Any Scout owners wishing they should of gotten a Patrol or vice versa and why?

PB Forum :: Transition
Any Scout owners wishing they should of gotten a Patrol or vice versa and why?
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flag skycries57
Posted: Jan 21, 2018 at 17:38 Quote
Any regrets on the wrong model and wishing they should of gotten Carbon as well and why?
flag joshdodd
Posted: Jan 22, 2018 at 4:02 Quote
I'm lucky enough to own both and have struggled to get along with the Scout the whole time I've had it. Don't get me wrong, its a great bike but if I jump on the Patrol after riding the Scout the Patrol just seems to ride better in so many respects.

I'm planning a bit of an experiment to increase the fork travel from 140 up to 150, fitting an angle set to push the front out and drop the BB back down. As much as anything, I want to know what it is about the Patrol that makes it ride the way it does. Other than the extra travel, obviously.

My advice to anyone considering one or the other is to go with the Patrol. There is nowhere near as much compromise that way around, compared to picking the Scout over the Patrol.
flag RideTahoe707
O+
Posted: Feb 26, 2018 at 21:29 Quote
Just sold my Scout frameset and bought a new 2016 Suppressor frameset (Patrol 26/650b compatible). I loved the Scout and found it to be a joy to ride on EVERY trail, even XC types but continuously find myself having to take the more conservative lines while riding the steeps.

I'm looking forward to the extra travel and slacker headtube but am concerned with how the climbing may be and definitely wondering how XC trails will feel with it. Stoked for more travel, I'll report back in a month or so. Don't wait for me though, go get yours!
flag skycries57
Posted: Mar 3, 2018 at 14:59 Quote
joshdodd wrote:
I'm lucky enough to own both and have struggled to get along with the Scout the whole time I've had it. Don't get me wrong, its a great bike but if I jump on the Patrol after riding the Scout the Patrol just seems to ride better in so many respects.

I'm planning a bit of an experiment to increase the fork travel from 140 up to 150, fitting an angle set to push the front out and drop the BB back down. As much as anything, I want to know what it is about the Patrol that makes it ride the way it does. Other than the extra travel, obviously.

My advice to anyone considering one or the other is to go with the Patrol. There is nowhere near as much compromise that way around, compared to picking the Scout over the Patrol.
Doesn't going up on travel also goes up on BB height and not down like u said? Or is the angle set u mentioned a separate thing u add?
flag joshdodd
Posted: Mar 14, 2018 at 6:56 Quote
Increasing the fork travel will lift the bottom bracket but the angleset (basically a new headset with an offset built in) will rake the fork out some more and work to drop the bottom bracket back down a little.
flag daveyfive
Posted: Mar 15, 2018 at 14:01 Quote
I’ve done this to my scout, I had a medium patrol but prefer slightly shorter travel bikes so swapped it in for a large scout, wanted to make it feel like a short travel patrol so run it with a 1 degree angle set and 150mm forks so the head angle sits around 65.5 degrees, it feels great, im a size medium all day long but run it with a 35mm stem and the angle set brings the reach back another 5mm or so.
flag fielonator
Posted: Mar 28, 2018 at 1:23 Quote
daveyfive wrote:
I’ve done this to my scout, I had a medium patrol but prefer slightly shorter travel bikes so swapped it in for a large scout, wanted to make it feel like a short travel patrol so run it with a 1 degree angle set and 150mm forks so the head angle sits around 65.5 degrees, it feels great, im a size medium all day long but run it with a 35mm stem and the angle set brings the reach back another 5mm or so.

