Does the angle of the head tube really matter??? I am looking for a new bike wanted to build one up but can get a good deal on a 09 giant glory love the build but when i look at the geo it claims that its a 67 degree angle isn't that kinda steep... i currently have a sunday and the head angle is slack at 65 which i love my freeride bike is set ay 66 but it just worries me to drop money on a bike and not be happy..when i compare it side by side with my bike can't really tell the difference but not sure???i kinda had my eyes set on an M6 but it would cost me more money for one. i which i knew some one that had a Large glory.. so does it matter??
head tube angle??
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67 degrees huh? that does seem kinda steep
There's a guy on here, user name Yuroshek that rode a large Glory DH last season, might wanna send him a message and see what he thinks. 67 degrees might be steep but once you're sitting on the bike the HTA slacks out once you've engaged the sag, so it's probably fine. The glory has more travel than the sunday so maybe you can run more sag and still have the same amount of travel.
My 07 Giant Glory had a 65 Degree head angle. The 08 and 09 have the same. Are you looking at the Glory Free Ride bikes and not the DH bike?
i'm on the site on the new 09 dh glory...i'll check again
The geo on giant's site for the '09 dh is wrong. I'm pretty sure it's the geo for the fr versions.
Depends on what you're doing. I find the FR's are the most versatile 8 inch bike on the market... You can ride that thing damn near anywhere. I've ridden a demo at a resort and it's not a slouch. This is why there's 2 models of the bike. The DH is slack enough for the steeps all day, the FR is a little steeper for quicker handling if you're into stunts or techy maneuvers. :biggrin:
edit: Yeah, the geo. chart for the DH is off. It's really around 65...
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... but it all comes down to what terrain you're on. I'm riding a 65 deg. bike right now and it rules at resorts and full DH. If the trail gets flatter and twistier, then it's not so great.
This is why the Glory FR is so appealing. It has plenty of travel but you can still trail ride it. If your riding is really diverse and you want a tough long travel bike, this is the one. If you're hanging out at Whistler or Northstar all day, get the DH...
The charts are off on the Reign x as well. I wouldn't trust the website on geo until the kinks get worked out.
The V10 I believe is also 67.
it slackens out because the the 10" travel and amount of sag your supposed to run.
I'm fully aware of that, I thought they were referring to original angle. That's why I through that one in there.
figured you did...just wanted to make sure the guy who asked the question knew it too ;-)
Alot of people have said this already, the site is wrong, I spoke to our rep last week about that.
Alot people also said this, HTA is going to be all about what your doing. I like slack, it rides smooth, lots of "Plowability" but its quite specific to the riding your doing, IE Pure DH. By slack I am reffering to the 63 to 65 degree bikes out there, I like them, they feel great, but def have an intended use.
FR bikes, of coarse are different, steeper HTA, higher BB usually heavier, but they have a differnt intended use, alot of FR has alot of pedalling involved, cant always have a shuttle, some twity ass trails your going down as well. I ride a Dirtbag, and accoring to Transition its a 66.5 HTA, and I can def feel a differnce when riding something with a 64 degree, Never thought I would but it is noticable. Now alot of the trails I ride, I can ride eitehr without any trouble at all, the Dirtbad still eats up the trails just like the others and never looks back, but I will say its rougher, and doesnt have quite the same Plowability that a slacker bike has.
Lets look at the other extreme, XC, ****, your notmally looking at 68 to 70 degrees, now thats steep, But we are talking about something else all together, Lots of uphill, lots of Nimbleness needed at lower speeds, and a bike that just plain wasnt intended for big hard hits of anykind.
So in an answer to the original question, yes you can tell a difference between the HTA on different bikes, will it efect your riding? depends on you
Alot people also said this, HTA is going to be all about what your doing. I like slack, it rides smooth, lots of "Plowability" but its quite specific to the riding your doing, IE Pure DH. By slack I am reffering to the 63 to 65 degree bikes out there, I like them, they feel great, but def have an intended use.
FR bikes, of coarse are different, steeper HTA, higher BB usually heavier, but they have a differnt intended use, alot of FR has alot of pedalling involved, cant always have a shuttle, some twity ass trails your going down as well. I ride a Dirtbag, and accoring to Transition its a 66.5 HTA, and I can def feel a differnce when riding something with a 64 degree, Never thought I would but it is noticable. Now alot of the trails I ride, I can ride eitehr without any trouble at all, the Dirtbad still eats up the trails just like the others and never looks back, but I will say its rougher, and doesnt have quite the same Plowability that a slacker bike has.
