Transition Repeater

If a steep, technical trail is the ride you keep going back for, the Repeater is built for that habit. It is Transition's original full-power carbon electric mountain bike, for assisted climbing and enduro descending.

The riding it suits

Think steep, technical trail and enduro terrain, and the repeat laps where assistance changes how much of the hill you can do. The carbon frame, 160mm of travel at each end and 29-inch wheels are shared by the NX, GX and AXS builds. Head angle is 64 degrees in every size and the chainstays stay 455mm, while the seat angle runs from 78.4 degrees on the Small to 77.1 degrees on the X-Large. That is a steep place to sit and pedal, with a slack front end aimed at descending stability.

The tyres follow the same use. A Schwalbe Magic Mary Super Gravity Ultra Soft, 29x2.4, is fitted up front, and a Big Betty Super Gravity Soft, also 29x2.4, at the back. Heavy casing and a soft front compound are for rough ground. Brakes are Magura four-piston units with 203mm rotors on every build, so that rough-terrain braking is fitted rather than left as an upgrade.

It is set up for sustained assistance and rough-terrain control, not for minimum weight. If you want the lighter Transition, that bike is the Relay.

Living with the EP8

All three builds use the Shimano DU-EP800, the EP8, with 85Nm, 250W of continuous power and a 500W peak. A colour display and an assist switch run the system. Transition supplies two motor profiles, and Eco, Trail and Boost can be adjusted through Shimano E-Tube if you want the assistance to come in differently.

The battery is a removable Shimano BT-E8036 of 630Wh. A single 4mm Allen bolt lets it out, and you can carry a compatible spare to swap in when the first pack is done. Charging uses Shimano's system rather than a proprietary Transition charger.

NX, GX or AXS

The frame does not change, so the choice is the kit around it. Official UK RRPs are £7,499 for NX, £8,699 for GX and £10,399.95 for AXS. Those list prices are not a promise of what you will pay, and a live offer can change which build costs less.

NX is the simplest of the three. The fork is a RockShox ZEB R and the shock a Fox Float X Performance, with SRAM NX Eagle shifting and Magura MT5 brakes. Transition's claimed weight for a Medium is 23.1kg.

GX is the one if you want the parts you use all day to move up. The fork becomes a RockShox ZEB Ultimate and the shock a Fox Float X Performance Elite, the gears move to SRAM GX Eagle with a 10-52T cassette rather than the NX 10-50T, and the brakes are Magura MT7. Claimed Medium weight drops by 0.8kg, to 22.3kg.

AXS stays at that 22.3kg Medium claim. On this generation the AXS name means a wireless SRAM GX AXS derailleur and rocker-paddle shifter, not the later SRAM Powertrain motor. Suspension is a Fox 38 Factory fork and a Float X2 Factory shock, with a carbon handlebar. The list-price gap over GX is for that suspension and the wireless shifting, not a lower claimed weight.

This generation, not Repeater PT

This is the Shimano Repeater: a DU-EP800 motor, a 630Wh battery, 160mm of travel and 29-inch wheels at both ends. Repeater PT is a different platform, with 170mm of travel, SRAM Eagle Powertrain and a 720Wh battery. Powertrain, 720Wh or 170mm of travel on a listing means that later bike. A 2022 or 2023 label does not, by itself, mean a different EP8 frame. NX, GX and AXS are separated by the parts fitted to them.

Transition does not currently list this version in its UK catalogue. Set against the PT, this pack is 630Wh rather than 720Wh.

Size, and what the frame will take

Small through to X-Large are all 29ers. The published height bands meet at the boundaries, so some riders will appear in two sizes. Where that happens, Transition's advice is to weigh the stability you want against agility. Reach grows as the sizes go up, and the chainstay does not. The bands are approximate guidance, not a guarantee that one size will fit you.

You can change the suspension character with a compatible air or coil shock in the stock 205x65mm trunnion size, without altering the frame's 160mm of rear travel. A longer fork is not the same sort of change. The specification is a 160mm fork at 576mm axle-to-crown, and a typical 170mm ZEB or Fox 38 exceeds that, so it should not be treated as an approved upgrade.

Taken on its own terms, this is a bike for a steep trail you are not finished with. The motor is there for the climb back up, the travel is there for the way down, and the battery can come out if one charge is not the end of your day.