The TR450 is currently in prototype testing, so geometry and other features are not finalized, and may still change by production. The prototype frames feature a 64 degree head angle, 14” bottom bracket height and 17.5” chainstay length. Three sizes are being tested with wheelbase lengths of 45.5”, 46.5” and 47.5” for the small, medium and large frames. Heavily researched and selected with direct input from Lars, this is an aggressive geo built for speed and stability. With a careful ratio between chainstay length and head angle, the frame has a neutral feel in corners with good rider weight balance between the front and rear wheels.
Transition TR450 frame waiting for parts
The TR450 gets 8.25” of travel from a 9.5” x 3” shock placed low in the front triangle. The linkage was tuned to provide a gradual change from beginning to ending leverage rate. The 2.75 to 1 average leverage rate makes shock tuning easy and keeps stress on the frame low.
“It was pretty important from the get-go that we really get the leverage rate curve spot on with this frame. The overall curve has a pretty linear rate of change so the leverage rate does not vary wildly through the travel. The suspension ramps up very evenly through the travel to give the bike a supple top stroke and good bottom out control without excessive sag or mid stroke wallow. This result in a consistent progressive suspension feel that is predictable and yields a high amount of tunability,” said Kyle Young of Transition Bikes.
Transition TR450 Complete
There are large cartridge bearings at all pivot locations, with an absolute monster of a bearing used at the main pivot for durability and frame stiffness. All bearings are pressed directly against machined bearing seats inside the linkages, eliminating misalignment that can occur when bearings placed at outer edges are “pinched” together. The overall suspension design was selected to keep the shock low in the frame, while still protecting the rear shock from tire roost. The pivot points have been laid out to triangulate loads and keep the rear end stiff, which helps keep the bearings turning smoothly, and your wheels tracking straight.
Custom tube shapes were developed and the downtube has a tooled reinforcement rather than a traditional weld on gusset. This thicker section reinforces the underside of the downtube/headtube junction without the stress riser created at the edge of a weld on gusset. The front triangle features double welding, which creates a thick but smooth weld and yeilds a significant increase in strength for high stress areas. The TR450 has a tapered headtube with an integrated Cane Creek size top bearing and standard 1.5” bottom intended to run a zero stack cup. The shape of the headtube better matches the toptube and downtube size and shape, and leaves plenty of clearance for fork crowns. The short headtube length gives riders lots of room for handlebar height adjustment and an aggressive low stance. “When developing the overall look of the bike, we wanted to avoid visual dead ends. All the lines on the bike flow together; the line of the downtube flows into the chainstay, the top tube flows into the front triangle uprights, and the shock sits relatively parallel to the top tube and seatstays,” said Sam Burkhardt or Transition Bikes. “The custom tubeset was designed for strength and stiffness in key areas; such as the headtube, shock mount and bottom bracket. The result is a modern, but subtle tube shape that does not distract from the classic good looks of the bike.”
Front end featuring proprietary tubeset, tapered headtube and double welded headtube junction
Mud shedding was a key concern in the design of the frame. Excessive pockets were avoided and many parts, like the dropouts and rear triangle yokes, are hollowed from the inside and smooth on the outside so mud won’t collect in hard to reach places. The smooth aesthetic carries over into the lines of the frame. When viewed from the side, the linkage stays hidden from view right up to the sag point. This is a clean frame, any way you look at it.
“We set out to design a bike that could be ridden hard and put away wet. We know how frustrating it is to skip a ride waiting for proprietary parts or a complicated overhaul, so we built a bike that was reliable and easy to maintain. This is a top level race bike that doesn’t require a full time mechanic to keep it running,” said Sam Burkhardt “Being from the Northwest we ride in all conditions and expect our bikes to spend more time on the trail than in the shop.”
