SHORT CUTS

Transition’s Smuggler was the original down-country bike – now it’s back with more travel and Spur-like speed, hitting the sweet spot in Transition’s all-rounder range

The Smuggler was the bike that really launched the down-country revolution for us. When mbr first tried it back in 2014 we relished the short suspension travel (115mm at the time) and slack geometry, a combination that had never been tried before. It was a glimpse into the future, before the Smuggler dropped out of the range.

Later, the wonderful Spur improved on the formula. Transition kept the travel short (120mm travel but measured at 116mm, just like the Smuggler) and the geometry relaxed, but added in a lighter chassis that wouldn’t have felt out of place on an XC bike.

Now the Smuggler is back, and it’s been reimagined as a trail bike. The 29in wheels front and rear remain, the travel has crept up to 130mm, and there’s a 140mm fork on the front. That means it slots neatly into the Transition range, right between the Spur and the 150mm-travel Sentinel enduro bike.

THE SMUGGLER IS BACK, AND IT’S BEEN REIMAGINED AS A TRAIL BIKE

And what’s better than 130mm travel? 140mm of course – the Smuggler can be made more capable by stepping up the travel by 10mm, meaning it really does fill the gap betwixt Spur and Sentinel.

Change the travel of a bike and you’re in danger of altering the geometry too, but the Smuggler has had a 5mm reducer built into the Fox Float X shock to adjust the stroke length while keeping the eye-to-eye length – and thereby the geometry – unchanged. Take this one step further and the Smuggler’s fork length could also be upped to 150mm without altering the geometry too far.

Transition says the Smuggler is more Spur than Sentinel, thanks to a lower weight. More importantly, the bike has the same kind of suspension kinematics as the Spur, with a considerable 27% progression. We rated the Spur as our favourite down-country bikes bar none, in part thanks to the grip generated from the suspension, so we have high hopes the Smuggler can step it up here too.

The new frame comes with a host of other details that help it stand out, like size-specific chainstays and integrated bearing cups. Not exactly an exciting feature in its own right, but Transition says this is the key to its integrated internal cable routing, with space now for ports right on the front of the head tube. Routing now runs from there down to the BB shell, before emerging and entering the rear triangle. The Smuggler comes in two colours: orchid or espresso, and five sizes: SM, MD, LG, XL, XXL.