I'm thinking of doing this too, but I can't decide on 1, 1.5, or 2 degrees off. I'm running 26" wheels (massive tyres though) and a 150mm pike. How did the extra rake affect the handling for twisty singletrack?
flag daveyfive
Posted: Mar 29, 2018 at 3:13 Quote
Can’t say I really noticed a massive difference with cornering and i love twisty single track, certainty nothing negative.
Only thing I do notice is that due to the front wheel being 15mm further out it’s harder to pull up for manuals and bunny hops, I’m quite tempted by these new 37mm offset forks that are coming out now just to bring that wheel base back in a bit while still having a fairly aggressive head angle.
flag ihatetomatoes
Posted: Apr 9, 2018 at 8:06 Quote
Rode an aluminum Scout for 2 years before getting on a Carbon Patrol.

I like the Scout better. Unless I was on a trail that you could justify having a DH bike on the Scout was just funner. Just livelier and more playful. I rode absolutely everything on that Scout, spent time riding some of the hardest trails in Whistler/Squamish/Pemberton and it was fine and you could have a blast ripping more mellow flow trails as well. I found the Patrol to just be a little boring unless you were riding a gnarly trail.

Some people like having the bigger travel bikes though so it's all preference and what you ride most. I just value nimbleness over stability. If you're area has lots of rowdy trails then a Patrol is better for you. If you're area has average trails then a Scout is for you.
flag brandonbergey
O+
Posted: Apr 23, 2018 at 5:19 Quote
Hey guys thanks for this - noticing the 2018 scout has 65 HA and seems to be the bike some of you would want! Agree?

I’m trying to decide between clearance 2017 scout with better components or 2018 wth cheaper components.
Thoughts?
flag crazbiker4
Posted: Apr 25, 2018 at 9:46 Quote
I was on a 2015 Scout for the last 3 years. Originally I was going to go with a Patrol but they were sold out but then later came back in stock. I had already made the choice to stick with the scout. This was also my 1st 27.5 bike so I was like maybe I do not need the extra travel and it turned out more than 90-95% of the time that was true. Only big drops are the limiting factor but most of us are not banging out drops each and every trail ride. The scout jumps really well and turns on a dime, pedals well. Other then not doing well on big drops the only real issue (if you consider it one) is the lack of plushness during fast repeated hits. The 125mm of rear travel was very progressive so when hitting these bumps like long root beds its like the back end could not absorb the repeated hits as well as a 160 bike. I think this is a given though and i think it did well for what it was. This was my only grip, and if the bike was 150/140 F/R i think it would have been a perfect trail bike.

This season i have changed to a carbon patrol so i will have to follow up about the pros and cons. Initial feel the bikes feel identical to me lol... I am using the same exact setup so other than the head angle they feel the same. This is good so i can rip it hard out of the box. I think going to 155 in the rear will give me better consecutive bump compliance then the scout but i hope be just as nimble and playful.
flag brandonbergey
O+
Posted: Apr 25, 2018 at 10:42 Quote
crazbiker4 wrote:
I was on a 2015 Scout for the last 3 years. Originally I was going to go with a Patrol but they were sold out but then later came back in stock. I had already made the choice to stick with the scout. This was also my 1st 27.5 bike so I was like maybe I do not need the extra travel and it turned out more than 90-95% of the time that was true. Only big drops are the limiting factor but most of us are not banging out drops each and every trail ride. The scout jumps really well and turns on a dime, pedals well. Other then not doing well on big drops the only real issue (if you consider it one) is the lack of plushness during fast repeated hits. The 125mm of rear travel was very progressive so when hitting these bumps like long root beds its like the back end could not absorb the repeated hits as well as a 160 bike. I think this is a given though and i think it did well for what it was. This was my only grip, and if the bike was 150/140 F/R i think it would have been a perfect trail bike.

This season i have changed to a carbon patrol so i will have to follow up about the pros and cons. Initial feel the bikes feel identical to me lol... I am using the same exact setup so other than the head angle they feel the same. This is good so i can rip it hard out of the box. I think going to 155 in the rear will give me better consecutive bump compliance then the scout but i hope be just as nimble and playful.