Transition was not setting out to create an ultra light fragile pro-only frame; this is intended to be a dependable bike that riders can trust race after race. That being said, the TR450 frame is not an overbuilt tank either. The painted medium prototype frame weighs in at a respectable 11.6 pounds with a DHX RC4 (with steel spring), aluminum rear axle and all frame hardware. Lars’ complete bike weighs in at 39.5 pounds as pictured here. Retail pricing has not been announced, but customers should expect a great value with amazing performance for the price.
Video by Andy Tran at the second Fluidride Cup of 2009 with Kyle Young and the TR 450:
Keep an eye on www.transitionbikes.com for more updates on the TR450 as testing continues. For more info check out the video below to watch the build and Lars hit the trail for the first time on the Transition TR450.
3Kyle working on some 3D modeling of the TR450
Powder coating the frames
Lars and Sam assembling the frame
Testing the tire clearance
Lars on his first pedal after the build
Rear view
Rear end with internal chainstay cable routing and internally hollowed out dropouts
Tapered headtube DRASTICALLY cuts down your fork choices. Internally routed cables are a bitch to maintain. Don't mess with success. Sometimes keeping up with the Jones' isn't the best thing to do.
The performance of pros isn't the best gauge of a frame's performance. Lars killed it on a Sunday, then a Blindside, now this. Lars is the fast one, not the bike.
That said, this frame addresses all of the Blinside's weaknesses (high shock, low pivot, wierd shock rates, flexy rear end, etc.), and will still be way cheaper than the competition. Besides, Transition has the best customer service around, and you will see them all out shredding on the trails and at races.
And rialb, this bike is clearly intended for dual crown forks, so fork choice is not limited at all. Unless you plan on building it up as a freeride bike and bitching about its performance.
Could this linkage be any closer to a Ventana El Cuervo? The pivots locations are almost exact copies. The bike looks sick but it's about as original as flipping through a magazine and meshing two bikes together. At least it will probably cost way less than the Ventana
rialb - you just run a standard 1 and 1/8th steerer, the headsets for E2 headtubes just use a zero stack lower cup that presses inside the headtube, then the top is a standard integrated 1&1/8th keeps the bars low but still gives you extra strength and a bigger longer lasting lower bearing. strength and durability where its needed but no extra weight.
E2 headtube - Where's the DRASTIC reduction in fork choices? Just run a reducing bottom cup like Glory's have been doing for years, and a 1 1/8" steerer.
rialb, I don't understand what you are thinking? You don't have to run E2 head tubes on your fork to match the tapered head tube of the bike... It gives you the advantage of running internal headsets with a much bigger bearing on the lower race.(so you would be riding a 1.5" converting to 1-1/8" lower race)
my opinion is thatyes, the bike looks nice. However, ransition really isnt bringing anything new to the table. I mean Its basically a fansy single pivot. Take the session for instance. They just came out with the evo link a few years ago, and are running with that, and thats new to the world. Yetis is working with the rail systems, and milyard is doing a one swing arm thing. All of these are new and fresh and PROGRESSIVE. This isnt. This is just a flashy single pivot with internal cables, and a tapered headset.
how cares what we ride. some of the best mechs in the state, or world are riding shitty bikes because they chose to have a relatively low paing job as a mech. But that doesnt mean that they can't have an opinion on a bike.
And yes, single pivots are the new thing in frame design, takes the 303r dh, its just a fancy sinlge pivot with a cool rail. but that rail makes it different and adds more to the bike. This bike, and its pivots have been seen before,so its not that new.
Yeah its perdy much an upsidedown Commencal supreme rear suspension design.
