Review: Transition Smuggler

In my mind, Transition bikes are designed to be enjoyed on all tracks, from your local loop, trail centres and bike parks alike. They are built up to live run after run, descent after descent and well beyond the life of your wheels. This is the style of riding I enjoy the most.

The Smuggler is Transition’s take on the modern 29in full suspension trail bike.

When Transition launched their new ‘Giddy Up’ suspension platform a couple of seasons ago, they introduced the ‘Smuggler’; a 29er with 115mm of rear travel. That’s right folks, with only 115mm of travel and 29” wheels, it would be easy to think this bike is very much aimed at the XC market, but the Smuggler is far more bike than that.

The ‘Reverse Mullet’: Party up front (130mm travel fork) and business out back (115mm travel rear).

Over the past couple of years, there have been huge leaps in design and technology available to bike brands. More and more designers are focusing on the right geometry, with sound suspension performance, rather than, purely how much travel can you fit into a frame. This is evident through the growing number of shorter travel trail bikes lighting up the way forward.

Unlike other 29ers out there with 115mm rear travel, the Smuggler aims to take on much steeper and much more technical terrain.

The Smuggler ticks all of the points of a modern geometry bike. Long front, paired with a short rear. Low BB, slack enough head angle (67.5 degrees) and plenty of standover. It is an aluminium built frame though. But is this really an issue? It is heavier than some other bikes in the same category, but the complete build of our Smuggler ‘4’ is less expensive than a lot of carbon frames on the market.

The four-bar ‘Giddy Up’ rear suspension design is supported by a blacked-out RockShox Monarch RT rear shock.

It’s is still very stiff indeed and I’ve been more than happy pedalling it around all day long. The aluminium frame has shrugged of a number of rock strikes without a second thought. I have friends with carbon bikes that are beautiful on the eye but with each rock strike, they wince, checking the frame over after every ride. Is the extra cost and lower weight really worth it?

With an alloy construction, 12mm thru-axle, stout pivots and a bias towards durability over light weight, the Smuggler feels both stiff and solid on the trail.

Our test bike is the lowest specced Smuggler that Transition offer. It weighed in at a not so featherweight 31.9lbs, although this number can easily be reduced through upgrades when the time comes. Clean welds and tidy internal routing make for one mean looking bike.

Neat welds on the Smuggler frame, along with simple and effective internal cable routing.

The cable/hose entry ports at the top of the downtube are well angled, guiding the cables clear of the head tube. This amount of clearance means after six months of riding, there are no wear marks on the headtube and I didn’t feel the need to place any frame protection here. The cables and hoses do rattle somewhat. It’s an easy fix but a little annoying. It’s nice to be able to run full length outer with the internal routing.

To squeeze in a 29×2.35in tyre and 436mm long chain stays, the Smuggler is 1x only. No front derailleurs allowed here.

Suspension is taken care of by the high volume RockShox Monarch Debonair rear shock, driven by Transition Horst link ‘Giddy Up’ linkage. This setup has not floundered once. Transition recommend running the Smuggler with 33% sag, which seems a little excessive for such a short travel bike. However, I did eventually settle on their recommendations and it has provided a sensitive, ride that doesn’t wallow whilst climbing and does not result in harsh bottom outs (well the occasional one or two). I left the shock open all the time.

Transition recommend 33% sag, which seems a lot for a 115mm travel full suspension bike. Their recommendations are bang-on however, and the Smuggler offers smooth climbing performance with plenty of traction on offer.

On technical climbs the rear end provides plenty of traction, whilst still being efficient enough. You aren’t going to smash any climbing records but you will get to the top without spinning out and without wasting too much energy. On the way down, the Smuggler is comfortable through root sections and provides grip under braking and through loose corners. Finding the limit of this short travel trail ripper is quite a scary experience. I used all of the travel on every ride, thankfully only having the occasional harsh bottom out on the bigger drops to flat and g’outs.

