Transition Smuggler Review: More bike than the suspension numbers show!

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I've been eyeing the new Transition Smuggle since it was released. I put it through its paces on a trip to North Carolina to ride DuPont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest. Here are my thoughts on this sweet bike!
How I resolved the slipping seatpost on the Spur:
• How I Solved a Slippin...
Smuggler first-look video:
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Опубликовано:

11 ноя 2023

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Комментарии : 74

@findtherightbeat 8 месяцев назад

Looking forward to the Smuggler vs. Spur video! 🍻 I know it's a long shot to be able to review the carbon vs. aluminum smuggler but it would be interesting to see the difference between the two. I hope they'd offer the Smuggler frameset only option in alu for us guys on a tighter budget.

@northern4112 8 месяцев назад

Nice bike but all these bikes are just getting out of control with price

@tinshield 8 месяцев назад

Lots of deals out there for the last year. No need to pay over $3k for a frame right now, that’s for sure.

@brandoncollins3334 8 месяцев назад

Why I went with Canyon. Numbers are pretty close to smuggler

@paulvanreesch2493 8 месяцев назад

Hey, now that the Democrats are in control, bikes are free.

@TheBIKEDEALZ 8 месяцев назад

No reason to pay high price, got a Izzo complete build for 3000$ complete build with fox performance elite and GX drivetrain. Replaced few parts and my old wheel and it’s amazing

@tinshield 8 месяцев назад

@@TheBIKEDEALZ exactly. There’s never been a better time to build either. Stumpy frames are $1750 right now which is pretty crazy.

@discostu333 7 месяцев назад

Thanks for the honest review. I'll definitely be keeping my Spur for day-to-day riding.

@ryansteiger6960 8 месяцев назад

Thank you for the video Clint 👍 I had the same problem on my Spire with the sliding seatpost.

@mattposvar8193 7 месяцев назад

Hey Clint! Andy Knott is my uncle. He mentions you alot. Just found you on the Tube. Great content!

@BUY.YOUTUBE.VIEWS.717 8 месяцев назад

Now that's what I call a good video

@The_Backsmith802 8 месяцев назад

I feel like a 150mm travel 36 would make this bike the ultimate Pisgah weapon.

@benc.8103 8 месяцев назад

A bike designed in the PNW will be really fun on the down hill, but man do I hate pedal strikes. Thanks for the review.

@princehumperdink1266 8 месяцев назад

Clint, great video! You should also include a comparison with your Stumpjumper.

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

That’s coming shortly in the form of a discussion video

@itr0863 8 месяцев назад

awesome video on the smuggler, clint. hopefully you make an NC video on your recent travels to dupont/pisgah :)

@jonthesailorman 2 месяца назад

My TransAM also had a slipping seat post problem. Solved it with a Wolf Tooth seat post collar.

@casestudymtb 8 месяцев назад

Clint: "You can jam up your gears if you try to down shift multiple gears at once" shimano xt: "hold my beer"

@HobbyB19 8 месяцев назад

Oneup dropper slips on my repeater as well. Glad I’m not the only one

@hardmtnbiker 8 месяцев назад

It’s probably a great bike as far as Geo and build for my steep So Cal trails but it’s also a huge price point when so many aggressive hardtails are available including the new Transition TransAM

@TheNationalTrails 8 месяцев назад

Haven't ridden the Smuggler or the Niner RIP 9. From the point of view of my opinion, I can't help but think the 22 Stumpjumper Carbon Elite or Carbon Pro would ride like "the one-bike-to-own." The short Chainstays might make it less downhill focused than the Smuggler, but it sure does ride smooth over chattery singletrack trail... Admittedly, since I haven't ridden either than Niner or the Transition my ignorance is bliss. That said, really looking forward to hearing your feedback about the ride characteristics with the RIP 9 and Smuggler on your loop. Thanks for sharing.

@ezraellis7289 8 месяцев назад

I have a spur with a cane creek DB il air. I appreciated your review of the Olin’s ttx2 on your Spur. If you could contact ohlins or cane creek and see if they would loan you a 140mm rear shock and 150mm front shock for review that would be awesome ! Also you can obviously run your current fox float at 140mm By removing spacers, as I am sure you are already aware.

@JoshTaylor 8 месяцев назад

Curious to hear your comparison of the Smuggler against the Stumpjumper.

@gianfrancociaravola1055 8 месяцев назад

Hello Clint, great review! I had the opportunity to test the smuggler and I fall in love with the bike. Could you do a comparison with the canyon neuron or Santa Cruz Tallboy if you tested these bikes? Thanks

@gabrielcritton1647 8 месяцев назад

Thank you for review! I agree with Jesse James… how is she vs stumpy?

