Transition sentinel owners

Hi

After making a slight purchasing error I’m now I’m the market for something different.

Prior to this miss purchase I owned a patrol which was a superb bike but I felt the finish wasn’t quite good enough for the price.

i’m considering the alloy sentinel and wondered if there is anything I should know, I’ve heard rumours of rear tyre size problems so would be interested to know what’s on with that.

also is anyone interested in a stage 5 in xl 😉

Can’t help sadly. But I can say that D&D cycles in barnham Sussex have or had a xl sentinel in there sales so worth a call if an alloy one is what you want.

If you weren’t impressed by the quality of your last Trasition, why would you buy another?

tyre clearance on the rear is pretty poor. as for the finish I have no complaints for my 3 year old suppressor what with all the scratches and paint chips it had.

I had a Carbon patrol prior to buying my sentinel, I had one from the first lot into the UK.

Its a great bike for going down but it has some flaws! The tyre clearance on the rear is woeful, the chain ring clearance on the chain stay is incredibly tight (ive got a 32t) the gear cable runs behind it where there is a cable guide so you can zip tie it up but if you use that it gets caught by the chain ring so you have to route it underneath.

And the big one is the weight, now ive got around fine on it regally do big rides, But mine weighs in at 35.9 lbs and its not a low spec build X01 eagle/ex511 on hopes/fox36 carbon cranks etc

I wouldn’t buy the Alloy one again i would maybe look at the carbon one but it does put it into a different price bracket.

Dont get me wrong ive really enjoyed the bike but for me its time to move on and give something else a go, if your happy with the weight and tyre clearance and its the geo you’re looking for go for it, doesnt get much better for ripping down the hills.

Without sounding like a dick, I presume the rear tyre clearance is an alloy only issue as I run a 2.5WT Aggressor on the back of my carbon Sentinel and there’s a good 10mm clearance all the way round?

Again I run a 34T chainring, it’ll take a 36T max from memory. I run a bash/guide and have the mech cable tied to that which has never been an issue. I had a 17 carbon Patrol before the Sentinel and the Sentinel just does everything better.

Bikeactive have an offer on at the moment and you can usually get another 10% off https://www.instagram.com/p/BxmfaHknSwp/?igshid=1b0bw73y8lx30

Ps any excuse for a pic 🙂

I dont recon i could get a 36T ring on my alloy, maybe its a crank compatibility thing? Im on RF Sixc with a Boost ring and its really tight.

And that looks great ^^^

Wow quiet for a day and then boom.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

bit gutted to hear there’s clearance issues on the alloy as that is the model I could stretch too, the carbon puts it into different territory (Hightower lt land)

The reason for me wanting another was quite simply the patrol rode brilliantly and brought my riding on massively, that combined with ‘modern’ geometry makes me look again. The issue I had before was just general finish and quality of the paint. The bike was awesome.

I’m not really having problems with issues above.

A 2.35 Hans Dampf fits in fine with room to spare and I run a 30t chainring so no issues for me. I was aware of the cable entry behind chainring thing but again not a problem with a chain guide.

Cracking bike as far as I’m concerned.

34t chainring? Where do you folk ride to need such tall gearing? Your either power houses or your hills aren’t big enough 😀

That bikeactive price is good.

Did the xxl frame ever get made? I never see it advertised

Was riding with a mate who has a L sentinel yesterday, he’s had it a year. Great bike, running a Hazzard on the back, so quick.
Tyre clearance definitely an issue on his. 30mm rims (I think) and a 2.5 tyre has left a score on the chainstays, he’s had to drop down a size. Brilliant bike thought,
Definitely a fair bit wicker than my Patrol, settles so nicely into berms and just rails flat corners, really composed. Definitely less playful than mine, but that may be because it felt a fair bit bigger, I think it’s nearly an inch longer (I’m about 5’10).
Not entirely a fair test though as he’s running a standard offset fork while his Ribbons are off to get fixed again.