The Smuggler is a proper trail bike that proves you don’t need 6in of travel to get wild and wooly on technical descents.

The Smuggler is designed around a 130mm fork. On the higher specs you get a Pike or a Fox 34. The stock spec we tested comes with a RockShox Sektor Gold. The 32mm stanchions and Turnkey damping didn’t do the bike justice and on most rides was left desiring more from the fork. Ok, on a ride which leaned towards the XC style of trail riding, they were fine. But, this bike is more capable than that. As soon as the trail steepened, the more flexible fork liked to tuck-in on corners, making it difficult to exit on the bike.

The 130mm travel RockShox Sektor fork is smooth and easy to adjust, but with 32mm diameter stanchions, it lacks the necessary stiffness when engaging in high-speed shenanigans.

During the test period, I swapped the Sektor out for a DVO Diamond, set to 140mm. The difference in performance was like night and day. A stiffer front end with slightly more travel meant I could push harder into obstacles. On the steep tracks the stiff frame was now paired with a stiff fork. I could get through turn after turn on the bike and it went where I pointed it. This change made me realise even more, what this bike was capable of and the slightly longer fork didn’t affect the geometry, in fact I think it made it better, being ever so slightly slacker.

Despite having more travel up front, the Smuggler feels incredibly well balanced. In fact, a 140mm travel DVO Diamond fork actually felt right at home on the Smuggler, and helped to unlock the true potential of the solid frame and competent geometry.

Having a long wheel base, low bb and slack(ish) head angle results in a very stable ride at speed. The wheels roll over trail features with ease and there is so much grip in fast corners. To deliver the short back end, the smuggler is 1x only, taking up to a 32 tooth chainring.

A 30t chainring is essential for winching up steep, rocky and often grassy Calderdale Valley pinch climbs. The narrow-wide profile offered reliable chain retention.

I didn’t miss the front mech one little bit. I can see past it, because not having it has given the designers the room to make 436mm chainstays. Six mm longer than an Evil ‘The Following’ but a little more tire clearance, which is nice here in the UK. There are ISCG 05 guide mounts on board, although for the first time in a while I didn’t run any kind of guide, and haven’t dropped the chain off the Race Face ring once.

A hybrid drivetrain mix out back, with a SRAM GX 10-speed rear derailleur, and a SRAM 10-speed cassette that has been boosted with an E*13 42t cog. The big sprocket helped with climbing, though shifting isn’t as slick as a proper 10-42t SRAM setup.

Standover on the new Transition bikes is fantastic, without looking ugly on the larger bikes. This standover means you can freely move around on the bike, especially when life get steep. My only gripe would be that our large bike comes with a KS eTen Integra 100mm dropper post. The mechanics of the post work without fault, it’s the drop which seems a little odd when paired with this frame.

Transition have built the Smuggler’s top tube geometry to offer masses of standover clearance.

With a 32” inside leg I ran the post pretty much on the minimum insertion limit. This meant there was pretty much 100 mm of static post out of the frame. In my opinion that is a waste of post. A bike with this standover is more suited to a 150mm (or 125mm if you have shorter legs) dropper post, as specced on the range from builds ‘3’ to ‘1’. I could probably even get away with the new breed of 170mm dropper posts.

But the 100mm travel KS eTENi dropper post is too short. Get a 150mm or even 170mm dropper on there ASAP!

We’ve tested the entry level spec of Smuggler and it has been great fun. Yes there are parts I have swapped out to see how capable you can make it, but they weren’t essential. It would have been nice to have a longer dropper post but again you can live with the 100mm. What I would look to do is to upgrade the wheels to something a little lighter, wider and with premium hubs. This will make a huge difference.

Overall: This bike is far more than a 115mm XC bike. It is a joy to ride on all singletrack and loves to gobble up technical terrain. If you’re a trail rider who likes to seek out the tech, it is well worth having a test on the Smuggler. You won’t regret it.