Readers’ Rides #6
The Global Village. nsmb allows us to be in contact with riders from all over the world and for me that’s a real treat. When Marc sent me photos of his bike I knew it was a great candidate for Readers’ Rides. The shock is on top of the top tube? You must be joking. It’s Danish? It just gets better and better. Here’s Marc’s description of his 2440 gram (5.4 lb) Pronghorn PR6-LT. And those aren’t graphics – those numbers describe the geometry of the bike.
The old green machine with moto parts and the Pronghorn PR6-LT
My name is Marc Brodesser (23 ) and I’m from Germany. I am a Bike-Coach and I write for a few bike magazines. You can call me an experienced rider (started in 1999). I am supported by the Danish bike company Pronghorn Racing. Their bikes are unique, but the reason I choose to ride one is that I was looking for a bike that perfectly fits my riding style. I used to ride my big bike (180 mm travel) on freeride rides (singletrail shredding) for years now and with its Rohloff Hub I also could ride a marathon (short track) on it. But 20 kilos are 20 kilos and so I searched a bike that is lighter but also very versatile. This is what I found.
Marc was seduced by light weight an unconventional design.
I’ve never been a fan of the lightweight hype regarding all-mountain bikes, which have to be versatile but still strong enough for freeride-terrain. These carbon Ransoms and Cannondales didn’t inspire confidence for me so I said to myself “my 20 kilo big bike with its Rohloff hub is the best bike for my riding style” which involves climbing some mountains and shredding down the best singletrack. Unfortunately the big bike was heavy because of all the steel parts, which I took from my dirtbike when I built it up in 2003. Nethertheless I rode endurance races on my big bike and didn’t care about the weight. Eventually I wanted to be faster, not only in the downhill, but also on the ascents. I needed a lighter bike with similar handling to my agile freeride bike, which has a custom made frame with short chainstays. It rides like a dual slalom fully with 180 mm travel.
The Fox RP 23 sits right between your knees.
Wasting my time in Germany’s biggest bike forum I came across the Danish bike company Pronghorn Racing. I saw the long travel version of their unique PR6-Frame and I was sure: This bike could be the singletrack-machine that I was looking for! It is light but also very versatile. And it is more unique than the vehicles from the big players in the industry. It had to be different, but also fully functional.
Wide bars – the charmingly named ‘Spank Bitch Stick’ bars are 700 mm wide or 27.55 inches.
I contacted the guys from Pronghorn Racing in Silkeborg, Denmark and they were very nice. I visited them and it was my first time in Denmark. I didn’t expected such cool singletrack over there – okay, they were more like XC-Trails, but always with a lot of flow. Although it was very cold we had a three hour ride in the Danish woods and I testet the PR6-LT for the first time. The stem was too long for me, but the handling of the bike impressed me a lot.
Apparently SR Suntour makes forks for a brand that is very popular here in North America.
One week later – back in germany – I held the PR-6-frame in my hands. The frame has 150 mm of travel and looked really nice. So my father helped me build it up, putting some parts from older bikes in our cellar on it (Shimano LX cranks, some Deore parts, the Selle Royal saddle and old Magura brakes – I will put on new ones during this season). I had to buy some new parts like the Truvativ seatpost, which looks really nice fits perfectly with the style of the complete bike.
Like the term ‘freeride’ back in the day, everyone has a slightly different version of ‘All-Mountain.’ Photo ~ Johannes Herden
As everyone can see the position of the shock is not usual, but it makes sense. I like the fact that I can lower the seat and that the shock is protected from mud. All my bikes in the past were very agile – I rode dirtbikes for a few years – so I love to play with my bike. The geometry of my Pronghorn is short so I can manual easily, but uphills are also very important to me, because I have been riding marathon races since 2001 (Riva del Garda festival), but just for fun.
Marc loves the way the Pronghorn manuals.
My fork is an SR Suntour Epicon with 140 mm of travel. Normally the bike has a 160 mm Fox fork on it, but because of the XC and marathon races I wanted to keep the bike versatile and not only perfect for all mountain riding. The Fox shock (plush feeling) has the pro pedal function, which is perfect for long ascents on asphalt. I can lower the fork to 90 mm with a lever on my bar. The wheels are from my dads marathon bike and they are light and strong (DT Swiss hubs with Coda rims). My bar is wide (700 mm) and has a cool name: Spank bitch stick – my friends admitted that my bike now better should be called “Longhorn”, this would fit to the bars’ name.
The PR6 LT doesn’t shy away from ze gap. Photo ~ Johannes Herden
What do you think about the unconventional design of Pronghorn bikes? Would you like a little shock between your legs? Are you a fan of All Mountain bikes? What’s your version? Share it up here…
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