@jdweber35 8 месяцев назад

I was wondering how it compared to the stumpy as well!

@acornhehe 8 месяцев назад

I think any bike with more than 125mm of travel would benefit from a 165mm crankset. I've been running 165's for years and there is zero downside.

@seawalkarrg 8 месяцев назад

I rented a smuggler with the same build last week. Rode it on east coast hilly trails, so more on the XC side of things. Great bike and it did really well. Then I jumped on a Spur and it felt like i was driving a Tesla with that instant acceleration relative to the Smuggler, just more snappy over all feeling. Both bikes feel like all around trail bikes, but just leaning towards opposite ends

@SunsPSD1 7 месяцев назад

That was the tire difference that you felt. IMO, the Smuggler pedals better than the Spur.

@Cinnabuns2009 8 месяцев назад

Just of note, I have a 200mm 1up on a steel chromag frame and it slips and the reason is because if you tighten the seat clamp more so it doesn't slip, then it clamps the post's internals too much and the saddle won't come back up. I have 3x KS Levs on other bikes and they don't suffer from this. My take on it is... 1up is trying to make a lighter post so they're using a thinner outer tube which compresses the internals when the clamp is too tight. You can tighten the KS posts to the point where they do this too but that's way too tight on the clamp. The outer tube is just a tad thicker so that you can clamp tight enough and the post still returns when actuated. One solution I've found for the 1up which isn't always an option is to get a longer post and just set the top crown of the post on the frame, then it can't lower but it does rotate sometimes when you bump it hard enough with your knees. Any tighter though and it doesn't return so... oh well. I'd be interested in seeing a video on how they told you to solve the issue because it seems purely mechanical.

@tinshield 8 месяцев назад

Wolftooth seat clamp so much better than the flimsy OEM clamps.

@frankstrobel4350 8 месяцев назад

Thought you have preferred mech on a bike like the smuggler. T type is at home on an x/c bike .

@skimbrad 8 месяцев назад

Hi Clint, when doing your next review, can you throw in some comparison to your old stumpjumper that had the same travel. I have that same stumpjumper so would be nice to compare. Thanks

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

I’ve had a lot of people request that so I’ll be posting a video about that soon.

@damienbradley9209 8 месяцев назад

It's the OneUp Dropper, I have the same issue

@danielray1558 8 месяцев назад

Great review Clint, based on your review of the ripley af compared to the spur and the comparisons you made in this video to the spur, how would you compare the ripley af to the smuggler?

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

Ripley felt a bit more lively, the smuggler felt more stable on the descent. I would give the nod to the smuggler.

@jayswavely6371 8 месяцев назад

I like DW Link to avoid squat with pedal strikes.

@danmorgan7775 8 месяцев назад

Same travel as my trail bike. Just capable enough and a good all-rounder. If I lived near bigger mountains I would get something burlier. Do you happen to know the crank arm length? Wonder if shorter cranks would help with the strikes.

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

170

@BoshJeach 8 месяцев назад

Replacing the seatpost clamp with deity ones solved the slipping issue for both my OneUp posts! The stock clamps don't seem to apply pressure evenly enough for the OneUps to like.

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

Thanks!

@wd99999 8 месяцев назад

So are you keeping the RIP9 or this? 😄

@kc5328 8 месяцев назад

Hi Clint-- I know you had a positive experience on the Stumpjumper you had/have, how do the two compare for you?

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

That video is coming soon

@aundumla 7 месяцев назад

How do you mount your watch on the handlebar?

@ClintGibbs 7 месяцев назад

Garmin sells a mount. The straps disconnect in seconds. ru-vid.comTQurUGztvws?si=-k3ofrptCMOzQlNr

@jawico 7 месяцев назад

What are your thoughts on the Yeti SB120 vs the Transition Spur. I recently rode the Smuggler and found that I prefer my Spur due to my riding style but I've never ridden a Yeti.

@ClintGibbs 7 месяцев назад

I actually have not ridden the yeti SB 120 yet

@jawico 7 месяцев назад

@@ClintGibbs well when you do, I’d love your thoughts on the two of them. Love your videos.

@Jesse_James_ 8 месяцев назад

Hi! how does it compare to stumpy with flex stays ? which bike is better suited for trails and which is more efficient?

@tywitt3351 8 месяцев назад

Agree. Spur is continually referenced in the vid but it’s a different class or category. Comp to Stumpy that has been featured here would be more interesting to hear

@IIISentorIII 8 месяцев назад

@@tywitt3351 Yea compared to the Stumpy Expert would be nice.