Just to put that in there.
not really new, but I'll give it props for a cool look.
i'm glad they're straying away from using the standard straight tubing, but only if they explain it has a real purpose. having flowing lines with the tubing isn't something i care about when considering my next frame. while i know that wouldn't be the only reason for the curved tubing, they should market performance reasons like strength and rigidity. looks come second. i'm happy they're making the lower shock mount. a definite improvement. I personally don't notice anything wrong on the trails when i'm riding my blindside. people compain about the shock position and flexy rear end, but it doesn't affect me and how "fast" i'm going down the trail. looks like an AMAZING
what is this crap oh its only single pivot blah blah blah i want fast zero loss bullshit that keeps talking crap even while i pedal it also gains me half a second more by the time i get to the bottom so i can promote my bullshit when i get to th bottom
point is u dont need the last suspension talk to win races. orange 224s are perfect examples of this pretty sure i know for a fact they had a podium at every single SDA last year, wats more oranges finished 1 & 2 at the nps year. also if i remember rightly commencal won both the men and womens world championship.
oh and the evil is about as far from a single pivot as you can get the shock doesnt even touch the front triangle or the swing arm
the evil is a single pivot. the shock is attached to the little triangle linkage dealy and the rear triangle to give it whatever crazy changes in spring rate it's going for, but the rear triangle pivots around the main pivot.
to all those hating on this not being an "original" design, as far as suspension design goes, originality doesnt count for shit, its function that matters. Why do ya'll think mx bikes have used single pivot with a linkage controlled shock for the last 20 years?
because the use of an engine has much more difference in the preformance of the bike. the engine is what depends your exit speeds of berms, not suspension like in mountainbikes. compairing mx bikes to dh bikes is like compairing a drag car to a f1 car. both are blindingly fast, but there is no way to compare them.
Its nothing like comparing an f1 car to drag car. Both mx bikes and dh bikes have to deal with small hits and big hits, along with very similar cornering. without proper suspension that reacts to bumps well, you have no traction on a dirtbike. The only difference between a dh bike and mx bike is chain torque, which on a well placed single pivot isnt really an issue.
Pretty spiffy, the suspension linkage and main pivot remind me of the Turner DHR, which worked well and was well liked by it's riders. The one thing that really caught my eye was the Manitouish hex axle for a rear axle....that should add stiffness to the rear end from heavy side load twisting. The other thing is the taper headtube, of course we all saw this on the Giant Glory and when they did it I was told that it made for a stronger headtube junction over a non taper 1.5 headtube. All and all they have combined some great design ideas from the past and some newer concepts, I.E. internal routing (I really like that one) and the lack of mud pockets to make a bike that will be a good performer.
I'm not crazy about Transition bikes. But I am crazy about Transition bikes Customer service.
I own a Double, but honestly I don't think I'd own another model. This DH bike looks good, but I'm still not sure.
I own a Covert, and I understand what you're saying, especially about their service.But I think that Transition is a company whose new products will just get better and better because of their dedication to riding mountain bikes. These guys love their jobs.
I am so glad we dont have another smoke and mirrors, crazy linkage, hide it until it hits production type company. Just design it, build it, ride it, and especialy with this bike hope it hits production. No hype, no gymics. Just, "hey, look at me!". Well done transition!
Ding ding ding!! Someone gets it!! Thank you Wingman303. Too many of the people commenting here need to stop blindly judging and spouting opinions based solely on a picture and an article. Transition has done something far greater than creating the latest, greatest, technical linkage innovation or what have you. They have made freeriding accessible to the masses by building simple, burly, and reliable bikes at a competitive price point and stand behind them 100%. They know the bikes are good to go because they go out and send it on these bikes themselves to make sure they are dialed before they hit you LBS. There are companies that make good freeride bikes, and then there are freeriders that make good freeride bikes and spawned a company as a result. I don't know about you, but I think supporting the latter does a lot more towards supporting our sport. My meager
Looking good, maybe now Transition will focus a little less on the pricepoint and a little more on the construction of their frames. This is a positive step in that direction. Although I still think it looks a little too budget oriented.
it is stunningly like the flatline, it's the exact same rear end, it's an LC2R suspension......
so if you wanna ride a bike that will ride like this, go to your local rocky mtn dealer and ride a flatline!
great improvement boys.
its pretty obs that they are addressing issues that the blindside had, and it had a few!
i am gonna wait this time, though, and make sure metz doesnt ferget any parts....
still, its great to see progress from the little guy that could in tha upper left....
the key thing here is affordable and local, but progression is always nice.
die, blindside, die!
