Sentinel Carbon NX Bike

The Sentinel is a bit of a do-everything bike in the Transition range, up for all-dayers in the hills or uplift days.

Out of the box, the bike is set up with a 150 mm shock and 160 mm fork, but the bike will still handle on a 150 or 140 mm fork, and you can change the rear shock for a shorter one to run the back at 140 mm.

Transition have given the longer-lower-slacker approach a name - "Speed Balanced Geometry" - but effectively it means short stem, slack head angle, short offset (42-44 mm) fork and a longer top tube, pretty much what you would expect from any modern enduro-orientated bike. On that note, all models can take a water bottle, though you'll need to use a fid lock bottle on the size small frame.

Never ones to shy away from a cheesy name, the Transition's "GiddyUp" suspension has fantastic small bump sensitivity and enough progression to run a coil shock without blowing through the travel. The Enduro Max bearings and additional bearing shields are a huge plus point for UK riding!

The UK gets three specs, top of the range is X01 with Fox Factory suspension. The XT version loses the Kashima finish with Fox Performance suspension and saves a few £'s with a few more of Transition's house label "ANVL" parts, but all models feature the excellent OneUp dropper post. Dropper size and bar rise vary depending on frame size.