A new trend is emerging in the mountain bike world that involves insanely light, aggressive, and just plain fun mountain bikes. Transition is a bike brand well known for thinking outside of the box and even lives by the mantra of “no e-bikes, no fat bikes”, which is good by me. The new Spur from Transition only shares one aspect with an e-bike — it is fast.
Photo credit: Transition
Built to climb and climb fast, the carbon frame and fork barely tips the scale at 5.4 pounds (2.45 kg). The total bike build weight starts at 24.7 lbs (11.2 kg). Most “all-mountain” bikes this lightweight normally sacrifice suspension travel, not the Spur.
Photo credit: Transition
This is how Transition describes the suspension on their new bike:
The GiddyUp suspension, featuring a one-piece flex stay rear triangle, is tuned to work correctly with inline style rear shocks and designed to provide a balanced feel with 120mm travel forks. Riders are able to add or remove volume spacers in the rear shock to suit their individual riding style and there is plenty of bottom out control for when things get rowdy. The Spur has 120mm of rear wheel travel when used with the supplied 190mm x 45mm stroke shock. It is also possible to install a shorter, 190mm x 37.5mm stroke shock, to reduce the rear wheel travel to 100mm if you are after a shorter travel experience.
Sparing no expense when it comes to components, Transition provides a dropper post on each model in various sizes (Small 250mm, Medium 280mm, Large 330mm, XL 330mm). The OneUp dropper can be shimmed up to 20mm if the dropper is a bit too long.
Photo credit: Transition
With closer resemblance to an enduro or downhill setup, each trim level of the Spur offers an 800mm wide handlebar. Too wide for your XC ride, most any local bike shop can cut them down for you.
Thankfully, the designers at Transition still have a soft spot for the 29-inch wheel and each Spur bike comes equipped with high-end wheels and 2.4-inch Maxxis tires. Cables are routed internally with the exception of the rear brake hose. Speaking of brakes, the Spur uses SRAM G2 brakes on all trim models.
Photo credit: Transition
With plenty of bottle cage mounts on the inside triangle and underneath the downtube this bike is not only suitable for weekend romps at Whistler, it is also a candidate for a shred-y adventure bike. Whether you need a bike to take deep into the backcountry or a sharp and accurate trail bike to throw on the back of your overland rig, the Spur is a good choice.
Header image: Transition Bicycle Company
