Transition Bikes – Trans AM – All Mountain

Transition Bikes – Trans AM – All Mountain



Ok so I wanted to write up a real honest review of my new Transition Trans AM biked I picked up a few months back. I have been working with transition on builds for quite some time and don’t have enough good things to say about the company.

Let me start this off with a bit of a discussion about wheels size. I built up a single speed 29’er this past winter as a simple bike I could just grab and ride. I was new to single speed, 29” wheels and a rigid fork. In the end I loved the bike it was simple and maintenance free but it just didn’t do it for me. My riding style does not fit that of a 29’er they just aren’t flick’able to me. I am 5’10 tops, ride standing up so I can hop over, on or around anything that comes my way.

I landed on the Trans AM because the general spirit of this bike was exactly what I was looking for, simple, clean, and reliable. Transition’s website puts it out there on the description of the bike ‘The TransAM hard tail brings back the basics of what true all mountain trail riding is all about.’ – where do I sign? When I pulled it out of the box it was so clean, the internal headset is a great hint taken from bmx that adds a level of smooth to the frame that is best appreciated in person.

I chose a pretty solid build for this bike with a fox 36 talas fork, all Thompson, XTR Cranks, large but light casing tires, and some trick Brown i9 Wheels Converted to singlespeed (brown is an ew colorway for them)The whole thing took me about 2 hours to build if you don’t count the chain setup issues I had. The bmx half link chain at 88 half links was to short for my build so I had to work up a solution, but I ordered a second chain and it is all good now.

On the trail the bike is ridiculous, it is COMPLETELY silent. I hate any noise, clunk, chatter, thump whatever it just makes me feel like I am going slower and drives me mentally insane. So to have such a silent machine is a god send, the steel really deadens trail noise and makes for a solid platform in any situation. With a 70mm Thompson stem and the overbuilt fork, the bike descends amazingly, the minute I jumped on it there was the feeling of ‘my bike’, it was just that comfortable. On the climbs it does damn well, I am running a 32t/18t combo, which is a good setup for the quick ups and downs of our east coast terrain.

Ahhhh...my fox 36 talas, I bought this fork about 3 years ago for a build I was doing on a Transition BottleRocket and in that time it has been on numerous bikes. An EVIL Soveirgn, Transition Bottlerocket, Transition Blindside, Tonic Fabrications Howie, and a Santa Cruz Heckler. With only 1 rebuild in that time frame it is an incredible testimate to fox and why they are the best. It hasn’t let me down from east coast xc races, to trail rides in Moab and even on the greasy steeps of Vancouver’s North Shore. It is right at home on this bike sitting nice and low at 110 mm.

In technical situations I couldn’t ask for more I can jump in and out of turns with ease making quick work of my old 29’er. I am running a set of Titec Flat tracker bars which are aimed at the single speed crowd, but turn them upwards for a trials like feel and a slight rise which makes the bike that much more stable in the techy stuff.

In conclusion, I am going to make the statement that this is the most fun mountain bike I have owned (and that is a long list). Every time I ride this bike it reminds me of exactly why I love riding mountain bikes. The bike disappears under me and lets me do what I like doing and that is ripping trails. Thanks to the guys at Scholl’s Bicycle Centers, Cam @ Transition Bikes, and Brandi @ i9 for the strange wheel configuration.

If anyone is interested in picking one of these up MSRP on the frame is a cool $569.00 (Not bad for a steel frame of this quality).

Complete Spec:
Frame: Transition Trans-AM (white) 16.5
Fork: 2004 Fox 36 Talas 110mm Travel
Headset: Eastern Internal
Hubs: Industry Nine
Rims: Industry Nine
Chain: KHE Hollow Pin Half Link 3/32"
Tires: F/Maxxis Advantage 2.4 Kevlar R/Kenda Small Block 8 2.3
Cranks: Shimano XTR 175mm 32t ti-carbon ring
Pedals: Crank Brother Candy SL
Seat post: Thompson elite
Seat: WTB Silverado
Brakes: Avid BB7 160mm rotors
Levers: XTR
Stem: Thompson 70mm
Bars: Titec Flat Tracker-sweep turned up
Grips: ODI Ruffian (dremeled for extra sticky & soft)
Weight: don’t have it yet.

can someone move this? meant to put it in the lounge...Thanks.

honestly it is more fun than the sovereign but i attribute that to the build, the soveriegn was full geared, i really like running this bike SS, hard to explain but it's like a bmx xc bike...the soverign is one sick bike, i really like the chain tensioning system on it, but like the looks of the simple dropout on this bike (the wheel stays put and that is all i care about)

Honestly i am curious to see what the soveriegn prices are, that bike was always a bit to $$$

again can someone put this in the lounge where it is more appropriate, this def isnt a dh thread.

thanks guys, i have spent 100% of my xc riding this season on this bike and the dh on my blindside, this is def a fun bike. And chillindrdude they have bigger sizes...dont sell out to the big wheel ppl.

thad said:

Nice bike.

Your chain is on backwards.

Click to expand...

ha thanks, the chain is only temp had a half link issue so it is going on tonight.