Lets look at the other extreme, XC, ****, your notmally looking at 68 to 70 degrees, now thats steep, But we are talking about something else all together, Lots of uphill, lots of Nimbleness needed at lower speeds, and a bike that just plain wasnt intended for big hard hits of anykind.
So in an answer to the original question, yes you can tell a difference between the HTA on different bikes, will it efect your riding? depends on you
We had a large in the shop (2008) and it measured 14.25. :biggrin:
The web site is saying two different things: the complete bike says 65.5 head angle and the frame alone says 67. head angle? This is important I think.
Me, Scottishmark and monkeyfcuker from here measured our head angles with that iphone angle finder application a few months back - 07 Sunday, 07? Glory and my old 02 SX
they were all around 64.5-65 IRC Mark's Glory was the slackest (just) with 888s and flat crowns
The other two might remember the exact numbers... I'm old, it's late here and I have memory problems
they were all around 64.5-65 IRC Mark's Glory was the slackest (just) with 888s and flat crowns
The other two might remember the exact numbers... I'm old, it's late here and I have memory problems
If I remember correctly my Sunday (fork lowered in flat crowns as far as possible) and your SX where a knats foreskin under 65 degrees and Marks Glory was about 64.5 with about half an inch showing on the crowns 
Resurrecting this thread.
What's up with 64 vs 65 HTA for 2010 ... M6, 951, Demo, Revolt, DHR, 303 are or will be 63.5 to 64.5....
Does this mean the 65 HTA of the Session 88 or the 65.5 of the Socom is now considered too steep???
And what does any of this mean seeing as these are static readings, at different A2C, and different bikes have different amounts of angle change at correct sag?
And finally, at ride weight, sagged out fork and shock, what is considered the ideal HTA for a modern world cup DH race bike (regardless of A2C) ?
Fire away.
What's up with 64 vs 65 HTA for 2010 ... M6, 951, Demo, Revolt, DHR, 303 are or will be 63.5 to 64.5....
Does this mean the 65 HTA of the Session 88 or the 65.5 of the Socom is now considered too steep???
And what does any of this mean seeing as these are static readings, at different A2C, and different bikes have different amounts of angle change at correct sag?
And finally, at ride weight, sagged out fork and shock, what is considered the ideal HTA for a modern world cup DH race bike (regardless of A2C) ?
Fire away.
The change in ha between different bikes is less of an issue now as ~8'' travel is the standard now. In my opinion the angles steepened because of a couple of things.
1. Bike companies realized that what works for the pros might fork for the regular guys and they stopped dumbing down bikes so heavily (some time ago I've seen regularly claims that this is for pros and riders will feel bad with it). There is still a differance but probably smaller. I may be wrong on this one though. Someone with better market knowledge may know better.
2. Pro's want/get slacker bikes, tracks change, abilities go up.
3. Somebody finaly realised that bikes don't need to feel great at parking lots for people to like them (they actualy can fell pretty rubbish as long as they do their job)
4. Less and less people want a dh/fr/bacon bike that can do a few things at a time. The market gets more specyfic and so do bikes.
Also an ideal HA? Doubt there is one. Different riders/tracks = different needs. Barell has a much slacker version of his summum(that is super slack) yet some top riders go away with much steeper ha.
Personaly I always felt better with slacker.
But the big question is: are you faster with it?
Geometry is something personal, what feels good (and is fast) to one feels like crap to someone else. So it is not about fashion or what the Pros run but what works for you. It is OK to be inspired what others run IMO but ultimately I pick my parts to help me to ride faster and have more fun while doing it.
As long as I think I'm faster I will be happyBut the big question is: are you faster with it?
With a slack, low and responsive bike you can get the best of two worlds; quick, easy handling and stability.
Steep high bike; you try to improve confidence by running comfortable and soft suspension, but it will make you slow in corners and generally slows your reaction time down, even when you go slow and on less steep tracks... But it might feel good, so I guess that's enough for alot of people.
HA preference kind of depends on your personality and ambition, I guess. But first option is faster. No doubt.
An interesting comment on this topic; market is normaly 4-5 years behind most progressive athletes preferences on equipment. Just take any sport. Skiing f.i., fatskis had about 5 years lagtime, the same goes for reversed camber skis.
Steep high bike; you try to improve confidence by running comfortable and soft suspension, but it will make you slow in corners and generally slows your reaction time down, even when you go slow and on less steep tracks... But it might feel good, so I guess that's enough for alot of people.
HA preference kind of depends on your personality and ambition, I guess. But first option is faster. No doubt.
An interesting comment on this topic; market is normaly 4-5 years behind most progressive athletes preferences on equipment. Just take any sport. Skiing f.i., fatskis had about 5 years lagtime, the same goes for reversed camber skis.