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Transition Blindside suspension performance?

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
I'm seriously considering changing my old Banshee Scream for a Blindside as I'm looking for a more dh oriented frame...but owning also a Bottlerocket, I'm a little worried about suspension performance in rock gardens, roots and gnar stuff...terrain that my Bottlerocket seems not to cope with quite well (I bought the BR knowing that and so I bought the BR to be a "fun" bike but definitely not dh oriented...) so my worries are how the Blindside suspension system can cope with the stuff the BR can't cope with so well as both suspension systems are quite similar apart form the difference in travel, of course...any opinions on that??
 

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
Yes I guess the extra travel would help...it's strange to see that, taking into account the Blindside is out for a (long) time now, there arent any good reviews of it anywhere...maybe some more Blindside users could chime in and say how the BS performs in rocky gardens and stuff like that...:biggrin::biggrin:
I think that extra 3" of travel might help.
 

blender

Monkey
Oct 19, 2006
642
0
MDR
yea. lack of reviews isn't that surprising.. the blindside delivers
and i think people are too busy riding them to write reviews on intrawebz
 

Zark

Hey little girl, do you want some candy?
Oct 18, 2001
6,254
7
Reno 911
yea. lack of reviews isn't that surprising.. the blindside delivers
and i think people are too busy riding them to write reviews on intrawebz
as an interesting sidenote Sunday's very well reviewed and you can find plenty of tips on ways to make them lighter garage ornaments:biggrin:
 

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
so is this a good sign that the Blindside is a gooood thing to ride??:nopity::nopity:
yea. lack of reviews isn't that surprising.. the blindside delivers
and i think people are too busy riding them to write reviews on intrawebz
 

cmoney

Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
154
0
My Blindside is great super plush,jumps well,drops well,corners amazingly because of the super low bb but be warned you will destroy some pedals because of the low bb.
Seems fine on the rocky stuff but I have not ridden it in to much rock yet,I live on the west coast of Canada lots of wet roots and loam not to much rock.
 

TheInedibleHulk

Turbo Monkey
May 26, 2004
1,886
0
Colorado
I've spent a good amount of time on my blindside now and can say that the suspension works quite well. There's basically two things the entail suspension "performance" and that is frame design/geometry, and then the shock itself, valving, settings, ect. The blindside is a single pivot bike, which means that the wheel path does arc forward as it moves through its travel. This means theoretically it will tend to hang up on big hits more than a bike with a more rearward axle path. The tradeoff is that relative to those bikes, you get a very connected feel to your rear wheel, which I especially like in cornering. Having owned and race now three single pivots, two vpp bikes, and one fsr bike, my personal opinion is that the wheelpath thing is a subtle difference in feel, and debateable if it makes any difference in actual speed. Besides wheelpath, the other issue at stake for the frame is shock rate. This is determined by the linkage and how they place the linkage pivots and shock mounting points. Riding a spring that was significantly too soft at bootleg and out in california, I never once audibly bottomed the shock. I'm sure I bottomed once or twice, but I never really noticed, which is a good thing. So this tells me they did it right on the shock rate. The shock is all about how you set it up, thats on you not on Transition. Find the fox tent at a race and I'm sure they'll give you some tips. Hope this helps!
 

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
that's great to know...btw, I was thinking about getting a "standard" headset instead of a low o zero stack headset in order to raise a little bit the BB..is this a good idea??
My Blindside is great super plush,jumps well,drops well,corners amazingly because of the super low bb but be warned you will destroy some pedals because of the low bb.
Seems fine on the rocky stuff but I have not ridden it in to much rock yet,I live on the west coast of Canada lots of wet roots and loam not to much rock.
 

cmoney

Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
154
0
Yes a normal headset with a 30mm stack height might be a good option I went to a zero stack when I got the bike not realizing how low the bb is,it is not a huge deal but you need to learn how to pump and flow through some rocky sections instead of pedalling,I am sure the Sunday owners out there have to do the same thing.
Overall it is a great bike if you get one you will not be disapointed.
 

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
cheers!!that's the kind of review I was expecting to get....btw are you running a floater on you BS??if not, do you notice anything under braking on the suspension??cheers again!:biggrin::biggrin:
I've spent a good amount of time on my blindside now and can say that the suspension works quite well. There's basically two things the entail suspension "performance" and that is frame design/geometry, and then the shock itself, valving, settings, ect. The blindside is a single pivot bike, which means that the wheel path does arc forward as it moves through its travel. This means theoretically it will tend to hang up on big hits more than a bike with a more rearward axle path. The tradeoff is that relative to those bikes, you get a very connected feel to your rear wheel, which I especially like in cornering. Having owned and race now three single pivots, two vpp bikes, and one fsr bike, my personal opinion is that the wheelpath thing is a subtle difference in feel, and debateable if it makes any difference in actual speed. Besides wheelpath, the other issue at stake for the frame is shock rate. This is determined by the linkage and how they place the linkage pivots and shock mounting points. Riding a spring that was significantly too soft at bootleg and out in california, I never once audibly bottomed the shock. I'm sure I bottomed once or twice, but I never really noticed, which is a good thing. So this tells me they did it right on the shock rate. The shock is all about how you set it up, thats on you not on Transition. Find the fox tent at a race and I'm sure they'll give you some tips. Hope this helps!
 

cmoney

Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
154
0
I am not running the floater and I really do not notice any brake jack although I am coming from riding a Yeti ASX which in comparison to the Blindside was bad for it.My vote is get the frame ride it and see what you think you can always get the floater later.
 

banrider

Monkey
Nov 24, 2004
304
12
okay, cheers for your comments..I'll posibbly be ordering the frame in a few weeks...I'll post some pics when I get it..:cheers::cheers:
I am not running the floater and I really do not notice any brake jack although I am coming from riding a Yeti ASX which in comparison to the Blindside was bad for it.My vote is get the frame ride it and see what you think you can always get the floater later.
 

Rafael-DH

Monkey
Nov 6, 2001
216
0
Brazil
I have a Blindside and it works great on rockgardens....
i noticed that its not an easy bike to set up, at least i worked on it like 2 days to get it the way i like it!
Here in Brazil we have many pilots with great results onboard blindsides...... all of them just love the bike.... great on corners, a light bike, very fast!














Ze maria (the best brazilian mechanic) working on the best bike! :)


They really work! lol

















ok sorry fot the tons of pics! :happydance: