom tracks.  So that's what I mainly built this bike to do.  The suspension is designed to be firm and only take the edge off hard impacts, not be supple.  Because the ride is firm, acceleration is quick and peppy the way a good slalom bike should be.  The suspension also helps keep wheel glued to the ground, in-turn providing more traction than a similar hardtail might have.  I'm also continually amazed at how well the short travel absorbs square-edged impacts like sharp rocks.  I attribute that to the parallel linkages, but that's only my short speculation and I don't really care what makes it do that.  I'm just happy to have that benefit. 

In addition to riding parks and race courses, I actually got out and did quite a bit of pedaling on this bike as it was my only ride for most of the 2010 riding season.  I did multi-hour XC rides, raced a super d, and did DH runs on this bike.  That said, I got a good feeling for how this bike handled high-speeds on rough terrain.  I gotta say it is more stable at speed that my old Transition Double was.  The Double was great all around, but got a little sketchy on steep technical sections.  

My Rampant weighs in at around the 29lb mark respectfully.  It could be quite a bit lighter if I switched to a race style saddle and small knob tires, but it's light enough for all practical purposes.  Plus after having sharp sided racer saddles that gouge your inner thigh, it's a nice break to ride this bike and not worry about my saddle stabbing me in the leg (or elsewhere).  Tires come and go, so sometimes it will be lighter and fast rolling and other times it will have burly earth-clawing traction.   It depends on the day.

The cushy Spank saddle has thick rails and provides plenty of comfort when needed.  I've never been one for big saddles and this is my first.  But I think I'll keep it around.

 The handlebar is a Deity Dirty30 bar.  It's plenty wide, plenty light, and looks like a million bucks.  It also has a pair of Deity Lean grips in purple ano.  The purple headset is also a pretty sweet design from David Meredith at Candy Components.  They are a small start up that is making some pretty killer stuff.  We'll have their catalog on our website soon.  I used carbon fiber headset spacers to keep things super light in the steering department.  They're the reason the bike is feather light.  The stem is from local company Marrow - It's in your bones.  Cool stem, lame name, lamer slogan.  The shifter is a super sweet X.7.  It's low end and barely works, but that's all I need in a shifter.  Get a good look at the carbon fiber lever from the Elixir CR brakes, because they wont be there much longer.  As much as I love SRAM as a company, we've had terrible luck keeping their brakes working well.  That is a new brake and today it just decided to die on me for no good reason.  Go with Shimano until SRAM gets it together in the stopping department.  I know I am. 

 Look at that beat down drive-train, it don't care because it works.  The crank is a no name Shimano take-off from a Santa Cruz build kit.  The chainguide is an e13 LG1+ that has a white lower and black upper guide.  Make a note to yourself:  Never go white for the guide, it only gets dirty and looks terrible in no time.  The chain a SRAM PC-951.  Derailleur is an older X.0 medium cage.  Still works great.  That Lizard skin chainstay protector is just about finished, but luckily it looks great.  Last, the chainring is a steel 36t Surly ring.  The thing better never wear out because it is burly.  Why do I even bother with carbon spacers and alloy chainring bolts?  Because like you, I'm a sucker for pretty shiny things that I think will somehow make my life better.

The steering and cush depart is handled by a sweet purple Marzocchi DJ2 fork, Crankbrothers Iodine FR wheels, and Continental Baron Tires.  I'll be honest, the fork and wheels are both items with sorted reputations that were sitting on our wall gathering dust.  I figured I'm going to have to discount them anyway, so why non try them out to see why everyone is bagging on them?  The good news is, there really isn't anything to complain about yet.  The wheels have given me no trouble, ride very nice, and set up tubeless tires with ease.  While the fork is firm and solid, the way a DJ fork should be.  I think Crankbrothers have got their wheels sorted out, and people just like to bag on Marzocchi for no good reason.  I've been a fan of Marzocchi forks since the 888 came out and I've hated to see the company go through so many production issues.  I currently own a 888RC3, 55RC3 Ti, and this DJ2.  Each one works great and has given me no problems other than a leaky top seal on the 55.  The products are solid.  I just started riding Continental tires last year and really like what I've experienced so far.  The Baren tires don't disappoint, but I didn't originally intend to set this bike up with big knobs.  I thought the Baren was a DH tire and bought it as a burly tire for my DH bike.  Turns out it's a single ply kevlar beaded tire.  I had them laying around so I threw them on.  They're currently set up tubeless and hold air well.  Traction isn't too shabby either.  They bite hard and stick.  I'm more of a small tread fan because of the lower rolling resistance so I'll likely change them out if I race the bike.  But you never know with tires.  

The Float RP2 shock just got a rebuild from Fox.  I really wish Fox would make their shocks shop serviceable, so I could do maintenance in house.  This could save you two weeks in down time.  Most bikes come with Fox rear shocks, but all my aftermarket units will be Rock Shox or Marzocchi for the fact that you can rebuild them yourself of have a shop do it.  You shouldn't have to go without your bike for weeks.  It does feel great after it's rebuild however.   Of note:  the Rampant pivots on Igus bushings instead of sealed bearings.  There are positives and negatives associated with each, but after a hard season of riding my pivots developed some play and had to be replaced.  The good news is that Banshee sends each bike out with a spare set of bushings.  The bushings also don't turn as smooth as bearings, which makes the suspension very sticky when compared with bearings.  Because this is a 4x bike, I don't really care about sticky suspension because I want it firm and minimal.  But if this were any other type of bike, it would be a deal breaker for me personally.

 Generally I don't hang on to my bikes for very long, but because good DJ/Slalom bikes are hard to find and rarely change, I will likely keep the Rampant in my stable for a few more seasons.  It's hands down the funnest (yeah, I said "funnest") DJ/Slalom bike I have ever owned and I've enjoyed XC and DH riding on it as well.  After all it is a bike and should be ridden anywhere and everywhere possible.   The plastic pivots are a minor issue, but a small trade-off for great suspension and killer handling.  Once the brakes are swapped, it will be tough to beat.