# Bontrager Race or Privateer??



## ZPAlex (Apr 9, 2007)

I used to have a 96 Bontrager Privateer with a 1 inch threaded fork.

It was easy to identify as a Privateer because the seat post was 27.0mm and said Trek on it.

Somewhere I found a post that stated that all Privateers were built by Trek and all have a 27.0 seat post.
The thread stated that all Race and Race Lights had a 26.8mm. 

I also read in another thread that Race and Race light are True Temper OX3 and Privateers are OX2.

Anyway I just picked up a Bontrager with a 1 1/8 threadless fork. I read that the only Bontragers with this set up are 1999 Privateers.

This bike has a original decal marked "handbuilt in the USA True Temper OX3 tubing"

It also has a 26.8mm seat post!!

Do I have a Privateer?

or the very late model Race?


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

There isn't much difference in size between a 26.8 and a 27.0 post. I've run 26.8s on frames meant for 27.0s and they worked fine.

I am leaning towards a privateer as none of the races should have been built with 1&1/8" headtubes. A photo of the dropout will let us tell for sure.

They did do some custom work so it wouldn't surprise me too much if a race turned up with the larger head tube but I've never heard of one to date that wasn't modified after leaving the factory. There is always the chance that someone changed the headtubes on a race. Paul from Rock Lobster has done a few swaps.


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## laffeaux (Jan 4, 2004)

Very likely that it is a Privateer with a 1-1/8" headtube. None of the Race/Race-Lite frames came that way. However, it's possible that someone had the headtube replaced at some point. If the paint is original then it's a Privateer for sure.


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

I had one of those Privateers with the 1 1/8" headtubes, and it was like 27.1mm seattube (I got it frame only as a warranty replacement for a '96 Trek 970). Trek said it was a 27.0 but my Thompson seatpost would continually slip in it. So I ended up honing it and used a 27.2 (tight fitting, but no slip). The tubing though was OX-2.

The best way to tell is if the seatstays and chainstays are gusseted. Privateers were not. Also, the welds may be a giveaway as well if you have an eye for detail. Privateers used Trek's sequential welding technique...which while strong, is not the prettiest. Race and Race Lite frames will have welds that look like a high quality tig weld should look.


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

pics!!!


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## ZPAlex (Apr 9, 2007)

Here are some pictures of the dropouts.

It only has two gussets on the bottom of top tube and on the downtube .

The bike specs out as a 99 Privateer S. Except the OX 3 tubing.

Maybe the last of the Privateers switched to OX 3 and a 26.8 seat post.

I need to find a 27.0 and see if it fits.


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## ZPAlex (Apr 9, 2007)

More pictures.


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## Jeroen (Jan 12, 2004)

100% a Privateer. Details like the dropouts and for sure the paintsceme and decals give it a way for sure.


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## nekobasu (Jul 4, 2007)

The sticker I see in the picture says "Hand Made". The Privateer models were never hand made. Therefore, it's not a Privateer, Privateer S, or Privateer Comp. Since it was made of True Temper OX3 tubing, it can't be a Lite TI, as that was made of titanium. The head tube of the Race Lite is recessed on the front side to eliminate a few grams of weight. Your bike's head tube is not. Therefore, by process of elimination, it can only be a Bontrager Race. There's your definitive answer.


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## richieb (Oct 21, 2004)

Actually, the Privateers were all hand made at Trek's Whitewater plant, So yoes, Virginia, Privateers were handmade.

You have a Privateer...THERE is you definitive answer.

Contrary to popular belief, MOST bikes are actually hand made...

Let the flame war commense!

rb


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

richieb said:


> Actually, the Privateers were all hand made at Trek's Whitewater plant, So yoes, Virginia, Privateers were handmade.
> 
> You have a Privateer...THERE is you definitive answer.
> 
> ...


he has a point about the tubing. privateers were ox deuce, but the paint job and head tube say privateer to me


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

hollister said:


> he has a point about the tubing. privateers were ox deuce, but the paint job and head tube say privateer to me


Dropout screams privateer as well. Stickers might be off a race/racelite. I think I have a set with those colors somewhere. They were the last ones Trek ran out of so therefore pretty likely to end up on any frame someone wanted to make pretty again. The underlying paint is 100% privateer.


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## 95bonty (Oct 6, 2004)

*stickers schmickers*

...any joe blow can stick a new set of decals or the wrong decals on a bike frame, or for that matter repaint it to look like something else, but as has been said by greater Bontrager minds than mine, it's a Privateer - the frame details confirm it regardless of one OX3 sticker.

check mtb-katalogs you can find this one in the 98 Bontrager catalogue alongside all Keith's mates from Brixton Cycles.


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## hollister (Sep 16, 2005)

sorry no scanner and my camera skills suck

its even got the little stripe on the wishbone


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## MrOrange (Jun 21, 2004)

Stock Privateer S . . . Made in isconsin. ("W" left off so you get an idea of the accent there)

Um, no. Not a Race. Dropouts, weld quality, and several other details make it different than a Santa Cruz made frame.

Pretty colors.

I'm still hunting for one like that. Just because.


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## Pepperman (Oct 14, 2004)

My 1998 Bontrager Catalog said that all privateer frames were made of OX3 tubing. Maybe they changed from OX2 to OX3 that year.


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## floibex (Feb 7, 2004)

... the earlier privateer's had been made from "custom drawn true temper 4130".

ciao
flo


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## gotdirt (Jan 17, 2006)

Pepperman said:


> My 1998 Bontrager Catalog said that all privateer frames were made of OX3 tubing.


 
odd, my '98 catalogue shows the entire privateer line as OXII...


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## MrOrange (Jun 21, 2004)

*Catalogs*

Are not a real indicator of what is what - companies frequently change spec after printing


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

*Cute*



MrOrange said:


> . . . Made in isconsin. ("W" left off so you get an idea of the accent there)


:thumbsup:

As long as its not Westconsin like all sportscasters seem to think it is


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## newhollowpointer (Dec 17, 2004)

*NOS Frames in Chicago*

There is a shop in Chicago that still has in stock a new 96 Privateer Comp and A 96 Race Frame. (Also a couple Fervors, Mantras , adroits and Pulses from 95-98 era. & mid ninties stumpys)

Here is a link to a PDF of their current inventory.

http://villagecycle.com/merchant/1270/files/WEB_INVENTORY_07_09_07.pdf


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## gotdirt (Jan 17, 2006)

newhollowpointer said:


> There is a shop in Chicago that still has in stock a new 96 Privateer Comp and A 96 Race Frame.


too bad that _race_ frame is size S...


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## nekobasu (Jul 4, 2007)

*gotdirt:* There's a complete XL bike there. Why don't you buy that?


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## kenjihara (Mar 7, 2006)

nekobasu said:


> The sticker I see in the picture says "Hand Made". The Privateer models were never hand made. Therefore, it's not a Privateer, Privateer S, or Privateer Comp. Since it was made of True Temper OX3 tubing, it can't be a Lite TI, as that was made of titanium. The head tube of the Race Lite is recessed on the front side to eliminate a few grams of weight. Your bike's head tube is not. Therefore, by process of elimination, it can only be a Bontrager Race. There's your definitive answer.


Yeah, sorry, definitely a Privateer. Definitely. The Waterloo bikes all claimed handmade. In Waterloo, not Santa Cruz. Which is fine; they're great frames, sturdy, ride awesome, not that much heavier than a Race, and check it out: you have options when it comes to forks. Nice. Sounds like a more than fair trade to me.


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