FORUM HOTSEAT - Transition Bikes Crew

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sspomer
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sspomer
Edited Date/Time 5/2/2020 3:16am


The incredible, fun-loving crew at Transition Bikes will be on site today from 9am to 2pm PST to answer any questions you want to throw at them in our Forum Hotseat.

The brand out of Bellingham, Washington, just dropped the brand-new Sentinel and a new Scout. They're known for their hijinx-filled approach to marketing and all shred hard on the trail.

(Almost) anything goes, so fire away!

What's Your Favorite Transition Bike?

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sspomer
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Boise, ID US
sspomer 4/30/2020 8:04am
4/30/2020 8:04am
Ok, I'll be that guy. Are ebikes in Transition's future? Any specific reasoning behing a yes or no answer?
4
1
Big Bird
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Oceano, CA US
Big Bird 4/30/2020 8:08am
4/30/2020 8:08am
sspomer wrote:
Ok, I'll be that guy. Are ebikes in Transition's future? Any specific reasoning behing a yes or no answer?
Thanks for manning up Spomer.
3
yazalpizar
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Dublin IE
yazalpizar 4/30/2020 8:22am
4/30/2020 8:22am
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming
2
HarlanBee
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12/19/2011
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Philadelphia, PA US
HarlanBee 4/30/2020 8:24am
4/30/2020 8:24am
Hey y'all! I'm curious what factors made you want to change the headtube >° and the CS length by 10mm.
2
Handup Gloves 4/30/2020 8:27am
4/30/2020 8:27am
Big transition fans over here. Since we have multiple owners of Trans Am's in the office, will we ever see a return of the steel hard tail??

If not, no biggie... we'll just have to pick up one of the insancely cool 2020 sentinels.

With love,
The Handup Gloves team!
3
Dave_Camp
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CO US
Dave_Camp 4/30/2020 8:27am
4/30/2020 8:27am
Will you guys be making aluminum versions of the new bikes?
7
TRex
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Golden, CO US
TRex 4/30/2020 8:29am
4/30/2020 8:29am
How good do you guys feel knowing you inspire a lot of the other big players in the industry?
2
w4s
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Verdi, NV US
w4s 4/30/2020 8:31am
4/30/2020 8:31am Edited Date/Time 4/30/2020 8:31am
Will you guys swap out my 2019 sentinel for a 2020 sentinel at an insanely low price? Like $199.99?? thanks.
Fullsend88
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Titusville, NJ US
Fullsend88 4/30/2020 8:31am
4/30/2020 8:31am
What are the chances you guys can fly out to the East Coast and enter an enduro race with me when I get my hands on the new Sentinel?
KyleK
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KyleK 4/30/2020 8:35am
4/30/2020 8:35am
Dave_Camp wrote:
Will you guys be making aluminum versions of the new bikes?
Seconded
2
ride
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71
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8/4/2009
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Bellinghome, WA US
ride 4/30/2020 8:37am
4/30/2020 8:37am
sspomer wrote:
Ok, I'll be that guy. Are ebikes in Transition's future? Any specific reasoning behing a yes or no answer?
Spoons, you may not recall but we already made one back in 2017 called the Petrol. I'd link to our product video here but it may be poor form as the link only lives on the other website...
3
ride
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Bellinghome, WA US
ride 4/30/2020 8:38am
4/30/2020 8:38am Edited Date/Time 4/30/2020 8:38am
yazalpizar wrote:
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming [img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/users/42178/setup_checks/41506/photos/107976/s1600_75K_2393.jpg?1587681794[/img]
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming
The Covert lives! Sweet whip dude!

