We've always been DMR fans; the company has always looked for holes in the market from riders' points of view and given them what they want. Their products ride well and look great.
The Transition is the tough, street thrashing brother of the 24in wheeled Rhythm and, to keep up with the trend of more and more riders switching back to 26in wheels, DMR have just supersized it with bigger wheels.
The frame
Made from heavy-duty 4130 tubing, the 26in Transition isn't light but it's very tough and it'll last an age. The tight 72 degree head angle makes for snappy steering, although it's designed around a rigid fork, which means running a suspension fork could take this feel away. Our test build had an 80mm (3.1in) travel RockShox Argyle fork to suit.
The front is burly but simple - another DMR trait. The rear end features 14mm horizontal dropouts, international standard disc mounts and removable APS V-brake mounts.
The detail
DMR don't have the 26in Transition as a complete bike but they will be offering a couple of different build options - expect one of them to be similar to this. The Argyle fork keeps the handling as it was intended, and is manoeuvred by DMR's own Headstock stem and Wingbar combo. Stopping the beast is a pair of surprisingly good Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic disc brakes. They have great feel and decent power without being overly powerful on such a bike.
The bike rolls along on DMR's own wheels, made up of burly DV rims laced to Revolver hubs, with a 20mm version up front and a 14mm singlespeed cassette model at the rear. The tyres are super heavy-duty Transition models, designed for street thrashing and with tread all the way to the beading - you won't encounter sidewall tears on these.
DMR's simple and effective Extype crankset gets the beast moving and a solid Lock Jaw saddle and seatpost combo is there to laugh off bad landings and crashes.
The ride
The burliness of the Transition is the first thing you notice when you start cranking - it's really solid and it encourages you to mash up the urban jungle. The slammed bottom bracket and twitchy head angle allow you to ignore the high weight and get riding, the more tech, the better.
At the trails it almost feels like it will be too much bike, but once you get it rolling it's like a train. The momentum it generates is awesome and it's easy to pop high off lips. Surprisingly, it's very agile in the air, certainly a lot more so than its street geometry and sturdy feel suggest.
The 26in Transition really does encourage you to hit stuff that bit harder, which is a fine trait. It's also a great bike for beginners and experts alike - it encourages hard riding but it won't ever feel like it's in too deep. Yet again, DMR have come up with a bike people have asked for and no doubt it will sell well. We'd splash our hard-earned on one.