Spotted this on Alastair Beckett's instagram (Redburn Design (@redburndesign) • Instagram photos and videos ), which is said to be an emtb not too unlike the Privateer 161. They're hoping to break news about it summer 2020.
They were excited to find a high quality factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, that's full of robotics. I looked it up (GPMI | GLOBAL POWERSPORTS MANUFACTURING INC. ), and saw they had a variety of production quality levels, from traditional hand TIG welding, to welded with robotic arms with laser mitering. The consistency of aluminum construction will be elevated a notch with this--they say the tooling costs would be a minimum of 100k (GBP), to give an idea of how much they're investing into a product such as this, which they consider flagship level, but at a reasonable price.
Very promising, as this is what I've been looking for. I've been following Ali Beckett for some time, excited to learn the insights of the industry.
You get what you pay for, regarding the crapshoot with frame quality, with some creaking, binding, and eating bearings, while others are keepers: Just how accurate are bike geometry charts anyway? - MBR
Podcast from 2018, when he separated from Nukeproof and starting Redburn design (product design and consultation, bicycle related), becoming a co-founder of Forbidden, and working with other clients (like Hunt/Privateer): 092 – Building The Forbidden Bike Brand with Redburn Design Founder Alastair Beckett – MTB TRIBE
General article from 2018: The Architect | Articles » Issue 56
