Rune for a woman ??

here's my wife's Rune.

she dumped her old 21lb SC Juliana for the 29lb Rune cos she finds climbing and descending much easier.
she's about 5 foot 6. the small frame is just nice for her.

she built it for general trail riding on trails with plenty of climbs so she opted for the 5inch fork in front. the head angle is steeper but it throws you up a mountain.

Nice work with all the matching color bits Fakawi, looks good! Even the rocker bolts? Wow.

I'm also 5'6", but have a medium. It's been a great bike, so far. It might be around 32-ish pounds, or so. I haven't really checked.

I probably would've leaned more towards the Spitfire, but it was still in the planning stages when I looking for a bike and I was a bit impatient to try out Banshee's suspension design. What's great about the Rune, as lots of people have mentioned in the forum, is it's versatility. It can be set up light (like Fakawi's wife's bike) or heavier duty and do both disciplines well. And now with the adjustable headsets on the market, that opens up even more possibilities. It seems like (at least for me) that this bike can cover a very wide range of riding and let the rider be the one to improve his/her skills, instead of being the limiting factor.

Good luck with your decision,

crazyhouse

"Heck, I am 5'6 and 1/2" and just ordered a Small. Sure hope I didnt go too small!"

It just depends on what you're comfortable with. I think 5"6"-ish is one of those could-go-with-either-size heights.
I wasn't able to demo a bike and wasn't quite sure of which way to go. I chose the medium mostly because the bikes I've had in the past didn't really have top tubes much shorter than 23". I figured I could still go medium with a 50mm stem and I'd end up just a bit shorter than previous cockpits which I thought would feel fine.
If I went with the small, I'd probably end up putting a 70mm stem on and things would be alright. I tried a 70mm on this one and it felt a bit too much, 60mm might be okay for longer trail days, but the 50mm seems to be doing fine.
I did get to ride a friend's Syren, briefly, that had numbers similar to the small, and while it was fun on the short downhilly section I got to ride it on, I didn't think I would be able to get used to that for everyday pedaling and long rides. But that's just me and my comfort level.

If you are use to, and like, a bike with more quick and flickable characteristics (or you want to go in that direction) the smaller frame would do that over a larger frame.
Again, you're the size that could go either way, so it kinda comes down to personal preference at that point... at least with the small frame you're gaining a bit of standover. I almost chose the small just for that reason alone.

crazyhouse

ah

personally, standover is a preference because as a male mountain biker i am perhaps overly preoccupied with the safety of my junk, which (at least psychologically) correlates to its proximity to hard surfaces (like aluminum tubes). standover also affects a bike/frame's center of gravity - the higher the top tube, all else being equal, the higher the frame's mass sits. i generally like lots of top tube clearance and a low centre of gravity - but the rune is incredibly well suited for riding on vancouver's north shore. i don't think i'd own one if i didn't live here (i'd probably opt for a spitfire)

as for the rune's leverage ratio, i'll defer to the bike's designer:

The Rune is progressive for first 40% of travel then regressive for last 60%. The lowest leverage ratio at 40% travel is designed to give a subtle pedal platform which when combined with anti-squat curve will mean you get efficient pedaling without need for pro pedal or equivalent from the shock.

The overall regressive nature of the suspension is to match the progressive nature of an air shock. If the shock is tuned correctly then the Rune will never bottom out, but depending on the shock it may require bottom out resistance from the shock.

Click to expand...

(lots of great details on the rune's design can be found, straight from the horse's mouth, here: http://mtbgeartech.com/blog/blog/2010/01/24/banshee-rune-revisited/

personally i don't have trouble getting proper sag on my rune, even though i'm running a pretty progressive shock (rp23) and am pretty light (155 lbs on a large frame). i find the rune a bit harsh on small stuff at low speed, but i run my shock pretty stiff - at high speeds my suspension opens up and is quite plush, ditto on bigger hits.