- Lars
2
Masjo
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Ancaster CA
Masjo 4/30/2020 8:39am
4/30/2020 8:39am
What was the importance of having FMD Racing on Transition frames? They were the only World-level team on Transition frames, and I am curious as to what made you take the leap to support them.
With FMD Racing switching bike brands, is there any future plans for a new Transition (or Transition-sponsored) team at the World Cup/EWS level, or at the Continental level?
2
motomike
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Linville, NC US
motomike 4/30/2020 8:40am
4/30/2020 8:40am
Why is the seattube the only part of a bike without a seal on it to keep water and dirt out?
Samsquatch 4/30/2020 8:46am
4/30/2020 8:46am
HarlanBee wrote:
Hey y'all! I'm curious what factors made you want to change the headtube >° and the CS length by 10mm.
It all came from testing and what we liked better. Some modest increase in CS length improved front end traction and didn't take away from any playfulness. Across the board we already have quite slack head angles compared to a lot of other brands, but with the rest of our geo, we don't see any downside from it at all. --Sam
2
GNAR83
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GNAR83 4/30/2020 8:47am
4/30/2020 8:47am
Will there be an aluminum Scout coming for next season or sooner?
1
yzedf
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Hebron, CT US
yzedf 4/30/2020 8:47am
4/30/2020 8:47am
Are you going to continue offering bikes in alloy and carbon?

Any plans for a hardtail for the groms?
1
Samsquatch 4/30/2020 8:50am
4/30/2020 8:50am
Handup Gloves wrote:
Big transition fans over here. Since we have multiple owners of Trans Am's in the office, will we ever see a return of the steel hard...
Big transition fans over here. Since we have multiple owners of Trans Am's in the office, will we ever see a return of the steel hard tail??

If not, no biggie... we'll just have to pick up one of the insancely cool 2020 sentinels.

With love,
The Handup Gloves team!
Since you are going to get a Sentinel instead I guess we can just kill that idea Wink That is something we do talk about a lot, but it is never the top priority. I bet you will see it again one day, but not sure when that will be. --Sam
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Chachi Arcola 4/30/2020 8:51am
4/30/2020 8:51am
I’m stoked on the team of riders you’ve assembled this year....Vink, Potter, HB, etc. It seems a slight change in direction after FMD, which seemed to be an awesome partnership. But this new crew of riders are amazing! Good, quality people, and sick talent! Was this a direction you planned on going?
Transition Kevin 4/30/2020 8:52am
4/30/2020 8:52am
TRex wrote:
How good do you guys feel knowing you inspire a lot of the other big players in the industry?
It is pretty rad to sometimes get out in front and drive but honestly, that is not something that is part of our process. Like most bike companies we are just trying to make the absolute best bikes possible. We have a really high bar for our standards even though we love to joke around and make fun of the industry sometimes. You should sit in one of our product meetings and see the minor details we nitpick for hours on end. You don't even want to know how hard it is to come up with a bike name.
2
tarhof
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NO
tarhof 4/30/2020 8:52am
4/30/2020 8:52am
What goes into optimizing a carbon fiber layup? Have you implemented topology optimization in the development of your frames?
Transition Kevin 4/30/2020 8:56am
4/30/2020 8:56am
Fullsend88 wrote:
What are the chances you guys can fly out to the East Coast and enter an enduro race with me when I get my hands on...
What are the chances you guys can fly out to the East Coast and enter an enduro race with me when I get my hands on the new Sentinel?
We had a pretty extensive east coast travel plan but we are on hold for now. Stay tuned and you can check our events page on our site for updates. https://www.transitionbikes.com/EventsMap.cfm
1
TRex
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TRex 4/30/2020 8:56am
4/30/2020 8:56am
Can we get SBG DH?
2
ride
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Bellinghome, WA US
ride 4/30/2020 8:57am
4/30/2020 8:57am
Masjo wrote:
What was the importance of having FMD Racing on Transition frames? They were the only World-level team on Transition frames, and I am curious as to...
What was the importance of having FMD Racing on Transition frames? They were the only World-level team on Transition frames, and I am curious as to what made you take the leap to support them.
With FMD Racing switching bike brands, is there any future plans for a new Transition (or Transition-sponsored) team at the World Cup/EWS level, or at the Continental level?
Hey Masjo, Lars here.

