Bullit's Are they good? ~now with brake jack~

Hey y'all, I have a chance to get a 2003 Bullit frame in trade for my Devinci frame. It'll come with a Fox Vanilla RC, and a Swinger 6-way as a spare. The seller says that I will need a bushing kit to fit that Swinger, is that easy to do? I may also have to trade wheelsets too. What I am after is (as ususal) a lighter bike that I can ride anywhere, Bike Parks, XC with Elaine, and all that jazz. Will the bike fit that bill?

What's your advice folks!!!:beer: :beer: :beer:

the bullit is a really versatile bike. I find if you take the time to set the stable platform shock up it will climb really well, the same goes for descending. The key is in shock tuning for every aspect of riding. the geometry is actually really well suited to a number of types of riding. In the "steep" setting with a 6 or 7 inch fork the head angle will be steep enough to comfortably climb alot of xc singletrack, and in the "slack" setting it'll descend really well. It's not a full on DH sled, nor is it a full blown XC bike but with that in mind, it covers a wide variety of bases pretty well. One thing I like about the frame is that there are many ways of building it up. You can hang light parts and a shorter travel fork, say a 5 or 6 inch sc and it would actually feel pretty good for that type of riding.
What I'm saying is that if your like me, and you like to build a bike and quite often change your mind about what type of riding you do it's a great bike. I invested a healthy amount of cash into my frame a few years ago when I bought it new, but I'm actually glad I went with the bullit instead of just another big burly huck only bike.

ALOT of how the bike rides has to do with how the shock is set up. If you don't mind spending some time working on the shock, you'll have a frame that rides great in most scenarios.

Bullits are nice bikes, and I love mine. But I don't know if i would trade your devinci frame for it, especially with that shock. Maybe if it had a DHX5 or a 5th but I don't think you are getting enough return there. Also a lot of your parts are not gonna transfer over: rear wheel, bottom bracket, seatpost, front dreailer (if you run one)

from what i can rember, you are runing a sherman with a 1.5 headtube, i blieve you will have to purchse a new fork.

The devinci is a bit newer, and while the bullit is a super nice frame I don't know if it's such a hot deal for you. If you can, ask for a little cash on the deal to level it out.
also, check into compatability too, as some things won't switch over like was just mentioend.

last time I rode a bullit it had brakejack to the max, was un-manualable and was really really tall and long and really really bad pedal bob(it had a 5th set up for a rider my weight). It would be fun for big gaps and stunts but for climbing and dh it was horrid.

not even close to being an even trade………

what sort of Devinci?

a Kingpin=good trade

Ollie=bad trade.

last time I rode a bullit it had brakejack to the max, was un-manualable and was really really tall and long and really really bad pedal bob(it had a 5th set up for a rider my weight). It would be fun for big gaps and stunts but for climbing and dh it was horrid.

Im sorry, you must have not ridden a bullit!

Tall and Long does not fit the bill. And if it had really really bad pedal bob, the 5th was not infact set for your weight.

Un-manuable? Maybe you cant.

Sorry, had to defend my bike.

Justin,
With two shocks that could be a good deal. Does devinchi have a 150mm rear axle. If so you will need to trade. If i was you, I would probably do the trade (only if wheelsets were traded too.) And I would then Sell the Swinger for 180 or 200. Enough to cover the cost of getting the RC pushed.

Guys who say its a bad trade, sure cash value is one thing, but if the bike he has doesnt preform how he wants and a bullit will, then it is an awsome trade.

Make sure you have different fork too, but that shouldnt be too hard. 1.5 wont fit a bullit and more and more bikes are coming with 1.5 so it shouldnt be to hard to get rid of.

^ well compared to my bike is was one of the worst set ups ive ever ridden.

it was

2004 bullit frame
03 Shiver DC
5th
raceface cranks
aznoic bars
magura loise fr
mavic d521's

I thought it would have been killer, took it for a burn and it was far from a nice ride. the front end was great the rear end was really bad, touch the rear brake and it would stiffen right up, I plowed over some roots and the rear kicking up, and it didnt corner very well either, I had to brake slide the back end to make a few corners that I can cook through on my bike. I tryed my hardest to pull it into a manual, all I could get was about 2m, if I rode it for a bit longer I probably could have got it down but I didnt have any desire to ride it. I mainly didnt like it because the bb is so high compared to my bike, maybe im just used to a 24" rear wheel. The guy who rides it swears by it, I was pretty dissapointed in it though.

Terrible, terrible trade.

You'll need a new Headset, BB, Wheel, and seatpost. And you're still getting a 7" travel bike…

You Devinci is going to pedal much better…

What year and model is your frame? if it is the same year and condition then I think it would be OK but if his is older then you got to take in consideration that it potentionaly has whatever number of years more wear and tear. A majority of a bikes weight comes from the build so if you area swapping the same parts over then you might not be saving too much in the weight department. There are shit loads of folks with bullits so hooking up with someone for a ride and swinging a leg over one for an actual trail ride would be your best bet.If your rear wheel has a 150 mm axle that can fit on a Norco Six then I would trade you a xt hub a Mavic 521 if you need a wheel, if that would help you out.

I have rode one for a few rides and I have to agree with the brake jack comment but it wasen't as exagerated as some folks say, my 02 super8 had it even worse.

people just need learn to not jam the brake for every tech section.

the brake jack is noticable coming from a true 4bar bike, but I wouldn't say it's horrible. After a few rides on the bullit you adapt to it and learn how to ride to keep brake jack in check. Basically it means just not grabbing a handfull of brake as you go into a corner. It actually works out better in the long run because you learn to use the brakes at the right time, instead of just grabbing a handful as you get out of control.

as far as the climbing goes, I'm guessing that if the guy was running a shiver up front he probably didn't have any intentions of riding it uphill, and thus didn't have the shock set up for that. The 5th can be tuned to make ANY frame pedal bob free, it's just a matter of how it's set up. It takes a little fine tuning, but once you have it dialled you really feel the difference. maybe direct your buddy over the the 5th element turning thread if he's having bad performance.