Little Help With Santa Cruz Bullit

[mountian goat]

Hey all im thinking of getting a new bike and my mates dad is selling this santa cruz bullit for £400.

I just wondered if it is a good deal.

I will try to get the spec right lol.

frame: santa cruz bullit

forks: rock shocks

bars: answer

headset: ?(not sure)

stem: answer

wheels: mavics

gears :vshimano

cranks: shimano

brakes: hope

rear suspension: fox

bottom bracket: ?(not sure)

seat ?(not sure)

seat post ? (not sure)

tyres: ? (not sure)

pedals: ? (not sure)

so £400 deal or no deal??

thanks for looking lee x

Edited December 31, 2008 by mountian goat

[Tom_]

Its probably worth it TBF, specs abit out dated though. With abit of extra moneys that could be a sweet AM/FR bike, longer fork (maybe a 13-150mm) (pikes?) (marzocchi 55s?) shorter stem (race face or similar) and that would be awsome.

[Tomm]

Hmmm, difficult one. Bullitts are really nice bikes, very fun. A mate of mine has just got a brand new one that looks awesome. But that one looks really old - I'm not sure when they started making them but it could be as old as 02 or something.

If you were to buy that frame-only these days it would probably fetch maybe ~£250 assuming no cracks and a working shock etc. The rest of the stuff on that bike is nearly worthless IMO. None of it looks desperately bad, apart from maybe the stem (which is way too long for a bike like that) and the forks (which are way too short). You need 150mm forks at least on that bike (so Pikes or 55s - which are both 140mm max I think - would still be a bit short). Something like 150mm 66s would be my choice. Those forks looks like Psylos so they're ~100mm or so I think. And shit

NB the older Bullits don't have replaceable mech hangers. They look pretty beefy but since they're still aluminium, you'd be a bit screwed if it broke.

I'm not sure if that's actually been any help. I think if you were going to make it into a really awesome bike, you'd need to spend loads of money on it. As it is, it would be pretty OKish, particularly if you swapped the forks and stem.

[TomR]

Knock him down a few quid then get your arse on CRC for some new bits, jobs a good'un. Go for it I say.

You can get some damn good shimano kit these days for not a lot of cash (like the SLX cranks, which look pukka), new bar and stem setup etc, second hand hope wheelset.

[Tom_]

Oh right, I wasnt to sure about what sort of fork would work best on it, just saw the (shoddy) 100mm fork and thought that maybe it was for a shorter travel fork..

Yea, in that case, i think youl be looking at totems/66s/and the other longer travel rock shox, cant remember the name, recons? I havnt looked for MTB stuff for a good few months now. I guess it dependsif you want to just point it down a hill, or if you want to atleast attempt to get back up again.

I always thought the value of a santa cruz was pretty high, but if the frame is only worth 250 then Id be inclined to retract my previous post and say, its probably not worth £400, maybe £300-£350 tops.

[Tomm]

To be fair, that estimate on the value of the frame was a guess. If it was only a year old, then it would be worth more like £500 but as I'm guessing it's at least 5 years old, it's really pretty old for a freeride bike.

Yea, in that case, i think youl be looking at totems/66s/and the other longer travel rock shox, cant remember the name, recons?

Recons are XC forks, maybe you mean Domains? They're like the cheaper version of Totems. There's also Lyriks which are longer travel than Pikes but less than Totems/Domains.

[Shaun H]

Those brakes are the best AM/FR/DH brakes EVER made. It's what Gregg Minaar ran the first time he was world champ riding for Honda. He didn't have a brake sponsor at the time so could run whatever he wanted, go figure

The only problem I had when I had a set was that you had no lever position adjustment.

Other than that, with a few changes that bike would make an awesome AM bike. Bit too old to be chucking down drops and things now, have a good look over the frame for any cracks as if it's as old as it looks it might have been through a lot of use, gentle as it may have been...

[mountian goat]

well i think the bike should be ok for what i want to use it for . i will prob use it for trails but not anything with jumps just going fast and tight corners is fun for me.

wich is what he used it for in hong kong as well i belive

i think i will be able to get him down to around £300

so i think im going to go for it

new forks and stem on my to do list

keep the comments comming on what you think of it

o and could you please give me some idea's on what stem and bars to get. i like quite high rised bars

so link me up

cheers lee x

[Tomm]

Yeah if you could get it for £300 I'd say that's a deal definitely

[Tom_]

To be fair, that estimate on the value of the frame was a guess. If it was only a year old, then it would be worth more like £500 but as I'm guessing it's at least 5 years old, it's really pretty old for a freeride bike.

Recons are XC forks, maybe you mean Domains? They're like the cheaper version of Totems. There's also Lyriks which are longer travel than Pikes but less than Totems/Domains.

That is exactly what I meant, I actually meant the lyric, and had forgotten about the domains. I would go for one of the afformentioned forks anyway.