I love how everyone is running their mouths!!! How many of you guys Have riddin the Bike Oh wait none of you. If you dont like it dont buy it. It looks sick to me and I would rather be buying a bike from them instead of a big company like trek.
Why? you know how big companies get big? putting out product and selling more than any one else! by purchasing a product from any company you are inevitably helping make them into a bigger company. Think Starbucks, they started out on pike street in seattle in the 70's as the underdog, local coffee company. They appealed to a growing market with a product that was widely accepted as being good and kept expanding into what they are today. What do you think Transition is going to do? do you think they're going to be little forever if you keep buying from them? Do you think when they run out of TR450 frames there going to say "wait until the next year for the new batch"? No, They will keep selling frames and components as long as there is a demand! And if the demand is great, they will expand accordingly to meet that demand. Simple economics thistle, its called supply and demand. You and many other consumers will potentially buy bicycles from Transition and local businesses and potentially make Transition into the Starbucks of bicycles.
There is nothing wrong with a company growing. Especially if they have solid core foundations they will use the resources that they get from getting bigger to innovate and produce better product, in turn helping the sport and the industry and ultimately the riders. We can only hope that will be the case.
Exactly. What was Transition supposed to do, nothing? Sit on their hands? Looks like Trans did the research, came up with a dh-geo that will rail corners, and did it without crazy linkages in the rear. Kudos Transition, nicely done.
wow i would love this for a dh bike!
hopefully I will buy one when they are available, I love my Double and I'm sure transition has done it right this time for a full on dh-race bike
i am stoked to see the rider driven and most accessible bikes brand growing up a bit.
its def. an improvement over the blindside!
and you gotta give the boys credit for addressing the numerous issues with that design.
despite my own beetching, i appreciate the progression and style of the new whip.
and it will be neat to see how this rig gets refined over the next couple years.
good luck boys and keep pushing it, the future looks bright for transition...
different type of bike - Scythe = freeride, TR450 = downhill race
if you want a comparison against a Banshee, try the Legend =
anyone find the blurb about the suspension confusing, and contradictory?
The overall curve has a pretty linear rate of change so the leverage rate does not vary wildly through the travel. The suspension ramps up very evenly through the travel to give the bike a supple top stroke and good bottom out control without excessive sag or mid stroke wallow. This result in a consistent progressive suspension feel that is predictable and yields a high amount of tunability
so which is it? Linear or progressive? the say the leverage rate does not vary wildly through the travel, but then say it ramps up evenly through the travel? the designer seems somewhat confused...
I guess what he is trying to say is that curve (if plotted on a graph) of the increase in spring rate would be smooth, kind of exponential. Rather than a sudden change ie very soft for the first half of the travel then suddenly ramping up very quickly past the half way point, which is why I think they descibe it as 'predictable'- no sudden change.
So that would make it progressive and I think they're trying to say it's a very smoothly increasing type of progressive suspension, which I don't believe to be anything to radical.
Just my take on it, but yes I think the way they've worded is both confusing and contradictory.
they said that that the bike ramp up at the end of the travel...last part of the suspension curve is very progressive...the rest it's preety linear...what is so hard to understand?
lol, i thought that - sounds like transition are trying to appeal to all types, a linear yet progressive leverage rate??? so do you use a linear or progressive shock with it???
the bike looks real nice, but does seem to have borrowed its downtube from the rocky mountain dh bike and it linkage mechanism from just about every other bike in existence...
It is possible to have a Linear LR this is ALSO Progressive. Linear refers to how "straight" the curve is. Linear does NOT necessarily mean a strait "flat" line. If you plot a straight line that has a slope (High LR in the beginning, and Low LR at the end)...this is a linear LR curve that is also progressive.
