15 Bikes From TranSierra Norte 2023

Marcelo is a previous TSN winner and his Giant Reign featured an Alebrije inspired paint job on both the frame and fork by Devill Shop of Medellín, Columbia.


Custom paint and mix of components across the board for Marcelo. He's opted for nice mix of Fox supension, SRAM AXS shifting, Shimano XTR brakes and Race Face Cranks.



One of the most exotic builds of the race goes to Sabrina from Germany. Her patriotic build included RAAW, Intend and Pi Rope.


Sabrina mentioned that there's a noticeable amount of front end twist in certain situations but can't say if that's casued the inverted fork, Vectran braided spokes, or a mix of both.



The Swiss Gehrig twins were on the gas all week, swapping stage wins and grinning the whole time. Their experience shown through as they stayed calm and collected over 20 gnarly stages.


Both twins mentioned they had swapped to a Rockshox Vivid for this race and were grateful for the added plushness. The only difference between their bikes is that Caro runs alloy bars and Anita runs carbon.



There was a strong Canadian contingent including the one and only Kasper Woolley. His "uncaged" YT build had a unique selection of performance oriented components. He's choosen the alloy seatstay for added flex. No, you don't need the alloy seatstays for your bike. I promise you aren't as tuned in as Kasper.


Kasper mentioned being skeptical about the O-Chain in early season testing but found the difference surprising with A-B testing. He also opted for the new XX cranks but the "OG" XO mechanical drivetrain paired with XTR brakes and Galfer rotors.



Karina hails from Guadalajara, Mexico and was racing her LiveValve equipped LIV Intrigue LT. She was given the honor of carrying "the dead" on the first day of racing.


She mentioned that she had "tres accidentes" which believe it or not is am impressively low number for this kind of race. Her "momento más loco de la carrera" was on El Toro which is one of the most infamous stages of TSN.



This years TranSierra attracted a deep field of talent, including Poland's Slawomir Lukasik. The Yeti/Fox rider battled a mid race "gringo fever" and still held on to the win. Incredible toughness.


Slawomir said the only change he made to his bike was softening the suspension and tires slightly for the long stages.



Rachel flew in from Bellingham with less than 10 rides on her new custom Transition Spire. She said she was stoked to get some scratches and memories on her new bike.


Tears, smiles, exhaustion, relief, and plenty of loam on the loam shelf. The TSN experience.



The Bellingham based Aussie was riding his custom Arrival 170 with Día de Muertos themed graphics created by Ian Morgan of Fanatik Bike Co. Andrew opted for Cushcore front and rear in his Schwalbe Magic Mary's.


I had an absolute blast trying to keep up with Andrew on a few stages and was blown away by his blind racing skills. Andrew ended up 5th overall despite a few large crashes.



Welsh rider Sam Robson is an experienced blind racer. His custom painted G1 has already survived two Stone King Rally's. Sam is part owner of Geometron bikes and runs an EXT G1 specific Storia which has spherical eyelets and an internal negative spring for soft top-out. Sam has 29" wheels front and rear, a mid-length chainstay at 452mm, and for tighter enduro terrain he runs the BB at 342mm using the various "frame mutator" options.


The custom paint on Sam's G1 is inspired by 80-90's surf board designs. With a few special touches including his lucky number 2 and the ying yang - paint by Fat Creations. Fun fact: if you descend from the highest point in Wales to sea-level it would be the same amount of descending as the longest stage at TSN.



Adrian was representing WinCo Factory racing with his custom painted 5010. Adrian was unique in that he painted the frame and helmet himself which is incredibly impressive in my opinion.


To contrast the beautiful paint on his frame and helmet, Adrian opted for a simple approach to the graphics on his fork.



Marco Osborne showed that a dialed setup isn't immune to catastrophic issues but a solid attitude is. On the first day of racing Marco smashed his derailleur off on a rock and had to take a massive penalty. He kept his head up and won the next three days of racing to make it back onto the podium. Marco runs his Shimano equipped Spire in the high setting and chooses a relatively soft fork setup for blind racing. Randy chooses to run a 2.3 WTB Vigilante on the rear wheel to increase rolling speed and help his bike drift around tight corners. Marco was also wearing a custom painted helmet in honor of his friend Sean who passed away last year.


Marco was representing DYEDBRO with their Day of the Dead inspired frame protection. He was also proved to be a ruthless competitor in the post race arm wrestling.


Alessio Marcorin from Switzerland with his Swiss Yep joystick dropper lever.


Peter Wojnar flatted multiple times the first day and resorted to 42psi and tube for the remainder of the race. 42psi in the back + 27psi in the front = 69psi. Nice.