[bullcrew]

O.K. I built this thing for Free ride and downhill, I would like some honest opinions and feedback to mull over.
Santa cruz bullit
deemax 36 spoke rims w/ hubs
maxxis minion slow reezay dh tires
azonic shorty stem (thanks arcadian)
Stratos helix pro DH rear shock (thanks arcadian)
Stratos s7 fork 7"
husselfelt cranks
E13 drs
world force riser bars
hayes mag brakes 8" front 6" rear
xt derailuers
kore lite seat post
xt cogg
odi ruffian lock ons

 

[bullcrew]

I get 8.75" rear travel no bottoming out and 7" front travel.

 

[lonewolfe]

Is that 8.75" or 7.75" of travel on that Bullit? I've never heard of anyone getting over 8" out of that frame. As for you build it sounds good. I am not familiar with Stratos shocks and forks as I don't know anyone using them but hopefully they will work well for you! You need to put of some pics of your new pony!

 

[bullcrew]

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/?op=list&function=myphotos&photouserid=47483
If rear measurements are done from the rear eye where the tire bolts up then it's 8.75.
Avalanche has a 9" i2i that puts it at 9" travel.
I moved the triangle in to the mount and straight bolted the shock and triangle with the mount, the rear arm is now less than 1/2" from the frame at full drop.
I measured it at 8.75".
I know I thought I would have to modify it for a avalanche but the stratos worked awesome with more usable shaft and body then the avy. meaning slightly smaller i2i length.

 

[dhriderII]

id say get a mrp world cup 1 for a chain guide rather then a e13, sorry to the e13 guys out there, take that from someone who owns a bullit too

 

[DownhillnDunkey]

My friend has about 8 or 9 inches on his 04 bullit the geometreys pretty whack now.

 

[bullcrew]

My approach and drop angle has been great so far from nose dive cliffs to retaining walls.
as far as the world cup, Why? does it retain better chain control on a single pivot?
I just put e 13 DRS systems on both of my bikes. I am waiting for my 4X104 bash guard for the bullit. By the way FSA bash rings blow.

 

[chicodude]

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/?op=list&function=myphotos&photouserid=47483
If rear measurements are done from the rear eye where the tire bolts up then it's 8.75.
Avalanche has a 9" i2i that puts it at 9" travel.
I moved the triangle in to the mount and straight bolted the shock and triangle with the mount, the rear arm is now less than 1/2" from the frame at full drop.
I measured it at 8.75".
I know I thought I would have to modify it for a avalanche but the stratos worked awesome with more usable shaft and body then the avy. meaning slightly smaller i2i length.

I don't think that's how it works.......But what do I know?

 

[seismic]

SOunds like an ok bike !!

 

[kail]

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/?op=list&function=myphotos&photouserid=47483
If rear measurements are done from the rear eye where the tire bolts up then it's 8.75.
Avalanche has a 9" i2i that puts it at 9" travel.
I moved the triangle in to the mount and straight bolted the shock and triangle with the mount, the rear arm is now less than 1/2" from the frame at full drop.
I measured it at 8.75".
I know I thought I would have to modify it for a avalanche but the stratos worked awesome with more usable shaft and body then the avy. meaning slightly smaller i2i length.

That's not how it works. There is really no way to get more than 8" of travel on a Bullit without drilling new holes in the downtube shock mount bracket. The eye to eye measurement of a shock has nothing to do with amount of travel, but the stoke length does. I have an 8.5" eye to eye X 2.5" stroke Avalanche shock on my Bullit and it gets about 7" of travel. A 9" eye to eye shock would not give the Bullit 9" of travel unless you could fit it in there somehow and it had a stroke length of 3" or more. Not to mention, you would steepen up your headangle to match some cross country bikes. You'd need a Super Monster to get it back to normal geometry.
Irregardless, if you like the way your bike feels, then that's great. Those Stratos shocks feel pretty good, a lot better than a 5th element, in my opinion. Good choice of components too.

 

[anarchyUK]

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/?op=list&function=myphotos&photouserid=47483
If rear measurements are done from the rear eye where the tire bolts up then it's 8.75.
Avalanche has a 9" i2i that puts it at 9" travel.
I moved the triangle in to the mount and straight bolted the shock and triangle with the mount, the rear arm is now less than 1/2" from the frame at full drop.
I measured it at 8.75".
I know I thought I would have to modify it for a avalanche but the stratos worked awesome with more usable shaft and body then the avy. meaning slightly smaller i2i length.

 

[bullcrew]

I disagree, there has to be a level point at which travel is measured. The qr or bolt through on a rear axle would be that, being its the center of the rears lowest point where the tire meets the ground. (going straight up to straight down.)from up and down like an axis. Or atleast thats how we do it on our off road race trucks back in cali.
And with the stratos dh helix pro and the triangle mount moved forward you not only keep your head angle decent you get 1" monting forward and allows 1" backwards before swingarm hits the seat stay. = 8.75"

 

[Toshi]

what stroke length is that helix shock of yours?

 

[bullcrew]

http://www.off-road.com/toyota/features/march2000/index.html
this link takes you to the feature of my old truck. I built the suspension on that with Shane casad, Bill hindorf and doug at Bilstein back when they were on recho rd in san diego. I had 30" rear travel and 22" front travel. My arms eventually were 4" over per side on the a-arms and the rear went to a custom 3 link that I built with a ford 9" rear out of a olds toronado.
When you cycle a moving part for travel its done off of a 90 degree axes.
So if I'm off on measuring travel let me know. I will measure it from the proper aspects.
I posted a site earlier that shows how the stratos is mounted by moving the front shock location forward by over 1" and allowing the rear to drop back almost 1".
The movement on a shock and its mounting position is what give the overall throw of the rear based on geometry. My truck had 16" bilstein coilovers and 14" 4 tube bypass shocks on the rear, they were mounted a little over 1/2 way up the 5' trailing arms with a 400 over 600 eibach spring set up. But at full droop w/ limiting straps and full compression I was a smidge over 30" of travel.

 

[bullcrew]

Hold on I'll measure.

 

[bullcrew]

almost dead nuts 3"

 

[bullcrew]

Thats not factoring in the 1/8" it doesn't move past the internal bump.

 

[bullcrew]

O.K. I cycled it on the stand insted of the carpet, My correction it's a hair over 8 3/8" of travel.
My bad I minused part of the carpet on the measurement before.

 

[bullcrew]

http://www.pinkbike.com/stories/bullitavalanche.htm
this is the pink bike thread that shows the 8" bullit upgrade, notice where he drills the back hole on the frames shock mount. I didn't have to drill mine it just worked out.
My stratos has a little more shaft movement than the avy. described in the article.
The 1 small downfall is how low the bottom bracket gets at full compression to the ground.