I thought all prophets had a 69 and 67.5 deg head angle depending which shock position you select.
My large does anyway.
I’ve just bought a 2nd hand 2009 prophet for a friend and it says 67 and 65.5 on the swing arm.
This one had got the big spacer for the lower headset, but it is probably only about 15mm max.
The bike has RS Pike forks and its not the MX.

Anyone got any info.

Have seen pics of ones similar, always thought they were the mx? No further info though.

The X & 4X models also came with those setting, well the UK “X” model did anyways. It was late edition without the 12mm axle but did have the extra ISCG mount & headstock gusset to run 160mm forks (& so those angles).

Whatever it is lucky him. That thing is way ahead of 90% of the cookie cutter geo the industry churns out.

I think all the Pike equipped Prophets are 67°/65.5° head angle. Great bikes.

@cossyrush, what year is your frame?

What do i need if i want to fit a 1.5 tapered headset to my prophet? My has one of those big metal spacers at the bottom.

Hope pick and mix headset will do it:

1 x Hope Pick ‘N’ Mix Headset Cups (4) Top – 1.5″ – 1 1/8″ Step Down Traditional  (49.57 dia)

1 x Hope Pick ‘N’ Mix Headset Cups (F) Bottom – 1.5″ Traditional (49.57 dia)

So the f cup, does that replace the bottom spacer or fit into it? I was thinking that a headset cup would not give the clearance that the spacer gives.

Replaces it. Clearance will be tight depending on your fork. I have that combo and a reducer to fit the original Pike and it is fine. The reducer does provide a couple of valuable mm though.

Oh, and for the op, 65.5 and 67 are the head angles on mine too (also a 2009).

My large frame is an earlyish one, would guess its 2006/7.
Have got to say I think the prophet is a great bike, which is why I’ve got one for my mate.

So the medium I have must be a prophet x.
It doesn’t have 1m rear.

I thought all the non MX frames were all the same, so what makes it so slack?
I guess it’s that spacer and the A to C of the pikes.
I’ll take some measurements tonight.

Anyway that’s fantastic geo for a 2009 bike non downhill bike.
Short stem, wide bars and its going to be a ripper.
I would ride it in the FR setting, but I think it will be too slack for him.

I thought all the non MX frames were all the same, so what makes it so slack?

at the risk of repeating myself… 160mm forks… which came fitted to the X models (Fork: Fox 36 FLOAT RC2 Air 160)

I thought all the non MX frames were all the same

Except for the X and 4X models, they also sold the SL, though this was the same as the normal prophet, but with a shorter shock and fork…

I would ride it in the FR setting, but I think it will be too slack for him

With what travel forks? As it’ll still only be 67.5° with 140mm forks… don’t waste a brilliant frame by limiting him to the XC settings, if only running 140mm

Having had the bike above from New and selling it last week, please don’t run it in xc you gain nothing on the climbs and it’s just not as good down hill trust me I tried it

On the subject of geometery
http://www.btr-fabrications.com/category/geometry-design/

I’m going to agree on running it in FR all the time, I experimented with the settings when it was new, but it has lived in FR. I don’t ever adjust the fork height either. Am debating ditching the Pikes for a set of Revelations.

I would recommend a rear shock tune though.

Aye I hated the std Manitou 3 way, still got it some-where, freshly serviced, it was no better. Was lent a standard RP23 and it wasn’t a happy bunny (better than the 3way in some ways), so I got a low volume RP23 setup for the Prophet and have never looked back.

I managed to locate some 140mm Rev’s with a 1.5 steerer/20mm axle and they were ace, good weight (1.8Kg) and brilliant performance.

FR is the only way to run one (with 140mm fork), otherwise it’s like a long travel XC bike, pointless.
.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJZy-rlricc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgJZy-rlricc&nomobile=1[/video]

Here is mine in action

I totally agree about the FR setting, that’s how I ride mine with 150 revs.

But the new bike does not have ISCG tabs and is fitted with Pikes, according to the swing arm its 65.5 in the FR setting. So it must be the AtoC of the fork right?
What if you put 160mm 36’s, like the MX? would that make it even slacker?
Or is the AtoC of the pikes similar to the 36’s?
Or am I missing something here?

