Pro Bike Check: Adam Banton

Keith Mulligan

• December 18 2008
• 4,808 views
• 10 comments

Tough guy pose. Photo: Mulligan

Currently living in Utah, Adam has a solid crew of riders to join for a session on any given day and plenty of cement parks to hit up. You’ll also find him at Matt Beringer’s hitting up the wild, wonderful, and wacky obstacles Matt has there to shred, which is where we caught up with him for this Bike Check. Specs, photos, and Q&A below. Read on…

Name: Adam Banton
Age: 33
Residence: Fruit Heights, Utah
Sponsors: Eastern Bikes, Odyssey, Fender Guitars, Duffs, XBalm, Ogio, C.T.i knee braces

Frame: Eastern Reaper, 21-inch top tube
Fork: Odyssey Director
Bars: Odyssey Civillian
Stem: Odyssey Elementary v3
Grips: Odyssey Beringer
Barends: G-Sport Par Ends
Detangler: Odyssey GTX-R
Headset: Eastern
Seatpost: Odyssey In-Tac
Seat Post Clamp: Eastern (integrated)
Seat: Odyssey Veteran, Black Denim series
Cranks: Odyssey Twombolts, 175mm
Sprocket: Odyssey M.D.S 30-tooth
Chain: Eastern
Brakes: Odyssey Evo-II
Cable: Odyssey
Brake Lever: Odyssey M-2
Front Tire: Odyssey Aitken Street, 2.25”
Front Wheel: Odyssey M-7
Rear Tire: Odyssey Frequency G, 1.85”
Rear Wheel: G-Sport Ratchet, 10-tooth, laced on a G-Sport 36-hole Ribcage rim.
Hub Guard: G-Sport Gland
Chain Tensioners: None
Pegs: G-Sport Plegs (prototype)
Pedals: Odyssey Twisted Plastic

Modifications/Other:
I wrap cork tape on my lever to stop blasting my thumbs open when I land hard. I run the Gland loose intentionally, no real reason. It’s a good conversation starter while riding. I run the M.D.S so the guard is in close to the frame. I bent out my lever a little bit, too.

How do you set up your bars? With Odyssey’s Director forks you can’t really go off the fork angle visually.
I usually set it parallel to my head tube. One of the many things I like about the Elementary stem, I get a flat head screwdriver and trace an outline of the stem around the gnarled part of my bars, it’s a perfect fit every time after that.

All black with a gold stem and purple pedals…explain.
I wanted to go all murdered-out with gold brakes, stem, and M.D.S sprocket, but that isn’t what showed up in the box. I don’t care, more black is making that V3 stem pop! Purple pedals this week, something else the next—I think that’s one of the fun things of plastic pedals, but the colors change all the time for me.

What do your brakes feel like? How do you like them?
I hate gross or non-functioning brakes. If they don’t work, just take them off. Which actually is why my front are temporary off. I just couldn’t seem to get them good, then [I] flipped out and took them off a month ago. Minimal spring tension, and pads fairly close to the rim.

Will you always use a chrome rear rim?
So far, I think chrome works the best with least maintenance. If I went brakeless I’d lose them in a minute.

How do you like your Gyro to feel? That’s not a dirty question by the way.
Haha, just dialed, ya know? No flop, tons of Tri-Flow. Tri-flow is the key. I marinate my cables, that’s not a dirty answer by the way.

Does your hand get cut up often from your lever? You’re running some tape and padding around it.
It’s cork tape or track bike tape. For a month I had cuts on both of my thumbs from something, I forget, but I landed real hard, my hands slid down, or something, and the cuts would not heal. Every time I rode, I’d blast them open again. The tape worked. I don’t have bloody thumbs! Yea!

What P.S.I. do you usually run?
95 P.S.I.

Is your seat high or does it just look that way?
My seat is definitely high. Blame it on my seat post.

Do you do all the work on your bike?
Yes, even though it can be a pain, most of the time the end result of setting everything up the way you like is rewarding.

How concerned are you with bike weight?
Hmmm… I don’t run anything titanium, but I do have a lot of plastic components. I don’t know, I keep myself in check. Having a balance for the type of riding you do is a way to find that. I have a great balance of the whole strength/lightweight combo with this bike.

What is it weighing in at?
25-1/2 pounds.

What was the last major thing you switched up on your bike (or your bike’s style) and why?
Taking off my front brakes, I explained why earlier. I’ll put them on again, there’s still a ton of ideas I wanna do with them. Being able to do turndowns again without the fear of getting a lever caught on you shirt is nice, and barspins are easier and cleaner to catch without the left lever being there.

Overall, describe your bike and why you like it the way it is.
Pretty or not, it’s kinda one extension of me—my personality in a way. My bike is awesome. It’s exactly how I want it and makes me smile huge when I’m on it.

If this bike could be summed up by a song, what song would it be?
AC/DC’s Back in Black.