Had a carbon Sentinel for about 1k km now, cracking bike but a bit on the portky side for a 140mm travel bike and I imagine an alloy version just adds to that though in fairness mine is coil equipped. I know it not really a climbing bike but its steep seat tube does make any long climbs acceptable, just don not plan to race up. Im running 35mm rims but only a 2.35 tire so no clearance issues for me and I dont plan to go to the likes of 2.5 or more anyway. The only think I would say as noted above, the chainstay is tight on my medium frame, I would not want to risk a 34T or more even if it were possible?

I ride a 2018 L Alloy Sentinel, and I also don’t recognise any of the issues above…

No tyre clearance issues with a 2.5 DHR on the back, and ample clearance all around, so not really sure where that’s come from. I’ve got a 32t on the front, but there’s plenty of space if you wanted to run bigger I’d say.

It’s a big bike. Takes some muscling around corners, and it’s more ‘flatten everything’ than playful. It’s also pretty weighty if that sort of thing concerns you. I really enjoy mine though. Used it for uplift days, long days out in the Peak District. A 12spd drivetrain helps.

Worth noting that Raceface chainline is 52mm, and currently Shimano boost is 54mm, so that gives you extra wiggle room. But as above, if you are using bigger than a 32t on a 160mm 29er, you are doing the bikes wrong 😅

Also not really noticed any tyre clearance issues, all of ours have been built Wide Trail Maxxis or 2.35 Schwalbe, new HD etc. You won’t get a 2.6″ in though.

I’ll echo the comments about woeful tyre clearance on the alloy model. I ran one as a geometry experiment for a while and with a 2.5″ it was useless. I raced it in Italy last year & the bridge of the rocker was wrecked after a week.

A 2.3 rear was fine, and i’d probably push up to something like a 2.4 DHR2 max, but a 2.5″ DHF on a 30mm rim was no good. It also buzzed the seat stays under hard cornering. But then that’s the one & only time I will ever run a 2.5 tyre on the back, as it didn’t feel great anyway.

Cable routing again was a pain for the rear mech, as other have said. I ran mine over the BB, behind the chainguide & it worked, but the ‘official’ routing wasn’t great. 34T boost/XX1 chainset was very, very tight. Never tried a 32T, can ride up hilss and race fine on it too.

Paint, as ever on Transitions, is terrible. Still the same on my friends ’19 Patrol and anothers ’19 Sentinel Carbon.

Rode well though, felt weighty (was weighty), but then real world weights of ‘proper’ enduro bikes fit for purpose seem to be +/-35lbs now, so maybe it’s about bob on :)

Does anyone know around what time Transition usually announce next year’s models? Curious as to what – if anything other than the paint scheme – they’ll change on the sentinel.

should be any day now. Super sentinel and a few other projects apparently

Supposedly they do so in August

Oh cool! I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any news then for sure.

Let me rephrase: supposedly, they’ll show the 2020 range in August, not specifically a Super Sentinel

Yeah the only thing I’ve heard of about a Super Sentinel is a pure speculation thread on mtbr. I’m not sure I ride hard enough to even get a Super Sentinel anyway if it does exist! The regular Sentinel can take on almost anything as is honestly.

i emailed transition about it. its coming in spring they said

I like mine. It’s more bike than I’m ever going to need but it’s solid and rides very well.

I have the XL alloy version and it is heavy but doesn’t ride heavy if that makes sense.

I’ve swapped the standard maxxis tyres for some spesh 2.3 and it looks like there is quite a lot more room to go bigger.

What’s up with the stage 5 jist out of interest?

Hi Renton, in answer to your question- nothing!

the bike looks ace, fits well and is doing everything I’d expected. It’s a real improvement on my old five.

i can’t put my finger on it, it’s just not giving me the fizz before and during riding!

Looking closer at the numbers my old xl patrol was a touch longer in reach, stack and wheelbase as well as having a different suspension system that meant I didn’t need to run quite as high a pressure ( currently run 340ish of the 350 max on the stage 5) I think this higher pressure whilst keeping the sag correct changes the way the frame rides maybe.

one of the biggest problems I’ve hit is the availability of xl test bikes to see if the options do ‘make the trails come alive’

If you are anywhere near Oxford or the Midlands you are more than welcome to have a blast on mine to see if it fits.

Thank you that’s really generous of you, I’m really surprised that wind wave don’t have an xl  demo

If anyone has a large sentinel frame for sale i’d be interested!