Transition Sentinel: Customer Review

The Transition Sentinel has earned itself the reputation of being an aggressive 29er that is designed to excel on the downhills without sacrificing anything on the uphills. In this review, one of our customers Brian Sanchez breaks down his new Sentinel Carbon, the custom build he chose, and how the Sentinel performs out on the trail. Check it out!

Overview

This review is for a Transition Sentinel carbon that was built as a frame/fork only custom build. I'm 169cm/66.75" tall, 145lbs (150-155 with gear) and have fairly normal arm reach and 29/30" inseam. I'm an above average rider and bike mechanic with race experience at amateur expert level and part time certified MTB skills instructor/guide that's ridden Green through Double Black trails across the country. But enough about me, here's the bike.

• Transition Sentinel Carbon, size medium Grey Frame with 205 x 57.5mm DPX2 Performance Elite trunnion shock (147psi, 3 clicks Rebound from full fast and 3 clicks compression from full fast) and matching Fox 36 Performance Elite 160mm HSC/LSC/Rebound (1 stock token, 52 psi, 4 clicks Rebound from full fast, 4 clicks LSC from fully open, 8 clicks HSC from fully open)
• Cane Creek 40 series ZS headset and carbon spacers 
• Shimano Saint M820 Brakes with 203 XT rotor front and 180 rear 
• RaceFace Turbine R Vault Tubeless Wheelset 
• Maxxis DHF 2.5WT front 24psi and Maxxis Aggressor 2.3 rear 26psi *Huck Norris inserts and two cups Stans in both wheels.
• RaceFace Next R 800mm bar with ODI Grey/Black AG grips
• RaceFace Turbine Stem 35mm diameter/32mm length 
• Rockshox Reverb B1 150mm stealth, 31.6mm with Wolf Tooth Sustain remote 
• WTB Volt Team 135mm saddle. *Still had about 25mm/1" of room for additional dropper length with the saddle fully extended for my height. (A Reverb 1X lever and connector probably won't allow this like the WT Sustain)
• RaceFace BSA30 BB and RaceFace Next R 170mm crankset 68/78 spindle with One-Up Boost Cinch 32T SwitchRing 
• One-Up Bash Guard and Chain Guide 
• Sram XO1 11 speed shifter and derailleur, Sram X1 Chain (112 links) 
• E*Thirteen TRS Race 9-46 Cassette *Currently awaiting the 1.0/1.1 Problem solver ShimanoBrake/SramShifter matchmaker to get the shifter in the right spot without compromising optimal brake lever position.
• Weight with pedals = 30.5lbs/13.9kgs

First Ride Impressions

Not going to go over the SBG thing too much since that hasn't already been mentioned. That said, it works and works well. It just takes getting used to. With Mother nature still unsure when to stop crapping on our trails, I've managed to find two locations over the last two weeks to put a solid 50 miles in on everything to green flowy single track, fast washed out corners, tight tree ridden corners, fast sloppy rock and root ridden enduro trails, and short freeride jump lines involving hips, gaps, tables, step ups and the occasional, yet unintentional, huck to flat.

My initial ride impression was slightly skewed by expecting sloppy conditions and running Conti Der Baron 2.4 tires at 25/27psi and by having the crank preload adjuster a bit too tight. Oh, and having the shock and fork settings on Transition and Fox's recommended sag settings. It seemed excessively slow on the dry to tacky trails and felt like a lot of work going uphill in open or trail mode on the rear shock. That aside, I was still in awe by how well this bike cornered when using correct technique. If you didn't have them before, you're going to need to practice to get the most out of this bike.

Having ridden and owned all the big name bikes from 26" to 29" wheels, normal, plus and fat tires, this bike begs to be pushed in the corners. You just have to commit after some practice and confidence building repeats. Each time going in a fast corner, I found myself going a little faster and pumping it through with increased acceleration. I guess to put it simply, it gave me the same corner traction that I'd expect out of plus tires without lugging those big tires around.

With the Continental tires removed and the Maxxis tire combo installed, after adjusting the crank preload tensioner properly, the bike really came alive. The bike was snappy and ready to sprint on the flats or climbs when needed. I also had completed the fork and shock tune after day one via ShockWiz devices, which had me pretty dialed in the sag and damping department for optimal traction and a balanced feel. I immediately noticed the harshness in the rear of the bike disappear, although it is still rather progressive in a good way. Since everyone weighs differently and carries different gear, I'd say to ignore Transition's sag recommendation on the link and just start out with a 20-25% sag for your weight with gear and go from there. Bringing a good digital shock pump along the way on the first couple rides will help a lot to dial things in quicker.

Climbing Performance

Having ridden DW link, Switch infinity, Maestro, VPP, etc. suspension designs, I expected excessive pedal induced bob from a basic horst link design similar to Kona, Trek and others. Going uphill in the saddle is where this bike's SBG magic fools you with its slack head tube angle and long wheel base expectations. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bike that's going to win XC sprints climbing, but for an AM/Enduro level 29'r, it climbs efficiently without punishing you as long as you stay in the saddle. Even tight technical climbs never had me wandering about or fighting to keep the front wheel where I wanted it to be. I did notice slightly more pedal induced bob when out of the saddle, but honestly not too excessive that took away much from the bikes acceleration ability, which is to be expected from this suspension design and definitely benefits by using trail mode when climbing out of the saddle. I later found that going up a click or two on the LSC tamed it down in open mode without losing too much in the small bump compliance department.

Downhill Performance

On that note, once I started enjoying the trails going downhill and on jumps, etc. I managed to forget the shock in the trail mode on several occasions, so be aware when you use it. This didn't hinder me on big hits at all, but definitely let you know of the small trail chatter in the rear. For what it's worth, I did notice excessive internal cable rattle noise from the seatpost cable when I forgot it in trail mode going downhill. For some reason, my bike only came with one neoprene foam cable sleeve to eliminate noise. Not sure if I was supposed to get two, but figured I'd mention it for anyone else with the same experience or thought of building one from scratch.

As with all the other reviews to date, this bike is a downhill machine that'll take you through rough lines composed and having you looking further ahead from the increased speed it compels you to go. I picked alternate chunkylines just for the heck of it due to these reviews on some serious enduro style steep, rocky, wet, root infested trails. Needless to say, it boosts your confidence and had me grinning ear to ear each go.

Final Bonus Note:

I did demo an Orbea Rallon Sm/Med and Large to compare since they both have the shorter offset fork, and while the Rallon felt more nimble and racey, it didn't feel as confident and anything more than 2-3' to flat bottomed out harshly on the Fox DPX2 shock even at 20% sag in open setting. Also, the large frame's shock had rebound damping problem in full fast as if you already had 5 or 6 clicks applied. For what it's worth, my Sentinel's DPX2 elite(black coating) had zero issues and performs as a shock should that's tuned specifically for a bikes suspension and geometry design. I mention this because, I didn't see too much on this in the SBG reviews. It's definitely part of the whole SBG package of what makes this bike so capable. Could an Fox Float X2 boost its performance further? Absolutely, but not necessary for a lighter rider like myself. As for the fork, there's not much to say other than it performed flawlessly.

In the end, I choose the Transition Sentinel carbon custom build option due to "spot-on" proper fit for my size, the SBG for my trails and style of riding, weight, and price, in that order.