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Transition updates their entry level Patrol spec, leaving us inquisitive

Written by Cory Benson Feb 03, 2016 4:30 p.m. ET

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We covered the introduction of Transitions new high-end carbon Patrol just before the holidays, but had a look at their 2016 aluminum line-up back in September at Eurobike. Each of their mountain bikes – the Patrol, Scout, and Smuggler – all get $3000 complete builds that deliver great performance a bit closer to what we might call entry-level into proper trail riding. A lot of keeping that price down was the spec of a SRAM X5 10-speed group, which carries over. The new mid-season spec that will be available now includes an update to a direct mount chainring, but also has some other changes that leave us scratching our heads as to the real reason why. Take a closer look after the break…

The first big change is the swap from the 160mm Marzocchi 350 R fork which will now be substituted by a 160mm RockShox Yari RC. With all the goings on at Marzocchi over the last year from their demise to buy-out by Fox, we wonder if this signals that there is more trouble ahead or perhaps they just couldn’t keep their production output up to meet Transition’s demand.

Another change in spec is the move from the wide range 11-42 cassette care of the 42T Hive Cog. The new bikes will stick with a standard SRAM 11-36 10-speed cassette, dropping the gearing range and making Transition go from a 32T chainring on the prior spec to a 30T with the new direct mount solution. Again the question is whether there was an issue with supplying the bigger cog, whether there was a performance issue, or whether SRAM just wasn’t as happy with their cassette being taken apart by a bike maker?

Update: We’ve spoken with Transition and they had a pretty good reason for the changes. It looks like they have been working in the best interest of customers and were able to deliver the better spec Yari fork that wasn’t available until now. Of course the Yari is a good bit more expensive, so to keep the price low they went to the standard 11-36 cassette to offer the best performing 1×10 they could and matched it with an appropriately sized chainring, even getting a direct mount upgrade in the process.

Have a look at Transition’s detailed response in the comments…

TransitionBikes.com

Cory Benson

4,153 articles

Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.

Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years, even before the industry created some of these names. Prior to Bikerumor, Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, has designed bike shops & bike components, and worked as a bike shop mechanic.

Based in the Czech Republic for 15+ years, he is a technical mountain biker, adventurous gravel rider, and short & medium-haul bikepacker. Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes, meeting with key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next.

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TheFunkyMonkey

8 years ago

Call them and ask them those questions. They are the most responsive bike manufacturer I’ve dealt with and are happy to jump on the phone and answer questions. I sent an email with a question and they asked if they could call as they felt they could be more thorough in their explanation via phone.

The change from Marz makes complete sense. My guess with regard to the cassette is two-fold: as you stated, SRAM’s not cool with an OEM hot-rodding their component (especially with GX now available) and it’s a warranty issue.

I’d argue these guys are one of the hottest MTB companies right now. I’m a very pleased customer.

Patrick Cavender

8 years ago

If we are speculating, I would guess that it is a much easier sell having a knob on top of the fork crown (compression) than having only rebound. Mid level MTB: knobs = good.

Sam

8 years ago

[We’ve chatted with BR directly, but thought it was worth replying here as well…] This makes it sound as if there is something sinister going on, but that is far from the case. Here is a run down for the readers…

We choose the Marzocchi spec before rumors of their problems came to the surface. Once that news broke we were concerned that we would have issues with supply, or at the very least, that our customers would no longer have faith in their products. Marzocchi was always very responsive and in the time we used that spec we had no issues with supply, but we were very nervous about the public faith in their products.

At the time of our early model year productions the Yari fork was not yet available from SRAM and we wanted to have bikes available for our customers in that part of the year. We were interested in the Yari, but going in to the 2016 model year we didn’t feel it was “worth it” to change spec mid season or deliver bikes late.

Coincidentally the issues at Marzocchi aligned with the availability timing for the Yari and we made the call to change spec mid year. Unfortunately that also meant a pretty significant increase in our costs for that bike. We did not want to raise our dealer or retail pricing and needed to look at ways to mitigate the cost increase, so the Hive 42t adapter cog was the first thing to go. We also moved the front ring spec from 32t to 30t to help out with the loss in gear range. We felt that the number of options for “adapter cogs” available in the market would make it pretty easy for the buyer to add that in later. Or potentially a 30t with 11-36 could be all the rider needed. Either way, it was a small trade off to get a more expensive fork on a bike at the same retail price.

Compromises… that is all. Thanks!

Tupac

8 years ago

Damn. Transition, telling it like it is! I love it guys, well done with communication to your dealers and customers. Rare in these days…

Steve

8 years ago

bummer on the rim spec changing as well, I think that is going to change the way the bike rides more than the cassette.

Steve

8 years ago

I am incorrect, I see now that the bike with the Easton AR rims is a different build.
Carry on.

nsajf

8 years ago

Norco is currently scrambling for us to fix multiple busted x9 mechs that have been used the one up rings on 16 norco ranges. They can’t handle the cog at all.