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Seems to tick the boxes for a lightweight trail-focused 29er hardtail.
Merlin have frames at an almost reasonable price.
But I can't find any reviews online.
Anyone have one or ridden one? Or recommend anything similar?
Thanks.
Always fancied one but couldn't justify £1800 on a frame with only a 2 year warranty.
Seems everyone else agreed and Merlin are now clearing out stuff that doesn't sell.
Ticks a lot of boxes but the chainstays are a bit short for my taste at 420mm.
And internal gear cable routing.
I like the internal routing but agree about the chainstays. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks current trends are too short.
Don't they also require a unique fork offset?
I looked at these briefly. The price was too much and it is at the less progressive end of progressive. Nice short seat tube for a good length dropper mind.
I have seen one in the flesh and it did look very nice indeed. Fork offset is normal it's their other hardtail that has offset from I think.
I've ridden a demo one that pedals in edinburgh have around the block and maybe over the golf course a little bit and loved it, would be an absolute rocket ship. it's pretty damn long - even longer than my smuggler. Would love one if I had the money for a nice hardtail.
Love the idea of these, almost ahead of the curve..
Can anyone think of another long travel slack short chain stayed 29er hardtail frame?
I reckon there will be a fair few similar in years to come
Kona Honzp ^
Canfield Epo, YS etc etc
Slightly behind the curve 😉
Got one built up a few months back. Spent more than I ever ever envisaged on a hardtail so I'd rather not know what Merlin are flogging them for!
After my Lapierre XR started getting tired I decided I wanted a slack/fun bike which was also light enough to race xc. Figured 120mm full suss was going to be way too spendy so started looking in to hardtails. The only other obvious option was the Kona Honzo. Maybe I'm wrong but the frame appears a little more refined. The paint job also looks better than the cheapy Transition design IMO. Plus it's a lifetime warranty. Anyway, I couldn't get hold of a frame only Honzo and the full builds were a little portly so I went down the route of the Vanquish.
It's built light but not weight weenie light. Got some DT rims on 240 hubs and the rest was taken from my old bike - 120mm Rebas, Thomson, Maxxis Ikons (tanwall FTW) etc. Soon realised I wasn't going to get the most from it so after all these years I finally got a dropper. Had to match collar n cuffs so got a Thomson dropper. The spending never ends as I'm now looking at a Wolftooth lever to replace the crap designed-on-a-Friday Thomson one.
Ride wise hmmm, hard to say. I've still not had the chance to rag it on dry trails with which I'm familiar. A couple of wet rides at BPW left me a bolt sulky knowing the damage I was doing to a frame not yet protected in copter tape! In a good way I was kind of underwhelmed - a bit like jumping in a VW and finding that it is reassuringly neutral - I didn't want a quirky beast! I went with a size large. I spent weeks trying to decide on size because as is often the when you are crippled by indecision and spending too much money, I fell between sizes (I'm 6ft and a bit). Everybody had a different opinion on size. Before getting the dropper (450mm total length) by previous post (420mm) barely reached the top tube/seatstay junction. That made me scared.
Let me know if you have any more Q's...
Stanton Sherpa too....
I thought the silly / custom fork offsets only applied to the new SBG frames.
only a 2 year warranty.
3 years for 2018 frames so they are getting there slowly.
https://www.transitionbikes.com/Support.cfm
My experience of the transition warranty was
Quote
“the paint coming off the frame is only aesthetic and does not affect the functionality of the bike”
Would never have another one!!
IMO the reduced price is still a bit steep. Maybe if they'd been priced like that originally and 33% knocked off now...
“the paint coming off the frame is only aesthetic and does not affect the functionality of the bike”
Was that the importer or head office?
Seems odd that, other than the original press release, there's no reviews or mentions of them.
Let me know if you have any more Q's..
Do you actually like it...
Good question. I do wonder if there's no info about it because it's a bit of a pup.
Cha****ng that was the reply direct from Transition
It's cool but as I say, a few wet rides at BPW on Ikons to the sound of chain slap means it's a bit premature to go singing it's praises. I've been impressed in that I generally forget it's a hardtail until the odd square hit abruptly reminds me!
