All Arround MTB

The DH race bike that may spell an end to the era of Atherton dominance Who is Tahnee Seagrave? Born in West Sussex, Tahnee soon moved to Morzine in the French Alps, where she became fluent in both French and riding steep, gnarly downhill tracks. These days, the Seagrave family (including younger brother Kaos, an up-andcoming DH racer) live in Mid Wales, just down the road from Revolution Bike Park, a place that serves as Tahnee’s second home when she’s not away racing. We never like to see a rider crash, but one positive did come out of Rachel Atherton’s shoulderdislocating tumble at Fort William last year – it blew the door wide open for the rest of the women’s World Cup field. One rider who stepped through that door in commanding fashion was British young gun Tahnee Seagrave. At the start of last season, the 22-year-old didn’t have a World Cup win to her name, but by the end of the year, she’d chalked up three victories, three more podiums and came ever so close at the Wo

It’s not just the Scout’s rear travel that’s grown for 2018 (by 5mm), it’s also got a 15mm longer reach (475mm on the large size), making it one of the lengthiest bikes on test. This is part of Transition’s ‘Speed Balanced Geometry’ concept, which combines longer reaches and slacker head angles with shorter fork offsets in a bid to give extra stability and confidence without making things feel too sluggish. And it works – the Scout is far more capable downhill than its 130mm of rear travel would suggest. That does come with its own issues, though. While the geometry lets you push the bike hard down technical trails, you reach the limits of its suspension quicker than you might expect, which can thrust you into trouble (although some may find this fun!). We also can’t help feeling that the Scout has lost a little of the character that made the previousgeneration bike one of the most fun and playful out there. It still has a nicely progressive suspension action, which lets you load

Transition’s latest 29er, the Sentinel, has been built around the brand’s new ‘Speed Balance Geometry’ concept (SBG). Similar to what we’ve seen from Mojo’s Chris Porter, that means it gets a longer reach (450mm, medium), slacker head angle (64 degrees – even more extreme than that of Mojo’s GeoMetron G13 29er), steeper seat angle (76.8 degrees) and shorter fork offset (43mm) than other bikes in its class. According to Transition, these elements combine to make the 140mmtravel Sentinel climb more effectively, feel more stable and capable at speed, and deliver more traction between the tyres and trail when it counts most. We can’t wait to sling a leg over one.

A mong the four new exciting bikes launched by Transition for 2015 is the Scout. This short (ish) travel, 650b-wheeled offering boasts some extremely promising numbers and a solid, well considered spec that helps sit it firmly amid the burgeoning and exciting ‘short travel aggro trail bike’ category, something we touched on back in issue 171’s bike test.