I’ve owned my Transition Patrol for about two and a half
years now and I’ve put it through all kinds of different types of riding in
that time. From the roughest, steepest and scariest mountain bike trails I dare
to ride to long cross-country leg burners, it’s been highly impressive so far.
It pedals well when you’re climbing; so well in fact that
it really did surprise me on the first few rides. This bike was a step up in
travel compared to my last bike, the Patrol has 160mm travel at the front and
155mm at the rear. My previous bike was 140mm front and back, but the Transition
Patrol climbs much better thanks to some clever geometry malarkey that I don’t
really understand. The new 2020 bikes, with their advanced SBG (Speed
Balanced Geometry) sizing, are said to climb even better though!
Mine is the Transition Patrol 2017 NX version, a predecessor to the Transition Patrol Alloy NX 2021, although I’ve upgraded a lot of components since buying the bike. This wasn’t due to any component failure or Transition Bikes fitting inadequate parts, just me wanting to get the most from my bike and my own personal preferences. Looking over the 2020 range, they get a few of the upgrades I’ve made as standard, with all bikes get 12-speed SRAM Eagle Drivetrains, 4-piston brakes, longer dropper posts, 3C Maxxis Tyres and ODI Grips. Small details, but they all add up!
What I’ve upgraded
Make no mistake, out of the box this full suspension
mountain bike was ready to hit any trail you dare to ride, but I have made a
few upgrades along the way.
I have fitted the DT Swiss M1700 wheelset along with the SRAM GX Eagle 12-speed drivetrain, new Hope Tech 3 E4 brakes and a Hope Bottom Bracket, Rockshox Reverb Stealth dropper post, Cane Creek headset and a set of ODI Elite Pro Grips.
I’ve also fitted a Maxxis Minion DHF 3C front tyre and converted both wheels to tubeless which was very easy thanks to DT Swiss making their wheels truly tubeless ready.
I could have upgraded the suspension, but I’ve honestly never felt I needed to. The Rockshox Yari fork is excellent, it is super plush, can take some brutal hits and it just works very well. At the rear is the RockShox Deluxe RT shock which again handles trough terrain with ease and even left on the open setting, still climbs with little to no pedal bob at all.
“The Transition Patrol 2017’s only limitation is me!”
To give you an idea of what I’ve ridden, I’ve done 30-plus
mile cross country rides around North Wales, sometimes around the Berwyn
Mountains, which involved some white knuckle, rocky fast descents, huge climbs
and some natural, technical, wheel swallowing descents. I’ve also ridden quite
a few mountain bike trail
centres ranging from local ones like Llandegla, Pen Machno, Coed-y-Brenin,
Gwydir Forest (Marin Trail) and Antur Stiniog to ones further afield such as
Bike Park Wales in South Wales and Glentress, Innerleithen and the Nevis range
in Scotland.
Across all of these trails and rides I have to admit, the
Transition Patrol 2017’s only limitation is me. It makes up for my lack of
skill or ability on a bike and has allowed me to ride trails like Top Chief
which, I’ll be honest, terrified the life out of me on the first run.
This has been a truly excellent bike for me and after
nearly three years of owning it, I have no plans to change it. However, that
day will come, and I would buy another Transition mountain bike without doubt
as their bikes really can take a beating, have outstanding build quality and
look the business too.
With that in mind, it’s worth drawing your attention to the new season range of Transition Bikes for 2020. There are some amazing new mountain bikes out now which are sure to put a huge smile on your face when you take to the trails in the New Year.
To browse the full range of Transition bikes including the new season collection of mountain bikes for 2020, head over to the Tweeks Cycles online store now.
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