Production Privee Sponsors The Brigade Team for 2021 with New Downhill Bike
Press Release: The Brigade
It's something we've secretly been working away on over the past year. A project so big it has been difficult to keep a secret, and news so exciting we can't sit on it for any longer.
For 2021 The Brigade Team will be racing the Downhill World Cup season on a completely new chassis designed, developed and manufactured in Andorra by Production Privée at the Forestal Technology Centre. Yes, you read that correctly, those purveyors of sexy steel bikes at Production Privée have turned their attention to the downhill World Cup with a completely new bike featuring revolutionary new suspension and cutting edge, in-house, manufacturing.
The guys and girls at the Forestal Technology Centre have been working so hard on this project that they've not even had the chance to name it, but we don't think that matters because this machine really speaks for itself.
Thanks to their new manufacturing facility, and partnership with Forestal Group, Production Privée has used the new tech at their disposal to seamlessly move from steel to a cutting-edge CNC manufacturing process. The PP DH frame is machined from solid blocks of aluminium which are hand-welded together in Andorra to create a monocoque frame stiff enough for the roughest of UCI DH tracks.
This race-ready rig runs 205mm of rear-wheel travel via a Twin Levity linkage system developed by Forestal and re-engineered for downhill racing from the Siryon Enduro bike.
Alex Marin of The Brigade has been secretly testing the new bike during the off-season and judging by his on-track speed and off-track smiles, we're confident we're on to something really good;
 | First time I saw the bike I knew they did a fantastic job with it. The bike itself looks as good as how it works on track. The first impression when I rode it, was like home for me. They worked so hard on the geometry to make it super easy to adapt to it and get up to speed pretty quick. My first big thought was how sensitive it was, the first bit of the travel is amazing, you can go thru those rock gardens and braking bumps and the bike will always stay on the line. I’m so happy to see that we’ll have such a great machine to race at the highest level, and hopefully, with the help of the team and the brand, make it grow to the very top |
The partnership between The Brigade Team and Production Privée began in 2020 when Production Privée supported the team for its first season with cockpit components. Over the year the relationship blossomed and through a shared love of bikes, racing and fast cars the Production Privée DH bike was born:
| This project is part of a deeper R&D project that we are carrying on manufacturing technologies and this is just the first milestone. Our next step is going lead us on major chassis manufacturing innovations and products that hopefully will be presented during the year more will come during 2021 and 2022. Steel lovers shouldn’t be afraid! We have good stuff coming, and products that the racer can enjoy too! |
If our project downhill bike wasn't news enough for you all, then we would like to take this opportunity to introduce our new and returning sponsors for the 2021 racing season.
• Production Privée - Production Privée the unreal engineers behind our new frameset will also provide The Brigade with their race-winning cockpit.
• SR Suntour - We're stoked to be riding Suntour again. We've loved their suspension for a long time, and love working with this passionate brand.
• Vee Tire Co. - When we're hitting the DH tracks as hard and fast as Alex is, we need a strong tire partner and with Vee Tire Co. we have the best rubber on the race track.
• Monkeys Sauce - Keeping our ultra-rare new framesets clean and factory fresh is our maintenance and sealant partner, Monkeys Sauce.
• Kenny - Comfortable, stylish and cool. Who else would we want to wear and represent?
• Bluegrass - We take safety seriously and with Bluegrass onboard we can take to the track without any concerns.
• Crankbrothers - Our riders loved their first season on Crankbrothers Synthesis wheels and we're stoked to be working with this legendary brand for the coming season.
• Formula - We welcome Formula for 2021. With our new, faster bike, we need reliable brakes to keep us under control and we can think of none better.
• GALFER - Galfer is another exciting new partner for the team. Their experience in the moto field is indispensable and we love the power and feel of their precision discs and pads.
• Fizik - When we think of strong, light, comfortable saddles engineered for performance there can only be one choice. Fizik is known for their design and engineering and we're proud to have them on board.
• HXR - HXR's innovative Easyshift chainset is one of The Brigade's secret weapons and allows our racers to shift without pedalling.
If you thought this was big news then stay tuned as The Brigade has some huge and exciting rider announcements coming soon!
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Why not produce in Europe with high environmental standards, PLUS a minimum of material use?
Can someone educate me about machining frames? To me it looks like an enormous, expensive waste. Aluminum tubing is cheaper, easier, more efficient, and with hydroforming it can be as performant.
Well anyways, as far as I know, a five axis Cnc hasn’t evolved enough where you can machine both sides at once. So that is one expensive prototype.
But i might be wrong, we had an experience nearby, 3 broken seatstays (3 different Canyon Strives), the owners were not able to get some sort of guarantee responsibility from canyon, so they had a local CNC shop machine them 3 new seatstays.
The only Hydroforming machine nearby was an Automotive Steel hydroformer which presses/forms PickUp frames every 40 seconds, i dont think they were going to make room for 3 MTB aluminum Seatstays.
Also Canyon is a poor example as they have a reputation for breaking.
Regarding the CADs, that shop is well known for having a CMM FAROArm, they most likely used it for the pivot interface points at least.
I'll get some pictures next time i ride with any of them, the stays definitely look jerryrigged if one looks closely, they wanted a solution not an exact looking stay.
Also you can use stronger alloys because weldable alloys are a compromise in material composition
I have ridden 26er Durolux, 29er Auron and 34 + Pikes and other than a little weight issues SR by far makes the forks with the best bang for bucks ratio.
I've used their single crown enduro fork and other than the annoying axle it's a pretty solid product. They really just seem to get in their own way as a company though.
Looks real nice and cool to see CNCing sinking in!! Great engineering!
Just enjoy and appreciate the work, thoughts, time and effort people spend into their and our passion guys!! Really annoys me
Stay healthy and keep breathing bikes ????????
I can only hope that each of you offering your opinions on CNC'ing's short comings are yourselves incredibly well-qualified materials engineers. Even so, pick a material and be a d*ck about it - each material process has pro's and con's.
And for those of your offering your ecological concerns, I will presume that you're driving a 1970's diesel, hand modified using junk-yard parts to run on bio-diesel, that you're refining on your own organic and biodynamic farm that sustains you and your family, using solar energy stored in recycle-lithium batteries procured from your local battery-smith. The vast majority of us "waste" more stored energy in commute and consumption in a day than recycling the material from any one of these frames would require.
Is that Cedric in the back ground?
yes and yes it has a demo and evo look to it