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

I did a comparison with the spur not for a specific bike to bike comparison but more of a bike type to bike type comparison. But I’ll do a video very shortly comparing the Smuggler to the stumpjumper

@IIISentorIII 8 месяцев назад

@@ClintGibbs 🙂👍 Thank you for the Smuggler Review btw. Clint. You put a lot of effort (and sweat ) into it, that's for sure :)

@tinshield 8 месяцев назад

Stumpy is definitely not as burly but can be built up much lighter, has better cable routing and in frame storage. With Stumpy frames being $1750 and parts going 20+% off, it’s hard to think about not building. $3699 for a Smuggler frame? GTFO

@crankshoptv8141 8 месяцев назад

I jacked mine up to 140/150 out the box, yet to get a pedal strike with 170mm cranks.

@SunsPSD1 7 месяцев назад

I have this bike and it has better than average pedal clearance and especially pedaling performance. My opinion is that Clint needs to reduce shock sag by increasing shock pressure. When you have a highly progressive rear suspension design, due to the changing leverage ratio, you can't just use .3 x shock stroke to calculate desired sag. And of course shock sag should be set up while sitting (fork while standing in the attack position) otherwise Anti-Squat will be way off when seated. I'm 182#s and run 224psi and as I recall that gives me about 13mm sag. I've owned a lot of high end bikes, but this one takes the cake for me. I really like this new Smuggler. Regarding the weight, I stripped my own Spur down in the same size and used all the same parts for my Smuggler build only swapping the dropper to something longer and going to a different fork, and the weight difference was exactly 1.5#s. There is nothing I miss about the Spur as I find the Smuggler does everything better in my very rocky terrain. I'm not a fan of flex stay suspension for my rocky terrain. I usually keep a big bike and a small bike (other bike currently is a Relay) but this Smuggler really hits a sweet spot for me.

@ClintGibbs 7 месяцев назад

I’m running the exact sag recommendation from Transition. But I agree with you, the Smuggler hits a lot of sweet spots!

@SunsPSD1 7 месяцев назад

@@ClintGibbs If you are using the 14-16mm sag recommendation and you are at say 15mm, you are going to be at around 33-34% sag at the wheel. This is because the progression in the rear linkage has the wheel moving more per mm of shock travel at the beginning of travel due to the higher leverage ratio at the beginning meaning 30% at the shock shaft does not equal 30% at the wheel. If you test the bike at 13mm of sag at the shock you'll be much closer to 29-30% sag at the wheel and the Smuggler will be steeper, more taunt, pedal better, better pedal clearance & so on with a corresponding loss in downhill performance. But it's a 130mm bike so this is the correct compromise and closer to its intended usage. This bike pedals ridiculously well and has good clearance when set up this way, while still being very capable for the shreddy bits.

@ClintGibbs 7 месяцев назад

@@SunsPSD1 thanks!

@davelloyd8454 8 месяцев назад

I'm still not sold on the idea of an unbreakable mech hanger. Something has to fail first. Is that the frame now (negating the whole point of mech hangers in the first place)?

@jmdrstv 8 месяцев назад

The frame is not carrying the load. The axle is carrying the load and the derailleur is designed to deflect under impact much more than a hanger mounted design. The real beauty of the design is that by using the axle as the mount the derailleur is always concentric with the cassette. It is a much better approach in every way.

@davelloyd8454 7 месяцев назад

@@jmdrstv kinda with you on sideways falls but if you're riding along and rear mech hits and exposed tree branch that shock is traveling through the frame. In the old break away mech hanger days you'd rip the mech off (hopefully not via spokes (another good thing on udh)), replace it with the spare you're carrying and on you go.

@jmdrstv 7 месяцев назад

@davelloyd8454 the direction does change the fact that all of the load is carried in double shear on the axle.

@oldguyandayeti8599 8 месяцев назад

Hey Clint, ready to part with that 11 yet?

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

11?

@oldguyandayeti8599 8 месяцев назад

When we did that short you mentioned you planned to sell your Hero 11 at some point.@@ClintGibbs

@ClintGibbs 8 месяцев назад

@@oldguyandayeti8599 got it. I’m going to wait a bit on that. Good to have a back up.

@francoisjoly7696 6 месяцев назад

I love the previous version of the Smuggler, that's a bike that can handle almost everything despite its 120mm rear. I could actually upgrade it with a Cascade Components link and a minus 1 degree anglet but I didn't yet. A 150mm Lyrik Ultimate front was a good improvement though. And you're right: the Sentinel can be extreme in term of HA... but a +1.5° angleset and a 150mm fork could make a Super Smuggler out of a Sentinel ;)