Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[Bunion 2020]

So wait; you have a good local DH trail, and there’s a legal way to car shuttle it, and I’d be an asshole if I shuttled it? Fuck me.

I’m with the Toast camp


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You are missing a lot of the backstory. I will let the OP fill you in or not but in this case the shuttle was definately NOT cool.

[grskier]

I'll go.

I have ~30 rides and about 300-350 miles on my 2017 Transition Patrol Carbon that I've owned for 6 months. Not a hucker, generally pick clean lines, ride in a dry climate. 6/8 linkage bearings feel like shit. The remaining 2 that aren't fried are on their way. Never had a bike get the clap this early.

Talked to Transition and their response is "we sell bearing kits in our online store."

So much for the core bros at Transition that'll "totally take care of you" I've heard so much about

2nd owner?

[North]

2nd owner?

Nope. Purchased new by me from a Transition dealer.

[skaredshtles]

Nope. Purchased new by me from a Transition dealer.

Warranty.

[toast2266]

Nope. Purchased new by me from a Transition dealer.

Agreed with above - that's a warranty issue. I'd be talking to the shop you got it from. And it makes me wonder if the frame's out of alignment, which would explain why the bearings died so quickly.

[North]

Warranty.

Trying.

Shop 1 (where i purchased the bike):
"Something something, these feel OK, pivot bearings are different than regular bearings that have to spin all the way around (ORLY ) Put your linkage back together, they are designed to be preloaded and will feel better then." - As a mechanical engineer I'm pretty with miffed notion that pivot bearings don't need to spin like a "regular bearing." #bikeindustry

Shop 2 (Tranny dealer closer to my hood)
Them - "They should last about a season"
Me - "Mine lasted 6 months, 4 of which the bike was hanging in my garage while it snowed"
Them - "Yeah that seems fast but Transition won't warranty them, they're a wear item."

Shop 3
Them - "Depends on how it was ridden. Riding in the bike park, wet, etc. can shorten the lifespan of these things"
Me - "Never ridden in the bike park, CO is pretty dry ya know?"
Them - "Yeah I'm not sure how dry conditions would make them wear faster" Wut?!?!

So 2 months of real riding, and according to the manual for my frame "If the [bearings] do not feel smooth or are seized up they should be replaced." and I can't get anybody to throw me a bone. I must be the crazy one.

Really regretting drinking the Kool-Aid on the small-time, "cool vibe" brand with a seemingly great bike. I feel like any of the big guys (Trek, SC, etc.) with a better bottom line would handle this.

[skaredshtles]

Trying.

You try Dave up at Redstone? Seems this would be a real black eye for Transition if they don't make this right for you...

[shirk]

Pull the the seals off the bearings and re-grease em and spin em smooth yourself.

Pivot bearings feel smooth for all of about 5 minutes in a bike. They never make a single full rotation....that is hell on them.

I am willing to bet like 95% of bikes out there have bearings in the pivots that feel like shit if everyone actually went and checked them at 2 months of riding. Most people don't touch em till they either do a yearly maintenance or until one completely seizes up.

[North]

You try Dave up at Redstone? Seems this would be a real black eye for Transition if they don't make this right for you...

Dave @Redstone supplied one of the responses I posted above. I won't say which one, because I've paraphrased, and also my beef is more with Transition than any specific shop (especially if there's a precedent of Transition not supporting any shop claims in this area).

Pull the the seals off the bearings and re-grease em and spin em smooth yourself.

Tried that last night. No improvement.

Pivot bearings feel smooth for all of about 5 minutes in a bike. They never make a single full rotation....that is hell on them.

Could be true to some extent. Still, the bearings in the eyelet of the RS Super Deluxe that came on the bike feel fine. RS - 1, Transition - 0.

I am willing to bet like 95% of bikes out there have bearings in the pivots that feel like shit if everyone actually went and checked them at 2 months of riding. Most people don't touch em till they either do a yearly maintenance or until one completely seizes up.

Again, maybe true, but if Transition (or anybody else for that matter) can't produce a bike capable of lasting more than 5 minutes before pivot bearings feel notchy, they shouldn't explicitly state in their service manual that the bearings should be changed when they stop running smoothly. If it's an unattainable performance standard, don't recommend that I foot the bill and waste time trying to achieve said unattainable performance standard.

[toast2266]

Have you gone through a set of tires on that bike yet? It'd be entertaining to ask transition which wear items should die first.

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[North]

Ha! Not yet, but I'm a bit of a timid squid on corners and this bike accidentally showed up with MaxTerra compound rubber on the front and an Onza on the back - at this rate they might outlast the next set of bearings on this thing!

[beaterdit]

Seems not right to me, both the fact that the bearings are shot in such a short timeframe and that Transition is telling you to pack sand. I second the possible frame alignment issue. You can eyeball it and if it's bad you might see it. Otherwise it might show itself when one set of pivot bolts is out. As a last resort, run it by the most trusted of your shops, prolly best the one you bought it at. Although it seems that shop , and the other two don't really want to hear it. Beat.

