[Applegate]

I'm a very leggy, fairly large dude - six-foot-six, 37" inseam, 260 pounds - and I'm looking to get a new hardtail. I'd like something in steel. Or titanium, maybe...

I'd also like something more aggressive and taller, stack-wise, than my last-gen Salsa Timberjack, which has a 67.4º HTA, a 135mm headtube, a 1207 mm wheelbase, and 634mm of stack. For datapoints, I also have a last-gen XXL Tallboy IV. It has 656mm stack, a 155mm headtube with 65.5º HTA , and a 1290mm wheelbase. It's a little cumbersome in tight spots and slow techy sections.

The Esker Smokey in XL looks terrific with a 174mm heat tube and 688 mm of stack, but may be TOO long and slack at 64.5º and a 1304mm wheelbase. How much change to wheelbase and handling would i get from, say, using a 1.5º angle-adjust headset to go to 66º? If it's still going to be too much horse for my trails, does anybody have any bike suggestions?

 

[HardtailHack]

I'm 6ft and about the same weight, my last one was 62.5deg static and was a bit of a handful on the tighter XC stuff or when you got fatigued.
Currently on a L Norco Torrent, only got a large because the seat tube was too long on the XL, the 64deg static HA is more suited to what I do but I have to run headset spacers because of the lower stack, my last bike was about 660mm.

Yeah a bike with XC geo would be easier to ride on tight XC, but that's not what I enjoy, I like singletrack downs and rutty fire roads.

For me I'll stay sub 490mm reach, around 650mm stack, a 64deg HA and no a massive BB Drop, having a hardtail you can't pedal is a bit dumb.

 

[englertracing]

Slope - Degree, Gradient and Grade Calculator

Convert slopes pitch between degrees, gradients and grades.

www.engineeringtoolbox.com

using this
assuming a 150mm travel fork with 561 a2c height, and that the offset is split equally between a 110mm headtube
enter 561+55 as a2c

1* changes wheelbase by 10.7mm
1.5* changes wheelbase by 16mm

in reality this isn't exact