It's all about context I guess. I'm coming from an XC perspective. The Lapierre XR was always super capable but there's no getting away from the fact that it was XC through and through. In buying a Large as opposed to XL Vanquish there's a big drop from saddle to bar. Of course this is remedied with the dropper but I guess an XL might have felt more composed. However this would prob be outweighed by crappy climbing characteristics.
Thanks folks. Seems they were not popular for some reason, i guess over-priced originally.
What else is there out there similar?
I'm looking at the kona honzo as a direct comparison. I'm also open to 659b bikes as well.
I agree that they were over priced originally but that doesn't normally stop people if it's a good bike, just limits the numbers out there. However, these seem very limited, both sides of the pond.
Thing is this is so overpriced at nearly 2k originally for a frame that's not going to be used for racing it has really priced people out imho.
If you think about what it is aimed at, its kind if a do all 29er, 1 hardtail to have in your fleet but way too slack and long forked for xc racing.
I think when you get into the realms of 2k for a frame like that people will generally be spending that on something full suspension when it's long and slack.
If love one of these to replace my xc "race" hardtail and my bigger travel play hardtail but still can't justify one at over a grand for the frame.
Think whoever above said they've kind of got the price now down to what the rrp should have been and with 30% off of that people would start buying them.
chilled76, that was partly my reasoning - for my needs (xc racing and British trails) it's as close as I could get to a do-it-all bike without spending >£5k on a full suss. Obvs it would be out of its depth in the Alps but I've yet to see something that covers [i]every[/i] base!
Dekerf853, don't take my feedback as a downer - I'm not one to gush. Also, it's a hardtail, I really wouldn't expect a revolutionary experience. Yeh it's $$$ but as mentioned above, it serves a niche that very few others cater for.
PS. beyond the Honzo what about the SC Chameleon? A reasonable weight and slack without geo that's too radical. You never know, they might realise a carbon version as they do for the Highball...
I borrowed one for a weekend and it was an absolute riot. Light enough for general XC duties but was happy flying down steeps. I would have one if I could afford/justify two bikes that nice.
Still tempted, but still bothered by the short warranty.
Well, the question has resolved itself now. They've gone back up in price.
Would love to know if dropping the price helped shift any!
So it is, glad I got one at the reduced price! 🙂
Not ridden it yet, but it looks lovely.
Picked mine up for £1200 including delivery from Bikeactive, just before Xmas. Just finished building it, first ride this weekend.
Rich, we need a picture.
HYD: "KILL TRAIL Death SLED", sounds like fun!
They should release a updated transam 29 instead and go direct sale so the prices can drop.
Here’s my new vanquish. In my opinion the sickest bike you can throw all your money at...
ive spent years waiting for something like this to come into my radar and it’s finally happened..!
My use for it is a capable all rounder that can handle the hectic stuff as well as eat up the climbs and also throw on the bikepacking gear for singletrack trips.
Customer build kit is as follows
Transition vanquish XL frame
Fox factory 34 130mm kashima fit4
sram xx1 eagle drive train
Shimano Xtr trail brakes
rock shox reverb dropper post
Thomson bar and stem
wheel works carbon wheels
xtr pedals
continental Xking 2.4’s (majorly shit tyres, swapping out for 2.6 Maxxis rekons for a little extra Cush and traction)
and there it is my dream bike has finally arrived 🙂
@ JEZ - how come the X King tyres are ''majorly shit tyres'' ?
I'm thinking about one on the rear of my 29er hardtail.
Daiboy.....
How have you been finding the Vanquish for the last 6 months?
Anyone else got any experience of either of these bikes, real world feedback still seems thin on the ground. Particularly interested in the Throttle. Prices of the 2018 seem to be dropping again.
Still drawn to these but...
...rear tyre clearance seems a bit limited.
...largest chain ring is a 34 (by that should be enough).
...rear brake routing seems to be left side only.
...Only one set of bottle bosses.
...Still very limited rear world feedback on them.
Why not commission a Chinese carbon frame maker rather than pay for a brand name that’s wildy optimistic on pricing.
Testing one next week, will report back. Pricing not so optimistic if you know where to look!
