Received my 2023 M10 on Wednesday, finally got a chance to ride it this morning, been raining a ton here in the Northeast USA. Paint is amazing, sorry to those having issues. I guess I am lucky. Probably would have lived with it though. I added XT brakes and upgraded the suspension, 170mm fork and X2. That is on my non-E bike so I am used to the set up process.
I only ride the E about once a week, I ride 4-6 times a week. I am coming off of an Intense Tazer Expert. It has the e7000 motor which is 60 or 65nm?? So my quick review is more based on the bike than the motor as I knew it would have a lot more power. The Bosch feels amazing.
For set up I mirrored the settings that are on my v1 Transition Sentinel with a Cascade Link. This felt great, conditions this morning were wet and slick so it was a good test, traction felt amazing. Will do some more minor changes but I am very close to where I like it. Adding air to the X2 is a pain in the a$$.
I ordered it with the EXO+ tires and on the rear changed it to a Double Down with maxterra as they last a little longer than the DH with maxgrip. Wish they would make a DH casing tire with maxterra.
Bars, got the Carbon bars, different feel from the One Up's but not bad, cut down to 770 to match my other bikes. I went with the higher rise again to match my other bikes.
The headset is going to be another pain in the a$$. I had to cut the dropper housing down and that was not easy, likely because it is so short with the headset routing. I will need to lower the stem a little, they send you plenty of spacers for the top to do this which is great, but also expected as it is proprietary. The GPS mount is a nice touch also.
My local trails are very rocky, rooty, and technical. Not long ups or downs but a lot of short steep tech. The bb height seems appropriate and did not get a lot of pedal strikes but I am used to a low bb. I felt that the bike was very nimble and "light feeling" for an ebike. I felt more comfortable on the first ride than I did after 2 years on the Tazer. No major jumps or drops today, just some small ones and was very predictable, again felt like my Sentinel. I did like the mullet of the Tazer and slightly concerned about a full 29er but my Sentinel is a 29er and with them sitting similar this was confidence inspiring. I could really push it into the turns, the bar height was a little high, but once I take a spacer out it should be even better to get more weight over the front. Bike feels very balanced, also easy to move around on. Never felt like I was too far forward or too far back or that I needed to be. Hoping to get more jumps and drops in soon to see but based on the smaller stuff and popping off of things it feels again predictable.
Battery: coming off the Tazer with a 504w battery that seems to be losing life the 750w was very much needed. The ride I did this morining would have just about drained the 504w battery. About 15 miles with 1600 ft of vert. Because it is relatively flat I would ride in trail on the Tazer to keep moving. I kept it in eMTB mode today again to keep moving and get to work on time (I started my ride at 6am) used about 2 bars. So plenty of life left in the battery to keep going, that is going to take some getting used to in a good way.
The bad: I do not like headset cable routing, the Transition Repeater was another bike I was looking at and that had it also, so I guess it is here to stay. Again adding air to the X2 is difficult but manageable. Cannot use my fancy shock pump. Hopefully not too many other things come up, but we will see.
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So good to see it in the flesh
Can you share your suspension settings? (and weight)
