How slack is too slack, my Nukeproof Mega 275 is in need of a new headset, it is already 65°. I have seen an angle headset on superstar components -2° is this too slack.. thoughts?

It depends on where you’re riding and how you ride.

My hardtail has gone from 64.3 to 64.9 to 65.4 (static – sagged is about 1.5 deg steeper), going steeper (back to stock) better suiting the less gnarly flatter trails it’s often on.

My full-sus has been used at 66.2, 65.7, 66.7, 64.6, 64.1 and is now 63.7 or 64.2 (adjustable dropouts, changes in fork length and standard or -2 deg headsets). Sagged it works out a bit steeper because it has more travel front (160mm) than rear (140mm) but I’m running similar sag percentages. I used to run less fork sag before I got a Luftkappe, which allows me to have the fork very plush for grip without diving under braking or on steep stuff.

The full-sus isn’t quite as good on flatter singletrack in its current form but better at everything else.

chief, how do you find the slacker settings affect climbing?

I was going to post something very similar to CGG as I made very similar changes to my spitfire after reading his posts about his experiments.

I’m running a Superstar 2° headset, I’ve also switched to a longer A-C fork (gone from a 26″ Pike to a 650b Lyrik – both 160mm travel). At slow speeds on the flat the steering is very slow and you can feel the tendency for the wheels to flop from side to side but as soon as you’re up to speed this does go away, the payback is that the bike feels so incredibly stable on fast descents. Climbing isn’t bad at all, fitting the slackest has dropped the BB, steepened the seat angle slightly, shortened the stack height and increased the reach by a few mm so my weight is more over the front of the bike than previously (this helps when descending too as you really need to load the front wheel to make the most of the slack angles)

Surely an angleset reduces reach?

I have a -2 angleset in my Transition Patrol, so it’s now around 63 degrees. It could be slacker, no problem. It feels AMAZING downhill. Fine uphill too – I have travel adjust forks but find that with them wound down I keep battering the cranks so leave them at full travel. Having the seat as far forward as I can helps more with climbing than the headangle.

Having the seat as far forward as I can helps more with climbing than the headangle.

This.

It’s taken a long time to sink in, but we are finally, slowly, moving away from the ‘perfect’ geometry as dictated by XC racers of the ’90’s.

Look at the Spesh Enduro on the homepage, even the big names are getting 75-76 seat angles now. Bet that bike climbs like a dream even with it’s (not very) slack 66 HA.

FWIW my bike is currently 61.5 HA and it feels awesome.

Stick the slackset in and give it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?

https://www.wideopenmountainbike.com/2017/04/rich-t-reviews-the-hand-built-starling-cycles-swoop-a-super-long-super-slack-steel-enduro-bike

seems to work

Sounds like I need to try one, just wondering what the longevity of the superstar slackerizer angle set is? Cant afford the cane creek one!

I have a superstar -2 deg slackset in my bike ,taking the head angle from 66 to 64 deg.

Initially the new headangle resulted in a lot of ‘understeer’ (ie the front on the bike didnt want to turn, just wanted to push straight on)on flatter trails, this was because there wasnt enough weight over the front wheel, so I took out a couple of spacers from under the stem to lower the bars, and also rotated them slightly so that the grips were slight more forward, this put more weight over the front which fixed the handling issue. Now the bike is great, works really well. No problems climbing , descends brilliantly.

In an ideal world I would have lengthened the chainstays to achieve the same result rather then lower the bars, but thats not really an option.

So if you try one out and the front feels a bit light, just try lowering the bars a little to get more weight over the front.