Building a Transition Blindside
Frame and Fork:
Frame – Transition Blindside (LG)
more pictures of the frame can be seen in the gallery (click to enlarge)
Why the Transition Blindside?
The Transition Blindside was chosen for a few reasons. The first is that it’s a new bike and everyone loves hearing about new bikes, especially downhill ones that aren’t expensive! The second reason is that the BottleRocket was such a fun bike, we had to see if the Blindside would offer similar characteristics on the downhill side of things. The third reason is the guys at Transition are great to work with and are all about their customers. The last reason, was this bike on paper has some great downhill geometry.
Most people’s builds on the Blindside’s thus far have been in the 42-45lb range so this build shows how to build one up significantly lighter.
The large Blindside frame by itself weighed in at 3939g (8.67lbs). If you’re looking to build the lightest bike possible, get your bike in a raw/works finish that has no paint. If your frame has an anodized option, that will only add ~3g to the frame weight! Powder coat weighs ~120g-180g depending on how thick it is, and paint is about half the weight of powder coat at 50-60g typically. We opted to get the white version as our build is already light enough.
Blindside Frame spec’s
- 1.5″ headset
- 73mm Bottom Bracket (Allows for lighter cranks and more clearance)
- 135mm x 12mm rear wheel spacing
- ISCG-OLD
Shock - Pushed FOX Racing Shox DHX 5.0
PUSH Industries pushed our DHX-5 coil shock for this build and the shock feels good so far. The modifications they did over the standard DHX-5 really help to dial the bike’s suspension in. They dial ed in the shock in for the Blindside’s suspension, my weight, and my riding style. Some might try to run an air shock on a lightweight DH bike but coil is the real deal and works a lot better overall in my experiences. When teamed with a TI spring, is a very light coil shock option that is only marginally heavier than an air shock. The feel of a coil can’t be mimicked easily by an air shock. You can read more about PUSH’s DHX services here.
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Fork – Pushed RockShox Boxxer World Cup
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Why I chose the Boxxer WC
The Boxxer was chosen for a few reasons. It’s by far one of the lightest dual crown DH race forks on the market at this time. It’s lightweight and it’s easy to maintain and troubleshoot. The Boxxer Team could be swapped in for some added weight (~1lb), but has less maintenance.
The Boxxer WC is light, real light. It weighs in at 6.2lbs. It’s got 32mm stanchions and offers 8″ of travel. It’s easy to adjust and with the air cartridge it’s easy to dial in. PUSH industries did a few tweaks to the fork with more to come later to finish it off. Similar to their DHX service, their goal is to improve on an already great fork.
(click to enlarge)
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