So this weekend I accomplished two things. I chopped my hair off (ok, I HAD it chopped off by a professional) AND I built up the Transition BottleRocket. First off, the hair thing is fantastic. I think it might embody my spirit more accurately.

Secondly, the BottleRocket is soooo hot! I'm in love! I got the frame shipped directly from Transition Bikes about two weeks ago, but I didn't have an opportunity to get it built before now. First off, finding a bike shop that would fit the headset (being oversized, 1.5" rather than 1 1/8") proved challenging. In the process, I discovered a nice shop I hadn't been in before -- Empire BMX. Granted they only really cater to the BMX peeps. Regardless, they were really friendly and helpful and I like their webpage and their purple/blue factory building in downtown Austin.

Ultimately, Bicycle Sports Shop South was able to help press the headset in. They took my bike to the back and all I heard was hammering (malleting??!), but they were totally professional and plenty of guys working there brushed passed me with impressed looks and envy written all over their faces What can I say -- the bike is a hottie!

Frame: 2004 Banshee Chaparal Fork: 2006 Fox 36RC2 Van Shock: Romic Coil Crankset: Race Face Northshore DH w/ E.13 Chainguide Drivetrain: Shimano XT Rear Derailer/Shifter Brakes: Avid Mechanical Disc Brakes Wheels: Intense Mag 30s that I've had forever

The frame, a 2004 Banshee Chaparal with a Romic shock, sat in my garage in a nearly conmpleted state for a couple of months. The intended use of the bike is as my primary downhill bike with the intention to race it at the local donwhill races along with some of the Mountain State Cup races. It sat in this state partly because I was concentrating on cross country riding while getting ready for the Ouachita Challenge and dindn't want to risk injury prior to the event and partly because I kept putting off getting the last couple of parts I needed. Last week I finally put the finishing touches on it, a heavier spring for the Fox 36RC2 Vanilla and housing for the rear shifter cable.
With the build finally complete it was time to give her a proper test ride. Saturday morning we loaded up Stella and headed out to Twin Parks. It was a fairly warm day and the wind was a bit fierce when we first arrived but it calmed down in short order.
Being a bit new to Donwhill bikes, or should I say long travel dual suspension bikes as few would consider the Banshee Chaparal a proper downhill bike, I decided to warm up on something I know, the 4-Cross course.
I took it pretty easy the first time down the course. As expected the bike was much more sluggish than ole Woody and it took a lot more energy to really pump the berms. The suspension on the other hand was butter. Hitting rollers or coming up a bit short on some of the jumps didn't even register. I can definiely see where this bike could do a lot to compensate for sloppy riding, an attribute I would soon put to the test.
After a couple of runs down the 4-Cross course I decided it was time to test out the downhill course. After donning my pressure suit I grabbed my helmet and headed up to the start.

During the first run I took it fairly slow into the first jump. I didn't have near enough speed to make the transition but it didn't matter. The suspension soaked up so much of the landing that it felt about as harsh as riding off a curb. Next up was a fairly decent rock garden. I decided to really test the suspension and tapped the brakes entering at a fairly low speed. I rolled through the rock garden with the greatest of ease. Despite others telling me a 6" travel bike wouldn't make a good downhill bike I was already beginning to think that the Chaparal was exactly what I was looking for. The rock garden cleared I took it easy through the rest of the course.
During the 2nd run I hit the first jump a little bit faster but it still wasn't enough to carry me to the transition. Just like the first time it was no problem. I pedaled hard towards the rock garden and lifted up at the edge landing about 2/3 of the way down. Butter. I went a bit faster through the rest of the course but still wasn't quite ready to try the hip.
During my 3rd run I decided to go all out. I hit the first jump hard and just barely made the transition. I wasn't expecting to actually make the transition and landed with the front wheel pretty high up meaning it had a long way to drop. The front wheel drove into the ground and the fork dove hard but it did it's job. I got knocked a little off my line but was able to quickly regain control.
This time I decided I was going to go for the step-up hip. I pedaled hard into the step down leading into hip but was a bit off line when I hit and came down outside the course. Once again i was able to save it and regain control but I definitely wasn't lined up for the hip so I had to roll it.

Tired of pushing 45 lbs up to the top I decided to try out the easy dirt jump line. Let me preface things by saying that I'm really not much of a dirt jumper. Spending so much time on the 4 Cross course I've gotten pretty competent and comfortable with tables and step downs but true dirt jumps still scare the hell out of me. The easy line is primarily tables with the final jump being a fairly lipy jump with the transition about 6 feet out and 3 feet down from the lip. After a few warm up runs and a quick break for lunch I was hitting the whole series consistently. The bike really flowed through the jumps and on those times when I came down a little front end heavy the fork easily soaked it up and kept me on track.

After hitting the run several times and feeling more comfortable with the bike I was getting ready to hop back on Woody and spend some time on the 4-Cross course. But first I wanted to try the first double leading into the real dirt jump line. I wasn't going to kid myself into thinking I was ready for any of the other jumps in the line but the first one seemed like something I could do.

My furst run up I felt I didn't have enough speed so I stopped as I rolled up onto the lip. Next time up I carried a bit more speed but something went terribly wrong. Maybe I hesitated at the last second or maybe I just didn't hit the lip in the right place but whatever it was somehow I managed to suck up the lip and knew instantly that I was way too low and couldn't keep the front wheel up.

My front wheel drove hard into the front side of the transition and I got launched off the bike and over the the lip of the transition. My momentum was great enough that I pretty much sailed past the transition completely. I was heading headfirst into the ground and had started to reach out and try and catch myself. I had the presence of mind to realize that would probably destroy my wrist, and possibly my elbow and shoulder so I pulled my hand back and tried to tuck.
I managed to rotate enough that i avoided coming down right on top of my head but I couldn't quite get my shoulders rotated as much as I wanted. Upon impact I heard the sickenening sound of bones being crunched and felt my collar bone snap. I knew instantly it was broke and it hurt like hell. I was instantly up and had Shay help with getting the helmet and pressure suit off.
Shortly after that we were on our way to the ER. As I sat in the ER the pain got worse and worse and when the doc asked if I wanted something for the pain I didn't think twice. Morhpine, sweet sweet morphine.
Sure enough, the collar bone was crunched but other than a few scrapes and bruises the rest of my body was relatively in tact.
Since I was still doped up on Morhphine and it was on the way home we did stop by Eliot's BBQ to drop off his housewarming gift and partake in some smoked meat.
I still have to see an Orthopedic Specialist to determnine the exact course of action and am hoping that I'll be healed in time for Chile Challenge.

Update: Well, I finally got around to looking at the X-Rays and at this point I'm not going to be surprised if surgery is required which toally blows but I guess there's not much I can do about it. I have an appointment with an Ortho tomorrow afternoon. Of course i only have 2.5 hydrocones left to get me through till then.

Intended Use:4 Cross, Dirt Jump, Street, Skate Park, BMX. Bike Build: Frame: Woodman Elite. Manufacturer's site Fork: Fox Talas R. Wheels: Performance Loco Front and Rear Cranks: Truvativ Stylo SS Pedals: Azonic A-Frame Gears: SRAM X.7 Rear with X.7 Trigger shifter Brakes: Avid BB7 Mechanical Disk brakes/SRAM 9.0 levers Handlebars: Funn Full-On risers Stem: Funn Serial Grippa Saddle: Funn Big Grab jump seat Seatpost: Funn splined seatpost

The Story:

Before I get into the review itself I thought I would talk a bit about how I came to decide on this particular frame. This may get a bit long winded so if all you care about is how it rides then you might want to go ahead and skip to page 2.
Otherwise...

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