Bike Check & Interview: UK National DH Series Winner Stacey Fisher & her Transition TR11

After all the celebrations had ended at the final round of the UK National Downhill series we grabbed the female Elite winner Stacey Fisher's Transition TR 11 bike to take a look at it. With sponsors like Transition and Hope, this was never going to be an ugly bike and it doesn't disappoint.





Stacey's Transition is a small frame and is a full carbon construction. The Transition TR11 uses the brand's Gravity GiddyUp Suspension platform. It's progressive by nature, has low leverage and minimal pedal kickback, this provides fantastic performance in a simple package.




The drivetrain on this TR11 is treated to more Hope CNC jewellery with a set of 165mm long EVO cranks and Spiderless chainring running on a Hope Bottom bracket with the Chain kept in check by an E-thirteen Chainguide and tensioner. All of this is topped off with the DH pedal of choice the Crank brothers Mallet pedal.




The rest of the drivetrain comes from SRAM with their ever-popular XO1 7 Speed DH groupset. The XO1 Mech looks like it has had a hard life taking plenty of knocks, is treated to a set of Hope jockey wheels.


This Transition being set up as a Mullet bike means we have a 29" Hope Fortus 30mm wide aluminium rim on the front of Stacey's bike laced to Hopes Pro 4 Hub. At the rear you find the same set up just with a 27.5" version of the Hope Fortus DH wheel. These are set up tubeless with the Classic Maxxis DHR and DHF tyre combo both in DH casing.

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Once the champagne had been sprayed and the trophies had been handed out we managed to catch up with the UK National Downhill Series champion for 2021 Stacey Fisher. Stacey has moved across from motocross in the last few years to riding Downhill.

Congratulations on winning the DH National Series, how are you feeling?

I'm so happy! (At this point Stacey was still hugging her trophy and was finding it hard to speak due to the massive smile on her face)

How has the last year been for you? You and KJ fought all the way to the last rounds

Yeah, I didn't start off very well. I broke my foot pre-season and then when I came back from that, I think it was the week before Round 1 at Hamsterley, I had a really bad crash. I hit a tree and fractured my coccyx so I was in a lot of pain for Hamsterley. But yeah, I was just trying to progress through the year and now this.

How does this compare to winning National Champs, are they the same level?

Yeah, I would have liked that National Champs a little bit more but this is good enough.

You were out at the World Championships at Val di Sole. Are you looking forward to doing some World Cups next year too?

If I can get some financial support, I'm there. I think I’m going to be there anyway. I'll put myself in debt for that.

Is that the main thing holding you back from racing World Cups, finding a sponsor that is willing to help fund it?

Yeah, yeah it is actually because nobody needs like a bike with certain components on it, things like that or a certain tyre. The money side of it because of all the covid tests, the cost of travel and everything else that goes with it is the deciding factor as I've got to work out how much it will cost and then put that forward to somebody to see if it is feasible.

It's great to see that the women's category is becoming more competitive again. How fun is it having to fight for results?

Well, it’s fun when I win, I’m joking. It’s actually been a lot of fun. Coming from motocross, achieving what I've done there and coming here, then being in the Elite’s this year, having competition is a little bit new to me. So it's been awesome, but it's really made me think that I need to mentally sort myself out first.

The Women's field, although it is competitive it seems like a bit of a family. How is it?

It’s absolutely amazing. You have riders coming up to you asking how did you do, did you get a clean run and they really hope you did well, genuinely. I didn’t expect that and honestly, it makes it for me. I don’t know it’s strange, the people that are pushing me and beating me - I don't feel any resentment at all and I just think it's because everyone just wants to build each other up and everyone’s nice to each other.

This isn't your full-time job, is it? How do you find mixing a full-time job with racing?

I don’t get to train. I work Monday to Friday, if we get some time I’ll put some training in, work on the bike or we just go and have a blast for an hour or so after work at the local or dig in. In terms of finding the time to get off for races, my company have been quite good with that but obviously, it’s unpaid so it doesn’t really help with the efforts of getting to the Worlds. That’s by the by though and it’s no real issue really.

So next year do you think you will be back racing the National Series again? Any other big plans or sticking with Downhill?

Yeah, I'm being persuaded every day by my Dad and my boyfriend to get back into Motocross but I have zero interest in it at the moment. I love this sport and I’m gutted I didn’t get into it sooner. Literally no plans but Downhill, World Cups and National Champs. Everything bike-related and two wheels I’m interested in.

Any thank yous?

Absolutely, thanks to Transition, Windwave, Leisure Lakes Bikes, RNR, Hope, Rock Guardz, MukJunkie, Crosby Physiotherapy, Dialled telemetry and Crankbrothers.

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Interviews Reviews and Tech Bike Checks DH Racing DH Bikes Transition Transition Tr11 British National Dh PBWMN