Mullet feedback

Why do you want to do it? Are you expecting to go faster, or do you want it to feel different?

If you're tall enough to hustle a 29er and you're not hitting yourself in the hoop with your rear tyre then I wouldn't bother personally.

run my chameleon with both a 29 rear and a 27.5+ rear. prefer the latter but i'd hardly describe it as game changing. for preference buying a FS now i'd go mullet but a) i'm very used to the back end eventually following the front and not being in contact with the ground that much as a result of riding HT so much and b) a bit more clearance on steep stuff never hurts.

I'm 6' 1" so I am plenty tall enough but I want a different feel, a feel where the bike flows better through interlinked turns/berms.

Not long Mulleted my E-160 whyte eBike
Still turns well in tight twisty tree stuff but has a wee bit more height for the step downs and up n overs

I've got a large 2021 Vitus sommet CRX 29 that I had the itch to convert to mullet, as it feels a big bike which is bit of a barge in the corners. I wanted to see how it felt.

So I put a 27.5 rear wheel on and switched the flip chip to high so angles weren't much different. It was definitely worth it. It's no faster on the climbs or fast, flatter descents but certainly feels better on the steep, twisty, techy trails. It doesn't feel as cumbersome in the corners, feels more nimble, more "pop", much easier to maneuver. I'm in two minds to just keep it as it is, but may stick the 29er back in for faster, more xc type riding.

A lot of people worry about the bottom bracket height and pedal strikes running a mullet setup on a non mullet bike, but can't say I've noticed it at all.

For me it's not really about the wheel size per se, that's basically only ever going to make a difference to me if I go back to the Mega, where'll it be an asset for cowardly glacier tyre-sitting. It's pretty much entirely about the geometry change-I put it in an older bike and it's made the difference between "not low" and "low" (whichis way more than "a mm here or there") It's probably not as good for #enduro but it's much improved a weakness in fast flicky corners

IMO if it works it means the BB was too high. If the bike doesn't have adjustment and it can take a mullet without being too low, then it basically has to have been wrong in the first place. But that's a thing that happens, with older bikes, with bikes that you've addded fork to, or with conservatively designed bikes.

I also have one the early Canfield Yelli Screamy's built up more for XC style riding that could also benefit from a mullet experiment as its now being used by my grandson who is too small to be ideally suited to a full 29" rig.

I have my Privateer 161 set up as a mullet. Stuck an offset bush in the wrong way to bring the bb back a bit and increased the fork 10mm to raise the bb. It’s slack at 62 deg now which is fine by me but because the seat angle was 80 deg stock it’s brought that to a less extreme angle now. The bike honestly doesn’t feel bodged in any way. I’ve swapped over from a v1 sentinel and it feels so much better in the turns and is much more fun on the jumps and techy stuff I tend to ride.
Faster, who knows, I don’t race, it feels quick and I’m loving it, so zero regrets.

Your interlinked turns is what they’re good at. I went from a mulleted old Spec Enduro (the tall and steep one that really benefited from a smaller back wheel) to a Marin Alpine Trail where I could really feel the added gyroscopic effect of the bigger wheel in certain turns and now ride an Orange Switch 6. For me the mullet is perfect. I ride FoD off piste stuff.

I've mulleted my firebird since my ebike was mullet and handled way better than my mates same brand 29 ebike .

Can you borrow a rear 27.5 wheel and tyre to try it out.

I guess you might want a different shock yoke to change the geometry ?

I have taken the plunge and ordered a mullet specific wheelset so my next challenge is to decide on what tyres to buy for riding typical wet/damp Welsh & north of England trail centres. I much prefer tyres that are a bit lighter with lower rolling resistance than sticky downhill jobbies and I already have good 27.5 wheelset and fat tyres for the drier months.

I love those haircuts 🙂

If you wait long enough "fashion" will always repeat itself 🙂

Just built this up. Admittedly it was designed as a mullet, but a good concept test.

Several rides in, I can confidently say it just rides like a 'bike'. Having ridden 29, 27.5 and now mullet, the mullet is definitely the best of all worlds, but when you are just riding along, it is not life changing. But that's a good thing. It feels 'right' but not revolutionary.

I can see why 27.5 front and rear is dead, but I can definitely see the benefit of a smaller wheel out back.

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Nice bike. How are you finding your Minions front and back ?

As a ballpark figure how much lower does the BB and slacker the HA get if you put a little wheel in your “average” 29er?

Is there a geometry calculator somewhere that will easily show it?

@stevede any issues with the offset bush wanting to spin around to its “natural” orientation?

How are you finding your Minions front and back ?

Jury is out on that one. I have always used faster, lighter tyres, but despite building this one up from scratch, I did take my tyre choice from what Santa Cruz spec on their builds. The DHF/DHR II combo do seem pretty popular.

