Stolen: One-Off Sonder Full Suspension Prototype

Reported as stolen via Facebook as of this week, this one-off prototype full suspension mountain bike from Sonder was cruelly nicked from a private address Hathersage in the Peak District. Sonder’s marketing manager Dan Thompson was the victim of the crime, with a total of four bikes stolen from his home. Dang it!

With a raw, polished alloy frame, the Sonder full suspension prototype is a rather distinct looking mountain bike, and it’s even more unusual given that Sonder don’t currently offer a full suspension mountain bike. While the specific turn of events is a particularly crappy way for people to find out about a new bike, we got in touch with Neil from Sonder Bikes to find out how Singletrack readers can help keep an eye out for the stolen bike, while getting some more details about the prototype and what to expect for the near future.

The word from Neil at Sonder is that this frame is the third generation prototype. Up until now, the two-year old bike brand has only offered hardtails in the form of the Transmitter and Transmitter Carbon, but it was really only a matter of time before the fledgling brand would begin to open up its range.

“The one that was stolen was my v3 prototype, and yep, it’s the only one!”, Neil explained. “We do have a few older iterations, but the one that’s been nicked is the full production spec and the most fun bike I’ve ridden in ages! I’m particularly devastated as I have BPW next weekend and am gonna have to go on a hardtail now!”

According to Neil, the full suspension prototype is based around 27.5in wheels, with clearance for 2.6in semi-chubby tyres. Or just regular 2.3-2.4in tyres with oodles of mud clearance. The frame features 140mm of rear wheel travel in a four-bar linkage, which uses a Horst link pivot down by the rear dropout, and a compact top tube-mounted rocker link that drives the metric-sized rear shock. There’s a 150mm travel fork on the front, and geometry is quoted as having a 66° head angle, 74° seat angle, 430mm chainstays and a 15mm bottom bracket drop. Reach on the medium-sized prototype is 435mm.

“I designed the bike to basically be the trail bike I’ve always wanted“, says Neil. “It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it all comes together to make what I think is an amazing uk trail bike. We’ve just placed the order for production and will be airfreighting a few in early so will make a trip up when we have them.”

So with the bad news about the stolen prototype, there’s good news that we can expect a new full suspension bike from Sonder in the near future. Stay tuned for more information, and if you see anything in relation to the stolen bike or any of the other bikes stolen from Dan Thompson’s house, get in touch with Sonder Bikes as soon as you can.