Feeling
With the fork issues taken out of the equation the Production Privée Shan No.5 covers ground well with a great amount of grip on offer from the flex that the rear had to offer from the steel frame construction. This allows the rear wheel to track rough ground well. The Shan No.5 did feel like if was lacking something, maybe the addition of a 29” wheeled version could improve this bike even more and similar to the Starling Murmur that happened to be one of the best and fastest bikes we rode last year. It would be interesting to see if they would fit as plus sized tyres do.
The in-house bar that was fitted had a really comfy feel to the sweep and rise and even if the overall stack height was a little low I did feel it was a bar that I would like to ride some more. The 50mm stem on the other hand did make out that it was there to compensate the size issue.
Limitations
There a few issues with the Shan No.5 such as the fairly crude way of keeping the chain from making noise. Some refining here with a proper moulded rubber stay protector. The same finishing is needed where the cables cross the shock mounting area where they have no mountings to fasten to, either something built into the side of this mount or an indent for the lines to run under the mount would be great.
Verdict
Steel is real! With the likes of Stanton and Starling pushing the boundaries with this material it’s great to see more companies embrace it. The Production Privée is easy to ride, looks great and with some minor refinements will make a brilliant bike at a very reasonable price too. Not perfect but it’s still one to keep an eye on for sure! I would love to get some more time to make the changes that I would like, to see if this bike can put a time in anywhere near its steel counterparts.
PRICE: €1899 (Frame + Shock)
www.production-privee.com
