[Closed] Mini review - Transition Smuggler

Has anybody used a 2.3 Maxxis in the back of one of these? No rubbing?

End of August + 5-6 weeks on a boat lands in the UK sometime between September-November?

2.3 Maxxis will be fine I think. It's only really tall tyres that have an issue, so the 2.3 Vigilante scuffs (only just, I ran a worn one off my old Phantom for a month) now using a 2.4 Trailboss with plenty of room.

Thanks, Bigjim. That makes sense now you've explained it!

I don't want this thread to diverge into another Following thread

Quite right! This is a Transition love-in 😀

I've not found mud to be a big issue up here though, although if I was still living in the Peak I might be a little bit nervous running a The Following (that sounds silly, doesn't it) through the gloop.

an awful lot of bushes or pivot bearings to replace.

Ah I see, that's not so bad then. I would worry about small stones and mud grinding away between the carbon faces on the swingarm and seat tube though.

Also I am not a bike journalist, nor a rad top level endooro rider, so my comments are moot

Hear hear! 😉

Looks rather nice I must say. Considered the Smuggler for a while, it looks like it should be a great bike to ride. Had a chat at Hopton on Monday with a guy riding a Scout, he was very complimentary about it.

FWIW my Following has already had an outing in some pretty horrific mud with 2.3" tyres still fitted, and the outcome wasn't as bad as I/you/the Internet may have feared! That said, I ride a HT on my local trails for 4-6 months of the year anyway, as there's no benefit to a full Sus round here when it's muddy.

Enjoy your new bike! It seems slightly less "Marmite" than mine at least...

Enjoy yours too! Sounds amazing.

Good review Gav and from experience of mine I agree. Had mine about 2 months and I have been surprised at how it climbs and how well it descends for such small travel.
Its my first fs 29er, and bought it after riding my Longitude for a few months and realising that 29er was for me. Never rode my full sus (Mega/Fritzz/Hustler) round our local woods as they always felt like overkill but the Smuggler is all I have ridden since I got it and I think the short travel helps with that.
Built up my Large frame with Pikes, WTB Frequency rims on Hopes, Middleburn cranks, Carbon Renthal bars, SLX Brakes and a non-dropper Thomson post and it is 30lb 7oz according to the Park scales in the LBS, probably lightest FS Ive had.
Best thing about it, its doesn't look like a 29er... mate on a ride says "Cant believe you've gone to 650b, thought you'd be 26 forever"
"Its a 29er"
"Is it??"

Good review this- I was looking for something similar last year, ended up buying a Devinci Atlas Carbon, which gave me a very similar experience as a first full-sus 29er, as a ride which is very capable downhill and in the tight stuff, but really light and efficient for longer rides.

The Devinci has a similar BB height and short rear stays. It has 110mm of rear travel, which has also felt enough in rough terrain. The head angle of the Smuggler is considerably slacker though. I'm running 120mm SIDs on mine, as it is my 'XC' bike, but I could build it with 130-140mm Pikes if i wanted burlier.

As I have a Yeti SB66 as well, I prefer the Devinci as a lighter trail bike, but if I was to have only one bike, the Smuggler would be ideal. Cable routing is much better too, as is the threaded BB...!

Edit- and I've also had the same comments- people thinking it was 650b until I told them!

Good [url= http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/How-To-Get-The-Most-Out-Of-Your-RockShox-Suspension,9020/Slideshow,0/bturman,109 ]Rockshox piece on suspension setup over on Vital[/url]. They used the Smuggler as the test sled for all the journos to test out different settings, then chucked it down various runs at Whistler. Who said 29ers were for XC mincers 😆

Well, I guess the person who was asking if it was ok on 3-4 ft drops should be happy now, seeing as it was used to smash out run after run on Whistler Bike Park. Some good notes there - I've added one extra token already, as I was finding it running through the travel on the fork too easily, even at correct pressure and quite a lot of LSC added. The extra token seems to have worked nicely, so I'm now running just a few clicks of LSC, but it holds up enough under heavy braking and still uses all the travel on the biggest hits.

Not played around with the shock yet though, so may try to get myself a nice evening to work on that.

