69 degs head angle, short top tube, how does it overcome these stats to be the great all-rounder everyone says it is? Not trolling, just curious as it's the frame I'm looking to upgrade from my 100mm Trance. Got some 6" Sektors and Stan's Flow wheels to swap over, so hoping it's going to make me progress DH.
Could you not step the Sektors down to 130, fit to the Trance and then get something a bit more DH than a Heckler when you feel you've progressed?
A lot of people fit longer forks than standard to their Giant full suss, regardless of model.
My mate quite happily used his heckler in morzine 4 years ago. With 140 pikes. He was damn quick too. Slacker angles will make it easier for you though, you could always use a slackset and longer fork.
Similar story with my Pronghorn. Looks shite on paper (and in real life 😆 ) but it just isn't. Somehow it just all seems to work really well.
My 03 measured at 65 IIRC, and the top tube isn't short.
Love it, perfect for me, can be built light for races or all day rides, heavy for Alps trips etc.
mtbtomo, I've got the Sektors on the Trance at 150mm and it rides sweet. The only problems are that it's a medium and a little too short for me and it's only 105mm at the rear and I fancy stepping up the rear travel to 150mm.
A 150 Sektor will slacken it slightly as it a has longer axle to crown than the fork Santa Cruz base their geometry on.
The guys I've ridden with in the Alps on Heckler's (including Al) don't seem to have issues.
[img] 
[/img]
Mine was awesome at the down hill bit slow going up but very confidence building was great in Morzine. 68degs with Lyric
had a heckler for 3 years ..
at first with pike ..was quite good...later with an older marzoc 150mm freeride, with longer axle-to-crown length, and for me it was much better...but for the long climbs in the alps the seatangel felt a bit slack...
for this reason I changed 2010 to a five..ticks all boxes for me ! perfect..
but still loving the heckler, ..the frame gets a rest right now..couldn´t give it away so far
I think the heckler will vanish soon from the santa cruz range..
2009 in the alps...
[img] 
[/img]
I bought the heckler based on what folk had said about it rather than the geometry. Run a 150 fork which gives a head angle of a hair over 68 degrees I reckon, but could certainly do with another degree off it. The big problem I find with it is how short in the top tube it is, its about an inch shorter than any other competitor bike (in medium) I've ever looked at.
Great fun bike, but not sure I'd buy another for the reasons above
I've had one since 05 bar a year trying a Nomad which was too much.
the bike is steep n short.you get used to it,i ran mine with 140mm mazz shimmed at that,and it did 2 alps trips,and pawned certain uk steep stuff no probs,ideally would be slightly easier if it had been slacker but hey ho,
Buy a Mega. There was a guy on here I believe, running it with 150mm forks just fine.
i have a Mega 8)
Had 2 hecklers 160mm forks and fairly unstopable, ridden some crazy stuff on it and very rarely does it feel out of it's depth. Cant go far wrong with one
That yellow one looks nice.
I've a heckler, still trying to get it to feel "right"... 😐
Still think its too much bike for me, but I reckon if I got fitter if enjoy it more..
Seems more than capable for anything you throw at it..
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
I've got a Blur LT2 which also has a 69 deg head angle, but it's superb at really steep techy stuff. Proves that it's the whole geometry package that's important, not just individual bits.
IIRC a pair of Lyrics or Fox 36 would take it out to about 67 deg
Pretty much the same geometry as the Bullit I think, apart from it has a slightly steeper seat angle. The Bullit is well fun to ride. I don't think I'd want it any slacker, it can already feel a bit sluggish on easier trails. I don't really buy into the super slack head angle thing much, 68 when sagged is about right for me.
I've a heckler, still trying to get it to feel "right"...Still think its too much bike for me, but I reckon if I got fitter if enjoy it more..
Put an air sock and 32's on it then.
Took my Heckler with 140mm Pikes to the Alps last year.
Ended up entering the Courchevel endurance downhill race, felt some what intimidated at the start next to the storm trooper dressed riders.
Ended up finishing 12 overall out of 340 ish entries. More than enough bike and travel for me.
Love the bike, never want to change it.