- Hey everyone, I'm Mike Kazimer.
Once again it's time to take a look
at some fresh new bikes.
Today we have the Transition Spire and the Patrol.
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Both are new for 2021.
While the overall look is in line with what you'd expect
from Transition, the geometry numbers, take them
into a whole new realm of low and slack.
In addition, they're available with aluminum frames
something Transition fans have been asking
for for quite some time now.
There's also carbon Spire though
just in case you had a hankering
for some fantastic plastic in your life.
Let's start by going over the Patrol.
Now that name has been in Transitions lineup before
but like I said, this is an entirely new bike for 2021.
And it's got a mullet this year.
So 27.5 inch rear wheel 29 inch front
and 160 millimeters of travel.
If you wanted to have a little bit more squish
you can put a longer stroke shock
on it and get 170 millimeters of rear travel.
Now imagine that these bikes are pretty slack.
I wasn't kidding.
The Patrol in the high setting has
a 63.5 degree head tube angle.
That's pretty much the same number that you would find
on a downhill bike.
If you want to go even slacker, you can knock that back
by half degree, a little flip chip at the bottom of the
of the shock mount, drop that down to 63 degrees.
So very slack also has super low bottom bracket height
and that's accompanied with some 165 millimeter cranks
just to help you avoid any unwanted rock strikes.
Other geometry numbers to note,
you've got a steep 78.1 degree seat tube angle
a reach of 485 millimeters
and chainstay length that varies
depending on the frame size.
So small and medium sized frames have one length
and then the large and XL, those have another length.
In this case, it's a large
behind me that has 440 millimeter chainstays.
Now, time to move on to the new big dog
in Transitions lineup, Spire this beast right here.
This one, 29 inch wheels front and rear
170 millimeters of travel, and it's even slacker,
that's right.
Head angle on this is 63 degrees
in the high setting drops all the way
down to 62.5 degrees in low setting.
So again, super slack geometry that puts it
in the realm of a downhill bike
but one that you can peddle.
So once again this bike has that steep
78.1 degree seat tube angle.
It also has a reach of 485 millimeters
for the size of large.
There's a wider range of sizes available for the Spire.
So you can go from extra small all the way
up to XXL, should accommodate a wide range
of rider Heights and Transition has the chainstay length
that depends on the size.
The smaller sizes get 446 millimeter chainstays.
And then the XL and XXL
those have 452 millimeter chainstays.
There's also a carbon version, like I said of the Spire.
So if you want to shed a little bit weight
which might not be a bad thing to consider these bikes
aren't exactly light.
You're looking at around 36 pounds as they sit right here.
So, more aimed at the descents and
not exactly going to fly up the hill
but we'll get to ride impressions in a second.
That's enough talking about numbers for now.
Let's dive into some frame details.
Let's start at the front of the bike, the head tube.
These bikes have a 1.5 inch straight head tube,
something these days that's again
typically only seen on downhill bikes.
What does that let you do?
Well for one thing, super easy to run a dual crown fork.
And yes, these frames are dual crown compatible.
So you can rig up some kind of wild park bike.
If you like, get that Enduro Dual Crown going
or having that 1.5 inch straight head tube also leaves room
for either an angle adjust headset
or a reach adjust headset.
Let's really fine tune the bike to make those numbers
exactly suit your personal preference and riding style.
On these bikes the dropper and
the derailleur housing are internally routed
with foam sleeves to help keep things quiet
and the brake rods on the outside
just to make things easier when it comes time for service.
Another thing to notice, Srams universal derailleur hanger
that's starting to catch on.
It's good to see, just means that you'll be more
likely to be able to find a replacement easily
in the event of a crash, where it needs to be replaced.
How much will these costs?
Well, frame shock only will set you back
$2,299.00 US dollars with complete starting at $3,699.00
and going all the way up to $5,499.00.
Now, if you decide to go that carbon route frame only
and shock will go for $3,299.00
and completes start at 5,899.00 US dollars.
And before we go too much further
I need to mention something, depends
on the size of the screen that you're watching on,
but if you look close, you'll probably see
that this says that's a Patrol, says that this is a Spire.
That's not the case.
This is the Patrol.
And that's the Spire.
I know kind of confusing.
What happened is Transition, got some frames in
sent them off to the powder coater to get them all ready.
So myself and some others could get some
early test laps on them.
And when they got them back from the powder coater
they were the wrong colors.
Well, the right colors, but on the wrong frame.
So they got switched around.
So in any case, when these actually do come out, the Patrol
it's going to be blue
and the Spire it's going to be orange.
With the Patrol, it's the cornering
that really stood out for me.
I mentioned that low bottom bracket
this holds true for both bikes.
It's really low, like lower
than the geometry charts say, low.
And maybe a little too low, I'm not quite sure
but I think it'd be difficult to run these bikes
in the low setting without worrying
about smacking your cranks all the time.
But, just kind of depends on where you're at.
Either way, the low bottom bracket does
improve a bikes cornering ability.
And when you combine that
with a smaller rear wheel on the Patrol
it just absolutely rails.
Push on that suspension load it up
and just, you know, just know that it's going to
hold on through that corner.
Climbing, it's actually not as bad as I thought.
Now, there's no getting around,
these bikes are on the heavier side of things
and they are really slack so,
you have a little bit heavier steering but it's not floppy.
And a lot of that has to do with the steeper seat angle.
It puts your weight over the front.
So you're not getting that unweightedness.
It doesn't want to just tip back and forth.
It's pretty easy to control.
Now, I'm not trying to say these are trail bikes
or bikes that you want to go on, you know
super long cross country oriented missions
but they are very pedalable and the actual position
is pretty comfortable.
Both bikes are great at jumping, but
with the Patrol just kind of felt
like it had more of a goof-off ability to it.
You know, let me manual wheelie hop and pop
and play around a little bit more the Spire.
So, that's kind of more, your goof-off bike.
Spires more of your serious bike,
but neither of these are that serious.
They're all made for good times.
Moving on to the Spire, like I said
the Spire does have a little more serious feel to it.
29 inch wheels, front and rear.
I could see it being a good race bike
for the privateer racer.
Assuming the tracks are rowdy enough
and that slack head angle.
It lets you get away with some crazy stuff in the steeps.
Like there's more than one time where I was
on it and just found myself amazed at how much safer I felt.
You know, it doesn't feel like you'll,
there's no way you're going to go over the front of the bike
and you can take corners was just tons of confidence.
And again, even when your climbing,
it's not too bad, you know
I did some kind of more techie chunkier stuff
and it doesn't feel like the bike is wandering or too slow.
But again, you know, it is a slack bike.
It is a longer bike.
So, not your ideal cross-country machine
but those numbers all coalesce into something
that is more manageable than you would expect,
just looking at what they say on paper.
The downsides to these two bikes.
Well, I mentioned the low bottom bracket on both of them.
It's not going to be for everyone.
Also those short cranks that accompany that so,
that's something that could be a little bit polarizing.
I think in the right scenario
it's not going to be a big deal at all.
And their performance benefits are going to
outweigh any cons, but something to keep in mind.
You also have that weight to contend with, you know, they
are aluminum framed.
So a little bit on the heavier side
like I said, around 36 pounds, depending on the build kit.
You could probably get them a little bit lighter
by going with lighter casing tires, that sort of thing.
But overall, the general feel of these, it's got a cool,
I'd almost call it more of a
little bit unrefined kind of raw feel to it.
Almost like you're riding a prototype that somehow got snuck
out of the test lab, but in a good way.
They just kind of make you want to experiment.
They made me want to go see what would happen when
I rode super, super steep trails.
And in every case I came away really impressed.
So, Transition is doing something interesting here.
Pushing the boundaries a little bit further
than most companies are doing.
There are a couple other companies
that have entered this super slack realm.
But it's kind of cool to see where they're going with it.
And, I had a blast riding these bikes
and we'll report back once we get one
in for longer-term testing and see how it fares.
That's it for the Transition Spire and the Patrol.
Thanks for watching.
As always let us know what you think in the comments below.
Don't forget to like, subscribe and stay tuned
for plenty more Pinkbike tech content in the near future.
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