I actually seem the sale price hence my optimistic comment even at sale price.
save 2/3 and get a custom version with same geo if that fussed.
Transition get far too much credit for their toy frames
save 2/3 and get a custom version with same geo if that fussed.
Transition get far too much credit for their toy frames
You could make the same argument about any frame then. Why bother with any branded bike/frame when you could just order the same thing from China cheeper. Only its not the same thing at all. I've got a Vanquish frame ordered from a UK supplier for under £1100. I'll get it in 48hrs, full UK backup and service and the knowledge that I'll be getting a quality product.
And yes every MTB is a toy wherever it comes from.
Impulse buy ?
Impulse buy ?
Lost me there ?????? Your coming across a bit weird mate. Do you have anything usefull to say that might help people interested in the Vanquish ?
overpriced. buy an alu frame instead
How are they overpriced poah ?
At £1800 they were a bit pricey for my wallet. Perhaps not for others if they ticked all the boxes. At £1100 it becomes an option for me. I've spent that on a H/T before, more than that on H/T road bike frames 😉. So are all £1000+ frames to expensive or just the Vanquish. To come to that conclusion surely you must have bought one or ridden one extensively and found it lacking.
It would be great if you shared your experiences on a thread discussing the bike.
its a hard tail frame. I currently own two transitions so its not like I don't like the brand but spending £1100 on a hard tail frame, to me at least, is a huge waste of money. You should be able to get an alu frame in the geo you want for a 1/3 of the price. I also have a hard tail bike as well that I built from a frame. I don't have to ride that particular frame to know it not worth the money.
You do seem overly defensive in this thread. Buyers remorse?
I don’t have to ride that particular frame to know it not worth the money.
So you don't know what your talking about then, fair enough at least you've admitted it 👍
Don't know about defensive, but I've put my hard earned down and some guy on the internet who hasn't ridden or very likely even seen one in the flesh is telling my I've wasted my money. Hard not to ask them why.
As far as buyer remorse goes I don't do it. The remorse will come if it rides like a dog and it doesn't click for me 🙁 Even then I'd get over it real quick and move onto something new 😀😀
Look it was a late night comment but that I still think £1100 is outrageous for a brochure special with the big T branded logo on it.
Your still not making sense tdog. Is a "brochure special" any of the peg bike rather than a custom made frame ? Well if you think £1100 for a bike frame is outrageous you must live in a world of outrage !! What do you think of the £3000 a friend of mine paid for a "of the peg" fishing pole.
Does he want to buy some magic beans?
Well I do hope you enjoy though the OO 456 carbon evo would have done same job 👍😉
Does he want to buy some magic beans?
Only if your intersted in a cow he wants rid of. 😉
I've heard the claim before that this is a "brochure special" but I've yet to see it anywhere else. There is always the chance that Transition actually own the mould.
I've spent 4 figures on an alu frame in the past. That was back when a grand really was a grand.
It's spending a grand on the forks to go with it that hurts.
Jesus these are some posts here which are at the most spiteful or at the least tinged with jealousy!
I don’t suggest this frame is good value or not, never seen one. But I hope Taxi is happy with his/her purchases. Please keep us updated with the build
Wow there is some weirdness going on here. They are pretty cheap compared to a lot of hardtail XC carbon frames or road frames, they are also pretty much the only option if you want a pretty long reach, very low standover fun bike. My girlfriend races long distance stuff on one, bike built up silly light and she is pretty quick on it downhill.
You can loop the brake over UK if you share the gear cable port, and change or modify the bungs.
If you want nearly the same geo but 1lb heavier I can sell you an Orange Clockwork 129 frame for £375, but that sort of misses the point. If you want a fun carbon 29er frame that's light but with decent geo, this is the one.
Certainly not open mould, why would any vendor make something like this or the throttle with the hope a few companies would pick up on it? Far too specialist.
So you don’t know what your talking about then, fair enough at least you’ve admitted it Don’t know about defensive, but I’ve put my hard earned down and some guy on the internet who hasn’t ridden or very likely even seen one in the flesh is telling my I’ve wasted my money
so yes defensive because other people don't agree with you. I also said it was overpriced not that you've wasted your money.
handbags at dawn in here!
