We Take a Look at Joe Connell’s Prototype Privateer Downhill Bike.

Privateer Bikes have been working away in to produce a prototype downhill bike for their Scottish rider Joe Connell with an interesting front wheel.

As the dust settled after the Fort William World Cup, we met up with Joe Connell to have a sneaky peek at his prototype Privateer downhill machine.

Photos by Pete Scullion.

What you’re looking at here is, in fact, one of the pre-production Gen 2 Privateer 161 bikes, but it’s also Privateer’s latest prototype offering up a full downhill-ready 200mm travel. Proof positive that it’s an enduro frame is that it still comes with the threaded inserts for frame storage on the lower underside of the top tube.

So how have Privateer turned their enduro bike into a downhill bike? Well, the answer is beautifully simple. By fitting a longer stroke shock, a 65mm unit in this case, travel jumps to 174mm. The remainder of the travel increase comes from a custom, UK-made linkage. The linkage itself can be described as thick.

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This bike is Mullet only as there’s not enough room for the rear wheel if it’s the bigger 29″ offering that you can fit on the 161. You do retain the rear centre adjustability of the enduro bike though. Joe normally rides a P2 161 frame as he prefers a smaller bike, but with the new link and dual crown forks, he’ll likely go to a P3 on a production 161 with the linkage.

As it stands, the linkage is a little too linear in the first half of the travel, so a V2 link is inbound to provide more mid-stoke support and firm up the travel around sag. This will allow lower pressures in an air shock and the right amount of sag in both coil and air shocks. The next frame that may well be a production Gen 2 frame and will also come with a longer stroke shock again.

Proof positive that the 161 is a strong old frame is that the enduro bike has been easily adapted to downhill use without any real issues in that department. Joe Connell will be making more of a focus on downhill compared to enduro as a result.

Out front is also a prototype Hunt front wheel. The team at Hunt remain tight-lipped about the specifics but with Joe riding more downhill, it’s an ideal way to test a gravity focused prototype at the same time as developing the new bike.

You can check out the Gen 2 Privateer Bikes offerings over on our News page here.


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