Production Privee Goes Full Suspension With The Shan Nº5

After months of speculation and a healthy dose of teasers via social media, Production Privee has finally announced its first full suspension bike. And in typical Production Privee fashion, it’s long, low and slack, and it’s also made of steel.

For those unfamiliar with Production Privee, the Andorran-based brand has been around since 2011, and has etched itself a reputation for building lovely steel hardtails designed for the radder side of the riding spectrum. The original Shan was the bike that really raised the profile for Production Privee, followed up by the Shan 27, the OKA and most recently the 29er Shan GT (see Fresh Goods this week for details on that…).

One frame type Production Privee didn’t have though was a full suspension bike. Until today that is.

Production Privee have been working on prototypes of the Shan Nº5 over the past two years, but it’s only been in the last few months when development has really sped up and bikes have been spotted out in the wild taking on the steep Andorran slopes.

Full details of the Production Privee Shan Nº5 have not been revealed as of yet, so we can only speculate on the geometry, suspension travel and pricing, but given the name, we can be fairly sure that we will be looking at numbers similar to the current Shan 27. Perhaps the “Nº5” refers to 5in of rear travel? The current Shan 27 hardtail is designed for a 150-160mm travel fork, and given the burly Fox 36 fork shown in the photos of the prototype Shan Nº5, it certainly looks like the fork travel is the same. If that’s correct, that would make it a ‘mullet’ bike of sorts, with a 20-30mm more fork travel than rear travel.

What we do know for sure though is like previous Production Privee frames, the Shan Nº5 is made from steel (4130 cromo to be exact) and it will feature a paint job inspired by retro sports cars (the original Porsche 911 if you’re wondering).

Obvious details we can make out from the photos include a simple single pivot design, an alloy shock mount that’s bolted to the middle of the downtube (like the Cotic Rocket and Flare), and a bolt on alloy shock yoke.

The shock yoke is a clever way of driving the rear shock from a more rearward pivot point, without having to alter the shock location. It’s a design we’ve seen used by the likes of Specialized, Kona and Lapierre, but it’s not a design we’ve seen on a more stripped-back single pivot platform. To avoid simply pushing the shock skywards, the shuttle yoke is rotated 90°, so it captures the lower shock eyelet to eliminate any rotation through the eyelet DU bush. Effectively, the shock yoke and the shock stanchion become the one structural member. And instead of the DU bush rotating during compression, two bearings connect the shock yoke to the rear swingarm to take care of the necessary rotational duties. While we can only speculate on the leverage curve that Production Privee has come up with, it goes without saying that there’s certainly more tuneability with this approach than a more simplistic single pivot bike an Orange Five. Very clever, while being dead simple too.

We’re assuming that the Shan Nº5 will be available as a 27.5in bike, however the photo below seems to show a longer frame with longer shock shuttle. Could this be a 29er version, or simply a larger bike?

Other details we can make out from the photo include bolt-on modular dropouts that feature an integrated hanger, a curvy tapered head tube, and a press-fit bottom bracket. Based off the current Shan and Oka frames, it appears to be a PF92 standard, rather than the bigger diameter PF30 shell. There’s no provision for a bottle cage on the prototype full suspension frame, and it also looks to be 1x specific too.

As for availability, Shan Nº5 frames should start arriving at Production Privee in April with the first production set rolling out in June. Production Privee plan to release final tech details and paint designs in March.

Below is the official press release for the Production Privee Shan Nº5 and below that a short video:

“Following on from the SHAN 26, the SHAN 27, the OKA and the SHAN GT, we bring you our fifth frame, the SHAN N°5. We first outlined this project two years ago, but the developmental pace picked up rapidly at the beginning of 2016. Once the design had been confirmed, the fabrication of the first two prototypes was left to our Pyrenean friends at Milc, a small company specialising in prototype production.

We’ve been intensively (and discreetly) testing the N°5 since May. After 8 months of trail testing, of adjustments, of suspension tests, and general weeding out of any issues, the SHAN N°5 was born.

As with all our frames in the SHAN range, we’ve created a playful bike with superb versatility, but without sacrificing the comfort and performance a modern full-suspension bike can bring. Throw a steel frame into the mix and you’ve got something very special indeed. The compliance, energy and feel you get from 4130 CrMo tubes is just… magical.

The first pre-series arrives around April time, with the first production set for June. We’ve still got a bit of work to do before then, but we will let you know about some tech, specs and price in March. As for every of our frames, the paint job take a special place at Production Privee. We will released it in March, but be sure SHAN Nº5 will get the wonderfull inspiration of iconic cars as well…

This video will hopefully allow you to imagine yourselves by our side during the last few months of the project. As a good news never comes alone, we launch in the same time our brand new website : www.productionprivee.com“

Can’t see the video? (click here).