I don’t tihnk you need a travel adjust fork on the Covert. I have a 160mm fork without adjustment (Deville) and never feel like I need to lower it. My front end is pretty slammed with a 3mm spacer under stem, zero rise stem and 1″ rise bars, just keep your weight central/push down and it’s fine for climbing steeps.

A bike is a bike, a good rider will still be a good rider on any bike.

The bandit and Covert are similar. Obviously the Covert is built to handle more abuse, will be heavier and better at going down than up.

Don’t torture yourself over the decision, they’re both great bikes. Think about the riding you do and if the bike is right.

I have a Covert. A bandit would probably be absolutely fine for most of the riding I do. But I like having a bike that’s strong enough to handle anything I personally would throw at it. Would I do a 20 mile XC ride and expect to keep up with super light 4″ bikes, hell no, but would it make it round, yes. I wouldn’t do huge drops on it like you would on a dh bike, but it’ll do most things.

I don’t know why people agonise over decisions like these!

I wouldn’t expect much, maybe £100 if you’re lucky.

I only wash it when it’s filthy and getting heavy! I usually knock off mud with a brush whilst its wet, use fork juice on suspension (and adjustable seatpost) to clean crap out of seals, wipe chain if items wet and relube.

I’ll hose it, scrub with brush, muc off, scrub, leave, rinse, then get into all the little areas with a smaller brush, fork juice. I don’t have a chain cleaner but need one now I have 10sp with power links.

I might come along to this but I’m pretty unfit! What’s the route?

Wicked Sov! I love mine although would like to trade my 160 lyriks for some Revs/140/150 forks.

Transition Covert.

£11 inc posted is what I paid for it if I remember correctly.

I don’t need to use a lower guard with it on my hardtail, but it’d help on a full sus.

Blackspire innerguard, I have a spare one if you’re interested.

This is now a ‘Post your hardtails’ thread :D

I’m looking to give one of these a try with a Clutch SX on the front.

Why is the availability of the Armadillo Elite 2bliss model so poor? Has it only just been released?

I was hoping I had a totally (un)sick pic of me dropping off a curb, but this even so slightly sick(er) pic will have to do

Middle drop at Glentress skills park.

About to case a jump at Stainburn :D

right click > view image for biggar

Awesome bike, the polished finish was a great idea.

You’re selling it already!?!?

Dear christ.

I love mine but want to trade my 160mm lyric airs for some 140/150 revs to lighten it up and get the geometry back to stock.

I could be up for this! I’m pretty close by (Huddersfield) and have been wanting to try out some of the trails in Hebden for ages.

What length of ride are we talking? I did a 20mile ride in the Peaks yesterday (Ladybower loop) which was enough riding for me (pretty tired afterwards), so I may back out if it’s gonna be properly epic.

I’m slow uphill but reasonably fast on the technical stuff so maybe it’ll even itself out? xD

1×10 with a 10sp 11-36 cassette and 30t chainring.

I love single ring setups (have the same on my hardtail but 11-34 9 speed) but am not fit enough for anything bigger than a 30t yet. When I get there I’ll put a 32t on. I don’t spin out much at the moment, but would like to try the new Hope integrated cassette/freehub for the 9tooth cog.

These are supposed to be very tough, little over £100 though http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/17991/Halo_Freedom_Disc_Rear_26Inch_Wheel

Neil I think you need to read his post a little more carefully ;)

I think the suspension could only be considered ‘dated’ because there are so many new designs coming out these days, things like the Yeti SB66 switch design and the whole host of dw-link and vpp frames around.

It depends what you want from the bike. It doesn’t mean one bike is better than another because a suspension design is newer or more complex (the Covert is essentially a single pivot which is rather straightforward from what I understand), if you like the feel of the bike then that’s all that should matter.

For me, I like how predictable the Covert feels, I used to ride an Enduro (FSR design) which was a lot harder to pop off lips and things in the trail etc, I think this has a lot to do with why people describe the Covert as being a fun trail bike.

