This is what I love about this group. The only thing hanging in my garage in larger numbers than Bridgestones and Rivendells are old Bontragers.
>>" I want a Bontrager Privateer pretty bad. Those frames were really cool, and Bontrager seems to be kind of retro in his stylings before Trek perhaps drove a dumptruck full of cash up to his house." I would never think to call Bontrager "retro." He was/is responsible for more technological advancements than you can imagine, and his 90's design efforts probably still have as much influence on the modern mountain bike design as Tom Ritchey, the WTB guys, and Grant, combined. He either had a hand in, or was directly responsible for, the direct descendant of every single suspenion fork (project with Rock Shox), narrow aloy rim, low profile saddle, linear-pull brake, full-suspension and carbon fiber frame (project with Kestrel) that you've ever seen. He did hold out against the 1 1/8" headsets and clung to steel frame construction - but hey, we all know that's because they were still superior, right? >> "My brother's 1992 Bontrager (pre-Trek) is still an awesome bike. Rides equal to my Bstone MB, which is still my #1 pure dirt choice. I told him he should not listen to our other friends who are constantly urging: "upgrade, new bike, get it." Like the Grant Peterson era MB-0/1/2 Bridgestones, his mountain bikes were very good climbers, but had very much full-on racer geometry, and are still valid designs that hold their own against anything new - if you can tune out the voices telling you that you have to "upgrade." >> "Or is the story different? Anyone know how Trek came to acquire the name?" I think the reason Keith Bontrager sold to Trek was basically because the running of a business had simply started to take too much time away from innovating and building bikes. He worked the deal where he could still be be involved in product development and, for a while, still build most of the bikes in the Santa Cruz shop. There are some good articles and interviews to be found on the MTBR VRC forum, MOMBAT website, and on Retrobike in a thread called "Bring out your Bontragers" that are probably more accurate and insightful than this >> "Yep. A Bontrager CX bike would be great. I don't know if Rock Lobster still makes Nontragers, but you could always ask... " Whatever you do, do NOT ask Paul Sadoff to build you a Nontrager!!!!! (this is the real reason I responded - you MUST read this blog post before you think of doing so. Plus, Rock Lobster makes some REALLY NICE cross bikes of their own design anyway!!!): http://overopinionatedframebuilder.blogspot.com/2012/06/thanks-but-no-thanks.html >> "love Mark's bikes, but hadn't seen the Bontrager before. Nice Santa Cruz style two-piece stays, and presumably non-original 650B front end. I've thought about doing the same, but don't have the stones. I think a Kona P2 would work, but Mark's fork looks like a custom segmented Igleheart, or similar. Has anyone chatted with him about how he likes the setup?" Finally, here's a thread on a bontrager that a guy converted to a 96er, similar to Mark's but one step further. I do like Mark's idea, though!: http://forums.mtbr.com/vintage-retro-classic/apologies-purists-bonty-makeover-308641.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
