Hello,

I have a Santa Cruz bullit which I have been happily riding for a couple of years now. It has slowly developed into a DH bike, and recently I put some Marzocchi 888 on it. The issue with using the bullit for full on DH is that due to its steepish head angle I struggle a bit on really steep technical sections (which there are a fair few of near me in North Wales).

The 888 were intended to help with this by lifting the front a bit, which they have. After a brief test ride today the bike feels much better on rocky steep bits. I was wondering if the bike would benfit from a head angle adjusting headset to slacken the front a bit more? Will the extra 2 degrees slackness make the bike into what I want it to be? Or will it be too little to make that much difference and should I give in to temptation and get a Orange 224?

Any input would be great especially if you have a 15″ 224 frame going spare…..!

Ta

Rhid

do a searech someone had a thread about dh bikes and they’re friend had 15inch 224 for sale. i think it was ‘tell me about dh bikes’

i’d be tempted to try a slacker angle on the bullit.
o love 224 tho. and i am sure it would be a good choice too.

Well I have ordered a 2 degree adjuster headset and will give it a good go, just wondering if it would be trying to make it into something it isn’t.

My pal has a 224 so I will research by riding his til he sells it to me for cheap!

Problem with just putting longer forks is you’ll raise the bottom bracket height and the overall centre of gravity.
This can negatively affect cornering and overall stability.
I’d go for the head angle adjuster though I hope you have a 1.5 inch headtube.

It can make a fair old difference… My Hemlock just seems to sit that wee bit more naturally, I liked it as standard but it just felt right straight away with the 2 degree kit in it. I think there’s an element of luck in it tbh, after all there’s no such thing as “right” geometry, probably there’s plenty of riders who wouldn’t like mine as it is now.

you’ve put bigger forks on – higher BB. Decrease the head angle & you’ll change the wheel base, making it longer… that’ll drop the BB a tad. Hope it goes back to where it was for ya. Sounds like a plan bud.

Thanks for the input! I think I may just swap the frame for a full DH one in the near future. I think something lower and longer may be just what I need as opposed to tinkering with the angles on my current bike.

Anybody interested in a Bullit frame and some Totems…..?

@rhid: I am! tell me more please…

Whats your email and I’ll pm you with a few pics and stuff.

Offset shock bushings is a different option to consider, that produce a slacker head angle and a lower bottom bracket. Though maybe a bit late, as you ordered the angleset headset.
There obviously a market for these products, but with today prices altering what you’ve got, makes more sense than buying new.

The other option is to put some 24 inch BMX wheels on to lower the bottom bracket height again!

A slack, raked out bullit with a loww BB sounds pretty much ideal, try to keep the front end nice and low too.

66’s and a angle set wo0uld have been my proffered choice, but 888’s are bombproof.