PB photographer Colin Meagher captured some spy shots of Transition's new Sentinel 29er trail bike at the NAEC enduro at Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho. The Sentinel has an all-aluminum chassis that looks pretty slack in the steering department as 29ers go, and taking some ballpark measurements from the photos, the effective seat tube angle appears to be quite steep. "Effective" is the word, because the seat tube makes an S-turn to capture the rocker link pivot and to provide wheel clearance for the conventional Horst-Link four-bar suspension
That S-turn suggests that Transition has given the new Sentinel a generous amount of wheel travel (I'm guessing 150 millimeters). Speculation aside, the bike is obviously in the late production stages, so all will be revealed soon enough. With nearly every brand pushing big wheels at the moment, the Sentinel's appearance should not be a surprise, but for Transition fans, it may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Turns out it's still fun to ride.
And no 11.000$ price tag - and that is without pressfit bearings, can You believe this?!?!
Fact # 2 the current enduro world champ prefers and is also faster on 27.5 over his 29er
Fact # 3 if you say anything negative on 29er on here ,you get neg prop
Pinkbike and a large majority of its user are hyping up the big wheels and fail to see how it should only be a different tool for different people and/or trails.In order to supply to the demand , the industry will have to slowly phase out 27.5 and very soon we're only going to have 27.5 wheels on entry level bikes.The top bikes with all the latest tech will wrongly have the big wheels ... Im guessing ill get at least 15-30 neg prop for my comment ... oh Transition is a rad manufacturer and that bike looks super good
@briceps I've found a DHX 5.0 in 190x51 and planning to buy a knackered RC4 to swap out the piggyback and damper guts. Afaik they use the same shock body. I missed out on a Factory RC4 in the right length and haven't seen any for months now so I'm hoping I can build one from parts essentially.
If Transition is going all long travel 29 then it truly is the end of 27.5.
Ever since the Carbon Covert came out as 26 was being killed, Transition has made extra sure to be on trend. Except for that 27.5 DH bike.
This is why I'm not buying a bike. Feels like whatever you get you will be stuck with obsolete product.
But regardless, a 0 offset fork would ride like shit.
They have made a custom chassis. It's either 43 or 44mm offset, can't remember, but the whole new Transition range will have this when it's released in September.
I'm no pro (far from it) but selling shorter offsets to Joe Blow is a mistake imo, it'll limit the bikes useable range to highspeed, more open terrain which I don't have a lot of round here. 29ers are fast but there's a limit to how fast you can take a 180° switchback and that's where bikes with big trails figures will fall on their arse (or rather on its side when the thing Jack knifes and you bury the chainring as the BB drops so far and your bones are scattered across the trail) just as a dude flies by on a 27.5" bike with manageable steering characteristic (both for designer and rider), reasonable wheelbase, etc, etc.
Having said all that I haven't tried either of the bikes mentioned above and though I think the sweetspot of HA: trail is harder to find with a 29er...maybe Transition and Whyte have found it?
I went from 100mm 51OS Fox to 120mm 46OS Pike and then 140mm 46OS Pike and it didn't seem to make things any worse.
I did change stem and bars from 35 stem and 38 rise on 100mm to 50 stem and 10 rise on 120 / 140 to get more weight forward.
Check the following www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/pushing-the-limits-of-fork-offset-an-experiment-45343
I also feel though that shorter offsets mean for better handling, generally we should always strive for less offset - except for 29ers where offset is necessary and we're 'forced' to suffer poorer steering accuracy in order to gain 'all-round' or 'lower-speed' handling.
Ironically in this regard I'd say that a 29er DH bike makes more sense than a 29er Enduro/AM bike as the DH bikes will be used on higher speed terrain where the larger trail figures make sense. As Joe Blow's do-it-all bike I think 29ers incorporate too much compromise when a 27.5 bike does everything so well. But there's always personal preference which is ultimately all that matters. And there's no denying that 29er wheels roll like a dream.
If I were smaller and lighter I would go for a 275.
I think 29ers need a little work but are getting there. DH is going to help push things forward.
I've debated doing stuff like Porter talks of, but that results in myself putting my money where my mouth is. Also interesting that he mentions, whether tongue-in-cheek or not I don't know, that his switch to 650b is due to the availability of the good tires.
It's good someone like him is stirring up the industry though. Too much "Bold New Graphics" as a product feature going on.
Anyway, I'll drinking Mr. Porters Kool-Aid since I paid for a G16 today!
My issue is the lack of formidable 29er long travel forks on the market at the moment.
The bike looks great, and super glad there will at least be a non plastic option.
Open fire on my burning heart
Voice 1: Quick! We need an someone here!
Voice 2: I'm coming, I'm coming... (grabbing his lipstick)