[Closed] Transition Bandit 26

i have both bandit and bottlerocket. bandits perfect for what you want it for ime. 🙂

It's an awesome bike I liked it so much I bought the 29 er as well,
It does everything well,it climbs as well as any other trail bike but descends better than most,it feels sprightly and lively in tight singletrack,it's a fun ride,I reckon anything from transition is always goner have fun on top of its list of priorities

And the cock and balls technology really works 🙂

Excellent, all sounds very good...and the head angle doesn't cause on problems on the descents? Someone told me it was no good on steep, techy descents as he felt the nose was tucking under-tbh though he's the only one who said that and no one else has.
I've heard a lot of people say it has the characteristics of a hard tail but with the harshness taken out. Sounds good to me

http://www.transitionbikes.com/2013/Bikes_Bandit26_1.cfm

It does everything well,it climbs as well as any other trail bike but descends better than most,it feels sprightly and lively in tight singletrack,it's a fun ride,I reckon anything from transition is always goner have fun on top of its list of priorities

great description

Excellent, all sounds very good...and the head angle doesn't cause on problems on the descents? Someone told me it was no good on steep, techy descents as he felt the nose was tucking under-tbh though he's the only one who said that and no one else has.
I've heard a lot of people say it has the characteristics of a hard tail but with the harshness taken out. Sounds good to me

So far away from reality is unbelievable.

jedi kindly hooked me up with a demo. I ended up with an asr5 ONLY becuase i wanted to use the bike for occasional xc events AND becuase i found one at ex-demo prices - if I wasnt doing that i'd have bought the Bandit. I still look at it longingly now.

Took a demo Bandit out round Hope and Derwent Valley yesterday. Very impressed. So stable and composed on the descents but surprisingly capable of getting back up the climbs. For the average rider I see out on the trails it will be as much bike as they ever need (myself included).

Stillitortoise, where did you arrange your demo from? I'm considering either a bandit or covert 29 and have been looking for local-ish shops to arrange a demo. Cheers

Are there any Bandit owners out there who can tell me how they ride.

It rides better than I can. Best bike I've ever owned.

Will it/can it handle all of the above.

Yes.

Do you find the 68 degree HA slack enough?

The head and seat angle are both spot on for me. A nice middle ground between being lively yet stable. (Note, I have a 150mm fork on mine, which slackens it out by half a degree, though I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference.)

Here's mine (now with Reverb, but otherwise unchanged):

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And in a more appropriate environment:

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What size do people recommend.
I'm 6ft and ride a 17.5" PA.
Its large from the Transition website, but asking for any advise.

I've been looking at the Bandit, seems ideal. My next bike will be a full sus. (currently ride a Cotic Soul) and I have narrowed it down to a Bandit, Blur Lt or Tr or a Five. Would be interested in the Genesis Grapil if I could chose the shock and it was better specced. What rear dropouts does the Bandit have, are they maxle?

wobbliscott, I arranged the demo through 18 Bikes in Hope Valley.

Graham, I'm 6ft and the demo bike was a medium. If I buy one I'd go large, cos the medium was a touch cramped for out of the saddle stuff. It wasn't too far off though; I'm long armed/bodied rather than long legged.

Ta. I'm similar then. Will see if I can find a demo but the large sounds right. Cheers

I've been looking at the Bandit, seems ideal. have narrowed it down to a Bandit, Blur Lt or Tr or a Five. Would be interested in the Genesis Grapil if I could chose the shock and it was better specced. What rear dropouts does the Bandit have, are they maxle?

Im also looking at the Bandit, Blur Tr, five/gyro and Grapil. Im currently thinking buy the grapil frame, sell the monarch shock, maybe put a CCDBair on it and have 135mm travel, works out the same price as the blur tr... and it will have 142x12 rear axle. run it 1x10 etc...all round trail/enduro bike.

@ashfanman
Whats your bandit weigh, and do you know the frame weight too? Looks very nice.
cheers

Whats your bandit weigh, and do you know the frame weight too? Looks very nice

If you're bothered about weight then Transition probably aren't the brand for you - they tend to focus on building really solid frames rather than anything superlight.

That said, the Bandit is their lightest FS frame, but I really don't focus on that sort of stuff so I honestly couldn't tell you the frame weight. The bike shop did weigh the bike it after they built it, however, and it was 28.5lbs. So I guess it's probably just under 30lbs with a Reverb.

But I'm not sure how helpful that will be for you, as mine is an XL frame and pretty much a full custom build. Some heavy-ish bits (X7 drivetrain, ProII on Flows with tubed Minion DHF tyres, 203mm front rotor) and some light-ish (Rev World Cups, SixC bar, mag/ti pedals, Bel Air ti, Elixir CRs).

You can get them down to around 26-27lbs without spending too much or choosing silly components.

If it makes any sense it doesn't feel/ride heavy - covert here built pretty heavy but I find it so much more easier going than the previous remedy which I had before which was a lot lighter

Im only concerned about weight as my current bike - morewood shova st, feels a touch heavy on longer rides, so if im going to change frames, I want to feel the difference, but its a good point about how a bike feels with weight not just the numbers.

I think the bandit looks great as it seems to be pretty versatile in the builds you can have and I guess that stems from it being solidly built in the first place.

Well, to second what Banks said, I certainly don't notice any weight on the trails. It may not be as light as some of the new carbon superbikes, but it's still feels lively and fun to me. And sub-30lbs was very light for a trail bike not so long ago, so it's hardly a porker!

You should obviously get a test ride and find out for yourself, but I don't think you'll be disappointed 😉

I think I've decided on the Bandit as opposed to the Grapil. The Grapil is a touch cheaper but my heart keeps telling me to go Transition 😀

Go transition. I'll get a pic of my covert up in a bit. Mine weighs 31 - flows with 2.4 rubber queens - reverb - hope m4s - 36s - Renthal bars stem & chain ring also deore cranks but 1x10