I’m thinking about a Works Components angle headset for my Trek Ex8. Main reason is that I’m riding increasingly techie stuff so am after some extra stability, plus the tart reason that there’s no new bike on the horizon and I just fancy a change.

HA is currently 69 degrees and I can go either -1 or -1.5 according to Mr Works. Edging towards the -1.5 on the basis that I’d want enough of a difference, whereas -1 could be that bit too subtle?

Any thoughts or experiences?

When I had my ex I put a 150mm fork in it which should have slackened the HA by about that amount. Felt great!

Cheaper option, if you’re on a budget, might be some offset bushes for your shock. I made some for my Intense and got about 1.5 degrees slacker. Made a noticeable difference to the handling.

Yep, off set bushings damn site cheaper and easier to install. I’ve just ordered some burgtec bushings for my five.

Cheers, guys – just had a look round the Burgtec site and looks like I’d only get a 1 degree change at most as the funky proprietary shock only has a lower bushing.

Definitely hearing more love for 1.5 degree change though so the headset looks like the best option.

With a 69 degree head angle, 1.5 would be a better option. My five has a 67 degree HA so dropping it to 66 is fine for me.

Go 1.5 I reckon, but maybe you’ll need a longer than stock fork to raise the bb again?

Ive ridden a 68deg HA fuel ex a lot and it was great. But could have been a bit slacker in some situations

i went from 69 to 67 feels fine 🙂

I went for a 1.5 works one on my EX9 and it improved the bike no end.

Stu661 – which set did you go for, was it the EC44 upper ZS56 lower?