N+1 itch is making me think of a boosted, B+, long/low/slack, hardtail. The Sonder Transmitter seems ideal, anything else you think I should be looking at?

I’m also thinking about one of these so will be interested to hear the responses.

Don’t bother – I was in the same position and looked at loads of other bikes – ended up with the Transmitter and haven’t regretted it once – fun to ride with oodles of grip – get one.

There’s a carbon fibre Transmitter coming soon, slightly revised geometry, appreciably lighter. I had a brief go on a proto and it’s rather nice. The original’s a great bike once you’ve got the tyres sorted 🙂

Thanks chaps, that sounds promising! I’ve got half an idea of ‘rolling my own’ bike along the lines of Kingdom Bikes Vendetta Boost but wanted a B+ bike to try out before getting a frame made…

@BadlyWiredDog – what did you do to the tyres, swap them out or just experiment to find the right pressure to run them at?

Tom loves riding the ally Transmitter.

I’ve ridden the carbon one, similar geo and lighter. Fast downhills and easy to pedal back up them.

@BadlyWiredDog – what did you do to the tyres, swap them out or just experiment to find the right pressure to run them at?

I ended up switching to one of the WTB Ranger TCS Tough tyres at the back. I found the lighter casings tended to pinch-flat badly when running tubeless. There’s still a slightly limited choice of 2.8 – 3.0 rubber, but it’s improving. If you don’t ride somewhere rocky it’ll be less of an issue.

And yes, they’re also quite pressure sensitive, a relatively small window of a couple of psi where everything works, but go either side and they either get bouncy or overly squishy and wallow. I just check them with a track pump pre-ride, it’s no big deal.

Is the ranger the only game in town, bwd, as far as B+ tough tires go?

I was doing fine on a rear trailblazer tubeless over the last month, mixed terrain, but last night I hit a rocky descent prob for the first time giving it medium beans (Greenshall lane), and flatted. So will prob look to swap the trailblazer.

+n on the transmitter as a great bike. V happy with mine.

My geared B+ shortlist is currently 3:

Sonder Transmitter Carbon
Surly Karate Monkey 2017
Dartmoor Primal Plus

The KM is the most versatile (IMO) and probably the favourite, but the DPP is the only one I can actually get at this moment in time. I’m trying to be patient.

@Swayndo – good call on the Dartmoor bike, I should have thought about them as I know Graham from Slam69. It’s almost there for me, the Revs could do with being Pikes though and it needs another 2 degrees off the head angle…

Anyone here with experience of the plus size Nobby Nics? They’re some of my favourite standard size tyres and I don’t seem to have the fragility issues that some people do…

I reckon 3.0 Snakeskin NNs are fantastic tyres. I’ve had no issues with fragility and I’ve ridden mine on mixed terrain on Highland hill and forest tracks for 12 months. Remarkable in mud too.

I would love to run one as a 29.

Don’t need a new bike but really like these, and seem great value. Would also be good to see in 29. Think the upcoming Sonder Frontier looks interesting as well…

Is the ranger the only game in town, bwd, as far as B+ tough tires go?

I think so. I think the Bridger and the Trailblazer only come in easy flat versions… It’s quite a decent rear tyre, a bit heavy, but seems pretty much indestructible, which is useful. I guess the other option would be a Rekon+ but it’s not as quick rolling and I’m not sure how much abuse it would take, it’s definitely not as heavily built as the TCS Tough Ranger.

On the NN front, I’ve been running one as a front. I don’t really like Schwalbe generally, I think the rubber compound isn’t anywhere near as grippy as Maxxis stuff, but it seems to work well as a b+ tyre, at least on the front.

I tend to flat the rear for obvious reasons, but it depends how brutal you are I guess. The problem seems to be that the optimum tyre pressure for float and traction coincides with the optimum tyre pressure for rocks to basically bottom out the tyre on the rim. Someone here compared it to a high volume air can, not much rising rate, and I’d agree with that.

The other option would maybe be Pro Core and whatever tyre you fancy 🙂

…or maybe some of those ‘Huck Norris’ anti pinch flat inserts?

The carbon ones look ace!

I got a transmitter before Christmas and love it. Wanted something to put the miles in on the ridgeway but also have a bit of fun on the way back down. Bang on for that.

