Placeholder

The new Transition Bikes Covert model

by 14

Transition Bikes re-defines ‘all-mountain’ genre with an all new Covert…

Bikes should be in the UK by June.

On with the press release!

covert-woods

covert-speed

covert-rock

Moving forward into a new realm of design, Transition Bikes has completely revamped the existing Covert all mountain bike to create a new 6” travel quiver-killing bike capable of more aggressive riding. The new Covert sports a refined frame at the same weight as the old model, but is significantly stronger. The new frame comes in at a respectable 6.7 lbs without rear shock, and builds up to a 28-32 lb bike made for efficient long days in the saddle

At the core of the Covert is a completely new proprietary tubeset designed by Transition Bikes. The new tubes create a stronger frame with better contact points for welding shock mounts, pivots, and the headtube. In addition to the new tubes Transition has created a one piece CNC’d rocker link to increase stiffness and strength, as well as new dropouts and chainstay/seatstay yokes. All these new features not only add to the aesthetics of the bike but increase strength while shedding weight.

Rear suspension is handled by the Fox RP23 large volume or DHX 5.0 Air. The shock rate on the Covert is slightly progressive with only a 2.8% change throughout the stroke. This allows for consistent feel throughout the travel and allows for easy tuning and setup of the shock. As the Covert goes through it’s travel, the leverage decreases slightly and allows the natural progressiveness of the air shock to ramp up and soak up large bumps and hits. This also gives the bike excellent small bump sensitivity and feel at the top of the stroke while allowing the rider to use the travel without a harsh bottom out.

Alongside the Covert’s structural refinement, the geometry has progressed to be modeled around a 160mm singlecrown fork, such as a Fox 36 or Lyric. The new geometry maintains the all mountain roots of the old Covert which was very climb friendly and nimble, but gets slackened out just a bit to make room for the larger fork without raising the BB. “Geometry and fit is everything in a bike and that is why we didn’t change the geo and sizing too much on the Covert. We really felt like we hit some perfect numbers on the Covert and our customers loved it. On the re-design we made sure to maintain that magic fit and feel that we loved about the bike,” says Kyle Young, owner of Transition Bikes.

covert-large

covert-hammerschmidt

“When we released the Covert we were really going for a lightweight all mountain only frame but soon found our customers putting larger forks on the bikes and pushing the limits of the design. Most of these customers are people that can only have one bike but love to pedal singletrack and also hit more aggressive freeride trails. They needed a bike that could handle both. Our solution was to make the Covert work for both worlds without the weight penalty. The reality is that mountain bikes are expensive and while most riders would love to have a full quiver of bikes, they can only afford one bike that needs to do everything,” says Kevin Menard, owner of Transition Bikes.

covert-linkage

covert-head-tube

covert-climb1

Additional features include internal chainstay cable routing which is super easy to setup and change the housing and a tapered headtube which allows for excellent weld contact for the top and down tubes as well as providing lower stack heights for the handlebar and fork. Transition Bikes will also be releasing a headset for sale with the frame for both tapered and traditional 1-1/8” steer tubes.

Transition plans to be shipping the Coverts by early June just in time for prime riding conditions.

For More information:

www.transitionbikes.com

info@transitionbikes.com

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

Comments (14)

    transitions line up just hits all the right spots, and they look cool as well.

    And cable guides for the soon to be ubiquitous uppie-downy seatposts too. Nice. I do like the Trans-Am.

    Aren’t those guides for a battery cable if you’re running lights with a strap on battery pack? (uh huh…. he said strap-on)

    They look just in the right place to whack the inside of your knee off.

    not sure the pic formatting is right on the middle bike one. Looks squished!

    Bummer, makes my mk2 covert look decidely out of date…

    i’m liking the sound and look of that. a lot.

    some sound engineering

    Does look nice, although those ‘spare’ top tube cable guides do look like they’d take chunks out of your knees. What’s so wrong with top-mounted cable guides, when was the last time anyone slid their nadgers down the top tube in a crash?

    Update: Transition opted for rectangular seatsays instead of the roundy ones for the production model.

    Yeh.

    how much for the hammeschmidt equipped bike??

    “quiver-killing bike”

    WTF?

    ok, obvious question but how much and where from?

    To answer my own question:

    We are now selling factory direct in the UK, and shipping our frames, build kits and parts directly to your door. The Covert frame and Fox RP23 rear shock would cost you $1964.34 USD with all taxes and duties paid. Shipping is covered as well, and UPS will have it to your door in just a few short days.

    We will have a demo of the new Covert traveling to select events in the UK, it should arrive in 2-3 weeks. We will be accepting orders on our secure website as soon as the frames are in stock and ready to ship – about 1-2 weeks from now.

Leave Reply