A linear bike would have the same leverage rate at the start, end and all points inbetween. A "progressive" bike has a change in leverage rate... by saying that it has a linear rate of CHANGE is saying the graph between those points is a straight line, rather than a curve. IE - the change in leverage rate happens EVENLY through the travel.
In calculus you would say the derivative of the leverage rate graph is a straight line (close to it anyway).
If the change in leverage rate happens evenly through the travel, your saying that its a uniform distributed load throughout the suspension travel, so your graph would be linear not resembling an X^2 curve? Sorry i'm just sitting here with my girlfriend, who just so happens to be going to school for engineering, and we're a bit confused on whats what here.
Monstercruiser described it pretty well... an even change in leverage rate is a straight line on the graph.
I mistyped earlier... I should have said the derivative of the leverage rate graph would be close to a FLAT line, not a straight line...
to the guy with the engineer girlfriend (nice choice btw): i think he's saying the leverage rate is parabolic, so its progressive, but the change in rate (the derivative) is linear. when you take the derivative of an x-squared function you get a line. makes sense when you look at it, the bike is a single pivot with the little rate-changing link (like rocky flatlines, etc...)
It almost make me sick to read some comments. Some of you guys look like some girls looking at a new piece of clothing! Ho.. Nice... Sex on wheels! Sooooooo Nice ! Silver spokes ! Come on!
It's a single pivot bike with all the downsides and benefits. Nothing new here. BUT the geometry (what's the most important thing on a bike) seems spot on. I'm not a fan of internal cable routing but for the rest, it's a realy clean design. And Silver spokes are better than black ones...
basically same concept as original Turner DHR and Foes Fly. Suspension rates my be tuned slightly differently (some more progressive than others) but the shocks are all driven the same way. Not really a unique design but looks really nice non the less. If it performs as well as any of those bikes it will be worth owning (imo).
I love this bike! However, Lars seems to have the suspension set up like a wet noodle. IT looks uber plush, just needs to ramp up the boost valve on the DHX and give that Ti spring a twist or two to firm it up a bit for me.. lol...
Great looking bike!! If it rides as well as it looks it will be a success. It seems that a lot of thought went into the overall design and the details of the bike. Doesn't look inferior to the designs from the big brands. The only improvement I could think of, if possible, is welding a cover behind the shock link above the swingarm in order to add a little bit of torsional stiffness and to protect the linkage from the dirt thrown up by the rear wheel. Can I have one in polished?!
The internal chainstay cable routing and internally hollowed out dropouts are a really nice touch. Looks like that hanger and the hollowed out dropout would add to the stiffness.
Thats so funny, even in the video it still looks pretty flex monster in the rear end. Congratulations on supposedly making your very first rising rate suspension bicycle though.
The bike looks, and feels, pretty awesome. I particularly like the way the seat tube has been fitted onto the frame. Those frames are for short toptubes, so if you want to manual, it is a little bit like you need to get out of the saddle and sort of stand on the bike for more control over it. The seatube's elongation has been taken out of the way and pushed back to give extra suppor against the rider's weigh, and I can see it is easy to swing your bum in and out of the saddle for manualing. The riding position looks quite comfortable to the eye and the frame seems to be quite tunable for Freeride as well. I only wonder how much that particular setup weighs in at on a scale (my guess is this is a light 40pounder).
No, sorry dude, I don't mean it like that. Apologies. Some idiot is running me down because of what I've been saying about the bike so far and I though it was you, but you are only asking because you don't know do you? No, I have never riden this bike in my like, but I am a biker, so I know what bikes are good for. Sorry if I did upset you.
negative prop me all you want but im just gonna re-post that its a revolting lookin frame bwahahaha! after all it is just opinion seriously, look at the way those bb-top tube bridges bend backwards, they look foul. and its just a rip off of a rocky mountain slayer with slacker geo.