My old bike started going through pivot bearings like they were going out of style. Couldn't figure it out till I was ready to sell it and had it up on the stand tuning it up. From behind, you could see the whole bike was taco'd front to back. This was a VPP bike, and both the links were twisted pretty bad. Turns out it was a known issue and they had since switched from machined to forged links. They sent me some and I was good to go.

[North]

OK, I went back and forth with Transition and they relented and now are sending out a bearing kit.

For future reference, they maintain that bearings are not a warranty item.

Put those pitchforks back in the closet for now.

[skaredshtles]

OK, I went back and forth with Transition and they relented and now are sending out a bearing kit.

For future reference, they maintain that bearings are not a warranty item.

They fucking are in the first year at least. Bastards.

[Dantheman]

They fucking are in the first year at least. Bastards.

Seriously. The new tires I put on altachic's car are a "wear item," doesn't mean it's not bullshit if they were bald after 2 months of normal use.

[zion zig zag]

They fucking are in the first year at least. Bastards.

Or lifetime for Santa Cruz.

[skaredshtles]

Seriously. The new tires I put on altachic's car are a "wear item," doesn't mean it's not bullshit if they were bald after 2 months of normal use.

Sounds suspiciously like the stock Goodyears that came on my F150.

[beaterdit]

OK, I went back and forth with Transition and they relented and now are sending out a bearing kit.

For future reference, they maintain that bearings are not a warranty item.

Put those pitchforks back in the closet for now.

Awesome! Way to persist! Also glad Transition stepped up. I like the company and have also heard good things about the service. That would have been a black eye on them for me.

Or lifetime for Santa Cruz.

True dat, very nice touch there.

[ACH]

North, a little surprised by your experience. I have a 2015 Patrol and the bearings are in good shape. A large percentage of people I know and ride with have Patrols, Scouts, etc and haven't had an issue. I second the thought that there might be a alignment issue, or the bearings that were supplied for that particular production run are suspect. You may also consider looking into an Enduro (the brand) replacement bearing set instead of the OEM replacements.

[ACH]

^^^
A foot note for anyone in the market to replace their pivot bearings, you may want to get on this ASAP.
Tariffs will likely be bumping the price of said bearings by 20% or more.

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/indu...s#.WzZqRthKi-s

[John_B]

Aw for fuck sake. This is on the current to do list. Thanks for the heads up.

^^^
A foot note for anyone in the market to replace their pivot bearings, you may want to get on this ASAP.
Tariffs will likely be bumping the price of said bearings by 20% or more.

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/indu...s#.WzZqRthKi-s

[North]

I've read a fair amount about assembly issues with the Patrol Carbon in particular. Also, have read that a some of them came with mis-aligned shock mounts. Mine was a late 2017 purchase so hopefully most of that was sorted by then. It's a cool bike, but given the cheap paint and quick bearing failure I'd rate the finish quality as middling at best. I can't comment on whether everything was torqued properly from the factory because I didn't check when it was new - that could've been a factor too.

When reassembling the linkage the shock was skewed to one side of the rocker - obvious visually, but a difference of about .050" when I put calipers on it. No idea what is normal but doesn't seem outrageous to me. The linkage is smooth w/o shock. After measuring shock skew I modified my assembly method to get every bolt snug before torquing any of them - could've been skewed due to torquing the lower mount before bolting the upper.

At this point I'm just gonna ride it and see what happens. Will pay closer attention to pivot torque this time. Plenty of warranty left to address a major issue like frame alignment.

[grskier]

I've read a fair amount about assembly issues with the Patrol Carbon in particular. Also, have read that a some of them came with mis-aligned shock mounts. Mine was a late 2017 purchase so hopefully most of that was sorted by then. It's a cool bike, but given the cheap paint and quick bearing failure I'd rate the finish quality as middling at best. I can't comment on whether everything was torqued properly from the factory because I didn't check when it was new - that could've been a factor too.

When reassembling the linkage the shock was skewed to one side of the rocker - obvious visually, but a difference of about .050" when I put calipers on it. No idea what is normal but doesn't seem outrageous to me. The linkage is smooth w/o shock. After measuring shock skew I modified my assembly method to get every bolt snug before torquing any of them - could've been skewed due to torquing the lower mount before bolting the upper.

At this point I'm just gonna ride it and see what happens. Will pay closer attention to pivot torque this time. Plenty of warranty left to address a major issue like frame alignment.

Wow, way to be thorough. Glad they mostly came through for you, bummer that you had so much of a run around.

I'd like to bitch about my achilles tendonitis. 8 days off the bike on a year I'd been riding the most, on my first NEW new bike in a long, long time. I should hopefully be back by next weekend.

[nest]

Fucking assholes who drive off road to "shuttle" the new DH trail while the volunteers are walking new trails ahead of their BLM meeting....

This is why we can't have nice things.

Where was this?

[lifelinksplit]

Where was this?

Copper city. Right after all the rain(not like that narrows it down lately). I'll let someone else chime in but I've been seeing people driving/riding shit when maybe they could wait a day. We have quite a few trails that drain real quick. Whatever.