Thanks dudes! Rides so sweet even with the suspension only about 80% dialed. Geo just feels so right and the frame details are just so nice (cable management, the in-frame storage, etc.)

 

How does routing to the swing-arm work? Is it better than on the Smuggler?

 

You made Vital's Bike of the Day!

2025 Transition Sentinel Custom

View Vital MTB member FuckingSteve's mountain bike check "2025 Transition Sentinel Custom".

www.vitalmtb.com

 

I’ve never been so honoured, tbh

 

Took my V3 out for the first ride yesterday. Quick comparison to the V2. I just bought a frame, and X0 T-type drive train. All other parts were moved over from my V2. Did my go-to loop that I've done a bajillion times. Fire road climbing felt slightly but noticeably more energetic and efficient. I also had no inclination to use the climb switch on the SDU. Could be the difference in coil shock vs air more so than V2 vs V3, but I ALWAYS used the climb switch on my Jade X coil on the V2 when climbing fire roads. Technical climbing felt pretty similar, with a small nod to V3 for ease of making small line adjustments.

The ride ended with a 2.8 mile downhill that's a mix of flow, chunk, and a couple short sprinty climbs. This is where the V3 really shined over the V2 for me. As others have described it felt decidedly more flickable and precise. Frame stiffness is noteworthy and the bike felt more composed to me. MAYBE slightly less plush, but still more composed. Numbers don't lie. On a downhill that I know like the back of my hand and ride all the time, with a bike that I was riding for the first time and hadn't really dialed the rear shock, Strava says I had the fastest run that I've had in over 2 years. Needless to say, I'm quite pleased with where Transition has taken the Sentinel.

 

How's the fit, finish, hardware, & carbon compared to previous models? Any better or same same?

 

I mean, I always thought all those things were good other than the paint. I’ve had 4 carbon Transitions in a row (Scout, Spire, Smuggler, Sentinel) and fit and finish was never an issue.

 

I am hoping for better. Seems like there's is atleast some difference in how they are building them as people have commented how stiff the new sentinal is, which is not something I would call most model transitions

 

Anyone tried the new sentinel both 150/160 and 160/170? I'm still extremely intrigued by the geometry of this bike, but a 160/170 suits my preferred level of separation between my two bikes better than the 150/160 standard setup.

 

Anyone spent time on both the Patrol and the new Sentinel? Looking to move from my Spire to one of them, mainly curious how they stack up against each other on the DH.

 

My sentinel V3 carbon is setup in MX.

I had a 2021 aluminium patrol before, i swapped all the components on my new sentinel.

I just did one trail so far, i need to spend more time to dial the suspension. But so far it handle very well like my patrol, but in much more lighter package...17.5kgs for my patrol (with a coil) over 15.9 kgs for my sentinel!

I have a super deluxe coil on my patrol, i think i'm gonna try it to see what is the best for me

 

Are you running the ZEB at 160 or 170 up front? I’m pondering whether to go Lyrik or keep my current ZEB.

 

I am. I absolutely adore the downhill performance of the Lithium, and it was fabulous for chunky terrain in Arizona without much in the way of extended climbing and descending, but the actual seat tube angle and very short chainstays require me to force my chest into the bars to keep from looping out on climbs. I rode a Sentinel V3 alloy the other day, and while it isn't a stretched out cockpit, it felt very relaxed and centered, perfect for steep/long climbs. Back to back with the SST, it feels similar in terms of the distance from hands to feet, but with more bike behind me. I know the S5 Stumpjumper Evo suffered from too long a reach, even though I liked the long chainstays, so I'm hoping the Large Sentinel's F/R balance will be more dialed in.

I'm curious if you considered Revel Rail 29? Since you already liked the CBF platform of Lithium.

 

I'm curious if you considered Revel Rail 29? Since you already liked the CBF platform of Lithium.

The geometry on the Rail is pretty much a lateral move from the Lithium, and I actually prefer metal frames where possible.

 

I'm just wondering where people are sitting in the sizing, I'm 5'9" with 32" inseam, I've ridden large and a medium in the parking lot but struggling to figure out which size is best,

 

Medium.

 

Short CS's suck, unless you are < 5'7".

 

5’7” and can confirm that they still suck.

 

Short CS's suck, unless you are < 5'7".

5’7” and can confirm that they still suck.

Hey now…my SST is still my favorite bike.

 

Imagine if it had longer stays though...

