For the numerous ST’s Transition owners I’ve seen here, have any of you encountered shifting issues going to the big ring? I have a’08 Trans Pro that I picked up new in Jan. but it has been to the shop on 3 different occasions in the last 5 weeks for the same issue (unfortunately lemon laws doesn’t apply for bikes!). It went from some shifting to no shifting to better shifting after the Specialized big ring was replaced w/a DA ring (yesterday) but it still is very brutish like shifting. For a bike that has an MSRP of 5k+ I’m expecting something to be silky smooth while shifting under load.
Frustration worsened after having to shift the derailuer to the big ring THEN put the chain in the big ring by hand before I racked the bike for last weekends race. It got even better as I started pedaling coming out of T2 & the chain dropped back into the small ring by itself & spent the next 10 miles with a really hi cadence…thank god it was a sprint race but the legs were toast for the run.
Please before you say trash it & get a Cervelo…I’m trying to find a fix b/c the fit & feel of the bike is awesome.
thanx
For the numerous ST’s Transition owners I’ve seen here, have any of you encountered shifting issues going to the big ring? I have a’08 Trans Pro that I picked up new in Jan. but it has been to the shop on 3 different occasions in the last 5 weeks for the same issue (unfortunately lemon laws doesn’t apply for bikes!). It went from some shifting to no shifting to better shifting after the Specialized big ring was replaced w/a DA ring (yesterday) but it still is very brutish like shifting. For a bike that has an MSRP of 5k+ I’m expecting something to be silky smooth while shifting under load.
Frustration worsened after having to shift the derailuer to the big ring THEN put the chain in the big ring by hand before I racked the bike for last weekends race. It got even better as I started pedaling coming out of T2 & the chain dropped back into the small ring by itself & spent the next 10 miles with a really hi cadence…thank god it was a sprint race but the legs were toast for the run.
Please before you say trash it & get a Cervelo…I’m trying to find a fix b/c the fit & feel of the bike is awesome.
thanx
Sounds like a derailleur adjustment/alignment issue…also, it’s helpful to “back off” a little on the pedals when shifting rings rather than shifting under a full load, even with all the ramps and pins on modern equipment 
I don’t see how this is a Transition issue. Sounds like a shifting issue with the components involved.
I think you should try anew shop.
some of the photos I have seen of the Transition have the front der. cable coming out at a pretty funny angle (not quite perpendicular to the frame, but the cable stands out compared to other manufacturers and could possibly be a bit binding); couple this with a mechanic that forgot to lube the cable/cable housing and you could get some shifting issues.
I have trouble shifting under load. if i ease off it shifts easily. so, to shift the front i just do a soft pedal for 1 revolution. my mechanic said it was the campy FD. it shifts fine in the stand.
good luck
I also have the same yr./model of bike. Two things were uncovered when I started riding mine. Deflection in front derailleur and a design flaw with front rings. Solutions were provided for both causes from Specialized. In the case of derailleur, they have a replacement bracket for mount to frame that is stiffer than what came from Asia. I believe it is also Ti so that is cool too. In the case of the ring set, they replaced both, and poof the problem was gone. By the way, I intermittently encountered some noise with the SRAM cassette, and changed out to Shimano which eliminated noise, as well as letting me set up cassette the way I wanted. Check back with LBS as well as having them contact Specialized.
Good luck
Same thing happened to mine. They switched out the rings to a DA ring and I still had the same problem.
Its a issue with the 08 s-works rings, and specialized admits this issue. The easy fix is just having them put the 09 s-works rings on instead of the 08 ones on your bike…and :
: problem solved. Its covered under warranty.
I have an 08 S-works Transition…finally got the FD to work properly…what exactly changes from the 08 rings to 09 rings?
thanks.