AND?!! I notice no one ever rags on the Foes DHS (which is indeed a single pivot), and there is a very simple reason for that. IT WORKS, and it works well. All of you wanna-be pseudo engineering professors need to back away from the magazines and weak internet analysis and just ride your bikes...
its because nobody ever talks about foes anymore because they haven't come up with anything worth talking about in a long while. believe me if somebody( for some reason ) got excited enough to write an article about foes, me and many others would be talking shit about it. the big difference, you don't have to pay 4000 for this frame. what makes the foes a real turd is the fact that they think their bike is worth twice the money of other bikes that perform just as good, or more likely, better. bikes that are guaranteed to have better after sale service( like transition ) and don't have some stupid shock that feels crappy and takes 3 months to get serviced and will feel just as crappy as after you've waited three months to get it serviced. so put that in your pipe and smoke it. unless you're rich and slow. then the foes could be perfect for you
Foes is like the underbelly of the race scene... dont get it unless you want a pos.. I have nothing against transition.. but dont you think that this day in age every bike company should have something better than a single pivot... go to this website( www.Oneghost.com) and look at what one man(with no money) has engineered vs a whole company (with money)... kinda makes you wonder what the f*ck are they wasting there time on?
hahaha i opened a can of worms there...personally i like single pivots, i try not to get into the this-suspension-system-over-the-other debate cause there aint one scrap of comparable scientific evidence for any of it, i think its mostly market spin and has more to do with how good the rear shock is. i just reckon this is an ugly frame. uglyuglyugly.
you're absolutely right. whats more important is that the bike has two wheels. thats what makes it really fun.
otherwise its all angles, good angles make all the difference.
but a foes usually does have a particularily crappy feeling rear shock
its like a cross between a Supreme, SX trail, demo 7 and session 88.
It has a similar shock position and linkage as a supreme and sx. it has the down tube of a demo 7 and the headtube of an 88.
looks strong and stiff! like the shock placement too. i'll wait till the actual production comes out and see what actual reviews (not company adds) say about it before claiming i want one. but definitely a considerable option for next rig!
I do think this kind of frame design should have a integrated fender......
Just like V-10 and Morewood Makulu......but overall this is a sick bike, very beautiful!
looks nice at first glance but then you start to notice that transition thrown together look and the form before function look.
just like all the other transition bikes.
having said that i think they are ok,there are worse out there,good for them at least they are enjoying themselves.
What's wrong with a single pivot? Sunn, Commencal, Honda, Turner, Evil among others seem to make pretty decent single pivot bikes. 100% of all produced motorcycles (dirt and road) are also single pivot. By the way, all transition bikes in production have a rising rate suspension. It's obvious from just looking at them.
I think I'll wait for it to actually get tested. Looks nice, but just another single pivot? For all we know that frame could rock or it could break first rough landing.
nice to see they've stepped away from the knock-off horst link system, which was only ever a single pivot with a hefty and pointless set of driver links. this looks promicing, however nothing radical as is made out... nice shock sump and rear triange
I read that whole thing and all I got from it was there is a million typos in that article. I know its just pinkbike but I mean come. A little editing goes a long way.
really nice, there aint many transition bikes that arnt nice! this looks super smooth, but i wonder how that back end will hold up during a bottom out, what with the linkage running between the frame instead of behind it.
149 the guy bottoms out way to easy, and come gave castella, I really don't think you can compare transitions first du specific bike to the new commencal supreme dh!
Really nice bike !!!
What kinda school does a guy have to have to get a job with a bike company like that !!!! LOL
The bike does look awesome though !!!!
