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New bike shopping at the minute, trying to get as much testing done as possible, haven't found anywhere that has a demo patrol yet though. Anyone ridden one of the new transitions? What are your thoughts?
mines on order. smuggler with fox 36 @150mm. yum yum. not much help though sorry
Waiting for my Scout to be delivered...hopefully be here early next week...again not much help. Sorry
Where are you based?
Got a new Sentinel here, came from a Carbon Patrol.
Really liking the sentinel, its my first 29er the sbg bikes definitely ride different you sit very central in the sentinel, one thing you really notice is the front wheel doesn't lift at all when climbing steep hills and that front wheel traction is really good when cornering to.
Few negatives that I've found as well with the new frames, The cable routing isn't great especially if you use a chain guide, rear clearance despite being boost isn't very good either im only running a 2.3 maxxis dhr2, I imagine with a 2.5wt it wont leave much room for mud.
Also the frame is pretty heavy but im thinking this is probably a good thing, given some of the issues with the 1st gen giddy ups but to be fair its built up to a very sensible 30lb bike.
HTH
Yeah there is a thread here in Sweden about the chain guide routing problen
https://happyride.se/forum/read.php/1/3033040/page=11
Pages 10 and 11
Running a one up with taco on mine, it fits just had to pop some spacers between the iscg tabs and the chainguide.
I imagine not all chainguides will fit though, probably also worth noting I don't think you will be able to fit more than a 34T ring not that many people do..
Thats pretty shortsighted of transition.
it's not great is it...
they are discussing about whether he is suing a boost chainset and he basically isn't sure, so that may help, but it wont move the chainguide
Where are you based?
Based near bristol so anywhere southwest. A shop in stroud were a transition dealer but they have stopped stocking them. Heading up to Sheffield in a few weeks to test an airdrop so might try and find one that way to test.
I have heard mixed things about sbg, maybe it will just take some getting used to?
Jealous of all of you waiting on new bikes!
what mixed things have you heard?
Nothing bad, just heard some people rate it and some are sort of saying it didn't do a lot for them. That's every bike though I guess.
All I have been able to do so far is look at numbers and it looks perfect on paper!
A mega fun slightly better peddling kona process is what I want!
depends on the bike you come from. the geo of the bikes are quite aggressive so you might find those coming from aggressive geo don't notice much.
Panic over, demo fleet has just been brought out at dean valley cycles over the fod. Reckon I should get a test next weekend
So tested a patrol today, followed the charts and went medium (at 5'8") it was amazing after tweeting a few bits around. Only thing is it felt kind of small. What's everyone's view on the sizing? There is a large demo patrol at the shop so thinking of taking that out for a test. It 25mm longer in reach so a lot of difference.
I tested the nx spec with the monarch. I think the shock let it down a lot as it felt pretty harsh in the small hits. Guessing the fox shock would be nicer
The seat tube angles are really steep and although the reach is quite long it’s not THAT long - so sitting down they’ll feel quite short (as the saddle doesn’t head rearwards as much when up compared to bikes with conventional slacker seat tube angles).
I don’t think it would be unreasonable for someone your height to fit on a large if you have shorter legs and longer torso - and the very short seat tubes mean you should be able to fit a long dropper.
I’ve realised I prefer quite a short ETT and moderate reach for my height, just suits my long-limbed proportions and personal riding style better. Currently running my saddle all the way forward on a bike with a 590mm ETT, 50mm stem, 810mm bars and I’m just under 5’11.
Yeah that makes sense, like I said reckon I will try the large for comparison. Sat on the large back at the shop and it felt way longer. Ett is about 10mm longer than my kona and reach is 40mm longer on the large. Medium has 15mm extra reach but 15mm less ett. The steeper seat angle made the pedalling feel nicer for sure. Felt like was pushing down on the pedals rather than forward. The bike did feel kind of twitchy at first but I sort of got the hang of it after a couple runs
I am interested to hear peoples thoughts on this too, Looking to get either Sumggler or Sentinal in the next couple of months.
Boxxer7 - What sort of build is your Sentinal to acheive a 30lb weight, most of the builds I have seen are around the 32-34lb mark.
Realisitically I think the smuggler will suit me better, but like Howsyourdad above I will likely spec it with a fox 36 instead of the 34.
I suppose I could run a 30mm stem to bring it closer to ett length of my kona which feels Ok, just how long it feels riding out the saddle then i guess. Either way it felt like a lot of bike in a good way! Just need that shock to be more sensitive
My new Kona 153 29 has a similar steep seat angle and even though it's longer than my old 153 it feels a bit shorter, yet somehow I don't need to hang off the back so much on steep stuff, which feels weird, but good
there still aren't many reviews and things about of SBG : Bike bible have one of a smuggler, more pictures and builds and general 'stoke' are required I feel
https://www.bikemag.com/gear/mountain-bikes/trail-bikes-gear/bible-review-transition-smuggler/
Would love to test the new process but that's another thread! In my head the large patrol should be too big but will see how it feels. its not mondraker long though!
Theres some discussion on mtbr transition forum about the 2018 bikes. The only think I want to know is how much of a difference will an extra 5mm on fork offset make as I really don't want to be buying a new one. Oh, and the above possible issue with cable routing.
I’ve got a non SBG Smuggler and it’s a fantastic bike, climbs well (considering Im pedalling) and descends so well it’s crazy.
What Id day about sizing is what Transition have given in reach they’ve taken back in stem lengths it’s an average of 10mm reach but a shorter stem of 10mm over the non SBG bikes. They are longer as a brand than most other production bikes though. I’m 6’2 and have an XL with 483mm reach. That’s not as huge as it first was now though. Next Bike around Id prob try to go longer if possible but that’s just me.