2018 Transition Smuggler GX Bike

(discontinued)

Where it shines: Singletrack slayer. Very, very fast. Proficient at popping and pumping. Corners like a bobsled. Solid as a bank vault. Good climber, not as good as a virtual-pivot bike or a DW-link, but very competent. All-around party machine.

Where it lacks: It is a bit heavy feeling on steeper climbs, but honestly not bad. It has a tendency to make you forget you are on a 120mm trail bike and not on a destroyer-of-worlds war-chariot and that can get you into trouble, but that's more of a plus in my opinion.

*Update* I got a lot more saddle time and wanted to add some context and things I've learned. I came from an Intense Spider 275A, which has 10mm more travel in back and the same in front (I upped the fork), but with 27.5 wheels. The Spider, in summary, is a great climber and very nimble, but not very confident in the rough or on big hits. The Smuggler provides a lot more confidence when the rowdy factor goes up and simply rolls significantly faster. I can compare it to other similar bikes like the Evil Following and Yeti SB4.5 but I only demoed those and I am not a professional reviewer so I wouldn't have anything meaningful to say other than they were both rad bikes but I didn't want carbon. Since owning this bike I have tried a lot of new features and lines on my local trails that I always skipped before. I am just generally having a blast.