Please keep us updated with the build
Will do, it'll be mostly a straight swap of the stuff from my nukeproof scout 290 pro to begin with. I've got a nice carbon rimed wheel set to go on aswell. I'm away nxt week so I'll post a pic and first impressions the week after.
Poah, your dead right mate, keep up the good work we all need someone to tell us how it is.👍👍
Quite and would be good to hear how you’re finding it with lots of up close pics.
Got home from holiday Friday and it was waiting for me.
Used everything of the scout 290 except the wheels and cassette. The wheels have American classic 225 hubs and I struggled to get a xd driver for it. So I'm using a suntour mx8 46x11 cassette with a 32t chainring. With the 42x10 xg cassette I was using a 30t chainring. As it happened after ordering the suntour cassette I found a AC xd driver !!
The pikes are 130mm, and after riding the bike I'll leave them at that not change them to 120mm.
The frame looks lovely, the paint is thick and glossy and very well finnished. It's proper boost, it's really needs a boost chainset , I made the one I had fit, but it took a lot of messing about with the bottom bracket. I've got one on order so that's going on next. The rear wheel works ok with a ebay boost converter kit, but both spacers had to go on the disc side, so it needed extra spacers for disc and a re dish.
Weight wise its 24lbs 10oz. I'm a weight weenie so a bit will come of that, but it's a fun bike not xc race so just a bit.
How'd it ride. Well as with all new builds it started to rain as soon as it it was finnished 🤬.
First impressions are that it's a proper xc race/trail hybrid. Much sharper feeling than the scout but as you'd expect a little less stable on rough descents. It climbs more or less like a HT race bike but is quite a bit more comfortable than the Scott Scale I had. It was as smooth on roots and cobbely stone as any HT I've had. I'll have to wait for dry weather or a trail centre visit to really push it, but it was a promising start.
If your a winch and plummet rider, or only really enjoy the downs this probably isn't the bike for you. I wouldn't waste it's allround XC/trail potential by building one up to burly. But if you enjoy riding the ups, hustling along on undulating trails, popping of reasonable lumps and bumbs, going out and just riding really anything, from an hour in the woods to all day marathons it could do them all.
Actually really lools lovely. Topjob!
Nice mini review and a sweet looking bike. Any comments on size vs your height?
I'm 6ft, 33"inside leg with longish arms. It's a large so I'm right in the middle of their size guide for large.
Fits great, it's got a bit more reach than the scout 290, on that occasionally I felt a 60mm stem would have suited my better, on this the 50mm stem is spot on. I've got a 10mm spacer under the stem and with the 130mm forks I will try it slammed at some point. It felt ok today but, it's worth playing around a bit.
Thats a 125mm dropper I could easily go to 170mm if needed, but when the shonky nukeproof one gives up the ghost I'll get a 150mm one for it.
I'm a bit torn size wise. At 5'10", I'm slap bang between sizes. The medium looks to size up similarly to my large mojo hd3, perhaps a smidgen shorter when pedalling.
What did you do with the rear brake hose routing?
It's a bummer being an inbetweenie 🤔 you could ride either, personal preference really. If you were near S.Wales you'd be welcome to try mine. Brake hose is external and can only go one way really. Click on the thumbnail for a closer look.
[url= https://s33.postimg.cc/un557r27f/20180819_205953.jp g" target="_blank">
Cheers. Now pondering if I could size up and use a 44mm offset fork.
Onzadog, all your points in the earlier post are correct, but I am really enjoying mine.
Riding off-piste at Cannock and FoD, just brilliant fun,.
I am 5 9ish, rode our demo large and found it a bit long to chuck around in a way hardtails are good for, but would have been nice looking for a stable beast.
The one I built for my girlfriend has the rear brake routed inside where the gear cable goes in, then out of the dropper post hole, both doubled up with different bungs stolen from othe frame kits designed for double cables, that I had to modify slightly to get a nice fit. If I didn't have ready access to loads of bungs then it probably isn't worth it, but it can be done if you are obsessed with looped over cables.
@Dekerf853 - I'm pleased to hear it. As you might be able to tell, I'm very tempted by one of these so I'll read any updates on living with them with great interest.