What forks did the standard prophets (not SL) come with? Where the swing are shoes 67.5 in the FR setting?

I have a normal one that came with and still has 140 pikes on it. I also have an mx one that also came with pikes on but changed to a pair of 36 fox forks

Geda did you buy the MX from new, as IIRC they all came with Fox 36’s. It might be I’m off on this…hmm I am, see at the bottom.

Cossyrush, you’ve got me there, I can’t explain that. The only vague explaination I can come up with is that the swinging arm has been replaced (with an X one), which has occasionally happen.
As I said, my understanding is that with 140mm fork, you get a HA of 67.5 in FR and 160mm forks you get the 65.5 in FR.
A to C:
Pike 140: 518mm
36vanR: 545.3mm

Have you tried one of those “angles app’s” on your phone, though they might not be (or might be) accurate, you could at least compare your’s and your m8’s prophets directly?

My 2nd hand Prophet came with a Lefty, lots came with 140mm Pikes (454 or 409’s) or Fox 32 140mm in the US, some with RS Tora’s
2009 Euro Catalogue (Page 84 has the Geo: 67.5/69)
2008 US Catalogue (Page 91 for the geo)

Ahh the 2007 Catalogue suggest the lower two MX models came with 140mm Pikes Can’t see how the geometry could be the same as the MX1 with the Fox 36’s though… As I understand it other than the ISCN mounts and extra gusseting, all the Prophet frames are basically the same.

Hi Zippy,
Thanks for the reply.
Impressed with your knowledge.
I’ll try the angle finder, if I discover anything more ill let you know.

The only thing I can put it down to is the big metal spacer at the button of the head tube, which I think is 20mm so that will add just under 1 deg, but I also think that this was needed for clearance on other forks 36’s?

What do you think about the lefty? I always said I couldn’t ride a bike with one because my head tells me there should be two legs, but I’m warming to the idea now.
Might try and get hold of one.

Odd. Mine’s a green and white Prophet 2 as in that pdf. Had it from new, has 67°/65.5° on the swing arm.

Impressive knowledge, not really, it was the bike I should have bought 6 years earlier than I did (got some way over the top instead)… way way too late and now I’m 29er FS curious (love my 29er HT), which all things considered is bloody annoying, as I love my Prophet.
You can even fit 650B wheels to them (which I considered doing before they became ‘fashionable’), but you can’t use the FR setting with them.

I like the lefty a lot, and have an older carbon Max with the PBR (internals) upgrade. They track so well (noticeably better than QR’s) more so when you realise you only have the axle attached to the one side, and now mine’s so light it’s ridiculous (carbon outer and air instead of a coil internals) for a 140mm fork.
I found it to be a really good fork, with little maintenance needed other than a through overhaul every couple of years IME. I can’t say I was totally impressed by the small bump sensitivity, as I struggled to get the best out of the SPV system, so spent a load of money upgrading it and it is a whole load better for the upgrade.
IIRC they have a slightly shorter A to C, than other 140mm forks (my Rev’s for example), which I’d say was a small drawback, as the Prophet is so much fun the slacker it becomes (to a point), but I have a more all round machine, which is all my ‘skillz’ need.
If I do go 29er FS, the lefty will be kept and converted to 29er (a spacer), as I thinks it’s too good to let go of & looks ace (IMHO)

Rust by z1ppy2, on Flickr

PS: My Prophet came with an ali Lefty, which I removed as I already had the Carbon one, so have one going spare (fully serviced and unused as it doesn’t have the spring I need) 😉

The brochure and owners manual don’t match the frame for the 2009 Prophets.

We set the Cannondale up in its low/slack setting, which the frame eyelet claimed gave us a head angle of 65.5° – we measured it at 66.3°
Read more at http://www.mbr.co.uk/news/bike_news/cannondale-prophet-1499-bike-review/#Q2hm4qmym2M6Y3OU.99

160mm forks, 200*57mm rear shock in the XC setting with offset bushes and ~30% sag. Adds at most half a degree to the head angle compared to a stock 200*50 at 25% sag in the FR setting but turns a good trail bike into a great Gravity Enduro/Alps ride.