Review: 2023 Transition Smuggler - The Little Ripper

More on that below, after some more information about the bike.

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Frame Details

The outgoing Smuggler was the last bike in the lineup to harken back to the swoopy curvy days of Transition, with the new model landing in the angular aesthetic that marks the brand's new era. Alonside the change in form are a few updates to the frame's details, namely in the cable routing and headset department. Where the prior Smuggler Carbon had external brake routing, the new model snakes the rear brake through the front and rear triangle.

The headset has also gone the way of integration, with drop-in bearings replacing the pressed headset cups. This was done to facilitate the use of the new internal cable guides that terminate at the headtube of the bike, as those are apparently incompatible with the press-in aluminum cups seen on most other bikes. The integration is clean, but I'm sure some will bemoan the loss of aftermarket options there.

I wish I could say the updated cable routing simplified things, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Where most carbon bikes are now employing fully guided tube-in-tube cable routing, the Smuggler stops a step short of that convenience. The routing ends a bit in front of the bottom bracket, with the carbon tubes' raw ends accessible via a big cutout in the back of the bottom bracket shell; I've dubbed this opening the Loam Cupboard. From there, it's a bit of a free-for-all through the stays, though those are easy enough to route if you start from the back. Ultimately, this means you'll have to remove the lower pivot hardware and swing the stays up in order to start fishing the cable up into the guide tubes, at which point they'll pop out of the headtube.

That Loam Cupboard does the job of getting the cables through the bike, but it also does an excellent job of funneling mud and debris into the frame. Every time I pulled the bottom bracket, I found a hardened plug of dirt crammed all around the BB area. I tried to shield it with some mastic tape above the stay, but it seems to get from the sides and below, and at a certain point you don't want to wrap every exposed gap. My advice here would be to make sure you use the plastic tube that connects the two bottom bracket cups, it'll go a long way in keeping crud from collecting and killing those bearings.

I asked the folks at Transition about this issue, and they're well aware of it, enough so to design a little fender that shrouds the area over top of the hole. Dirt and water might still accumulate from underneath, but hopefully this would do a bit better than my mastic tape fix.


There are no flip chips, no geometry adjustments, no extra gadgets or features - just a well-rounded bike made to ride up and down hills. Stick a water bottle in the frame, accessories on the top tube mount, and get out the door.

Geometry & Sizing

The do-it-all trail bike can be a hard geometry to nail, as any desire to bias towards one characteristic can derail the overall balance of the package. Arriving at something that climbs well, descends confidently, and keeps things fun is tricky, but I think the Smuggler toes that line very well.

The 65° head tube angle is becoming a pretty typical figure for modern trail bikes, and I wouldn't want it any other way. That keeps the handling sharp and responsive, without sacrificing a reasonable amount of confidence in steeper terrain. For the majority of riding, this is plenty slack, and pairs well with the shorter travel forks seen on trail bikes. Transition was once on the sharper end of pushing reach numbers, but now their figures are pretty much in line with other contemporary brands. 485mm for a size Large felt bang-on to me, and it's nice to see the stack numbers growing somewhat proportionally with each jump in size.

The effective seat tube angle of the Smuggler changes with each size in the range, but the center of that fairly tight spectrum is the size Large's 78° figure. This is much steeper than the trail bikes of even a few years ago, and it's a trend I'm fully in favor of. The seated position feels nicely central and upright, with good weight balance and handling over steep and mellow terrain alike. That upright feel is partially helped by the low bottom bracket, with a drop of 35mm across sizes.

Transition fell short of fully size-specific chainstay lengths for the Smuggler, instead splitting two different lengths across the size range. Small and Medium frames have a 335mm long chainstay, while the Large through XXL get the 440mm option. This feels well suited to the bikes in the middle of the bike fit bell curve, hitting good balance points where the majority of riders sit, but those on the larger frames might find the front center to rear center balance getting a little off. The Small's reach is actually shorter than the rear center, which should make for a truly middle-of-bike feel.

One small asterisk to the geometry chart is the subtle difference between the alloy and carbon frames, as the former has a longer seat tube on the size Small, and slightly longer chainstays across the board.