@pigyn, I'm known for being very anal about the setup of my bikes. If you can get both inside the frame at the head tube, that sounds great. However, I can't visualise where the rear brake comes out as I'd imagined the dropper routing stays in the frame the whole way.
£1,100 is a great price and I haven't seen any defensiveness on this thread. But Inhave seen some seriously weird and bitter comments. I love the comment about having a knock off made in China. You couldn't make this stuff up.
@ pigyn.
I'm at a loss how you'd get the rear brake internal. On mine the dropper goes in on the right but stays internal. You have to stick your fingers in the btm bracket, through a square hole and guide it up the seat tube (12" multi jointed fingers help). The gear cable comes out just before the B/B. Not seeing how you'd get the hose from there over to the top of the L/H chainstay. In amy case you'd be then left with three redundant hose guides on the down tube.
Mines a 2018, has there been a change of spec at some point ?
Click on the thumbnail for a clearer pic.
[url= https://s33.postimg.cc/6t26l3pln/20180822_164646.jp g" target="_blank">
It isn't very clear in this but you can see the double exit in the down tube. The dropper is fully internal until then, and the brake hose is taken from the top chainstay guide and then under the BB, it runs neatly, and into the gear cable port on the down tube. Everything is anti rattle sheethed. And yes you are left with redundant guides, but they aren't that offensive.
I think I get it. Would love to see your routing around the bottom bracket. Sounds like you've come up with a solution to one of my reservations.
It isn't super neat if you look close, tiny zip tie right by the BB to help make sure the hose doesn't clip the crank arm. I wouldn't do it on a customers build unless they ask for it but it worked out pretty nice for a home build. My Yeti ASRc took a lot of dremel action to get the same result!
If you look at our instagram feed there are quite a few pictures of the bike, but no more of the cable routing I think.
She loves it, racing on it again this weekend solo 10@Kirroughtree 👌
Dp
Happy with the standard routing myself and don't plan a change. But if you've done something that works for you great 👍👍
P.s
Bikes riding great, bit like a X/C bike with benefits, loads of fun 😊. I'll be riding it at the Brecon Beast September 9th. Should give me and it a proper work out.
Sorry for lack of update. Bike has been great. Still hasn't been pushed on technical trails but it's been great on the local trails. Would love to add a stiffer fork and a decent set of brakes (Formulas at mo) to really get the most from it.
I've also raced it at BotB and Gritfest (G-One tyres and a dropper post make for an odd combo!). I was left bemoaning the limited chainring clearance - could've done with a 40t with that tailwind at BotB. For this reason it's a bit limited for XC. Despite my concerns at having gone for too small a size I suspect that it climbs better than a larger frame with teeny stem.
Here it is in it's previous guise (brown suede Flite out of shot). Cuurently running 2.35 Vittoria Barzos.
@daiboy, at 6' (and a bit) doesn't that put you in the middle of the medium? Interesting that you find it small. At 5'10" I'm between sizes and thinking I'd need a medium.
What size chainring have you settled on? Will it take a 34 oval do you think?
What stem length is that?
Onzadog, my take on he sizing chart was that I fell between a Large and XL (I'm 6ft1in). Advice was split over what size should go for. As I say, I find it small on the basis that a 420mm seat post was at full extension and barely reached the seat stay/top tube junction.
Think it's a 70mm stem (-10deg for racing!). Cant remember if I ended up with a 32t or 34t - either way i'm always at the bottom of the cassette! Transition state 34t max and I doubt there is clearance for anything bigger.
Thanks for the reply. By the way, I meant, didn't it put you in the middle of the large. 70mm stem doesn't sound too far from the norm. Despite the pitch, I'm not sure it's the sort of bike for a 35mm stem.
The medium on me would mean a 185mm dropper post would fit nicely between the frame and my arse. The medium would match the reach of my current large ibis hd3 but come up a bit shorter on ett. However, your comment about stem length makes me think that might be okay as I can add a bit longer stem.
After all, this is likely to be more for ride all day stuff than point and shoot vert.
Has anybody got any more reviews or feed back as there is still a lack of anything even geometry for this bike.