 

I am. I absolutely adore the downhill performance of the Lithium, and it was fabulous for chunky terrain in Arizona without much in the way of extended climbing and descending, but the actual seat tube angle and very short chainstays require me to force my chest into the bars to keep from looping out on climbs. I rode a Sentinel V3 alloy the other day, and while it isn't a stretched out cockpit, it felt very relaxed and centered, perfect for steep/long climbs. Back to back with the SST, it feels similar in terms of the distance from hands to feet, but with more bike behind me. I know the S5 Stumpjumper Evo suffered from too long a reach, even though I liked the long chainstays, so I'm hoping the Large Sentinel's F/R balance will be more dialed in.

Great feedback, I'll be interested to hear more of your thoughts once you get a frame built up. I definitely see the advantages of the Sentinel's longer CS for what you're describing in terms of calmly winching your way up pitchy climbing trails and fire road. I think "truly" long chainstay bikes (S4 Druid v2, XL Prime v3 w/ Long dropouts) hinder my climbing abilities a bit simply because I can't get around ultra-tight uphill switchbacks as fluidly, but that's a dying breed of climbing trail around here, even in the ultra-slow-tech corners of the Northeast.

Short CS's suck, unless you are < 5'7".

This must be some sort of universal law, or a call-out to the universe like the Bat Signal… if you start talking about chainstay length on MTBR, Suns PSD will appear!

I'm chainstay agnostic myself (really enjoyed my Honzo with 412mm CS in the right terrain, though I did kick the derailleur from time to time; also enjoy riding high pivot bikes with 470mm+ CS length at sag, on winch and plummet rides) but I'm very glad the industry is giving us more options, especially for the XL/XXL crowd that needs longer stays simply to keep things in balance.

 

Great feedback, I'll be interested to hear more of your thoughts once you get a frame built up. I definitely see the advantages of the Sentinel's longer CS for what you're describing in terms of calmly winching your way up pitchy climbing trails and fire road. I think "truly" long chainstay bikes (S4 Druid v2, XL Prime v3 w/ Long dropouts) hinder my climbing abilities a bit simply because I can't get around ultra-tight uphill switchbacks as fluidly, but that's a dying breed of climbing trail around here, even in the ultra-slow-tech corners of the Northeast.




This must be some sort of universal law, or a call-out to the universe like the Bat Signal… if you start talking about chainstay length on MTBR, Suns PSD will appear!

I'm chainstay agnostic myself (really enjoyed my Honzo with 412mm CS in the right terrain, though I did kick the derailleur from time to time; also enjoy riding high pivot bikes with 470mm+ CS length at sag, on winch and plummet rides) but I'm very glad the industry is giving us more options, especially for the XL/XXL crowd that needs longer stays simply to keep things in balance.

I'm just stoked 32" wheels are coming so we can go back to "pick a wheel size and be a dick about it" threads...

 

Imagine if it had longer stays though...

Well, the first time (and basically every time since) that I rode an SST, I described it as “perfect”, so I don’t think longer stays would improve things for the way I ride the bike. For me, short chainstays and short travel work great together.

Great feedback, I'll be interested to hear more of your thoughts once you get a frame built up. I definitely see the advantages of the Sentinel's longer CS for what you're describing in terms of calmly winching your way up pitchy climbing trails and fire road. I think "truly" long chainstay bikes (S4 Druid v2, XL Prime v3 w/ Long dropouts) hinder my climbing abilities a bit simply because I can't get around ultra-tight uphill switchbacks as fluidly, but that's a dying breed of climbing trail around here, even in the ultra-slow-tech corners of the Northeast.

This must be some sort of universal law, or a call-out to the universe like the Bat Signal… if you start talking about chainstay length on MTBR, Suns PSD will appear!

I'm chainstay agnostic myself (really enjoyed my Honzo with 412mm CS in the right terrain, though I did kick the derailleur from time to time; also enjoy riding high pivot bikes with 470mm+ CS length at sag, on winch and plummet rides) but I'm very glad the industry is giving us more options, especially for the XL/XXL crowd that needs longer stays simply to keep things in balance.

There's an alert set to automatically ping him with any mention of "chainstay length", I assume (just joshin, Suns).

I would describe myself as chainstay-agnostic as well. I think longer chainstays and extremely balanced f/r centers make an increasing amount of sense the more aggressive your riding intentions, but pure performance and speed isn't always the end goal for me. For a shorter travel bike or a hardtail, I like short chainstays because they make it easier to pick up the front end and manual, wheelie, bunnyhop, cut sharp corners, etc. For extreme confidence and stability, long chainstays are great to an extent, though you can have too much of a good thing.

