Transition updates their entry level Patrol spec, leaving us inquisitive

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.

[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!

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

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.