2019 Transition

SENTINEL CARBON COMPLETE NX

The Transition Sentinel is very similar to the competition in terms of travel and weight. In practice, however, the other bikes were not able to keep up.

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After our recent test of the Transition Patrol, many readers asked for a comparison with the Sentinel, the Enduro 29er from the American brand. We got ahold of the Sentinel in its top-level, X01 Carbon build, for another test and a head-to-head comparison between the two models. This is therefore going to be a slightly different review, in which we will also compare the two bikes throughout. Despite the different length travel, 160mm at the front and 140mm at the rear for the Sentinel, there are a lot of common aspects, for example the Speed Balanced Geometry and the suspension scheme: a four bar

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I love to ride heinously steep trails... It’s kind of my thing. So when I heard about Transition Bikes’ new Speed Balanced Geometry (SBG), a platform that supposedly improves upon stability and handling by adjusting crucial angles and the offset of the front wheel, I was immediately excited. The biggest change they made is to what’s called steering trail, or the function of the headtube angle, fork offset and wheel size. While the changes in frame geometry that have been made in the past five years are staggering, steering trail has not changed, and so, according to Transition, “modern” geometry is still being held back by trail. The biggest reason for this is the fork offset, because that would mean not just tweaking a bike’s geometry, but creating a new standard for forks—and that would mean getting giants like RockShox and Fox on board. Somehow, the wizards at Transition managed to do just that, enabling their SBG platform to be brought to the masses. As a rider who seeks out the most aggressive trails that I can find, I’m all ears to any advantages that geometry can provide. With a symphony of updates—including a steeper seat tube angle, longer reach, shorter stem, super slack head tube angle and reduced fork offset—there’s no way this bike could not handle starkly different. The Sentinel was Transition’s first bike with SBG to hit the market, although now their Patrol, Scout and Smuggler have the technology too. As a big bike with big wheels and a good amount of travel (160mm in the front, 140 in the rear) the Sentinel is a bike designed for the exact kind of terrain I like to ride. And, as Transition claims, it’s a bike “designed for 29er skeptics,” meaning with the updated geo it should have maximum maneuverability coupled with unparalleled stability. Well, there’s only one way to find out.

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Transition's fresh approach to geometry results in a bike that handles incredibly well, encouraging you to get after it that much harder. It's portly but built to last.

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WELL LISTEN UP KIDS! WE REVIEW A LOT OF BIKES AND FROM TIME TO TIME WE GET ONE THAT’S ALWAYS A BIT OF A SURPRISE. THE TRANSITION SENTINEL IS NO JOKE, AS A MATTER OF FACT WE DON’T WANT TO GIVE THIS BIKE BACK. This rig bleeds as much style as Mick Jagger on the dance floor. A long travel (140mm rear, 160mm front) 29’er is reasonably new for Transitions range, previously they had the Smuggler with 115mm of rear […]

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