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The Ideal Galbraith Mt. Bike?
Transition Preston FR
 
This is a stock 2005 Transition Preston FR, with Manitou Sherman Flick + fork, Romic 700 x 1.5 rear shock, SRAM X7 mid-cage rear derailleur, Shimano Deore front derailleur, SRAM X7 trigger shifters, FSA Platinum bottom bracket, Hayes HFX-9 hydraulic disc brakes (8" front & 6" rear), Sun Rhyno Lite XL / FUNN 32 hole wheels and Maxxis Highroller 2.35 60a tires front and rear.
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| Model: |
Transition Preston FR |
| Category: |
Freeride and/or All Mountain |
| Suspension: |
6 and 4 inches in front; 5 and 4 inches rear |
| Ideal for: |
In its five inch rear travel setting, the 2005 Preston is ideal for highly technical single track that tends downward but has some flats and climbs thrown in too, like the 911 and Bob's Trail. In the four inch travel position, the Preston is a pocket Freeride bike, somewhat along the lines of Mark Salisbury's Turner Five-Spot. |
| Over all performance: |
The Preston absolutely devours Galbraith. This bike comes as close to being a true "all mountain bike" as any we've ever tested. On it, you can go up Darrell's Death Climb and come down Scorpion, and ride all of both of 'em, if you've got the strength and skill. Said one of the Usual Suspects, "this is the best five inch travel bike for Galbraith I've ever ridden." A standing O! Truth is, though, the 2005 Preston is actually two bikes in one. In the four inch travel rear suspension position it has a slack 68 degree head tube angle, which is good for Freeride, and in the five inch travel position, it has a 69.5 degree head tube angle, which is sweet for All Mountain. Cool!
Be aware, though, that the 2006 Transition Preston FR --- the bike that won Mountain Biking's "Bike of the Year" Award -- has been altered so that the head tube angle remains a constant 68 degrees no matter what the travel setting. This means that the 2006 Transition Preston is neither as versatile as the 2005 Transition reviewed here, nor as well suited to Galbraith.
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| Front end: |
The 2005 Preston comes stock with the Manitou Sherman Flick Plus, a single-crown six-inch travel fork with a QR-20 through-axel, 32 mm stancheons and Manitou's Rapid Travel II top-mounted travel adjust, which allows you to compress the fork to four inches of travel for climbing. It's been a while since the Usual Suspects have ridden a Manitou fork, and we were very impressed with the performance of the sweet-riding Sherman. Said one of the Usual Suspects, "Not as plush as a Marzocchi 66RC but on par with a Z150FR." |
| Rear end: |
The Preston FR has a high quality rear end. The Romic shock works wonderfully with the Preston's four-bar rear suspension. Although the Preston doesn't use the Horst-link, its ride is superior to the best Horst-link designs of just a couple years ago. Compared to Kona's Fox-sprung implementation of the same basic rear end, the Preston FR feels noticably more responsive -- and less plush -- which makes sense since it's got less travel in back than either the Kona Dawg or Kona Coiler. |
| Brakes: |
The Usual Suspects had no problems with the Preston's Hayes HFX-9 hydraulic disc brakes, and the 8 inch rotar in front was a nice touch. |
| (The devil is in the) Details: |
Every one of the GalbraithMt.com's bike testers hated the Maxxis High Roller 2.35 front tire that comes stock on the Preston. In fact, after the first ride, they refused to use the tire again and instead supplied and mounted their own tire, a Kenda Nevegal 2.35. They said the High Roller on front made the bike feel "squirrelly" when you laid it over, and looking at the tire you can see why -- it has no knobs at 10 o'clock. Our advice if you're going to ride Galbraith? Get your Transition dealer to trade out the stock Maxxis front tire for somethng else with quarter knobs when you make your purchase.
The Preston FR comes without a quick release seatpost clamp, which you'll need maybe 20-30 times a ride on Galbraith. Don't leave the store without purchasing one for the bike.
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| Durability: |
This is a burly bike, and the manufacturer is located in nearby Ferndale, WA, all of which bodes well for durability and service. |
| Geometry and sizing: |
As noted above, the 2005 Preston has has a high versatility factor, with two travel settings, two head tube angles, two bottom bracket heights, etc. However, this changed with the 2006 Preston FR, which has the same head tube angle, etc. for both travel settings. |
| Weight: |
35 pounds as pictured. |
| Reviewed: |
September 2005; updated September 2006 |
| Russ Barlow takes flight on the Transition Preston FR on lower Evolution. |
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