I’m running the rangers front and back as they seem perfect for my needs. I’ve only lost the front tyre on one particularly muddy flat corner which any bike would have done well to hold on. It didn’t let go in that snappy get the f*** off me kind of way, just a nice predictable slide.

Alpkit were a nice company to deal with too. They even set themselves up as a new vendor on my cycle to work scheme just so they could sell me a bike.

duckman – Member
I would love to run one as a 29.

I might do this later in the year. Hadn’t thought of it before. Would give me tons of clearance

+lots
I love mine, Alpkit (Neil) was a great help with a couple of tweaks that I wanted (confucius bar and shorter cranks), and the after sales was superb.
I kept the stock tyres, on which the sidewalls seem to be wearing pretty fast – perhaps as a consequence of running them a bit squishy. Like mudhead84, I’ve had the odd slide but not in a particularly unexpected way. It deals with bikepacking, and throwing down a hill pretty well, other than the rider slowing it down…

I bought a Transmitter at the pre-Brexit price, and also used cycle to work scheme. An awesome bike for the money. I have the Yari NX version and love it.

However, tyre pressure is really crucial so i check them regularly and my rear tyre (trailblazer) fell apart way sooner that it should have.

I have read that whilst 29 wheels will fit, you won’t get a decent tyre width to fit the rear. I’ve not tried this, so would be interested to hear if anyone has…

I’ve got a carbon transmitter to demo this weekend at the Lakes 100 Jenn ride. Can anybody suggest some appropriate tyre pressures? I’m 11 stone.

Cheers!

My transmitter now has 2.8″ minion DHFs and it’s now a fab bike, no complaints.

I’m after a HT and was going to be up near Hatherdage on Saturday, was thinking about popping in to look at these.

New colours to match the carbon on the Alu frames have been released on the website today.

Can you demo from the shop for a morning?

@phy7tes try 12psi front, 14psi rear and see how you get on.

If anyone’s interested you can have a read of my mini review over here: http://www.spanner.org.uk/2017/04/sonder-transmitter-review-semi-fat-full-fun/

My transmitter now has 2.8″ minion DHFs and it’s now a fab bike, no complaints.

Marcgear, do the 2.8 DHFs fit in the rear OK? The frames clearance is only 77.1mm.

I tried 2.8 NNs on my transmitter and they were very close to the stays. They measured 72mm on the love mud wheels.

I switched to 2.4 high rollers and wtb 35mm rims to get more clearance. The 2.4 HRs measure 62mm width.

I was waiting for the 2.6 DHFs to become available because I thought the 2.8s would be too tight.

Nope, just buy one, you won’t be disappointed. 

I brought just the frame and wheels from Alpkit and built the rest up myself. Spec is: 140mm Reba’s, SRAM NX groupset, WTB Rangers, 3” front 14psi and 2.8 rear at 11-12 psi, Brand X internal dropper, 40mm stem with 780 risers and deore brakes.

i can’t tell you how much fun this bike is, climbs like a mountain goat, flies down hill far faster than is healthy and never fails to put a smile on your face. It’s light, agile but confidence inspiring and planted. The semi skimmed tyres give enough squish and contact to really push and take the rewards. Everyone who has ridden mine has had the same reaction. Fun, really great fun! In fact 2 riding buddies have now gone and brought frames to do their own Transmitter builds.

The carbon version, although made from the holy mystical substance, doesn’t save you that much weight, so I’d save some coin and by some toys / upgrades

I’ve ridden everything on mine from local trails to the Peaks (potato alley and Jacobs Ladder) to Cannock and Chicksands and there was nothing I threw at her that she didn’t cope with brilliantly.

Look at where the Transmitter family tree comes from (Ragley), is it any surprise with that pedigree, Alpkit made a fantastic, do it all, one stop shop, hooligan of a bike.

Ride and enjoy.

Anyone got any ideas on how they size? I’m 5’9 with 30in inseam. Always end up with a toss up between M and L frames. Has anyone of a similar size stood over one?

From what they said in the shop your on the boundary between the 2 to sizes.

I think my son 5 foot 10 road a large and looked fine on it. But I wasn’t actually in the shop when he picked the bike up so it’s just possible they gave him a medium

But at least you got a bump

Ps if you can get to the peak or lakes then demo one.