Suspension Design

The Smuggler's 130mm of travel is delivered by a simple Horst link layout driving a 210x50mm standard-mount shock. Where the majority of Transition's bikes use a trunnion mount, I was happy to see this standard mount and a beefier rocker link, as this tends to bode well for shock longevity. The rather progressive rising rate of the bike's leverage curve makes it compatible with both air and coil shocks, though you'll note that all of the stock builds come with the Float X, as that's the shock tune that the Transition team felt best matched the character of the bike.

The setup information states that the bike can be run anywhere between 25 and 35% sag - technically true of most Horst link bikes - but I found my happy spot was right around 30-31% sag, or 15mm of shock compression.

If you want to run the Smuggler in the long-travel 140mm configuration, it's as simple as removing the travel spacer from the shock and airing things back up. Lots of folks who are doing this change then run the bike with a 150mm fork, pushing the little bike a little more into the burlier end of the spectrum. For me, the shorter travel arrangement felt ideal and more than capable enough, so that's where it remained.

It's worth noting that Transition has had some issues with the stock Float X the bikes are coming with, namely in the form of a knock in the rebound / topout portion of the cycle. By no means dangerous or even that critical to performance, but it's quite annoying to have the shock thocking away as you rally over bumps. Apparently Fox has a quick fix, and it's just a matter of replacing one sticky shim in the stack to get things back to normal. My test bike had this issue right off the bat, but after a couple hours in the shop the Float X was quiet once more.

Climbing

Back to the geometry for a moment, as the seated position on this bike feels perfect for a bike meant to climb, traverse, and move quickly over varied terrain. An unforseen upside to that upright position is how easy it is to transition (ha) out of the saddle in technical sections of trail. For those that climb heavy - sitting down and not shifting weight over obstacles - there may be more suspension movement than you want over bumps. I think this bike really rewards an active riding style up and down the hill.

For me, the support and grip offered by the Smuggler was perfect; I felt like I was riding high in the travel while spinning, without losing too much grip when standing up and stamping on the pedals. Overall the climbing character is active, but it suits the nature of the bike well - you can simply leave the shock open and rip around, catering your riding to the terrain as opposed to making the bike adapt to take up slack.

Despite the grip offered, the bike feels light and zippy when you're simply trying to spin up a forest road. While singletrack climbs felt like the Smuggler's preferred terrain, it's clearly just as happy to motor up dirt roads. When things do get tight and squiggly, the centered position within the wheelbase allows you to arc around corners a little more easily than bikes that put you in a further rearward position between the wheels.

Descending

My first ride on this bike wasn't at home in Bellingham, despite the proximity to the headquarters it came from. I actually first hopped on the bike up in Whistler, to check out some old janky scary trails I'd heard about in the Valley. Luckily my initial setup was pretty close to correct, as things were pretty full-on from the get go. To my pleasant surprise however, the Smuggler took it in stride, working hard to keep the wheels on the ground through some old chopped out tracks. This came to exemplify the rest of my time on the bike, as one that could punch pretty far above the assumed pay grade so long as you're able to cash the checks.

For a light feeling bike that climbed so well, I figured there would be a larger tradeoff on the descents, but the Smuggler can handle proper terrain if you're willing to be active on the bike and choose lines wisely. It's far from a long-travel enduro rig, but it's equally far from a pedal-only cross-country machine.

On more buff, flowing terrain, the Smuggler was an absolute hoot. It's one of the most intuitive-feeling jumping bikes I've ridden, arcing perfectly off lips without any unpredictable changes in the suspension feel. That predictability also makes it easy to pop onto the rear wheel, jib off small features, and carve around turns, as the rear wheel always seems to be where you want it. Only in very rough terrain does the back end get a bit lost - and that's when you're pushing things well beyond the typical trail bike realm. It may lose some shape, but luckily the relatively short overall travel makes for a compressed position that isn't too compromised.


All that positive ride quality comes with a bit of a price, namely in the form of noise and premature wear. The GX AXS-equipped bike felt like a best-case scenario in terms of noise mitigation, but it still wasn't a silent ride. As I mentioned earlier, there was the initial issues with the Fox Float X knocking on rebound - that was fixed - but there was still a good deal of frame noise on rougher sections of trail. Most of this came down to chainslap and cable rattle, so one could probably chase down all the little sounds and come away in silent bliss. Chainslap might just require a beefier chainstay protector, as the stock one is hard and flat compared to some of the better options out there. The cable rattle was mostly centered around that Loam Cupboard, where the cables have a few inches to play before snaking back into smaller tubes. That plus the dirt that collects down there made for some in-frame noise that would come and go.

