1997 Bontrager Privateer Comp

Fenton,

Did you re-spay the forks? I dont remember the Judy's having a painted crown?

Great bike I have to say, looks really posh in green. But if the shifters are done and over with, why sell them? give them away, for someone who needs some parts.

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Thanks for the kind words mate, I don't think the shifters would be of any use to anyone, but I may well pass them on when I find some xt shifters. It was more the brake levers I was thinking of selling, to part fund the xt combos.

Did you re-spray the forks? I dont remember the Judy's having a painted crown?

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No mate, the black crown was a bontrager thing, I think they have a slightly different offset/rake to standard Judy's to fit with Keith's geometry.

re:

well the brake-levers are great from the xt line.


isn't the bontranger 1"? and I have some memory that the xc wasn't orderable in 1"? just a guess. black was only sold oem on bike I think.

isn't the bontranger 1"? and I have some memory that the xc wasn't orderable in 1"? just a guess. black was only sold oem on bike I think.

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Yes, its a 1" steerer, they were OEM on bontragers only on account of the geometry and had a different rake and offset.

Re: re:

captain8track":10ycw2qp said:

ohh, shut the f*ck up. they're crap, slx is crap, lx is crap,stx, deore is crap. xt/ xtr is way better. Trust me I've ridden them all.There is no way in hell that stx shifter outperforms Xt/xtr from any time period.

I would say that they are as precise as a worn out gearbox from a 1987 bmw 325 abused by a teenager in some shithole, where people live for football, coalmines or some other rubbish.

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If you want to be unpleasant, why not go somewhere else?

I speak from personal experience, and it so happens that both of the people to whom I have long-term lent the commuter STX and STX-RC bikes have remarked (unprompted) what excellent gear changes they have. One was planning to singlespeed the bike, but changed his mind when he found out how good the shifting was.

As for reliability, you'll find some fairly expensive jumping and freeride bikes still have Alivio shifters, owing to the lack of ghost shifting that you'd get with more delicate units.

Looks

Be interesting to do a back to back test ride on a privateer vs a race.

Thanks John, high praise indeed from the boss! I'm not sure what the differences are, apart from the obvious post trek thing..... I'm on the look out for a pre trek race/race lite at the moment, so I may be able to carry out such a test in the future!

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Anthony":7pxg0vv2 said:

captain8track":7pxg0vv2 said:

ohh, shut the f*ck up. they're crap, slx is crap, lx is crap,stx, deore is crap. xt/ xtr is way better. Trust me I've ridden them all.There is no way in hell that stx shifter outperforms Xt/xtr from any time period.

I would say that they are as precise as a worn out gearbox from a 1987 bmw 325 abused by a teenager in some shithole, where people live for football, coalmines or some other rubbish.

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If you want to be unpleasant, why not go somewhere else?

I speak from personal experience, and it so happens that both of the people to whom I have long-term lent the commuter STX and STX-RC bikes have remarked (unprompted) what excellent gear changes they have. One was planning to singlespeed the bike, but changed his mind when he found out how good the shifting was.

As for reliability, you'll find some fairly expensive jumping and freeride bikes still have Alivio shifters, owing to the lack of ghost shifting that you'd get with more delicate units.

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/ well dirt bikes don't see that much shifting either way. And the lack of ghostshifting can be a result of the lack of function...

But well sometimes u can find low budget alternatives that are really good, but stx isn't up to the plot when comes to racing. I bought some deores for one of my bikes, but they´re worthless compared to xt/xtr units or even some Sram Attacks...

but if it works for you, it works. Guess it all depends on what kind of level of riding u do, for workbikes alivio units probarly is better then xtr cause they are made for everyday use, which the xtr ones probarly is not. But most of the upmarket Shimano gear can be renovated when worn out, like fixing springs and stuff. Just takes some time...

Did not mean to offend you...

Well.... I've now fitted the XT combos and the difference is incredible, its just so much nicer to ride when you can get the gear you want when you want it! just need to swap out the rear wheel for an xt parallax/mavic 221 number and this one is finished! It's getting lots of use now too!

Fenton":1ft3tg10 said:

Well.... I've now fitted the XT combos and the difference is incredible, its just so much nicer to ride when you can get the gear you want when you want it! just need to swap out the rear wheel for an xt parallax/mavic 221 number and this one is finished! It's getting lots of use now too!

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that's great, riding is what they are intended for...