They certainly feel confidence inspiring on the downhills, but pedaling they feel a little sluggish. To qualify that statement, the first few rides have been over some pretty energy sapping surfaces (mud covered in wet leaves and sand covered in wet leaves), so it is hard tell to what extent the sluggishness is down to the tyres or the conditions (or my lack of winter fitness!). Given the conditions, I can't really comment on either grip, puncture resistance or suppleness.

Time will tell whether I get along better with them, but for now I will persevere.

The offset bushes haven’t moved at all in the 3 months I’ve had them fitted. The head angle change was around 1 deg, no clue on bb though.

If you wait long enough “fashion” will always repeat itself

And remember the rule - if you are old enough to have been around the first time it was in then you are too old now so leave it alone.

Seems that Overburys got it right in the 80's then.

“As a ballpark figure how much lower does the BB and slacker the HA get if you put a little wheel in your “average” 29er?”

BB drops by about 12mm / 0.5”

Angles slacken by about 0.9 deg

Stack gets a bit taller (about 10mm) and reach correspondingly shorter.

Cheers 👍

Thought you'd had an actual mullet. #kickscat on the way out.

Well my decision has been made, credit card has been battered. New Hunt mullet wheelset has arrived, DHR2's and foam cores onroute. If your interested I will be happy to post up my feelings after a few roads. Then again if you have more interesting to do well that's fine by me 🙂

@pb2 the S150 is “supposed” to be 29 or 27.5+ isn’t it and I assume you’re currently riding it as a 29er?

Are you planning on running normal size non plus tyre on the back?

And yes I am interested and no I don’t have more interesting things to do 🤓

Looks cool, feels a bit slacker steering it down the road. I can’t ride it properly as it’s too small so mrs5556 will have to take it out for a spin soon.

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About 324mm BB - so yes quite low and shorter cranks would probably be a good idea if it stays like it.

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I think I might be the exception to most people, however I really couldn't get on with it. My mate lent me his 27.5 wheel to try and I couldn't notice any benefit and I was casing jumps id normally clear every time in Greno. Pedalled back to the car after an hour and stuck my 29" back in.

Get some Hope 155 cranks on there. Plenty of clearance then

I’m not sure the Hope cranks fit the Shimano EP8 motor unfortunately?

@pb2 the S150 is “supposed” to be 29 or 27.5+ isn’t it and I assume you’re currently riding it as a 29er?

Are you planning on running normal size non plus tyre on the back?

And yes I am interested and no I don’t have more interesting things to do 🤓

Yes it is and I am currently running 27.5 wheels with 2.8" Nobby Nics front and back. This is a good combo in dry and damp conditions but sketchy as hell in wet or gloppy conditions - my last high speed "off" has forced me to rethink the whole wheel/tyre combo question and this in turn became the catalyst for this thread.

Skipped through this thread a bit, sorry if this is a repeat. I have a Whyte S-150 CRS and opted to put a 27.5 wheel on the back to mullet it as I'd found my arse was hitting the rear tyre too much on steep trails. Generally, it seemed to work but then after about 1yr and a particular poor showing at a race, I switched back to full 29er set up and found the benefits of the full 29er set up out weighed the pros of the mullet set up. This only applied to me and my particular riding preferences, but I'd try a mullet again on a bike designed to be ridden in both - normally you have a flip chip in the rear linkage and can alter the front head angle (I think) to retain the bike's intended geometry when swapping between the set ups - you can't do this on the Whyte I have. I think bodging it on the Whyte led to a compromised setup overall. Having watched videos I think the difference is personal more than about beating the stop watch. If it works for you then great. If I changed bike, I'd definitely consider either a mullet or a full 29er that can be properly switched over, geometry and all.

Thanks for that, I really wished the S150 CRS had a flip chip,I think that's a must have for any new bike for me. What tyre combo's were you running on your S150 ?

Agree that a bike not especially designed to be a mullet has compromises somewhere - too slack seat angle, too low BB, etc. I put up with the slack seat angle on my old Spec Enduro, but was one of the reasons I went with the Switch 6 as a properly designed mullet.

During winter I always run a magic mary up front, medium compound - it just works for me pretty much everywhere and provides loads of confidence. Rear is normally either a maxxis dhr or wtb vigilante - something with decent grip and traction, I'm more bothered about the front though. I did have a michelin wild on the rear but a tacky compound and found it too draggy, but I'm sure if a harder compound it would be fine. During summer I normally run a maxxis dhf front and high roller rear. Hope that helps.

@pb2 Is the Shape it link what you need for the Whyte?

@pb2 Is the Shape it link what you need for the Whyte?

CDN.SHOPIFY.COM "https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0127/9963/9610/files/Shape_It_Chart_UPDATED.pdf?v=1638459780"

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Phil I am indebted to you, thats a great example of why this forum is so good and to my amazement at £70 its not silly money. I will order one in the morning ~~ thats January's paper round money blown away 🙂 Thanks Paul B

 

No worries 🙂
I was aware they made one, didn’t know which bikes it was compatible with - Glad it sounds like it might sort you out.

They seem to do 2 with different lift amounts.

Now I just need to hope Orbea start making one.