Our partnership with FMD was a huge thing for us. We weren't looking for a WC DH team, but Marshy gave me a little nudge and insight that they would be a really good fit for us. I've known Marshy since 08 when I was in Europe racing WC's, and he was our mechanic when we had the team with Jill, Bryn and myself. I reached out to Tony (Seagrave) and within an hour long call we had developed a plan for the team. It was born out of a mutual love for the sport and two very like minded parties, pun intended!

We have a knack for identifying talent and a foster upcoming riders knowing they will likely outgrow us and flee the nest. And, it was time for FMD to spread their wings. All good, and we're stoked for them.

We also have a history of trying different things, and at the moment we're all just really stoked on riding bikes and not being tied to the clock. Along the way we've had Jaxson Riddle and Johny Salido, on our bikes already coming up and making names for them selves rapidly. And now Hannah Bergemann is not only one of our riders, but a co-worker of ours. Add to this some budding communication with Nico Vink and Voila, we now have a full on freeride team. We didn't set out to do that, it just happened and grew naturally.

This is our philosophy for pretty much everything we do. Don't force it, just following the path in front of us and using our intuition.

So, plans for another high level EWS or DH team? None at the moment, but you never know! That said, we're pretty stoked on what we're doing now.
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Transition Kevin 4/30/2020 8:59am
4/30/2020 8:59am
yazalpizar wrote:
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming [img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/users/42178/setup_checks/41506/photos/107976/s1600_75K_2393.jpg?1587681794[/img]
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming

3
ride
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71
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8/4/2009
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Bellinghome, WA US
ride 4/30/2020 8:59am
4/30/2020 8:59am
Chachi Arcola wrote:
I’m stoked on the team of riders you’ve assembled this year....Vink, Potter, HB, etc. It seems a slight change in direction after FMD, which seemed to...
I’m stoked on the team of riders you’ve assembled this year....Vink, Potter, HB, etc. It seems a slight change in direction after FMD, which seemed to be an awesome partnership. But this new crew of riders are amazing! Good, quality people, and sick talent! Was this a direction you planned on going?
See my reply to this below, pretty much answers your question.

- Lars
1
yazalpizar
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8/29/2016
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Dublin IE
yazalpizar 4/30/2020 9:00am
4/30/2020 9:00am
yazalpizar wrote:
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming [img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/users/42178/setup_checks/41506/photos/107976/s1600_75K_2393.jpg?1587681794[/img]
No Covert? Seriously? Othen than that, the Sentinel..I may have or may not one coming
ride wrote:
The Covert lives! Sweet whip dude!

- Lars
Ohh!! Lars and Bars himself, I remember when you in person used to answer client emails back in the days. I got the very first Covert back in 2009, then thanks to a great warranty service you guys sent me this fresh frame in 2010. Has been with me all these years and travelled all around the globe. To name few, MegaAvalanche, Mountain Of Hell, Maxi Vallnord, Maxi Cervinia, tons of enduro races across Europe, Whistler, Madeira and lot more. But times change and it has a new owner that hopefully will enjoy it as much as me for the years to come. For myself, a brand new Sentinel is coming to Ireland, hope before end of May if this bloody virus allows it.

I really don't have any question, just keep doing what you guys do, enjoying the trails as everyone else out there and building rad bikes for us to enjoy. \m/
1
Samsquatch 4/30/2020 9:00am
4/30/2020 9:00am
motomike wrote:
Why is the seattube the only part of a bike without a seal on it to keep water and dirt out?
We come from a pretty wet environment and find that water will always find a way in, even through your headset. Our frames have a drain hole in the BB, which will let water out... but of course it also lets it in. It's a battle you can never win. --Sam
2
aloz_831
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4/30/2020
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Salinas, CA US
aloz_831 4/30/2020 9:00am
4/30/2020 9:00am
Owned an alloy smuggler for a year and it as the most fun I ever had on two wheels!

Anyways, are you guys making any more Kulshan Party in the Woods fenders and water bottles? Mine were stolen sadly and I wasn't able to replace them before they sold out.

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