Specialized had a demo of most of their 2008 bikes and equipment yesterday in Wheaton, just outside Chicago. I had errands to run in the neighborhood anyway, so I figured I should at least drop by and take the S-Works Transition for a spin.
They had a nice trailer set up and the S-Works Dude had size M and size L available. I’m not a really tall guy (5’11”) and I rode a L. The stack and reach are 52.6 and 40.5. I’m no fit wiz, but I think that it’s, relatively, a shorter reach given the stack height than Cervelo’s and Felt’s geometry.
I had my bike with me and S-Works Dude measured my seat height and the distance between my saddle and the center of the handlebars and replicated it on the Transition. Each bike comes with two seat posts, one set-back and one straight. There are a number of different lengths of seat posts to choose from.
I don’t know what the seat angle was on the Transition, but the tip of the saddle was 3.5cm behind the bottom bracket compared to 5cm behind for my Guru. And I thought I rode steep!
I asked for a good route for a test ride and the guys at Spokes sent me down Warrenville road which was pretty flat with a couple overpasses to tackle. Out and back route between 25 and 30 miles. So this would be more than just a spin around the parking lot.
The bike was built with SRAM Force, Zipp Vuka aerobars and Zipp 404s.
SRAM Force: The actuation of the shifters is quite a bit heavier than Shimano’s—maybe because these were new. This combined with the Zipp s-bends that weren’t cut to length made shifting a chore. The front derailleur shifting leaves something to be desired as well. Maybe the cables were a little stretched, or it was set-up hastily, but the shifting in front was heavy and slow. The crankset was Specialized FACT, 53/39.
What I really like about the SRAM TT group is the shape of the shifters. They have a ball-like shape to them which is nice to hold. I just wrote that I like holding balls…
Zipp Vuka: These aerobars look nice, and they’re well made, but I found the extensions to be too far apart. There is quite a bit of adjustment available, but I prefer my Bontrager Carbon base bar with Zipp padholders and Oval single bend extensions. I don’t particularly like the shape of Zipp’s S-bends.
The Transition looks awkward in most of the pictures I’ve seen, but in person, with the appropriate saddle to handlebar drop the sloping top-tube becomes less pronounced and it looks much more aggressive.
The S-Works dude explained that the cable routing is really easy to work with. Each cable has its own internal housing. Replacing cables, he assured me, is straight forward. The extra internal routing for the SRM/Ergomo is a nice touch, too.
There have been reviews noting that training wheels may not fit well within the shaped chainstays, but this frame had adjustment screws and moving the wheel back would alleviate the aforementioned problems.
It was light as built. I don’t have a weight number, but on par with the P2C most likely.
I jumped on and immediately noticed quite a bit of toe overlap. I pedaled out of the parking lot and got on my way. The bike doesn’t handle as well as Cervelo’s geometry. It’s a little more nervous but it isn’t precarious by any means. The Transition did what was asked of it and held a straight line just fine at speed.
The top tube is very narrow, much narrower than a P2C from what I remember. The tube profiles all seem to be airfoil in shape, but I didn’t have calipers with me. I didn’t notice that the Transition was all that snappier than my Guru Tri’Ti or my previous P2C, but it wasn’t sloppy, either. Getting away from stoplights in a hurry isn’t what the bike is made for, but lifting the pace to get through a changing light was a lot of fun. Most of my pedaling was done at race intensities, so no more than 350-400 watts and that would be going up short hills.
The Transition had a much more muted ride quality than I anticipated. That is to say, road vibrations and bumps were noticed but not an annoying occurrence. I think a lot of the credit for the ride can be given to the fantastic, new, Transition Gel Saddle. I had the 40mm version (measured at the nose, there’s also a 50mm version, both available in December). I’ve had a Profile Design Cro-Mo, Cervelo TT, Fizik Arione and Specialized Toupe and this saddle is, by far, my favorite. Nose riding this thing is a pleasure.
The 27 mile ride went by quickly. The set-up couldn’t be much faster than it was. Throw on some 808’s or a disc and an aero helmet and I could get a little more out of it but that’s really about it. It is, after all, a $7,500 bike.
I don’t know if it’s as aerodynamic as the P3C, Felt DA, Walser or the Hooker, but the shapes of the tubes seem superior, as far as aspect ratio goes, to those on the Kuota or the Pedal Force, Planet-X, Pinarello, etc. I don’t think those bikes look like a P3C or a TTX. The Specialized looks like one of the faster bikes. But this has been debated to the tune of six pages without a definitive answer. For what it’s worth the Specialized rep said the MIT wind tunnel guys spent a lot of time testing it and liked it. But that’s a big FWIW.
So that’s it. Will it give Macca that two minutes he needed last year? I don’t know. But I felt better on this bike than I have on my Guru and the P2C.