Bontrager

"Lars Kondrup" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi there.. can anyone tell me abourt the bontrager frames from 1999 to
2001??
are they any good?
and dos anyone know of a place where to buy one ??
Kind Regards
Lars

IIRC they were just Trek frames by then, I also seem to recall he had some
odd ideas about the angle of the front fork around that time.
It wouldn't be my first choice tbh....

Isn't that Trek??

"Lars Kondrup" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi there.. can anyone tell me abourt the bontrager frames from 1999 to
2001??
are they any good?
and dos anyone know of a place where to buy one ??
Kind Regards
Lars

"no spam for me" <no_ [email hidden]> wrote in message
news:Ejb2f.23053$A52.5730@trnddc02...

Quoted message said:

Isn't that Trek??

At one time, they were a frame shop. I almost bought one in '97, but opted
for the Voodoo instead. I did not care for the quill type stem on the
Bontrager. Not sure if they had 1" head tubes at the time. Then......Trek
bought them, and dismantled the company, or something like that.

little earthquakes said:

At one time, they were a frame shop. I almost bought one in '97,
but opted for the Voodoo instead. I did not care for the quill
type stem on the Bontrager. Not sure if they had 1" head tubes
at the time. Then......Trek bought them, and dismantled the
company, or something like that.

I maintain a page about Bontrager bike and bike frame history here:

http://arkansasvalley.net/bontrager/

Trek acquired Bontrager in about 1995. At that time, Keith Bontrager
was operating a frame building shop in Santa Cruz, CA. As he tells it,
business was difficult. It was hard to charge enough for the frames
to make the business pay, and Keith didn't want to sell super-expensive
frames anyway. He wanted them to be affordable. Having the finance
muscle of Trek behind him seemed like a good way to keep in the
business.

Trek supported keeping the Santa Cruz frame building operation going.
At about the same time, Keith and Trek came up with a new frame model,
the Privateer, which would be built using the same geometry and tubing
(TrueTemper steel) in Trek's Waterloo, WI frame building factory. The
economies of scale allowed them to sell Privateers as complete bikes
for about the same as a Santa Cruz-built Race Lite (handbuilt) bare
frame.

For a 18 months or two years (or so, memory fails) Privateer complete
bikes and Race and Race Lite frames (from Santa Cruz) were available.
Then the decision was made to close the Santa Cruz shop, and
discontinue the handbuilt Race and Race Lite models. That was Spring
of 1997. When I heard this was happening, I ordered an XL Race in
Orange. It had a 1" steerer, as all Race, Race Lite, and Ti Race Lites
did. That year, and I think for the 1998 model year, the Privateer
had a 1" steerer. In 1999 (I think) they made the Privateer with
a 1 1/8" steerer.

Finally, in 2000 or 2001 (I think) the Privateer was discontinued.
Now Bontrager makes stems, saddles, seat posts, handlebars, cranks,
rims, wheelsets, and sundry other components. They are a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Trek, but as I understand it, Bontrager is managed with
a certain amount of autonomy, and Keith still provides design
leadership.

So, they haven't been "dismantled".

The Privateer frames were very good products. Trek builds some very
nice frames in their domestic factory. Keith himself was riding a
Privateer for many years, and claimed that they were every bit as
good as the pricey (and now rare) Race and Race Lite frames. I
personally would only want a late model Privateer with 1 1/8" steerer
if I were to get back into the business of owning a Bontrager. My
Race was really nice, but I don't think that was because it was made
in Santa Cruz. It was nice because Keith put a great deal of soul
into designing mtb geometry.
--
Tom "keeper of the Bontrager lore" Purvis
http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/
"Cheap, light, strong; choose two." --Keith Bontrager

"Tom Purvis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

little earthquakes said:

At one time, they were a frame shop. I almost bought one in '97,
but opted for the Voodoo instead. I did not care for the quill
type stem on the Bontrager. Not sure if they had 1" head tubes
at the time. Then......Trek bought them, and dismantled the
company, or something like that.

I maintain a page about Bontrager bike and bike frame history here:

http://arkansasvalley.net/bontrager/

Trek acquired Bontrager in about 1995. At that time, Keith Bontrager
was operating a frame building shop in Santa Cruz, CA. As he tells it,
business was difficult. It was hard to charge enough for the frames
to make the business pay, and Keith didn't want to sell super-expensive
frames anyway. He wanted them to be affordable. Having the finance
muscle of Trek behind him seemed like a good way to keep in the
business.

Trek supported keeping the Santa Cruz frame building operation going.
At about the same time, Keith and Trek came up with a new frame model,
the Privateer, which would be built using the same geometry and tubing
(TrueTemper steel) in Trek's Waterloo, WI frame building factory. The
economies of scale allowed them to sell Privateers as complete bikes
for about the same as a Santa Cruz-built Race Lite (handbuilt) bare
frame.

For a 18 months or two years (or so, memory fails) Privateer complete
bikes and Race and Race Lite frames (from Santa Cruz) were available.
Then the decision was made to close the Santa Cruz shop, and
discontinue the handbuilt Race and Race Lite models. That was Spring
of 1997. When I heard this was happening, I ordered an XL Race in
Orange. It had a 1" steerer, as all Race, Race Lite, and Ti Race Lites
did. That year, and I think for the 1998 model year, the Privateer
had a 1" steerer. In 1999 (I think) they made the Privateer with
a 1 1/8" steerer.

Finally, in 2000 or 2001 (I think) the Privateer was discontinued.
Now Bontrager makes stems, saddles, seat posts, handlebars, cranks,
rims, wheelsets, and sundry other components. They are a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Trek, but as I understand it, Bontrager is managed with
a certain amount of autonomy, and Keith still provides design
leadership.

So, they haven't been "dismantled".

The Privateer frames were very good products. Trek builds some very
nice frames in their domestic factory. Keith himself was riding a
Privateer for many years, and claimed that they were every bit as
good as the pricey (and now rare) Race and Race Lite frames. I
personally would only want a late model Privateer with 1 1/8" steerer
if I were to get back into the business of owning a Bontrager. My
Race was really nice, but I don't think that was because it was made
in Santa Cruz. It was nice because Keith put a great deal of soul
into designing mtb geometry.
--
Tom "keeper of the Bontrager lore" Purvis
http://www.arkansasvalley.net/tpurvis/
"Cheap, light, strong; choose two." --Keith Bontrager

Tom, thanks for me straight, the history lesson, and link.