That is some serious hippy crap Northshorerider7. What?? First of all, a bike company still not big enough to even make the pages of Decline's 2009 Buyer's Guide...has a long way to go to reach Starbuck status. So I am NOT supposed to buy the things I like and think are cool...uhm. It would be pretty hard for most..wait.. ALL companies to exist without people buying their paraphernalia (no offence). On to hater #2, SIDESHOWBOB. Form before function??? They are probably the most straightforward designs in Mt. Biking. Stay out of the Pub on weekdays ol' chap. (Bob)
My personal opinion of that would look do beautiful with a single crown fork. Like make it a freeride bike instead of a DH one. But still this bike is pretty kick ass!!!
we're all just wanna-be pro-riders wishing somebody thought we were good enough to be approached to represent somebody's whip. Is there a holy grail DH bike?
I'm 6'2" and my L demo 8 has a 48" wheelbase. Just depends on the rider but i wish my front center was 1/2" longer at least. That would make the wheel base real long but i'm a big dude who likes a low long bike.
Do you mean "make due" as in when you make "dew" for the early flowers to cry in despair as the sun sets out, or is it rather as in when you "make do" with something because there isn't anything better availble at hand at the minute and you have to comform yourself with whatever it is and all the mourning which usually comes along with it? Sorry dude, I mean due: you really gotta be more specific.
PS. To sort the "blindside" problem out just make as if you wanted to open your eyes wide open without crying as unwanted fluid will make your eyes sore and your sight kind of blurry.
Transition is stepping it up a notch with this one. I hope they lower the bottom bracket a little bit for production. kinda looks like a DHR, Commencal, Demo, and a Trek.
Hard to judge a bike from a picture. "the guy" is a pro and tunes his suspension for what he was riding. It wasn't a downhill course he was on but I'm sure he wanted to use the full suspension travel to see what it was like. Think about it.
thats true, but it is sooo dope in person, and he has a video of him riding it, also i saw it in person. its super sweet, but then again i wasnt riding it
it's how babies are made isn't it? meet somebody you dig and maybe by design or a lot of a particular social lubricant and a few bad decisions later...wham! offspring!!! some good, lots bad, but if you're a decent parent(company) learn and make them better than you are. Look how long it took mtb to evolve and use splined crank interfaces as the norm...bmxers gave birth to that decades ago..I like Tr.s
fit it with 2010 boxxers, LG1, Single ply tires, direct mount sunline stem or similar, Ti shock spring, spank subrosa's laced to pro 2's or similar, carbon seatpost etc - and your laughing! I reckon I could have it down to 37lbs without compromising on strength.
ya, you might have it down to 37lbs, but you'll be pinch flatting those tires and cracking your seatpost.
Anyway, this is really cool that bikes are getting so light, with this and the Session 88 and things of that nature. Really cool.
lol, not my style tbh and most of the track i spend my time on are tight and involve movement of the bike underneith you and airing out of berms etc. a carbon fibre seatpost would suit me fine (I wouldnt be stupid and get carbon fibre bars or anything though - im not THAT smooth/rich/daring! )
how do you know how long you will need unless you pull it out and size it up, other than that it is a smart idea, we usually pull the cable through the housing, replace than do the some with the housing, leaving the cable in the frame and routed through
I gotta agree w/truffles on this..I want the terrain curvy cuz THAT'S more fun to ride. Having the straight "stick"...well,that's what you use for curves, dig?
i sold and i own more than a GranMal.... it was a freeride bike, step, high bb, many adjustament, not a downhillbike... it was put it appart for the bottlerocket design...more sucesfull and stiff, with geo DH friendly... somethimes is better shut up and let the people think you are stupid than talk and take away any doubt
"From bike parks to the roughest DH courses on the planet. The Gran Mal delivers massive amounts of plush so you can focus on your riding and not your bike." that is a quote straight from the site,i know its not only a dh specific bike but its a pretty dh friendly frame,83mm bb,1.5 headtube,150 by 12 rear wheel spacing,sounds alot like a dh bike to me,either way stylexxx the gran mal was a dh/fr frame and as for your lame come backs...needs some work,if your going to be a douche bag about something be original instead of sounding like some cocky 10 year old who hasn't hit puberty.Oh but thank you truffles,i was un aware that it wasn't fully classified as a dh bike,i will keep it in mind
clearly for you its not a choice to read it or not being that your illeret,im sure no one cares that your talking shit,it has nothing ot do with you,so why bother?
