Transition Bottle Rocket - first impression.
With Halloween just behind us, most of you are probably sick of Bottle Rockets. However this is no ordinary bottle rocket. This is a 5.5 inch travel free ride/ slope style bike, called the Bottle Rocket. A bike built for new school trails where stunts are big and smooth , but you may need to pedal up to the trail head. The Bottle Rocket is built by the rider owned Transition Bicycle Company based out of Ferndale Washington in the U.S.A.I picked up my Bottle Rocket today, and now with one extremely wet ride under my belt this is my first impression of the bike. “Out of the box” the first thing I noticed is how sharp the bike looks, I have the Kelly green colour with a Fox 36 Vanilla R. With the clean cable runs beefy gussets and chain stays, the bikes is simple but it looks like it was built with purpose. I then noticed how light it is, with stock components the Bottle Rocket weighs in at 39.6 Lbs. (by staying within my budget, I am stoked to have a ride under 45lbs, and you can expect that as I save my pennies again, I'll be shaving weight from the bike by spring time)
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One concern I had prior to getting the bike was sizing, on the TBC website they give recommendations for sizing. Myself I am just under 5’10” tall and they suggest a size small. In my past experiences with small frames they often feel very short in the top tube length, but the stand over height is good. However I took the website's advice and was pleasantly surprised, the dimensions were dead on. The head tube angle on the Bottle Rocket is 67 degrees, which feels very stable when going down steep descents, yet very nimble for the rest of the ride. The components that come stock on the Bottle rocket aren’t too shabby either:
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Our ride was on completely natural terrain so I did not get an opportunity see how the bike handles big hits. Although it rode very nicely through roots and rocks and it pedaled up hills well too. After one ride I did not find anything I would like improved on the Bottle Rocket, and I am not prepared to give a verdict on the bike, but I am tempted to say this could be the most fun bike I have ever ridden. I will continue to ride the Bottle Rocket for the rest of the winter, so stay tuned for a complete review of the bike sometime in the spring. And if you’re interested in taking a closer look and the Bottle Rocket or any of Transition’s other bikes visit their website www.transitionbikes.com
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Happy Trails
Isaac
One concern I had prior to getting the bike was sizing, on the TBC website they give recommendations for sizing. Myself I am just under 5’10” tall and they suggest a size small. In my past experiences with small frames they often feel very short in the top tube length, but the stand over height is good. However I took the website's advice and was pleasantly surprised, the dimensions were dead on. The head tube angle on the Bottle Rocket is 67 degrees, which feels very stable when going down steep descents, yet very nimble for the rest of the ride. The components that come stock on the Bottle rocket aren’t too shabby either:
| Frame size | Small |
| Rear Shock | Fox DHX 5.0 Coil |
| Fork | 2007 Fox Shox 36 Vanilla R |
| Headset | FSA Orbit Z1.5R |
| Crankarms | FSA Gap 170mm |
| Chainrings | FSA - 22/32 w/Bash Guard |
| Bottom Bracket | FSA Mega Exo External BB (4 Bearings) |
| Pedals | TBC Step Down Pedals |
| Chain | KMC Z9000 |
| Cassette | SRAM PG950 11-32 |
| Derailleurs | SRAM X7 Mid-cage (rear) SRAM X-Gen (front) |
| Shifter Cable/Housing | Stock |
| Shifter Pods | SRAM X7 (front & rear) |
| Handlebar | FSA Gravity 31.8(clamp) x 50mm(rise) |
| Stem | Transition Temple 50mm |
| Grips | ODI Lock On-Rogue |
| Brakes | Hayes 9 Hydraulics with 8" front and 6" rear rotors |
| Tires | Maxxis Minion 2.5 F & R |
| Wheel Set | TBC Revolution 32 (32 mm rim width and 32 spokes |
| Tubes | Maxxis Welter weights |
| Saddle | TBC - Park n' Ride |
| Seatpost | Truvativ XR DC 30.0mm x 350mm |
| Weight | As is: approx 39.6lbs |
Our ride was on completely natural terrain so I did not get an opportunity see how the bike handles big hits. Although it rode very nicely through roots and rocks and it pedaled up hills well too. After one ride I did not find anything I would like improved on the Bottle Rocket, and I am not prepared to give a verdict on the bike, but I am tempted to say this could be the most fun bike I have ever ridden. I will continue to ride the Bottle Rocket for the rest of the winter, so stay tuned for a complete review of the bike sometime in the spring. And if you’re interested in taking a closer look and the Bottle Rocket or any of Transition’s other bikes visit their website www.transitionbikes.com
Happy Trails
Isaac
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this is Kyle at transition bikes. i hate to have to butt in and call you guys out, but you obviously have NO IDEA what you're talking about. Do you guys work in the industry? Do you "really know" what you're talking about? the answer is NO. to even say these things is really immature given the fact that you have no idea about what you're talking about.
1) We do all the design work here IN WASHINGTON. If you want to see our 2D and 3D models come by sometime and i'd be more than happy to walk you through exactly how we do our frame design. It's not rocket science.
2) Since you know so much about "catalog bikes" why don't you enlighten us? What factory? Which catalog model? I will put my life on the fact that YOU CAN'T. i'll even give you a headstart. check out the TBS. What you'll find is basically every design out there already done. and you won't find our bikes in there....why? because the designs are not property of the factory, but rather they are Transition Bikes property. you will see alot of similar designs (suspension, pivots, shape, etc.) but this is the game with these manufacturers. they see what the frame companies are doing and copy to some extent and put it in the catalog. this attracts smaller OEMs to work with that factory. it's pretty straightforward. so, you have companies either buying an existing design and using the exact design (euro brands to this alot), or the company will take an existing design from teh factory, make some tweaks for differentiation, and then brand it, or the company will do their own design, find the factory that has the right capability to make it, then get it made. Transition Bikes, is the latter.
3) you say you broke one and you've seen them break? Why has my warranty dept not dealt with you? What bike did you break? where did you break it? seems to me like you're hatin for no reason. otherwise please indulge us all a bit.
4) you mention the "flaws". what are the flaws? You say they break. how? where? if you really knew what you're talking about you'd try to educate us all rather than just making blanket statements that don't shed any light on the facts.
anyway, thanks to all that support us...and to everybody else, i encourage you to first learn the facts (not heresay) then share. i am completely open to discussing this at length on the phone if any of you need to become educated on this subject. robinator/mycockisbigger, you guys should probably take me up on this offer....
-kyle
Thanks transition.
Guess the bike was not for me...or perhaps it was the build I rode coz it really did not feel right and was super real end weighty....I also did notice that there was a cable crimping feature designed into the cable routing by the rear shock and mount area...yikes!
good job
after the argument kyle put up for his product just makes me trust them more!!
how much do they run for tho?