OK. Here's a bit more work on setting the suspension.
Me: 6'3". 225lb birthday suit. XL Covert 29 w/ CTD shock and 34 fork. 800mm bar w/ 50mm stem and I run my saddle in KOPS position. Top of my grips are about 3/4" higher than top of the saddle.
As it turns out, I weigh more in riding gear than I was guessing...235-240lb depending on how much water in the Camelbak. I also remeasured sag and I was off compared to my previous settings.
So...at that ride weight, 210psi in the rear shock gave me 9/16" or 25% sag. Put another way, the air pressure is around 88-89% of my ride weight. Yet another way is to say it is 25-30lb under my ride weight. I would think that the % of a riders weight would be more accurate across a range of riders than just going a certain number below your ride weight.
205psi was about 27% sag and 200psi was around 30% sag. Today I ran the fork and shock in Trail position in the middle compression setting. Tomorrow I will try the same pressures with the low compression setting.
I ran the fork at 115psi or roughly 48-49% of my ride weight. I never bother to set my fork according to a sag %. I always try to match the "feel" to the rear suspension while making sure I use full travel on the biggest hits. At the settings today the front and rear felt very similar.
Additionally, no matter where I was in the 25-30% sag range on the rear shock, I use full travel on bigger hits but have never felt a "bottom". My perception is that I will then fine tune that pressure setting based on how I want the bike to ride. At 30% the rear was a bit lower, softer and tracked the ground on small chatter a bit better. But, the pedal feel wasn't as "snappy"...it was muted a bit. It didn't feel bad, it just wasn't as "sharp". At 25% the feel is a bit "livelier". The bike sits up a bit more and responds to weight shifts with a firmer feel. The pedaling response is a bit more "solid" and feels very nice sprinting out of a corner or grunting up a steep climb. But, you give up a bit of compliance on smaller chatter. I'm not sure if these words are helping, I'm just trying to find adjectives to help convey a subjective observation.
It seems like I read somewhere from one of the Transition guys that the Covert 29 is designed to handle the bigger stuff with composure at a possible slight expense to smaller chatter, especially with an air shock. Is this correct? Anywhoo...I would agree with this and, in my opinion, this is a good thing.
Like I said before, the bike feels a lot like my old ASR 7 in that it is "firm" off the top and then drops into a nice composed stroke on medium to large stuff. Firm does not mean harsh...think "sporty". I really like the feel at 25% sag. There's something to "push against" for fast weight shifts, the bike does not pull into its travel under hard efforts (like some of my past Horst Link bikes), it stays solid under power.
On the geometry front...I am sold on Transitions approach. My position is exagerated a bit with the short stem and wide bars so my setup is "upright" and "compact"...but not to the point that I am uncomfortable. My position is such that seated pedaling, standing sprinting, uphill efforts in and out of the seat, and corner carving are all done in the same small space. I used to have bikes with long top tubes and I felt like a monkey moving all over the place to accomplish this stuff. Now it is a slight weight shift here or there...so simple and enjoyable.
Additionally, the more I ride, the more I enjoy the handling. I am still getting used to how easily the bike moves side to side while carving turns...no perceived big wheel lag, just pop, pop, pop through the "S"-turns. Wheelies, manuals and drops are easy...the front comes up very nicely. The bike climbs steep pitches well. The suspension doesn't sag excessively into its travel and you don't have to shift your weight forward much at all to keep the front down and the rear hooked up. Like I said, it's all done from the same small space hovering right around your saddle.
That's more than enough for now. I realize it's hard to be objective with NBS (New Bike Syndrome) so take what I say with a grain of salt. The bottom line for me is that I my transition from the ASR 7 has been easy and quite enjoyable!