That said, this frame addresses all of the Blinside's weaknesses (high shock, low pivot, wierd shock rates, flexy rear end, etc.), and will still be way cheaper than the competition. Besides, Transition has the best customer service around, and you will see them all out shredding on the trails and at races.
And rialb, this bike is clearly intended for dual crown forks, so fork choice is not limited at all. Unless you plan on building it up as a freeride bike and bitching about its performance.
i'm happy they're making the lower shock mount. a definite improvement. I personally don't notice anything wrong on the trails when i'm riding my blindside. people compain about the shock position and flexy rear end, but it doesn't affect me and how "fast" i'm going down the trail. looks like an AMAZING
oh its only single pivot blah blah blah i want fast zero loss bullshit that keeps talking crap even while i pedal it also gains me half a second more by the time i get to the bottom so i can promote my bullshit when i get to th bottom
point is u dont need the last suspension talk to win races. orange 224s are perfect examples of this pretty sure i know for a fact they had a podium at every single SDA last year, wats more oranges finished 1 & 2 at the nps year. also if i remember rightly commencal won both the men and womens world championship.
oh and the evil is about as far from a single pivot as you can get the shock doesnt even touch the front triangle or the swing arm
different type of bike - Scythe = freeride, TR450 = downhill race
if you want a comparison against a Banshee, try the Legend =
anyone find the blurb about the suspension confusing, and contradictory?
The overall curve has a pretty linear rate of change so the leverage rate does not vary wildly through the travel. The suspension ramps up very evenly through the travel to give the bike a supple top stroke and good bottom out control without excessive sag or mid stroke wallow. This result in a consistent progressive suspension feel that is predictable and yields a high amount of tunability
so which is it? Linear or progressive? the say the leverage rate does not vary wildly through the travel, but then say it ramps up evenly through the travel? the designer seems somewhat confused...
So that would make it progressive and I think they're trying to say it's a very smoothly increasing type of progressive suspension, which I don't believe to be anything to radical.
Just my take on it, but yes I think the way they've worded is both confusing and contradictory.
the bike looks real nice, but does seem to have borrowed its downtube from the rocky mountain dh bike and it linkage mechanism from just about every other bike in existence...
In calculus you would say the derivative of the leverage rate graph is a straight line (close to it anyway).
Some of you guys look like some girls looking at a new piece of clothing!
Ho.. Nice... Sex on wheels! Sooooooo Nice ! Silver spokes ! Come on!
It's a single pivot bike with all the downsides and benefits. Nothing new here. BUT the geometry (what's the most important thing on a bike) seems spot on. I'm not a fan of internal cable routing but for the rest, it's a realy clean design.
And Silver spokes are better than black ones...
seriously, look at the way those bb-top tube bridges bend backwards, they look foul.
and its just a rip off of a rocky mountain slayer with slacker geo.
yeah i went there!!!
the big difference, you don't have to pay 4000 for this frame.
what makes the foes a real turd is the fact that they think their bike is worth twice the money of other bikes that perform just as good, or more likely, better. bikes that are guaranteed to have better after sale service( like transition ) and don't have some stupid shock that feels crappy and takes 3 months to get serviced and will feel just as crappy as after you've waited three months to get it serviced.
so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
unless you're rich and slow. then the foes could be perfect for you
good one
Thanks Transition, the TR450 is sick!
On to hater #2, SIDESHOWBOB. Form before function??? They are probably the most straightforward designs in Mt. Biking. Stay out of the Pub on weekdays ol' chap. (Bob)
but i just got a Blindside, so i guess ill have to make due :/
:P
PS. To sort the "blindside" problem out just make as if you wanted to open your eyes wide open without crying as unwanted fluid will make your eyes sore and your sight kind of blurry.
how much?