To the old schools: Bontager XC frame questions

[Carbuncle]

So a co-worker of mine is selling me a steel Bontrager frame of unknown vintage. Does anyone know anything about Bontrager frames that they can share? I can't find much useful on what he made and when he made them on the web, and I don't know what this bad boy is. It's OX steel tubing, about 18", has wishbone style seatstay, and has a nifty little bolt-on anti chain suck device integrated into the chainstay. From what I've seen online, the Privateer didn't have a wishbone chainstay, so I'm stumped as to the model and year.

[sanrensho]

If you don't get an answer here, I would suggest a friendly post on the Vintage board at MTBR.com. Those guys are generally friendly and helpful, as well as being nuts about their vintage MTBs.

[Nelson]

I met Keith, he's a really awesome guy. Super clever and easy to talk to. Definatley one of the cooler guys in the industry IMO.

[UFO]

the privateer was the entry level bonty frame, if i recall correctly. sounds to me like you have something higher up in the pecking order, pre-trek days. got a pic to share?

[Carbuncle]

I never had it long enough to take a picture: I bought it for 15 bucks off of a guy who had no idea what it was, and was talking to a friend about it (and showing it off) when another co-worker walked by and said "WOW, NICE! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED A BONTRAGER!!!" She offered to buy it, and since she was fully stoked on building it and riding it (and since I was just going to ebay it or hang it on my wall since it's a 17" frame and I need a 20" minimum for a true XC frame) I sold it to her for 30 bucks. Nice welds on it, though, and sweet butterfly gussets on the top and down tubes. Really good workmanship for what might have been a Trek-built bike. I tend to suspect it to have been a later model full-custom built by Keith though, just because of all the little sweet details on it.

[sanrensho]

Dunno if this helps, not a lot of info about frame details but you could try matching the paint schemes:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://bontrager.com

[Carbuncle]

Thanks, sanrensho, cool stuff!

[sanrensho]

Thanks, sanrensho, cool stuff!

No problem. I still can't believe you bought and sold a Bonty from for less than $30.:eek:

[Carbuncle]

The buy was a given. The sale...well, when someone is that happy about the possibility of picking up a classic steel frame, and that someone happens to be a friend and former roomate, you know. I doubled my money in less than three hours of ownership, and the new owner gets, apparently, her dream bike so it's all good.

[ito]

The buy was a given. The sale...well, when someone is that happy about the possibility of picking up a classic steel frame, and that someone happens to be a friend and former roomate, you know. I doubled my money in less than three hours of ownership, and the new owner gets, apparently, her dream bike so it's all good.

You are a good man sir.

Those are beautiful bikes. I've been drooling over two of them that some customers have this summer(pre-trek, 1992ish frames I think).

The Ito

[Loopie]

The buy was a given. The sale...well, when someone is that happy about the possibility of picking up a classic steel frame, and that someone happens to be a friend and former roomate, you know. I doubled my money in less than three hours of ownership, and the new owner gets, apparently, her dream bike so it's all good.
Cheers to you Man. :beer: