By: Brad “Wyld Willy” Walton

When it came time to find one bike that would do everything, I was lost. Of course I was lost, there is not one bike that will do everything well! Or is there? I looked around online and stumbled across Transition’s website. I saw the Preston FR and was immediately captivated by this ruggedly built 4″ travel “freeride” bike. It was specced with a Romic coil rear shock and a 6″ fork. What are these guys trying to do here? Better yet, what was I trying to do with a bike that would include “everything”, and do it all well?

I’ve always been a hardtail fan because of the responsiveness on the trail. I wanted something fairly light, with enough travel to take the edge off, but not bog me down on technical singletrack and climbing, yet be able to handle big moves if I felt so inclined. Short-travel bikes have been around for years, but none of them were by any means durable. Puny linkages, air shocks, and XC geometry kept me away from short-travel. I wanted something that was comfortable flowing the before work, hour long XC singletrack session but could handle drops, jumps, and skinnies. It also had to be durable yet light for my 30 mile backcountry epics. Did I mention I also weigh 190 lbs? I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to find a do-all bike that wouldn’t break.

The trend in mountain biking in the last 5 years has been more travel, beefier design, bigger bikes. Hey, I’ve had my share of big bikes- plenty of ‘em, but they all lacked the tight handling responsiveness I desired to flow the tight twisties and the lighter weight for all-day adventures. It’s about time the trickle-down effect caught up with my style of riding. The current trend is “all-mountain” comfort XC bikes with super-light frames that are more fashion than for hard riding. Since I prefer to ride anything in my path, they just simply won’t work for the abuse I intend to inflict.

I was curious about the Preston FR and how this new company would stand behind their product. It looked like a good bike to me, but who do I know that has spent any time on one?

Transition has a gallery and videos on their website of their bikes in action. I watched a 3 minute clip of the owners thoroughly “testing” the Preston. Although I couldn’t tell how it would rail tight singletrack or climb hills, I could definitely tell the durability of this 4″ travel bike that was launching big-bike airs and riding near out-of-control steeps with relative ease. Hmmm.

Transition Bike Company

Transition sells their three frames direct, with or without a build kit. I decided to give Transition a call. The phone rang twice, and Kevin Menard, one of the owners, answered. What? That’s not right! It’s supposed to ring 4 times and answer: (automation) “Thank you for calling (bike co), press 1 for dealer sales, 2 for technical help, or 3 if you are a consumer or just want to save time by being disconnected.”

So I got Kevin immediately, who is not only an owner, but a core rider. I introduced myself as being interested in the Preston FR. We chatted for about 30 minutes about riding, the company, and the bikes. The other bikes they offer are a dirt-jump frame dubbed “TrailOrPark”, and a 7″ travel big bike the “Dirtbag”. He asked me about my weight and riding style to match up the rear shock. The frames go for $850 with the Romic shock, which is about $500 less than most anything else out there like them. We made the transaction over the phone, and three days later the frame arrived at my doorstep.

The Preston FR

No, you won’t get the custom skull decals, but you will getget a square tube front end and beefy CNC’d dropouts and linkage.

The Preston FR has an odd-size seatpost at 30.4mm, but it comes with a nice dual-clamp post that is 350mm long, plenty for me. It also comes with a replaceable derailleur hanger, and in a pinch you can just go to your nearest Kona dealer for a spare. There are brake bosses on the rear end for those stuck in the V-brake past.

One thing that was lacking in my opinion on this bike is a quick-release seat collar. Marketing this as a freeride specific bike, it should come with one. There are many different styles out there that can all be purchased for around $15, so it’s no big deal. I’m also a big fan of full-length cable housing for the rear derailleur. Riding in less than ideal conditions convinced me that full-length housing maintains better shifting for longer. The Preston FR is designed to run conventional split housing, and has housing stops built onto the frame. A few zip ties and some duct tape quickly converted my Preston FR to full-length housing, and it has shifted flawlessly.

Tire clearance may be an issue for some, but my Maxxis Mobster 2.5’s fit fine. I’m actually going to switch to a Minion 2.35, so it won’t ever be an issue for me. Kevin at Transition informed me that the 2005 Preston coming out in January will have more tire clearance (up to a 2.8), a thicker head tube (for those wanting to run a dual-crown fork), and there will be no brake bosses (sorry old guys).

The Preston FR features sealed cartridge bearings at every pivot. The linkage is easily removed with a 6 and 4mm allen key. Transition uses the proven square down tube at the head tube joint for strength and durability. The CNC’d dropouts house the bearings directly, as opposed to a welded-on tab to holster the bearing. Overall, I see the Preston FR as being a very solidly built freeride machine capable of enduring years of punishment.

My Preston FR built up heavy. A little heavier than I was hoping for, but the parts I used were off of a hardtail that was built to be indestructible with a frame that weighed only three pounds less than the Preston. No problem, I’ll switch parts out as necessary. With the first few pedal strokes, I realized this bike was definitely for me.

The Ride

The large fit my 6′3″ lank perfectly. Mated with the 6″ travel fork, the 4″ rear suspension was supple when I forced my weight into it, but felt extremely controlled when I sprinted down the road to the trailhead. Kevin at Transition was the first to tell me that this ain’t no cross-country bike. Beginning the climb, I realized that the component spec on my Preston confirmed this, but that by the way the bike climbed I would have to disagree. I cranked the Romic’s compression dial all the way in, which decreases rider pedaling input but also decreases a little bit of small-bump sensitivity. There is very little pedal-induced suspension movement. At the top of the first 2 mile climb, I was certain that this would be a bike that I would be raving about even on the longest epics.

On the way down, I quickly noticed the tight feeling like a hardtail.The preston railed corners with minimal suspension movement, so it felt extremely stable and predictable. The small-bump sensitivity was a little lacking for a full-suspension bike, which is exactly what I was looking for. A little less tire pressure will take care of that. I want this bike to give me big-hit forgiveness and a tight ride. The first rock jump launched like my hardtail and landed solid like a big bike. I was immediately impressed with the rear suspension suppleness. It really feels like more than 4″ travel when landing bigger hits. I don’t know whether it’s just the Preston design or the Romic rear shock, but I like it. The rest of the ride down I was stoked that I’d chosen the right bike, and by the end of the ride, I was anxious to get out there again.

After several days of riding the Preston, it reacts telepathically. High-speed tight singletrack is where it excels the most, but it’s also at home on stunts, drops, and technical maneuvers. I ditched my 80mm stem for a 90mm, which only accelerated the way the bike handled at speed and gave me more leverage to really lean in and get better pop.

The Preston tracks a very straight line. It’s a real “point and shoot” bike that is designed around longer travel forks. Putting a longer travel fork on most 4-5″ bikes would result in sloppy steering, but that is definitely not the case here. Transition specs the bike with a Manitou Sherman Flick, 6″ single crown. This is a good choice for a light front end, but I used a Marzocchi z150 that I already had and paid a weight penalty of 1.5 lbs.

I’m going to swap a few parts out here and there to lighten it up, and I think the result will be a bike that I keep for a long time. It’s light and nimble, tight and responsive, smooth and stable.

The Dangerboy linkplates offer 4/5″ travel via different rear shock mount holes. I tried the 5″ travel just to see what it would be like. Sitting on the bike, I could bottom the shock if I just jumped up and down on it. This is due to the increased leverage on the shock for a bike that was designed to be 4″ travel. What else does it affect? The 5″ location also raises the bottom bracket of the bike, which in turn raises the standover height and head tube angle. The head tube is noticeably steeper, which would be XC racer steep if the bike also had a 5″ travel fork. The increased leverage also provides more sag when sitting on the bike, therefore cancelling out alot of this “taller” geometry when riding the bike. The Preston feels waaaay more plush in the 5″ setting, a plush that I would expect from a 6″ travel bike. The Dangerboy plates are a little lighter, too. For $100, you can upgrade the Preston FR to 5″. I decided to try the 5″ version on my favorite big-bike trail.

Stock plates (top) and Dangerboy adjustable plates (bottom)

Wow, the bike rides a lot more forgiving. Small bump sensitivity is largely increased, and the travel feels deep and near endless. I didn’t bottom the shock riding the bike, even though I can just jumping on it when stationary. I was a little cautious at first, but after a few drops I decided to let it loose. I launched the ten footer landing at about 25 mph, and the bike not only landed smooth as butter but tracked like a missile up the small incline and over the hip jump. Okay, I love it. The final descent was serpentine singletrack through sagebrush and the bike rode very supple over the smallest stutters. The geometry fits very nicely without a “too-tall” feeling. It does steepen the head angle some, and loses a bit of the tight responsive feel it has in 4″, but the 5″ travel Preston rides better than 4″ on technical, rocky, rooty, rough trails, and I’ll probably leave it in 5″ most of the time. I’m glad I have the option of switching between 4-5″.

I’ve ridden my Preston FR 12 times now, which is more riding in two weeks than I usually do in four. I really look forward to riding this bike every time. Of course it hasn’t stood the test of time yet, but I’m extremely stoked on it thus far. The bike has inspired confidence that I usually only find on a rig that weighs 10 lbs more with 3 more inches of travel, and I can pedal it like it’s a cross-country bike. I would highly recommend the Preston FR to anyone who can only afford or only wants one bike. It is comfortable aired at the dirt jumps, pedalled across the XC trails, enduring all-mountain epics, and with the right finesse it can be ripped on the DH course and hucked off the freeride lines. I’ll leave yall with a few pics.

The Good

• Stable Geometry
• Adjustable Travel
• Full Cartridge Bearings

The Bad

• No Quick Release Seat Collar Included
• Odd Size Seatpost
• No Full length housing guides

Featured in the September 04′ Issue of BIKE Magazine

In January of 2003, myself (Brad Walton) and Matt Norris decided that we needed a new trail because the ones that we ride every day and take for granted were not good enough. As you all know, freeriding has evolved the sport of mountain biking to include more than just a singletrack trail in the woods. Now the heart of mountain biking revolves around just being out there with your friends having fun on whatever the terrain. The trails that we usually ride in the Wilson’s Creek area of the Pisgah National Forest are awesome, but despite having nearly 100 miles of trails to ride, we were in search of something new, more challenging, and more fun. We figured that if all the new videos and magazines were talking about these awesome trails popping up everywhere that include built stunts made of wood and big jumps and tree rides, that it would be a great idea to take that to our favorite riding spot. With the gaining popularity of this website (much before our trail building prosecution), we had a vision that maybe one day all the riders from NC that get on this website, that have found us and ride with us because of what has become of Hick Park, that maybe we could push rider interest deeper into the woods, where the terrain is steeper, longer, bigger. This would push the limits of our current trails.

I guess we got the idea from our trip to British Columbia, where mountain biking is the most popular thing to do. It seemed that everyone rode. Doctors, grandpaws, kids under 10, moms, the hot older sister, it didn’t matter who you are, there is a common bond in the riding community. The trails on the North Shore push the limits of every rider in the world, but there are all levels of trails, from very easy 4 foot wide hardpack gravel paths to the heights of the Ridiculator, a 200 foot long wooden structure 6 inches wide 20 feet above the forest floor. These trails are not just on the North Shore either. All across the province of BC, you can find these types of trails. The mountain bikers build the trails, ride them, and maintain them. BC is now the most popular destination world wide for mountain biking, and several communities where no economy existed before have turned into BC’s most popular tourist destinations, with their greatest economic dependency being a mountain bike. Every mountain bike video, magazine, and website in the world in the past year has references to mountain biking in British Columbia. This is what motivated us, the possibility for change, the popularity of the sport, the media telling us that people love it, that it is fun, that it is good. We obviously didn’t consider to look far enough into the legallity of these trails.

We decided to construct a new trail which would include various aspects of the best mountain bike trails we have ever ridden. We wanted it singletrack, we wanted it steep, fast, and technical, we wanted big jumps, huge berms, and ladder drops, with lots of rocks, and whatever the terrain would offer us. We wanted fellow riders to have a chance to use that new technology bikes are equipped with these days, to really have fun trying new things, the thrill of accomplishment in doing something that you were afraid of.
We knew we wanted it in Wilson’s Creek, but were unsure about cutting trees, digging roots, everything that goes into building a trail where there isn’t one. One day, I was riding up Mortimer Piedmont road to the Sinkhole trail and saw a little stint off to the side of the road where a truck had be driving up into a dip in the mountain. I figured I would check it out to see where it went. It was really steep, so I ditched my bike and took off on foot up a doubletrack side-hill cut. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the trail I was on was cut by the US Forest Service to extinguish a fire. Two years ago, a motorist attempted to make a 3-point turn on a one lane forest road. A tire went off the road and a rock sparked the gas tank, resulting in a huge forest fire that took over a week to extinguish. I don’t know how much land it was, but it encompasses all of lower Chestnut Mountain. The entire mountain side I was walking on was scorched, ashy and black. All the trees under a 6-inch diameter were dead. All the rhododendron was blackened and dead, there was no underbrush at all. The soil was black and rocky. The profile of the ridge was fantastic for a trail, and the technical features included big fallen trees to build stunts with, lots of open rock faces, good dense soil, and I knew this was it. I hiked to the top, and found every feature imaginable for riding a bike on. I told Matt about it, and we went to look at it, where we decided that was the place.

Since the trail users of Wilson’s Creek do all the trail maintenance, we figured it was okay to go ahead and build this trail. Unfortunately for us, a permit is required for any trail modifications. We told some people about it, and Brian Tunstill and Charles Moore decided to help us. The work went very fast, since there was already a trail there, and there was no brush to clear. We didn’t have to cut down any trees, and the dirt was very easy to move. After a few weeks, the trail was mid-Picasso. A real masterpiece much surpassing my wildest dreams of what I thought it would be like. Somewhere along the line, the word Nam turned up, short for Vietnam, which was fitting for such a location: it was charred black, like total devastation, and it was unknown territory, big and bad, scary. Nam became the name of the trail. Big 25-foot gap jumps, log rides, 5-foot high 50-foot long berms, ladder drops, steep rock faces, the works. Most of the trail flowed straight down the mountain, following the existing fire cut, we just added more into it and ventured off trail to include more technical features. It was as bad as it gets.

Nowhere in the building of the trail did we consider that we were wrongful in building it. I guess it was a combination of the rights of other users like horseback riders and hunters that made us think it was okay. Regardless of what we thought and what our reasons of defense are, we were wrong. Our trail was located in National Forest property. We didn’t ask the US Forest Service if we could do it. Our trail was also unfit for the mountain, meaning that we were planning on riding straight down the fall line, which would eventually erode the mountain into a trench. Even if we were to upkeep it like we planned, the mountain which I thought was charred and useless, turns out to be the most ecologically sensitve area in Wilson’s Creek. Our methods of trail building were not professional, and although we thought we were really good at it and that what we did was beautiful, we were actually further destroying the ecology of Chestnut Mountain.

On February 28, 2003, we were approached by USFS rangers at gunpoint while working on Nam, and we were charged with “Constructing and maintaining a trail on USFS property without a permit” and “Cutting and damaging timber, trees, and forest resources without a permit.” Our equipment was seized, and we were in awe at what had just happened. Apparently, the rangers had known about it for awhile, and were just waiting for the right time to catch us in the act. Pictures of our work had been posted on this website, as we were very proud of what we had done, didn’t think of it as being wrong, and couldn’t wait for all of our fellow riders to enjoy it. After a lengthy period of awaiting trial, we received a date for US District Court for prosecution.

The period during which we were awaiting trial, I just knew that the charges would be dropped since we didn’t know any better. Once again, we were wrong, and are being reprimanded for our actions. We are now banned from the National Forest for an indefinite period, we have been fined, we must complete a certain amount of supervised trail work and attend a trail building seminar to understand how innapropiate and damaging our methods were, and we are on probation. We were wrong to go about building a trail on property other than our own, in our own interest with complete disregard for any rules or regulations, federal or municipal. We did not even ask permission, and are fortunate that one day we will be able to return to the forest we love so much. Let this stand as fair warning to anyone else out there who wishes to build a renegade trail, DON’T DO IT!!! If the forest service allowed just anyone to go out and build on government land without permission, there would not be any land left. The National Forest is a sanctuary for wildlife and a gift for us city-dwellers who wish to relieve our stresses by escaping everyday ordeals. We have gained much appreciation for land, both private and public, through this lesson. We now know that what we did was wrong, and now you know it as well.

For anyone who chooses not to listen to our hard lesson, here’s what can happen:

We are extremely fortunate to have received a pretrial diversion, which allows us to make retribution to the US Forest Service and alleviate any further prosecution. This only happened because we were the first to commit this crime, and the government felt that we can make this a positive learning experience for us and for other public land users. In the future, now that this is a known ordeal, offenders caught building illegal trails and doing un-permitted trail maintenance may receive the prosecution we were threatened with, which includes but is not limitted to:

for each offense, 6 months imprisonment, $5000 fine, banishment from all National Forest property for 2-7 years. These are estimates only, it can be much worse. In Marin County, California, 3 men were sentenced to a year in prison and $50,000 in fines. If you’re not sure, DON’T DO IT!!!

—-Brad Walton, Matt Norris, Brian Tunstill, Charles Moore