TRANSITION SMUGGLER GX
£4,799.99 Short-travel bike with long-travel attitude
Transition’s target market is cool kids mucking about in the woods, rather than riders closer to mountain biking’s Lycra-clad roots. This means their low-slung trail bike is the most progressively-angled here, ships with a burly Fox 36 fork and feels like it has more travel than the other bikes on test.
The frame
The carbon fibre Smuggler didn’t go into production until Transition had nailed the alloy version, and it uses the same ‘Speed Balanced Geometry’ (more on that later) and ‘GiddyUp’ suspension. This is a fourbar, Horst link design, which drives a long-stroke (for a 120mm bike) metric shock. Transition recommend running 32 to 35 per cent sag – more than on most short-travel bikes – to help it track the terrain and deal with holes as well as bumps.
Everything is carbon, from the chunky mainframe to the rear stays and kinked rocker link. The low, swooping shape means that, even on the large, with its 475mm reach, there’s zero interference from the frame, no matter what shapes you throw. Many riders will be glad to see a threaded BB shell, and there’s rubber chainstay and down tube protection to shrug off hits and keep things quiet. While the fat rear stays give good mud clearance at the sides and BB junction, the seatstay brace runs fairly tight to the tyre at the top.
The kit
Fitting a 36mm-stanchion fork on a 120mm bike gives away the Smuggler’s game plan. Fox’s 36 Performance model features their latest, well-controlled GRIP2 damper, and has the shorter 44mm offset (rake) that’s part of Transition’s SBG concept. It has 20mm more travel than the rear and feels super-supple, thanks to its EVOL air spring. The extra negative volume does make it ride low in its stroke though, so harder riders may need to add volume spacers to get a balanced front-to-rear feel.
The bar, stem and grips are all sorted, as is the 12-speed SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain, but the RockShox Reverb dropper uses the cheaper, older, ‘plunger’ style remote, which feels stiff and primitive nowadays, and also gets in the way. While the Stan’s Arch S1 wheels are the heaviest here, and are less zippy and quick-rolling, the Transition’s price advantage over the other bikes leaves plenty of room to upgrade.
The ride
If your idea of a good bike is one with maximum flickability, it’s hard not to have fun and push the limits on the Transition. Riders prioritising
efficiency and climbing pace will find little advantage over longer travel rigs in terms of trail pace and urgency though. That’s not to say the Smuggler is a slouch, and it has a perfect, upright climbing position thanks to its steep seat angle. But peak downstroke power is less direct than on the most pedalling-focused bikes here. Flicking the climb lever on the shock does tighten things up though, and calms the (minimal) pedal bob fighting gravity too.
At the fun parts of any trail, any climbs are soon a distant memory. Regardless of your level of riding experience, the extra length in front of you and the calmness of the steering in the steeps (partly due to the reduced offset) put you fully in charge. The Smuggler really eggs you on, and expert riders will love the way it combines the extra feedback of a tighter, poppier rig with the ability to be rallied at warp speeds in serious terrain. It may only have 120mm of travel, but it still has the silkiness and muscle you need when pushing hard downhill. It feels supple and lively, but always supportive as well.
One area where the Smuggler wasn’t best-on-test was in sharp ‘bucket’ turns. There’s a subtle weight tip forwards in the deepest G-outs and the rear wheel gets a little left behind at the apex, rather than slicing and firing you out perfectly, like on the Following. You could probably remedy this with tweaks to your riding position and the sensitive Fox 36 fork, but we found the Evil better in turns, out of the box.
THE SMUGGLER REALLY EGGS YOU ON, COMBINING THE FEEDBACK OF A TIGHTER, POPPIER RIG WITH THE ABILITY TO BE RALLIED AT WARP SPEEDS IN SERIOUS TERRAIN