Comments on: Bikes: Bontrager Privateer

By: Alfred

Alfred — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:08:39 +0000

my daily rider is is 96 (?) bonty privateer. in zee german paint style (black red and white). i’ve had a lot of nice bikes, but i don’t think i’ve ever been as attached to one as i am to this.
my commute is a combination of paved trails, roads, unpaved trails, and off road vehicle roads. most of my commuter bikes have totally rocked on one of these four environs and sucked on the others. the bontranger, however totally rocks the single track but also does well in all other circumstances.
it’s nimble but not unstable. light but not flimsy, and comfortable on a longish ride. mounting a rear rack on the sucker is a lesson in ingenuity but it can be done.
there is another advantage. most bike theives don’t know that bontrager made frames (it’s just us geeks and we don’t steal bikes) so it’s five finger discount is low.
needless to say, mine doesn’t look nearly as good as yours does. so hold on to it. it’s a gem.

By: Dianne

Dianne — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:08:31 +0000

Thanks! I’ll give both a try – I’m an “OF”, too, just not with the “infrastructure” that will let me ride. The pleasure is vicarious through blogs like yours…

By: doc

doc — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:30:49 +0000

Dianne, I’d recommend monitoring Ebay for similar bikes to see what they are going for; and also contacting your local Trek dealer. They may have inquiries from people looking for Bontys.
Good luck with your sale.

By: Dianne

Dianne — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:02:37 +0000

I have a late ’90s Bonty – serial # 004991 – selling ’cause I can’t ride anymore – Don’t know how to figure price – suggestions?

By: ashwednesday

ashwednesday — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:39:23 +0000

…and if you get bored with your Bontrager, let me know and I’ll gladly take it off your hands.

Your Privateer is actually from one of the last years that Trek made the Privateer, not the first, which was more like ‘96, officially. This may actually be of great benefit to you, since the later manufacture Privateers featured a 1 1/8″ steerer tube on the fork instead of the previously featured and now non-standard and hard to find 1″. In layman’s terms, if you ride the snot out of that fork, you’ll be able to choose just about any replacement fork instead of scouring ebay for rare 1″ versions.

I own a few Bontragers; they’re my favorite. Just check out that elegant tubeset and the classy wishbone seat stay. You really lucked- out.