Thanks for this report. Oh man I can't wait to hear what your response re. Patrol is! Is it as efficient and fun?!
flag RNeves
Posted: May 4, 2018 at 16:01 Quote
Here's a nice comparison of both bikes made by a 2018 Patrol owner:
flag brandonbergey
O+
Posted: Aug 15, 2018 at 19:59 Quote
Sweet, thanks for this!

RNeves wrote:
Here's a nice comparison of both bikes made by a 2018 Patrol owner:
flag crazbiker4
Posted: Aug 20, 2018 at 7:04 Quote
brandonbergey wrote:
crazbiker4 wrote:
I was on a 2015 Scout for the last 3 years. Originally I was going to go with a Patrol but they were sold out but then later came back in stock. I had already made the choice to stick with the scout. This was also my 1st 27.5 bike so I was like maybe I do not need the extra travel and it turned out more than 90-95% of the time that was true. Only big drops are the limiting factor but most of us are not banging out drops each and every trail ride. The scout jumps really well and turns on a dime, pedals well. Other then not doing well on big drops the only real issue (if you consider it one) is the lack of plushness during fast repeated hits. The 125mm of rear travel was very progressive so when hitting these bumps like long root beds its like the back end could not absorb the repeated hits as well as a 160 bike. I think this is a given though and i think it did well for what it was. This was my only grip, and if the bike was 150/140 F/R i think it would have been a perfect trail bike.

This season i have changed to a carbon patrol so i will have to follow up about the pros and cons. Initial feel the bikes feel identical to me lol... I am using the same exact setup so other than the head angle they feel the same. This is good so i can rip it hard out of the box. I think going to 155 in the rear will give me better consecutive bump compliance then the scout but i hope be just as nimble and playful.

Thanks for this report. Oh man I can't wait to hear what your response re. Patrol is! Is it as efficient and fun?!

I figured as of now I would have enough seat time on the Patrol to give my 2 cents to be able to make a fair comparison between the Scout and Patrol.

Setup:
The 2017 patrol setup is identical to my 2015 scout minus the Superdeluxe rear shock, went from a 30T to a 32T up front, changed to 11s from 10s. Weight is in the 29lb range, both bikes were in the 29lb range.

The good thing about moving all my parts over, is the bike felt the same and there was no odd feeling of being on a new bike. This is a good thing as I am super picky about the feel of my bikes and I want it to feel like apart of me when I jump on. So both bikes sit the same as far as I am concerned.

Climbing:
The Patrol in my mind climbs just about as good as the scout (Climb switch open), I think the only major diff is when you stand to climb. When standing the bike bobs a tad more then Scout did, but not enough to complain about and could be probably tuned out via low speed compression. However as said above there is not too much difference when sitting down pedaling up and a moderate pace.

Pedaling:
I think the Patrol pedals as well as the Scout. I set the sag based on Transitions recommendations and it just works great! They did a good job tuning the rear end. As I stated above the real difference is when you stand and mash the pedals, there is a slight bob where the scout stayed a little more flat.

I think going up to a 32T made a little diff for the pedaling and maybe it would have been slightly worse with a 30t which would have gave slightly more pedal kick back. but with the large cassettes these days I think 32t is the lowest anyone needs to go up front on a 27.5 bike. I am actually looking to go 34T next year.

Suspension:
I think this is where the patrol really shines. It pedals very well for what it is and how much travel the rear end has. It soaks up the consecutive square edge hits (root beads) and does very well on bigger hits. I thought the scout was always a little rough going over root beds and such. The big hits the scout did ok on, but you had to be careful as there was no "oh $hit" deep travel.

Overall impressions:
I think both bikes are great, Transition has done a great job on their whole line its tough to pick. However if I was choosing between the scout and the patrol, it would the patrol. I think the bike is more versatile giving the travel and good pealing. The Scout is a good bike but i think it may be better for someone who likes to pedal more and not get in the nar too much. A new rider may benefit on the scout and not feel limited at all. Plus the geo is more aggressive then other bikes in its class so this would allow the rider to do better at high speeds. but if you are a good intermediate to advanced rider i think patrol it is!
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