With a good shock like the rp23, monarch, dhx, ccdb, you can dial things out like pedal bob, and get the shock working in a good host of situations. I get little suspension bob on my bike, but it is as plush as my Enduro ever was (with a coil rear end) and feels bottomless on big jumps and drops.

I would go for the 2012 if you can afford it, it would be nice to get a wheel with a maxle 142×12 for futureproofing, itlooks like a lot of new frames are taking on this new ‘standard’. I don’t like the graphics on the new ones although the blue is a really nice colour.

2011 Covert and CCDB here. I’ve used the stock rp23 and a Monarch Plus RC3. I’m about 14 stone so heavyish I guess.

The RP23 was good, but seemed to bob the most of the three shocks, it also wasn’t the most plush of the three. The Monarch was an improvement on both points and seemed like a really great shock, but the allure of the CCDB awesomeness was too much to resist.

I bought the shock from tftuned, they were very helpful on the phone, the shock came set up for my weight and the frame (leverage ratio etc) with a printout of the settings used if I happen to mess them up too much.

The shock is a lot heavier than either of the air shocks I’ve used. I have had a DHX5 with a ti spring on other bikes and the steel spring on the CCDB definitely makes it feel heavier, so a titanium spring would be a nice upgrade, a 2.25 spring will work apparently – there are few weight options around in the correct 2″ stroke size.

At the moment I’m still using stock settings besides speeding up the low speed rebound slightly, it’s not as poppy as I’d like but one of the good things about the CCDB is that you have all the settings there if you want to change them.

Covert (love mine) or a Nuke Proof Mega?

That is reassuring! What’s the shock?

Edit: nevermind, just noticed you said it was a Van earlier on.

Hob Nob – is that speaking from experience?

The free length of a 2.25 is 6mm longer than a 2″ iirc (look on Nuke Proofs site anyway), I haven’t measured it but it doesn’t look like there’s much more room on my shock as I’m not running much preload.

I have a CCDB on my Transition Covert, I love it to bits but it’s HEAVY! I have used an rp23 and Monarch Plus on the same bike, the rp23 was good, the Monarch was great, the CCDB is even better (less bob, plush, stable) but heavy.

The Covert is also 190×50 (same shock dimensions as the Five) and you will be lucky to find a titanium spring if you want to lighten up the shock (Nuke Proof do 2, but I need a 500lb spring, if anyone knows about one then please contact me!) you could fit a 2.25″ but that’s 6mm longer and it’d be a squeeze.

I still need to mess with the rebound to get the poppy feeling I like, but for tracking both up and downhill, the CCDB is great. You just have to decide when to say enough is enough on the whole sacrificing weight for performance issue.

My Evil Sovereign is pretty slack with a 160 Lyrik :D BB isn’t too high either. I am looking at trading the 160 for a 140 of some kind though (as it’s designed around a 140), maybe a rev or sektor.

Check out magicshine lights :)

Go 160 keep the geo as intended, thats plenty travel for 99% of riding anyway.

Don’t bother with travel adjust, more weight, something extra to break and affects plushness.

I’m surprised to see so many Transition Coverts here!
Sam that Orange Blood looks ace.

Here’s my Covert.

I’ve had the frame and forks a couple of months, the shock about a month, need a new rear tire as Excavators are made from cheese and crap for tubeless!

I like taking the ht on Cutgate, fun pumping through the boggy part towards the cairn, when it’s dry anyway.

I was at Gisburn today and heard about this, hully gully was rather slippery, I haven’t ridden berms like that in greasy mud before, you have to realise that the slow speed at the top of the berm plus slippery mud isn’t a good combination!

An ambulance with blues on also passed along the fireroad by the Hope Line around 1pm, not sure what happened there, maybe someone on the dh trails.

I have a 160mm full sus and steel hardtail.

In my opinion, or at least in my case, I like the hardtail sometimes for the same reason I prefer the single pivot frame design on the full sus compared to the fsr design on my old Enduro. The charm of a ht is how it handles and how you get instant feedback from the terrain and rider input.

I agree that a full sus WILL carry speed better than a ht through the rough stuff, it shouldn’t be about that, ride a hardtail because you enjoy it. If you haven’t before then give it a try.