Danish company Pronghorn make XC-oriented race bikes, with novel suspension design. They also do a Lauf-equipped, 7.99Kg XC hardtail. At present, they sell direct via their website, but they revealed to us that they’d like to work with bike shops as delivery points. They said many bike shops in Denmark are finding it difficult to stay afloat in the present climate, particularly if they hold a lot of stock. You’re unlikely to find more than a couple of brands at your local bike shop. At the same time, direct sales just can’t do things like sizing with certainty, or building for less mechanically confident buyers. Partnerships with brick-and-mortar stores could perhaps solve both these problems. If you run a UK bike shop and this sounds interesting, you can find their contact information here.
According to Pronghorn, this is the shortest wheelbase 29er on the market. Depending on size, it ranges from 1107mm to 1137mm.Their suspension design is patented. I’ve not tried it, but they said this shock placements means that the further forward you put your weight, the stiffer the shock becomes. As you lean back and put your weight through the pedals, it once again starts to use the travel more easily.The XC chops of most of their range were undeniably on show, with integrated carbon bars and stems on everything.The SID up front also has remote lockout.This one comes with SRAM X0, not to mention the chainstay length also helpfully printed on the frame.Front mechs: not dead yet.This 27.5″ one is a bit blingier, with SRAM Eagle.X0 hubs……and plenty of cable routing options.Making the 50t sprocket black is some pretty cunning design work from SRAM.This is the 27.5″ Di2, based around the same frameset, but with some options that don’t seem to be available on their website.For a start, the red, but also this Blackbox SID.XTR Di2 throughout.Foam grips, and a remote fork lockout.DT 350 hubs…… paired to carbon rims. Weight is around 9.5Kg.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
That is insanely ugly. I mean….insanely…
The 650b one looks like it was designed by HR Giger…
Would not to land on that shock if you come off the saddle a bit sharpish, normal tube is bad enough to land your ‘friends’ on.
Head angle looks steep!