New Albion Privateer Gets First Update in Years

The Privateer has been the bread and butter of the New Albion brand since its launch in late 2013. While originally conceived as a lower priced Soma Fabrications cyclo-cross/commuter frame (Soma is New Albion's sister brand. Both started by The Merry Sales Co.), it evolved into an "all rounder" road bike, something durable enough you can beat up as a daily commuter and versatile enough you can take it on a month long tour. Its geometry shifted away from standard CX numbers --  opting for a lower bottom bracket height and a raked out fork to give it sharper road handling ability. 

It was basically your typical 2017-2018 gravel bike released in 2014 -- except for the cantilever brakes of course.

What has changed:

• The smallest three sizes are now 650b wheel specific to help get rid of toe-overlap with the front wheel, which is a significant issue on any smaller 700c road bike running even 28mm wide tires. These new sizes are optimized for use with 650b x 47mm, but can safely run 650b x 38mm to 50mm.

• We have added a 64cm size for the taller customer. This 64cm is fairly unique in that the effective top is also 64cm.

• The front triangle's tubes are all double butted Tange Infinity CrMo, previously the top tube was straight gauge.

• ED coating rust protection inside tubes.

• Introducing two new colors: Matte Black and Colonial Blue

Drop bar bike with flat bar aspirations:
This is the 48cm size with 650b wheels

What stays the same:

• The rear stays keep the same robust design to resist braking flex and to handle rear rack loads.

• Optional matching fork still has a tasteful lugged crown and classically French bend blades

• Still has three sets of water bottle bosses 

• Still has semi-horizontal dropouts to allow for single speed set-ups, internal geared hubs or derailleur drivetrain. The rear center can be adjusted from 430mm to 445mm.

• Still compatible with a lot of old school standards: 130 or 135mm QR hubs,  EC34 headsets, downtube shifters, canti/V-brakes on the 700c models, V-brakes on the 650b models.

The Privateer is still a great foundation for all types of builds.
It SRP's for about $389.99 for the frame and $129.99 for the fork.

Size 58cm. Photo: Patrick O'Grady

New Albion NewPrivateer Build with Origin8 Space Bars

The Devil's Teeth Bakery... after the chalk-wielding munchkins have departed.

New Albion Privateer: Alt MTB bar all rounder build.

The New Albion Privateer's frame geometry is follows a all-rounder road bike/touring geometry. It will most often be built up with road drop bars, but it does lend itself well to flat bar builds for folks who appreciate a more leverage and comfort a wider bar affords. This 52cm is built with an Origin8 Space Bar, Sturmey-Archer M90 thumbshifters, Shimano Claris crank and derailleurs. This build is by Swell Bicycles.

The Origin8 bar provided a very comfortable hand position for cruising the low-key Outer Sunset. It was trimmed down slightly I think, because I didn't get the feeling I would clip a car mirror in tight traffic. On the ride to find places to photograph this baby, I kept thinking how well it fit me without any adjustments whatsoever.  The handling was pretty predictable with the Soma lugged cross fork. We plan to get our own matching fork in a few months. It will have slightly more rake and may quicken the handling slightly.

Sturmey Archer M90 Thumbshifters

Horizontal dropouts allow for geared or single speed builds. Cable guide
is moved a little more forward than usual to make it more friendly
for internal gear hub cable routing.