Transition Spur Vs Izzo Uncaged

So, my Spur delivery date has been pushed back to ‘possibly’ June 2022, and the new Izzo has dropped. I’m sorely tempted, despite the £800 price difference.
Spec is way better, similar weight, and now with shorter travel, pretty spot on for my riding up on the South Downs. Key is that it is available now.

Trouble is, I can’t shake the feeling that the Izzo just won’t be ‘the one’. This is a shed ton of money to drop on a bicycle.

Surely, as it was designed around a 130mm fork,shortening the fork and shock travel will affect the ride character? I don’t really understand geometry (all the gear, no idea), but just sticking a different shock and fork on the same frame? Better off with a frame designed specifically for that fork/shock?

Anyone with an izzo care to comment?
Anyone with a spur care to try and talk me out of it?

If you’re usual place is the South Downs then would a trip to the YT Mill in Guildford not be the best solution, throw a leg over an Izzo if they have one (which they should!) and see if it’s the one?

Geometry wise, there’s a slight difference between the two, same with suspension Izzo is slightly more progressive, biggest change is that the Izzo is 4 bar and the Spur moved to a flex stay system to remove a bit of flex in a short travel bike.

I do know the big issue you have though, i’m a transition fan, the Spur looks lovely, had a look at one a couple of weeks ago and it really is a beauty, not seen an Izzo though, but the bike tart in me always gets drawn to Transitions!

They’re great at the YT Mill. We went there back in the summer when my pal was interested in a Jeffsy. Very friendly and keen to help.

I think you can pre-book demos too, which means you can put the bike through it’s paces in the Surrey Hills.

As an aside, my mate didn’t buy the Jeffsy as there were import and delivery prices to pay, on top of the advertised price of the bike. This may have changed since, of course.

FWLIW, we’re on the South Downs and my wife loves her Spur…

I’ve got an Izzo Pro, although I’ve only done a few hundred kms on it.

Can’t comment on the uncaged but it is a lot of fun to ride and more than capable of my unambitious riding :).

I do prefer the flip chip in high position for almost all the riding I do.

I’ve got an Izzo Pro – whilst I bought it because I couldn’t get or afford a Spur, I love it.
I ride Peak/Lakes so pushed the fork out to 140mm and got rid of the useless Forekasters, but the Uncaged with the SID looks like an XC bike on steroids and I imagine it’s a riot!
If I was lucky enough to have a Spur on order I would still stick with it as I agree it’s more ‘special’, but if you run out of patience I don’t think the Izzo would disappoint.
Or buy both and sell the Izzo when the Spur comes!

As a Spur owner, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is the best bike I’ve owned by a distance. It’s fun, outrageously fast and has been faultless really. Press fit BB and warranty issues would put me right off the Izzy, regardless of how well it rides. If you’ve got a Spur on order, I’d wait it out. You won’t regret it!

I went through the same decision last year. I ended up buying a Spur at the beginning of December, but the Izzo was on my shortlist. It all came down to what was available first, and out of sheer luck I found a local Transition dealer with a GX build in the blue / green colour which was my first choice. I really wanted the X01 build, but was told that I’d sooner find a pile of rocking horse poop so I took what I could get. Going by what my local Transition dealer has said, expect that June 2022 date for your Spur to slip later into this year, possibly into 2023.

Regarding owning a Spur, the hype is real. The bike is insane, full stop. Not as fast as my Giant Anthem going uphill or cruising the flats but then it’s not a race bike. Point it down and it’s smashed every single Strava PR on my local loops. I’m 6ft bang on and bought a large: best fitting bike I’ve ever owned. I’d say that it sits right on the dividing line between XC Trail and Trail in terms of intended usage. There’s enough XC DNA in it for epic rides but it really comes alive flying downhill extremely fast. The perfect bike one bike option if your riding consists of weekday local XC loops and trail centres at the weekend. There’s so many nice touches on the frame too, especially the threaded BB, external brake routing, and only 6 bearings to change.

One major issue that affects the Spur and will inevitably apply to the Izzo Uncaged is the SID fork bushing issue. Mine developed bushing play after 3 rides, and my LBS has said there’s a 2 month wait minimum for SRAM to sort it. It seems like an ongoing issue for many riders which its such a shame because the fork is such a good fit for both bikes. I hope SRAM / Rock Shox get a proper solution worked out because this shouldn’t be happening on £5,000+ bikes. Buying one of the regular 130mm forked Izzos would get around this, as they come shod with Fox suspension.

Well let’s be honest, the spur is more desirable. But you won’t be getting it in June 2022 I don’t think. If you have a decent bike you like to ride in the meantime, maybe wait it out, if you haven’t, get the izzo.

Thanks very much for the replies. I’ve emailed YT about a possible test ride. I did a test ride on the Spur back in September,it was great and although it was the deore spec, I loved it. Would probably improve a lot with the improved spec/decreased weight. Should probably stop being an impatient ****…
Went out today on my current bike, and I still love riding it, so it’s nothing urgent I guess.
I’ll wait and see what happens with the test ride.

Surely, as it was designed around a 130mm fork,shortening the fork and shock travel will affect the ride character? I don’t really understand geometry (all the gear, no idea), but just sticking a different shock and fork on the same frame? Better off with a frame designed specifically for that fork/shock?

Totally this. I concluded the same about the Stumpie ST.
So you’ve got this frame that’s optimised for lightness/ strength for a particular fork length etc…
And now you’ve whacked a completely different setup on it and want me to pay £5000 for it. I don’t think so.