Privateer 141 SLX/XT
It was only during repeated backto-back testing of our top-scoring bikes that the Privateer missed out on a podium spot. We’ll come on to why that is a little bit later in this review, but the 141 highlighted just how good trail bikes are these days.
Its geometry is close to perfect for a hard-hitting, aggressive trail bike, ready to tackle all but the gnarliest of enduro tracks. The slack head angle (64.5 degrees), long reach (485mm, ‘P3’ size) and long chainstays (446mm) mean it’s incredibly stable at speed and is rock-solid when pointed down the super-steep off-piste lines that most of the MBUK crew love to ride. We raised the bar height for riding these sort of descents, but found we needed to slam the stem for flatter laps to ensure we could weight the front wheel properly.
The suspension is on point, too – stable enough that quick jabs of power don’t leave the bike floundering in its mid-stroke, but supple enough to smooth-out the ride without undue feedback through the cranks. And if you push the Privateer off something large, it soaks up the hits with confidence.
On the climbs it’s another thumbsup for the 141. The almost comically steep 79-degree seat angle puts you perfectly over the cranks, no matter how steep the incline, and the well-behaved suspension means you aren’t wasting energy due to the shock cycling through its travel as you pedal.
It’s killer value, too. The Hunt wheels have a wide rim and quick pick-up, and are shod with decent Schwalbe ADDIX Soft rubber. A mixed Shimano XT/SLX drivetrain ticks all our boxes, and the Magura MT5 brakes are powerful.
The Privateer misses the podium, though, because of its slightly quirky handling under heavy braking through rough corners, where the bike feels like it wants to stand up. This meant we missed lines we’d hit dozens of times before on other bikes. It may be a consequence of the speed at which we were able to enter the turns, but our backto-back testing confirmed it was a consistent issue.
It could be argued that this kind of corner, found on the downhill tracks we did some of our testing on, isn’t something most trail bike riders would expect to hit on a regular basis. The fact we were riding these tracks on the Privateer is testament to how capable it is in most trail situations.