When it comes to mountain bikes, my mind is a sea of itself these days. High tides, low tides, calm waters, and massive breakers. There’s just too much going on. I’ve been splitting my riding time three ways with a Devinci Chainsaw, my Marinster Truck, and the Banshee Enigma. The Chainsaw has been getting the most attention as it’s here for a good time, but a short time. Still, I’m getting out enough to be properly putting the bikes through their paces. 

The Enigma is quickly nearing the end of its time as a rigid single-speed. It will soon return the parts that it borrowed from my Waltworks V2. Then, to wrap up my review, it will be multi-speeded with a 140mm fork, appropriating the parts from my Marinster Truck. This is of course the beauty of shared standards. 73mm threaded bottom brackets, 148mm rear hub spacing, mullets all around. Sort of. In theory. 

I’ve never ridden my V2 as a mullet but when it gets back my plan is to try it. At least once around the block. Okay, maybe for at least one ride. I should probably make it a minimum of two rides. Anyway. 

I feel I have enough leeway in the bottom bracket height and seat tube angle to get away with it. Why mullet? Admittedly a hardtail with a smaller rear wheel does not cover ground as smoothly as running a 29″ hoop. Top speed through chunky terrain is lower. There’s no suspension to allow the 27″ rear wheel to move up and over roots and rocks, so it’s all down to angle of attack. That’s why, after my rigid mullet experiences with the Kona Explosif, both my Waltworks frames were designed as dual 29″ rigs. 

But I really enjoy how the Enigma accelerates on climbs when I put power into the #1FG drivetrain and I’m prepared to see how much of that is down to geometry versus wheel size. The Enigma has super-short stays, but the front center and HTA are a near match for the V2, which is much slacker and longer than the Explosif was, and this adds a great deal of confidence when ‘charging’ even with the smaller rear wheel. 

I’m excited to relearn to ride the Walt’s long-long rear center. The extended wheelbase is certainly more comfortable in chunky armoured North Shore terrain. I’m trepidatious about relearning to ride the Walt’s long-long rear center. I wonder how many wooden features I’m going to fall off of in my first month. In initial rides, I found the Banshee’s 2″ shorter chain stays to be unnerving but now I’m quite used to how the bike handles in the same terrain I typically ride the V2. 

Back to mulleting, since I was having the head tube replaced anyway, I did think about tweaks to the geometry that maybe make it more mullet friendly but in the end, there’s a new beefier Paragon headtube stuck-on but the geometry remains the same. I have a 29″ rear hoop ready to go if I find that this bike needs the matched wheels to ride as I remember it. 

It promises to be an interesting experience. Or, maybe, a bland one actually. My V2 was intended to be a ‘last bike’ situation. Or at least a last-bike-for-riding-rigid-single-speeds-on-the-Shore situation. Take what I’ve learning from other bikes, boil it down, have Walt translate my insane ramblings into a geo chart, get it painted Cosmic Lilac, and then ride. 

Having been off this bike for months, and having gotten very used to the Enigma, I expect some amount of a transitionary period around climbing and descending with the long rear center. Aside from that transition, I’m expecting – mulleted or with dual 29″ hoops – to find myself riding faster and attacking technical sections more confidently but working harder when it’s tight and twisty compared to the other hardtails I’ve been riding. Whether they be multi-speed or single-speed.