AM Transition Sentinel - long term review

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
Frame - XL Transition Sentinel in gunmetal grey
Rear shock - Fox DPX2 performance elite
Front shock/fork - SR Suntour Durolux RC2 160mm boost
Handlebars - Spank Spike Vibrocore 800mm
Stem - Spank Spike 35mm
Headset - stock
Grips - Ergon GA2 turq
Saddle - SDG Radar
Seatpost - PNW Bachelor 170mm with Loam lever
Front brake - Magura MT Trail (MT7)
Rear brake - Magura MT Trail (MT8)
Cranks - e.thirteen TRS
Chainguide - OneUp
Chain - sram something
Pedals - OneUp composite
Rear derailleur - Sram GX 11 speed
Rear shifter - as above
Cassette - X01
Front hub - Hunt
Rear hub - Hunt
Front rim - Hunt Trail (30mm internal)
Rear rim - Hunt Trail (30mm internal)
Tyres - 2.5 Minion DHF EXO 3C Front / 2.3 Minion SS EXO
355751
Rear



355137
355138
355139


Ride report to come. First impressions are that its pretty plush and loves to float over rocky chunder.

Still have a bit of tweaking to the setup to do and am running 650b with plus size tyres for now (thanks to saint @moorey) as 29” wheels take their sweet time getting delivered.

It pedal strikes ahoy for me at the moment And still need to dial body position on this limo but feels great at speed and loves to pump and jump which is a pleasant surprise.

More to come soon...
 
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yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
It also runs a lot more sag than my Yeti did so I’m thinking I might need to look into some 170mm cranks (running 175mm at the moment)
 

moorey

call me Mia
Reported to the mods :p
Clearly meant that it’s hot with 27.5 and bigger tyres.
If I wasn’t an orange man, I’d most likely be a Transition man (don’t get me wrong, I loooove all my banshees). Have owned 4 between Felix and I, and they just work, and always look the goods. Hopefully rebuilding mine this weekend. Probably back to 26”. Maybe a mullet :oops:
 

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
I should probably do a full review of the PNW dropper and the Durolux forks separately but for now...

I highly recommend PNW to anyone looking for a new dropper. Still need to put some k’s on it to know about reliability and servicing etc but for customer service alone I would recommend them.

Add in a quality feeling product, a great lever, reasonably easy install (the hard part was the frames’s fault, not the post’s fault) and a good price from a great local distro (mtbdirect) and you have a winner.

Forks need more time and tweaking but feel really supple off the top and arrived set up pretty close to perfect for my weight etc.

Only issue I have with the whole Werx program thing it that they have set them up to feel nice but with both low speed and high speed compression totally wound off. It leaves me with no real adjustment if I want to try speeding up compression which kinda defeats the purpose of buying such an adjustable fork... :mad:

I also struggled to use all my travel yesterday at the you yangs so will have to crack open the fork to see what sort of volume spacers are in there and maybe take one out.
 

wkkie

It's Not Easy Being Green
If you have any issues with the fork get onto the Australian distributor / service agent, Bicycle Parts Wholesale.

I had an issue with my Durolux not getting full travel and I sent it into them. No charge and they sorted out the compression issue and gave them a full service and sent them back express.

Highly recommended and should make getting a Suntour fork an easier decision for anyone considering one.
 

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
If you have any issues with the fork get onto the Australian distributor / service agent, Bicycle Parts Wholesale.

I had an issue with my Durolux not getting full travel and I sent it into them. No charge and they sorted out the compression issue and gave them a full service and sent them back express.

Highly recommended and should make getting a Suntour fork an easier decision for anyone considering one.
Great - thanks for the tip!
 

the drizzle

Likes Bikes and Dirt
That is one sexy rig mate! I was wondering what you had upgraded too after seeing the yeti for sale. I love the the look of the newer trannies and that colour look mint. Durolux will be a beast too I reckon

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
That is one sexy rig mate! I was wondering what you had upgraded too after seeing the yeti for sale. I love the the look of the newer trannies and that colour look mint. Durolux will be a beast too I reckon

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Thanks mate. The grey looks great with all black stanchions on forks, dropper and shock.

It needed to be something special to get me off the sb66 - loved that bike. This is such a beast. Can’t wait to open the throttle and give it a good test. Might hit red hill this weekend and see how she handles Eaton’s.
 

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
RIDE REPORT
So this is something of a ‘first ride report’ as I know it’s quite preliminary and impressions will change with a bit more time on the rig in different conditions. But this is where I’m at.

I’m coming from a Yeti SB66 to this beast and in some ways they set out with similar missions in life - fun and capable trail bikes that can handle a few shuttles when the moon is full and the mountain is calling. The Yeti was 150mm front and back while the Tranny is 140mm out back and 160mm up front. Big difference of course is the wheel size (26” vs 29”).

But regardless of their shared mission in life, the bikes are massively different in the way they go about things. First thing I noticed was the recommended sag on the Tranny is 30% and there doesn’t seem to be much anti-squat (haven’t checked that) so you end up with a bike that squishes down into its travel and bobs a bit as you pedal. Added to that is a head angle that’s slacker than a Byron Bay hippy and a plush fork up front.

I’m also rocking plus sized 650B tyres at the moment in place of the 29” so that adds some squish too.

Overall it means where the Yeti felt like a WRX rally car the Tranny feels like a trophy truck.

That is, at least, at ‘noodling around in the carpark’ And ‘trundling up the fire road’ speeds.

Once you open the throttle, things change. I was blown away by how this thing rails burms, pumps dips and jumps. Once it’s up to speed it becomes really responsive and ‘poppy’. It really seems to shrink under you and not feel like a limo. When you are jumping is has that ‘in the bike’ feel rather than ‘on the bike’.

It could be the tyres but it also has an amazing ability to float over rock gardens and through a mess of roots.

I was riding at the You Yangs and slowly building up confidence and speed. For those that know it, I decided to turn the wick up on Lactic Acid and as I was pushing through a burm, the front wheel started to wash a bit. I chased it, expecting it to hook up but given we had a metric shitload of rain the night before, the top of the burm was soft and the tyre pushed through it. I hit the deck pretty hard but got back up and cruised the final bit. First crash done I guess...

In terms of parts, I’ve mentioned the PNW seatpost seems to be some quality work. The Fox DPX2 shock seems to be nice an supple off the top and so far is giving lots of support and ramp up. Might need to take out a volume spacer to get full travel.

Forks are feeling great. After coming off a Marzocchi, I needed something solid and these Durolx are up to task. Still need to tweak and as mentioned before, I’m a bit pissed that the low speed and high speed compression are fully open as I would like to have some ability to speed up the high speed compression and see how it feels...

One thing about the fork I didn’t realise until i bought it is that it is about 9mm longer in the axle to crown measurement than a comparable 160mm from from Fox or RS. Means the head angle is probable even slacker than the stated 64 degrees.

Planned changes are the Hunt 29” wheels when they arrive with a Minion DHF 2.5 up front and a MinionSS 2.3 out back. I think I will also change to 170mm cranks. Other than that I just need to plough on through a variety of terrain and see how she goes!
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Which Hunt wheels did you order? How has the experience dealing with them been so far?

I'll borrow your current set permanently when you're done with them ;)
 
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