I’ve been riding a Transition Sentinel 2022 alloy frame for a couple of years now - loved it - other than it’s a bit heavy. First 29er but it didn’t feel much different to turn into corners than my previous 27.5” wheel bike (Bird Aether 7) - but it carries a bit more speed and momentum through rough stuff.
I picked up a Carbon Sentinel v2 frame from Mark on the forum and have just built it up (just a few minor tweeks to finish it) - the geometry and suspension is identical to the alloy, but it’s 1.2kg /2.6lbs lighter. I’m going to miss the bright blue of my last frame but the new one is pretty nice - albeit subtle.
Build is stuff straight from my old sentinel - Lyrik ultimates / Code brakes / Xt mech and shifter / SLX cassette / xx1 oilslick chain / 210mm Oneup dropper / X1 carbon cranks / Hope Pro4s on XM481s / brand x carbon bar / Thomson 50mm stem. Guessing it’s going to be about 32lbs ish but will weigh it next few days.
Sneaky mention that I have a medium Cascade Blue Transition Sentinel Alloy 2022 frame for sale in the classifieds / Pinkbike / eBay. Has a float x, axle, seat clamp with it. Mostly new bearings throughout where needed / boost 148 rear axle / metric trunnion shock / bsa 73mm screw in bb shell / tapered zs 44-56 headtube.
Can’t wait to ride it tomorrow 👌
First ride today - feels similar to the alloy Sentinel (shock / linkage / geometry exactly the same) - perhaps a bit less ‘ploughability’ but a bit flicker and feels lighter uphill. Very pleased with it in general - although the X2 sounds a bit slurpy so it probably needs to go off to fox and I’ll stick my Kitsuma coil on instead.
Nice! I was considering a Carbon Sentinel for my new bike, and was trying to get a demo, but Transition could only get an alloy one in for me to try. Also, the price new (full bike) was a fair bit more costly than my better-specc'd Aeris AM (which, 3 rides on, I'm loving!)
The Aeris AM would have been right up my street (I’ve had a 145 LT and Aether 7 before) but the medium frames aren’t coming in until March / April and I can’t wait that long!
Picked up the carbon Sentinel frame secondhand and everything just switched over from the alloy one.
The alloy sentinel is a great bike tbh - had 2 good years with it - but it is on the robust side. Worked amazingly at the likes of Dyfi / Risca / BPW etc
I don’t think the full builds on transition are the best value - Bird normally much better
Looks really nice, definitely swap the X2 out for the CCDB, my X2 shat itself on my Privateer today, lasted about 6 months, was a nice performing shock when the fluid was on the inside, not so nice when it was all over the outside! Had a few ccdb’s back in the early days, great shocks.
Couldn’t part with my old V1 sent, so I built it back up over the summer as a singlespeed, mullet, pikes, no dropper etc mess around bike.
@stevede - never ridden a v1 sentinel but they seem to have been well loved by a lot of people. Singlespeed though - that has to be a hard pedal 🫣
I think I’m going to get a red rockshox coil and adapters to fit to my cane creek Kitsuma. Functionally it’ll be heavier than the Valt (black coloured only) but it’ll be RED and I think that will go nice with the forks against the subtle coloured frame.
Waiting for silverfish to reply to my email about the X2 - wondering if I pay for a service if they’ll upgrade the seal head inside to the 2024 version that supposedly fixes the problems they’ve had with them aerating the damper fluid. It’s out of warranty. I’m not too bothered but it would be nice to have the air shock as a backup to the coil.
@joebristol no pedalling is done on my Sentinel these days. It’s an uplift at dirt farm or a push up at the local kinda bike.
Red coil will tie the red theme in, especially as you have plenty of grams to spare with the carbon frame! Looks pretty sweet as is imo though, much prefer a stealthy build. Fingers crossed silverfish come good for you, I have a mate who works there so should really call a favour in and at least keep mine as a spare.
@stevede - if you’ve got a mate there you should try and gets yours sorted! Meant to be a really good shock when it’s actually working.
I’m not really into anodised bling but a big red spring to match the forks would be great.
Fair on the sentinel singlespeed - if it’s not being pedalled uphill then I guess that works
Little night ride tonight for the first time in ages. Surprising how different this frame is vs my alloy one. Identical geometry / shock linkages and leverage etc. Feels more lively in east flow trails - but is perhaps knocked off line easier on rocky stuff.
Going to fit my coil shock on as soon as I get a chance. Going to send the X2 off for service / upgrade to 2024 internals - I don’t think it’s super happy at the moment. Sounds very squelchy and seems to be using a lot of travel considering it’s set to about 26-27% sag ish.
What’s the recommended sag? My smuggler had a suggested range of 30-33% I think. It was certainly better using recommended range.
With the cascade link the below applies. Actually my sag was based on % of travel in the shock. So actually I’m about 28-30% as setup. So I do think the X2 needs some work - sussed it with Silverfish - it’s out of warranty so if I pay for the service (£139) they’ll rebuild it with the 2024 internal seals that should hopefully fix the issues fox have had with the shock. I think I’ll get the stroke reduced to 57.5mm too - so the rear will be running 155mm. With the 165mm travel I was clipping my pedals occasionally which I wasn’t doing with 155mm travel.
My coil shock has a 500lb spring which worked well on the alloy bike so should be decent on the carbon bike too. 450lbs was too light when I tried it before.
Nice bike, I got mine new in 21, rides really well, I have a Kitsuma that I put on last year it really suits the bike.
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@godzilla - nice bike!
Kitsuma is now on but not ridden it yet. Probably be the weekend after this one before I get to ride it as I broke my Maxx D a few days ago so night rides next week are probably off the agenda (unless I can find some old Chinese lights lying round in the garage).
Did my first uplift day on the carbon frame at BPW on the weekend. It defo feels a bit different to the alloy version of the bike despite exactly the same geometry / specs / kit on it.
I had the X2 serviced and rebuilt with the 2024 bits on it which (hopefully) fix the known X2 issues. So far it seems to ride quite nicely - vs the coil it loses some outright grip but gains some pop and liveliness. The coil needs to go off for a service as it’s making a clunking noise at the moment so the x2 is getting some use.
Weighed it today - if these scales are correct it’s still quite a chunky bike even with the carbon frame / bars / cranks etc. I’ve tried putting a spreadsheet together to workout where all the weight is - but can only get to 31.5lbs. That’s using quoted weights per part I’ve found online.