I've been riding this bike since earlier this summer, and the first set of bearings lasted me about 2-3 months of dry riding before needing service and a subsequent replacement. Luckily, I had a set at home that fit the spec, but it would incur an annoying cost right off the bat if you were a new owner. The bearings could definitely use better sealing and more robust hardware to deal with the forces you can generate cornering this speedy little whip.

How does it compare?

Don't bite my head off here - I know these aren't identical bikes. But they feel like the two of the top contenders if I were looking for a shorter travel trail bike right now. Both are very fun on mellow trails, capable when you push them beyond their purview, and have simple layouts that don't require too much fuss.

The mullet wheel layout on the 5010 might give it a leg up in the turns, where it feels more natural and seamless to initiate breakaway and slap into a catch right when you want to. The Smuggler's full-29" setup gives it more ability to truck over rough sections of trail, and might carry a bit more speed when pedaling along at a clip.

If I had to choose one to own long term, it would be the 5010. The frame feels more robust, the bearing life proved to be much better, the cable routing is a breeze, and you get the added benefit of internal storage. While the Smuggler might be a more adaptable base frame - you really can go long-travel XC or lightweight all-mountain with a build - the 5010 felt like a very well sorted trail bike for the trails I regularly ride.

The 5010 beats out the Smuggler on price as well. Equivalent builds are a little bit cheaper, and the fancy carbon framekit comes quite close. It's also worth mentioning the new YT Jeffsy here, as the pricing on those models falls well below either of these, and the ride quality is similar if a little more all-mountain.

I could be swayed by the overall value of an alloy Smuggler, but having not ridden one yet I can't say for sure.

Which Model is the Best Value?

As I just alluded to, the pricing on the Smuggler is up there with the most premium brands on the market. Though the ride quality on offer here is up to par, the frame itself might be a step behind. Overall, I think that Transition's builds are excellent in terms of the parts on tap, but there were a couple sore spots I'll touch on in the Tech Report below.

If I were buying one of these sporty joints, I'd probably go with the Alloy NX or Carbon GX build. As I said before, I haven't ridden the Alloy frame, but assuming the only difference is about three pounds of weight and some slight variation in ride feel, I could get on just fine. The cash saved would probably be spent on a fork upgrade, as I really do love the performance of the Fox 34 for bikes in this range. The carbon GX is mostly just a frame upgrade as most of the parts carry over, including the NX shifter and Code R brakes, but at least you do get a 34 with that kit.

As a range, I'm really happy to see consistent shock, tire, and dropper post spec across all of the Smuggler's pricepoints. Usually details like that are overlooked in service of flashier component choices, but ultimately those are some of the most critical parts to enjoying that bike long term.

Technical Report

SRAM Transmission GX AXS Drivetrain: I'm closing in on a long-term review of the GX AXS gruppo, but suffice to say it was totally unproblematic for the duration of this test. I clipped more than a couple rocks with the lower cage, had to do some creative Knipex work to get things back to normal, but still it shifts excellently under power. Compared to the old AXS drivetrain that initially came on this bike, it's a massive improvement in terms of shift quality and overall bike noise. The prior derailleur's weak clutch let things clap around far too much, causing a racket.

Raceface Aeffect R Wheelset: Soft and comfortable, but not my choice for the long haul. I found these wheels to be just fine for hard riding, so long as you kept a careful eye on their tension and trueness after most rides - but over time things just degrade with rims this soft. Strangely, I also found them a bit harder to mount tires to, as if the overall diameter were too small for looser-fitting tires like those from Maxxis or Bontrager.

SRAM Code Stealth Silver Brakes: You'll note that I have the older-style Code RSCs on my test bike - that was a small spec discrepancy that occurred in the handoff. Luckily, the new Silver model is functionally the same as the outgoing RSC, save for the positioning of the master cylinder. I like the new position (except for the weirdly inward-facing hose direction), but have no issue with the prior model's ergonomics and performance.

OneUp 210mm V2 Dropper: Transition did a great job of maximizing dropper clearance on these bikes, with plenty of clearance and insertion depth for the longest-travel droppers for each size. Small bikes get a 150mm, Mediums a 180mm, and Large/XL/XXL get the full 210mm.

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Pinkbike's Take

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Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews Trail Bikes Transition Transition Smuggler