Alan's Wildcard Video!!

Okay, I just finished posting a vid and promised it was the last of the year unless I hit a deer driving home but then I saw Alan Hepburns new Wildcard built up with a new video.

The following is again stolen from the Banshee Blog, click here to check the full version with all the pics.

"Alan took pics of himself building it up and is that a hammer I see on the table? ...always a good sign of a quality wrench -the only thing missing is an axe."

Why we ride!

This is where everyone puts the corny crap on why they ride and la, la, la...

Our buddy Mike Bentham pops up on PinkBike today with a VOD and it summed it all up for me. No need for deep thoughts this video says it all really.

Merry x-mas by the way, last post of the year unless I hit a random animal driving home for x-mas, if it is a big one and post worthy I will let you know!

Enjoy the Video!

I stole this from Banshee's blog showing the guys latest teaser vid!

Chris and Alan did some filming with Christian and Nick from Sullivanvizual. I'll get some more details as soon as I talk to them again. I'll find out when the DVD will be released and where you can get it.
As Grant Allen would say it looks like they got the the corkflip to leatherARSE figured out in the clip they sent me.




Alan just got his new ride and as soon as he takes a pic of it you'll be able to see his new Wildcard. Grant is going to do a custom paint on Alans TLD carbon helmet - provided he gets one for christmas - that will match the bike.

The guys are also featured in the Aussie magazine Revolution and there is a wicked shot from the Pirate aka Stephen Hillenbrand but i don't see it posted on the pirates site yet... other eye candy to look at tho.

Jay Macneil Banshee Bikes

Why is my van in a puddle?

Once all of the fire crackers ran out during a power outage last week, the guys thought it would be funny to park my van in the middle of a nasty storm puddle.

Funny at first but I wasn't going to walk through the disease filled brown run off water, it can rust there till summer. Finally Dennis got sick of my bitching and gave me a lift.

Then I sessioned the puddle dry !

Custom Jeff Lenosky Pedal...

"YOU KILLED IT!!! LOOKS AWESOME. Gimme a call, I'm around Friday and all next week.
Jeff"


Finally, we got a powder coat sample to perfectly match Jeff's new Giant STP frame.

Jeff has been working with us to create his own product line of pedals but matching powder coat colors to wet paint colors is not as easy as we thought. After hitting our heads against the wall with bad sample after sample we nailed it!

So if you see a kid rolling around on a set you better think fast and knock him over because these will be released early 08 in limited numbers.
Stoked!

Our Aussy Riders!

Everyone meet Chris Soininen and Alan Hepburn, Factory Banshee riders! These guys are two of Australia's top DJ/Free riders who came to Canada this year to eat our Maple Syrup, see a beaver then Ride Whistler and Vancouver Island!

Check them out, these guys will be traveling the world in 08 as Banshee Factory Riders then back in our backyard for the BearClaw 3 and Kokanee Krankworks. Chris Soininen and Alan Hepburn, remember these names, they have more fun in day then most do in a month!

Got Park?

If we build it will you come and ride it? Then help us rake it, maintain it and paint a fence?

Check this out, 2 Excavation/Contract firms, 2 Structural Engineering firms, 1 established Hotel owner/networking genius, 1 "07 BMX Worlds/ Olympic" professional track builder, Accountants, Lawyers, Modern Machining firm -hint-hint and the raddest open minded municipality we have ever seen, North Saanich BC!

It started with a request for help in the paper that was to be a fun cute little project opening a local park. Now it has stepped into top gear with plans to fully enclose sections for all year access! With so much support from the local community and politicians we now need to hear from you guys.

North Saanich agreed to help us build a park keeping in mind that it needs to be modern and progressive but not scare the hell out of any beginners wanting to just have fun. We will have plenty of pump tracks riddling the course cutting in and out of the trees.

We are already green lighted for the park but we still need to expose our 5 year plan and approach in a open forum on the 26th of Nov here in North Saanich. Obviously most of you reading this are in foreign countries or states but if not you better show up and throw some energy our way!

Biking has evolved so should the parks we ride.

Any questions/input or ideas throw them my way - info@straitlinecomponents.com

By the way, the stylish rider in the shot is our very own Scott Alleyn. Even though he may be obnoxious and tell me stories of bears eating tuna in the back seat of his car, the kid can throw down and deserves to get scooped up! Watch this vid from Early this year, some footage was lost- maybe the bear ate it- but he pasted together this... Scott Alleyn

Cheers,
Greg

Awaited pedal review

The guys over at Sicklines posted a review on our pedal and did a rad job at thruroughly explaining them inside and out. I was impressed by the detail gone into the review so check this out!

www.sicklines.com/reviews/straitline_pedals

Wedge Stem internals exposed

So this is our Wedge stem. Just like our pedal we designed it to be relatively simple and logical in the way it works. A lot of hype always comes out with any new product and a natural curiousity to see if this is just a new gimmick or progression. Here it is cut in half to better explain it.

I think that the easiest way to explain it's function is to compare it to when you slide a wedge under a door and how the two fuse together. I am sure everyone has tried this at some point in their lives but if you haven't then try it before reading on.

Effectively this is how our system works except we use a very slight 8 degree angle on the wedge allowing it to slide with ease down the front of the steer tube. There is no chance of over clamping the system and damadging your steer tube what so ever because we designed the wedge to bottom out on a platform at maximum clamping force.

The end result is that the wedge is now fused tightly between the body of the stem and the steer tube giving it a full 360 degrees of contact. It basically becomes self fused but the bolts are to remain inside for saftey of course.

With all of the extra parts involved to make a wedge stem work, we still roll in at 224 grams installed.

Actually just Google the term "WEDGE CLAMP" and see for yourself it isn't anything new to the machining world, only the "hyped up" biking world.

Super simple, class dismissed!

Greg

Ghetto Shop Tour!

This is truly the definition of ghetto, it is even complete with a fat ass water mark front and center for your viewing pleasure!

Finally I found a time mid day where the machines and the guys were not working to do a little tour with no noise.

I know nothing about the machines so instead of spewing facts on you I hit the floor and pointed out the machines so you can see for yourself how little I know about CNC machines!!

Enjoy it and I will dork out and bring you a techy video later on with the machines eating some material!

What is going down...

Okay, I suck! I promised I would never be that guy who lets the website fall behind but I clearly have dropped the ball!
So I am launching this Blog to help keep up to speed and show everyone a bit more about us and what we have going on behind the scenes.

So before I go any further I have to start the theme of the Blog off with this rad shirt by Brad at Spectrum Tech Wear!!




The Shirt says it all! I will keep this blog blunt and fun paying respect to everyone who has been cool with us from day one. I may even make a wankers list for those who forget that the buisness end of this game isn't too far off from just riding with friends!

I want to see if I can make this blog an outlet for everyone who reads it, giving you the keys to our factory as much as possible keeping the designs real and functional.

Later!
Greg - Brand Guy!