[mountian goat]

i bought the bike for £300 yesterday

rides great just a bit low on the front end so will need new forks

cheers for the help

keep the comments comming about stem and bar choice

thanks lee x

[Caleb]

you tried adding stackers/ higher stem?

[Fixed Pants™]

150mm forks will sort out the front end.

Domains, Marzo 66s, Pikes (not quite 150mm, 145 max) fox 36 vans would all be pretty good on there. A mate has exactly the same frame and had 66s (until he crashed square on with a tree and made the wheelbase a LOT shorter) and they were perfect. And Marzocchis go on for ages without needing any work.

To be honest, i'd build it again from the frame, new wheelset, something like DT FR 6.1 rims on pro IIs, Nukeproof, even joytech if you want, SLX/hone/maybe saint (if you can afford it) cranks, x.5 at least gearing, sunline bars (burly as f**k!) easton vice stem, SLX brakes, and some nice tyres, and it'd be sweet.

Edited December 31, 2008 by Fixed Pants™

[Rich J]

150mm forks will sort out the front end.

Domains, Marzo 66s, Pikes (not quite 150mm, 145 max) fox 36 vans would all be pretty good on there. A mate has exactly the same frame and had 66s (until he crashed square on with a tree and made the wheelbase a LOT shorter) and they were perfect. And Marzocchis go on for ages without needing any work.

To be honest, i'd build it again from the frame, new wheelset, something like DT FR 6.1 rims on pro IIs, Nukeproof, even joytech if you want, SLX/hone/maybe saint (if you can afford it) cranks, x.5 at least gearing, sunline bars (burly as f**k!) easton vice stem, SLX brakes, and some nice tyres, and it'd be sweet.

Not everyone has lots of cash to spend unnecessarily on bikes....

Raise the front end, then tweak anything else if needed. No need for a complete rebuild.

[Fixed Pants™]

That's not an expensive spec though, it's sensible, and if he looked hard enough he'd find all of it cheap enough 2nd hand, and it'd be an ideal mid range bike. Buy cheap buy twice and all that.

The forks will definitely need sorting whatever happens though, cos it's like putting a 20" wheel on a 26" bike, not right.

[RobinJI]

Those forks look suspiciously like psylos to me, which means good forks, but the damping cartridges are a bit fragile. On the plus side it also means that they are capable of 120mm travel, which should be an improvement for the time being, if its not externally adjustable then it should simply be a case of unscrewing the left top-cap and using a very long flat blade screwdriver to turn an adjuster sat in the bottom of the leg.

Looks like a nice bike for £300, a shorter stem would probably help a lot with the way it rides, along with the forks being lengthened/replaced. Other than that to be on the safe side some new cranks as those look almost worryingly flimsy and perhaps a larger front disc rotor, but the breaks them selves are awesome. Other than that I wouldn't bother touching it unless it breaks, if its not broken why fix it?

[Tomm]

Those forks look suspiciously like psylos to me, which means good forks

I see what you did there

[JonMack]

To be honest, i'd build it again from the frame, new wheelset, something like DT FR 6.1 rims on pro IIs, Nukeproof, even joytech if you want, SLX/hone/maybe saint (if you can afford it) cranks, x.5 at least gearing, sunline bars (burly as f**k!) easton vice stem, SLX brakes, and some nice tyres, and it'd be sweet.

Having a decent bike doesnt make you a decent rider, you of all people should know that.

[mountian goat]

thanks for the advise guys i will be getting bigger forks though because i have the money and the front end does feels low and today at my local trials they bottomed out on me

i think thats the thing i need the most

cheers lee

keep comments comming

Edited December 31, 2008 by mountian goat

[Tomm]

It's not so much about running out of travel (buy harder springs?) it's the fact that the front end will be low, and the head angle much steeper than it's supposed to be. That means it'll handle like shit for going downhill. Putting some 66s (and a shorter stem) on will make all the difference.

You can get 66s for under £100 occasionally.

[mountian goat]

well i have been looking at these on ebay :manitou nixon it platinum 145mm forks

forks any good?

i may sound a bit of a douch but im new to this free ridey stuff

lee

x

[RossMcd]

go for it! they are at a great price just now! they are a pretty good pair of forks IMO!

[mountian goat]

go for it! they are at a great price just now! they are a pretty good pair of forks IMO!

cool thanks alot dude

anymore thoughts?

[RobinJI]

Yeah, those forks are really nice, although manitous will need regular servicing. But they sound exactly what you're after. They feel gorgeous, and they take a surprising amount of punishment even though they're only really designed for all mountain.

[mountian goat]

Yeah, those forks are really nice, although manitous will need regular servicing. But they sound exactly what you're after. They feel gorgeous, and they take a surprising amount of punishment even though they're only really designed for all mountain.

so what do you mean by servicing ?

like fully taking them apart?

if i felt worried about doing it is it something that my local bike shop could do ?

thank so much

lee x