 

This bike doesn’t seem to be getting as much chatter as I imagine on here, so it might be a small pool to work with, but anyone know if a 240mm Oneup Dropper will fit in the Large Sentinel frame? I‘ll be running 165 cranks with a 34” inseam, but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough insertion depth to run it without shimming down to 220mm, at which point I may as well just get another Revive and run at 213mm. I know oneup has a calculator but I somehow confused myself with it.

 

I run a 240 in the V2 if you can compare the seat tube specs. It’s slammed but works perfectly with my 34 inseam.

 

I just finished building up my v3 frame, moved most parts over from my previous v2.

For what it's worth @DGUSMC this a size L with a 240mm Oneup dropper and 165mm cranks but I don't need the post slammed so ymmv.

 

It was me asking, but thank you! What’s your inseam?

Also, I absolutely LOVE the purple/yellow thing going on here. I would have done that if I was a bit more bold, but white with the red fork is going to be cool too, hopefully.

 

It was me asking, but thank you! What’s your inseam?

Ah whoops, sorry I just blindly grabbed the username of the last person to talk about it! I'm a 33" inseam and you can see I've got a good few inches of post showing out the top of the seat tube.

Also, I absolutely LOVE the purple/yellow thing going on here. I would have done that if I was a bit more bold, but white with the red fork is going to be cool too, hopefully.

Cheers! It's definitely one of the less subtle bikes I've owned but I'm so happy with how it turned out. I love the white colour too though - had my decision made for me by what was available in stock.

 

Ah whoops, sorry I just blindly grabbed the username of the last person to talk about it! I'm a 33" inseam and you can see I've got a good few inches of post showing out the top of the seat tube.



Cheers! It's definitely one of the less subtle bikes I've owned but I'm so happy with how it turned out. I love the white colour too though - had my decision made for me by what was available in stock.

All good! That is actually great to know, my legs are actually a little longer than yours, so my dropper insertion concerns are probably unfounded, even with 5mm less insertion on the alloy frame. I honestly went with the white because I wanted the extra clearcoat layer for paint protection, and I knew for sure I wanted the red Lyrik. Of course, now that I’m building it up I see there are a number of enduro pros running the red ZEB/Lyrik on this bike as well - my other bike is a custom paint job so I’m probably spoiled on “uniqueness” factor.

 

Love the colorway too. Ohlins yellow and purple such a great combo!

 

Any folks found a way to quiet down the back end of the bike? I built it up and used foam tubing throughout, hoping that’d do the trick but the back end just seems exceptionally loud through chunk compared to my Stumpy Evo and Sight. Otherwise, I’m really enjoying this bike and how it tracks through chunk despite folks saying it’s less plush than the v2.

 

If you have a carbon frame did you notice that there’s tabs in the plastic in frame storage frame which you can zip tie your cables to?

I pulled the cables and hose fairly tight towards the front of the bike and then secured them with zip ties, can’t say I’ve heard any rattling.

Some chain slap though, I might get an stfu or replace the chain stay protector with vhs tape.

 

Yeah I think I have the cables pretty well taken care of, it sounds like the chain or derailleur, or a combo of the two.

 

Ah right gotcha. I was also hoping the new chain stay protector would be a bit better than it is at keeping things quiet, I'm thinking of replacing it with VHS tape which worked really nicely on my v2 or maybe STFU tape.

Edit: I'm also side-eyeing the fidlock bottle and wondering if that has a rattle. I'll also try it with a regular zee cage I think.

 

The Sentinel is built up and first ride is done! First impressions: it definitely doesn’t feel as sprightly to pedal as the SST, but that’s to be expected going from 750g XC tires to 1250g DH tires. The pedaling position is definitely upright and comfortable, and it feels great on climbs if you settle in for some “sit and spin” action. On the way down, it feels like it takes some real angle to keep rolling, but it’s notable how little you have with body position to do to keep both ends gripping. I had a little too much air in both tires and suspension, so it'll need some fine-tuning there - however, I still set my fastest time on our toughest rooty downhill without realizing!

 

Niiiice. Alloy frame, DH casings, have you weighed it yet? Also, what rims are those?

 

Honestly I was trying to avoid it, but curiosity got the best of me - it’s 37 pounds with the pedals and oneup pump/full edc tool. Asides from maybe changing tires, there isn’t a thing I’d do differently, so I’m not worried about it. The rims are the new-ish Roval Traverse HD on 1/1 hubs.