I don't think there is an answer to questions about riding 3-4 foot drops, BMXers happily land bigger drops than that to concrete all day. I've ridden 2-3 foot max on my Smuggler and it was fine, but I've also ridden them on my hardtail which was also fine, just with more swearing.

Tenacious D

The large sold?

Yes, sorry that was me (funnily enough after CharlieM's comments its replacing a Pyga OneTen).

Hopefully another Smuggler out on Deeside / Ballater / Cairngorm trails this weekend.

HOLY SMUGGLER BATMAN! STOP PRESS!

The medium Smuggler is now reserved BUT -

We have just managed to secure another large Teal. The holy grail, the ever wanted frame, the unobtainium.

Just don't ask who we had to kill to get it.

So then if anyone wants a Large Teal Smuggler we will have one as of tomorrow. And this really is the last one, we mean it this time. Honest. No Really.

[img] [/img]

Just wondering how you guys are getting on with your Smugglers. Has the honeymoon effect worn off yet?

I think the new models were released over the weekend, but there don't seem to be many firm details out there yet. It looks as though they raised the BB by 4mm and increased the rear tyre clearance (by moving the bridge up a bit and dropping the rear travel to 110mm). Most importantly it now comes in safety orange. Not sure if there were any other changes and I doubt that anybody has ridden the new version yet.

Still digging mine!

Liking mine, looks and rides lovely

Thanks. Anything you don't like though? For example, would you prefer to have the option to run a 2x setup for longer days out? Are pedal strikes driving you mad? etc.

Still loving it, ace bike.

Not too sure where this drop to 110 rear travel is coming from, all of the information we have states staying at 115.

BB 5mm higher (should be good, I am running 140mm forks to do the same thing)
Improved tyre clearance
More progressive shock tune.

Orange.

[url= http://pedalsbikecare.co.uk/2016-transition-bikes-frames-preview/ ]2016 Transition Preview[/url]

Not too sure where this drop to 110 rear travel is coming from, all of the information we have states staying at 115.

Sorry, that was my mistake. There was a thread over on MTBR yesterday saying that it had dropped to 110mm and speculating that this was to accommodate a raising of the bridge (for improved tyre clearance). But I see that there has now been a post from Transition Bikes on that thread confirming that it is staying at 115mm. Not many other details though, which is strange as I thought they were launching the new models at Crankworx last weekend.

Their new website will go live over the next few days with everything except the 'new' bike, which is being shown at Eurobike I think.

Do you do much jumping on it? i'd like it to handle 3-4 feet drops but i'm not sure the 77mm of travel (after the sag point) would handle this well.

It will be fine, how do you think people jump hardtails with zero rear travel?!.....

Lovely bike by the way, I really like the mismatched travel thing that lots of the manufacturers are doing now.
It's like they've finally realised that not everyone wants to wallow around in 160mm of rear travel, it's like pedalling through treacle on most of the ones I've tried recently....if I was buying a trail full-suss at the moment this would be on the shortlist with the Mega-TR, Orange Segment, On-One Codeine etc....fun, burly and aggro up front but taut and efficient out back....like a reverse mullet if you like?!

Smuggler is party up front, business out back.

I do get a lot of pedal strikes but I run big flat pedals on 175 cranks. When funds allow I might get some 170 crunks. The bike I had before also had a low bb so I'm used to it.

i'd like it to handle 3-4 feet drops but i'm not sure the 77mm of travel (after the sag point) would handle this well.

Have a look at the videos on the Transition website. They are riding quite aggressively over some technical terrain and the bikes seem to cope fine. Short of using it regularly for DH I think the bike will be fine with what you throw at it.

What fork travel up front are people running??
I've preordered a 16 frame, thinking of a Pike up front with either 130 or 140 travel. I think the bike comes specced with 130, but I'm tempted to try the Megavalanche next year, so leaning more towards 140. I know the Scout etc might be a better bike for the mega, bla bla, but I think the smuggler would be a better all round weapon for the kind of riding that I do. And that fact that I already have two 29ers 😆 .

Cheers!

Reading around, a lot of people seem to be running a 140mm fork on the Mk1 bike, but the BB has been raised by 5mm on the Mk2, so I think I'd be tempted to stick with the recommended 130mm if it were me.

Right. Didn't think that would make a huge amount of difference? 10mm extra travel is about 3-4 mm extra BB height maybe? Mainly concerned with steering characteristics.

You could be right. I wasn't basing my comment on anything more than the fact that the BB was a bit higher now so I'm not sure I'd want to make it higher still. But it may be just fine.

Steering would be a bit slower (slacker HA), but whether you'd notice probably depends more on how sensitive you are to such things. Are you going for a 51mm offset fork?

Probably no right or wrong.

Are you going for a 51mm offset fork?

Not sure tbh. Ive spent most my time on XC race type bikes (apart from 6 weeks on a DH bike in Whistler), so I imagine non offset might be best for me, apart from 6 weeks on a DH bike in Whistler. Any suggestions there?

I have a 140mm MRP Stage, but it is closer to the length of a 130mm Pike, or I'd have it at 130

Not sure tbh. Ive spent most my time on XC race type bikes (apart from 6 weeks on a DH bike in Whistler), so I imagine non offset might be best for me, apart from 6 weeks on a DH bike in Whistler. Any suggestions there?

Again, I'm not sure there is really a right answer, but the bike was designed around a fork with 51mm offset. If you use a fork with less offset (46mm used to be the standard for 29ers, but 51mm is getting more common) that will slow the steering down too. Using a fork that's 10mm longer than the designers intended may not make much difference. Using a fork with 7mm less offset may not make much difference. Doing both may make a difference, but as I say, it depends how sensitive you are to such things.

I'm running 140mm Pikes, although had forecast that I would fettle them down to 130 as that is what is spec'd on the full builds. 2 months in, and I'm keeping them at 140, as nothing feels compromised and it climbs and descends exactly as I want it to.

Good to hear Gav.

Thread Hijack : my Smuggler frame is for sale..
Black, Large, brand new.

I wanted to transfer all parts from my Banshee Phantom, but can't be bothered now.
(how's that for 1st World Problems 😀 )

GavinB does it still feel balanced with 140 up front? Not compromised at all?

gemini29 - tried mailing you but it keeps bouncing back!

sorry for that.. fixed now 😳

I am running 140mm 2016 Fox 34s, feels spot on. Mimics next years slightly higher BB and I run a pretty slammed stem anyway, all feels good.

If anyone is still looking for one we still have one last large Teal frame. Not sure why as if it had arrived two weeks earlier it could have sold 4x over! Its now on the cheap cos we have run out of storage space..

[url= http://pedalsbikecare.co.uk/shop/2015-transition-smuggler-frame-large-teal/ ]Smuggler Large Teal Sale[/url]

If anyone is still looking for one we still have one last large Teal frame. Not sure why as if it had arrived two weeks earlier it could have sold 4x over

Who'd be a bike shop owner eh? Dealing with fickle moutain bikers must be enough to drive a fellow mad. Hope you find a buyer for it soon.

michaelmcc
GavinB does it still feel balanced with 140 up front? Not compromised at all?

It feels fine to me. I'm running it with a 40mm stem, with 10mm of spacers underneath) so I guess if I've raised the front end 10mm, and was finding it lifting up on climbs all the time, I could get rid of the spacers and see how it feels, or more drastically stick a slightly longer stem on (even flip it). I've not felt the need to though, and am finding it climbs fine. The bars are only 10mm rise, so the front end is pretty low (but could be lower still, if I felt it needed it).

I do understand though that this is a very personal thing though, so what might work for me, might not feel right to someone else. I left the steerer long enough that I could play around with things, to an extent, before settling on a set up I really liked. I had factored in that if I needed/wanted to drop the travel down to 130 then that would require a new air spring, so a few ££. Having ridden it for a few months now, I'm not sure it would be worth it.

Interesting thread! Thanks.

I've narrowed my next bike choice down to a 2016 Smuggler 2 or a Cannondale Habit SE. I'm just trying to find somewhere in the South West that might have both of them to do a side by side comparison.

Another happy Smuggler owner here:
[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5693/21635545762_e674a1763c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5693/21635545762_e674a1763c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/yXRPZ5 ]IMG_3125[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/9655603@N08/ ]weewillywinky[/url], on Flickr