Is a Slacker Head Tube Angle Better?

Today we are talking about Slacker Head Tube Angles. We'll dive into the why, how, where, and when to make your MTB head tube angle slacker. We've got some cool products to show you as well as our advice on what's best for so. So, is a slacker bike always better? Stick around to find out.

0:00 Intro
0:21 Why Slacker
1:09 How Slacker
3:26 Ride Impressions - Yeti 160E
4:55 Ride Impressions - Orbea Rise
7:13 The Verdict
8:28 Best Bikes for Slacker

[bryanorient]

Totally agree that making an older bike with slightly outdated geometry slacker can give it new life. I have a 2019 canyon spectral with a 66 degree head tube angle. I swapped out the stock 27.5" 160mm fork and wheel with a 29" 150mm fork and wheel to make it a mullet and slacken it out (essentially over-forked it by swapping to the 29" wheel). It made the bike around 1-1.5 degrees slacker and made it so much fun. I kept the 27.5" wheel and fork and swap it back from time to time. Now its like having 2 bikes in 1. Great videos - keep it up! Cheers!

[TheHeyoo]

I put a -1.5 angle set on my 2018 Yeti SB 5.5 and it was a game changer. Added a coil with a progressive spring and now it’s a full on ripper! The seat tube angle is steeper, wheelbase longer and BB lower. All things needed to give it more modern geo and keep me rolling for another 2 years. Super stoked

[andrec.]

This was exactly the kind of information I needed. My trail bike has a 130mm fork with a 66.5 degree head angle. I am not the most confident descender therefore I am going to increase the travel to 140mm and slacken out the angle. I just have to decide on if to go with 1 or 1.5 degrees.

[rpiian]

Yes. (For me 😁)

On my ‘16 134 I put a -2deg angleset on + a 160 fork (from 140) and the bike went from 68 to 65 HTA. With minimal change in BB height. HUGE difference in downhill capability. With a 125mm head tube the thing is overbuilt and I have zero concerns about durability. I did have to run a 50mm stem to keep front from washing out constantly on flat turns (I crashed a lot before that). This also lead to me thinking about going back to 140 travel in the front but a 29er wheel. This would keep the ATC of my current setup but the dynamic ride quality might be different… Jury’s still out on that one, but I think it’s one of the few ways you could mullet a 27.5 bike without the huge change in Geo.

[LorenzoC]

I just did that on my 2018 Santa Cruz Hightower. Head tube around 64.5-65 and the seat tube around 75 (76 with saddle forward). Running 29 F/R with 150 mm fork. I wanted to extend the life of the bike until I'm ready to move on, but in this setup it feels much more stable downhill and it still climbs well. Plus I can still use my 27.5 wheels or set it up as mullet

[TheTaz]

I done it with a orbea Rise, 170 travel in the front and 160 in the rear. ( 216x63 shock with one bishing = shock length effectiv 214mm ) and yes I love it and make a better bike for me. I will agree your statement 💪

[kingrat]

Mulleting, over forking, angle set... Will all change the handling of your steed.
For mind, over forking isn't as drastic as everyone makes out.
Sure the HTA will obviously get slacker. But, aspects of the bike that are further away from the site of change are less affected.
I've generally over forked all my rigs.
My '17 Nukeproof 290 hard tail was designed around 120-130mm of travel.
I set it up on a 140mm fork and it's killer.
My Banshee Phantom V3 was designed around 130mm of travel... again, I've gone for 140 up front.
I've also mulleted it out, which has slackened everything even more so.
The Phantom V3 comes with adjustable dropouts... in the low mode the bike felt a bit off... however, in the high mode it feels just right.
I've also just built up a '21 Trek Remedy w/ a 170mm fork, in the low mode. I've also upsized to XL from my usual large sizing.
The bike absolutely rips!!
Still has the well renowned Remedy 'Pop', but is also stable at speed through the chop.

[claytonjessup]

I did a 1.5 degree 9 point 8 slack-r kit on my Santa Cruz chameleon, and overworked it to a 150MM ROCKSHOX Domain, so fare its been very fun!!!

[leifostrum]

Hey Guys! So I actually steepened by Sentinel V2 by 1 degree using a Wolf Tooth Geoshift Headset to get a 64.6 degree HA. I found with stock 63.6 HA I was understeering a bit in corners and it seemed a bit cumbersome for the Vermont trails where I ride. I looked at a lot of different bike geometry (Yeti SB150, Ibis Ripmo AF, etc.) to get comparison and I felt 64.6 made sense for 150/160 travel. I think how you fit on the bike makes a difference as well, I'm 5'11" on a size large whereas someone 6'1" would be positioned more over the front with longer torso, legs, and arms. Also, I may put in a 170 air shaft this summer for bike park days and effectively make the HA 64.1 degrees.

[jammerlr]

I am looking to go much the opposite direction. I ride in Western Oklahoma and bomber hills are simply not found here. I really like the steel head angle of an XC bike with the suspension of a trail bike. Going to use an angle adjusting headset to get there. Same path, for a different destination!

[tonybasoni]

I think you guys nailed it. Back in the day I rode for a couple different bike manufactures and kept saying, we need more head angle, we need more head angle. But this was for strictly downhill racing. I don't really remember what the number I requested was, but I think it was 64 degrees.

[earthpigidaho]

I have a Litespeed Pinhoti boost (V2) hardtail that I have been riding overforked for a couple of years with 130mm front travel instead of 120. However, this longer fork than stock slackened the already slack STA. I swapped the fork for a 120 which fixed the slack STA, but steepened the HTA to 69.5 degrees and shortened the wheelbase - bike is super nervous feeling now. Next step is the addition of a -1 degree angleset to get me back to the longer wheelbase and slacker HTA I had with the 130 but with the secondary benefit of steepening the STA slightly. Hopefully, it won't lower the BB too much.

[UrbanArboristsBlackMountain]

I have messed around with this quite a bit and found over forking plus one or two offset bushings depending on the bike is the way to go in most situations. Less extreme head angle adjust and allows you to tune the bike a bit more how you want it. Plus they are $20. Thanks for another great video 🤙

[michaelkay]

My wife’s ripley rolls on a 140 fox 36, which ups the a2c something like 15mm from stock. 65.75 hta is a lot more reasonable these days for a trail bike in moderate terrain than stock 66.5. Feels so much less sketchy :).

That’s Just to second your point on the ripley. I’m sure whenever the v5 comes out it will update to closer to the afs geo.

[DOCWHOK]

Tried a Giant Trance E today with Slacker geometry, Very Nice, so Cruisy !

[wynnfpv]

Very interesting guys! I really like my Transition Sentinel that has a steep head tube angle of 63.6 One thing about that bike, it's great on everyday trails but when you get into some narly terrain it eats it up so good.

[rubenvor]

I did this by replacing my 160 fork for a 180, but totally ruined handling, to fix it I inserted maximum amount of tokens and set up sag as if it is a 170.
I would like to know if someone has experimented with "over shocking" the rear, and play with offset bushings 😁
Love your videos, keep up the great work!

[SuperPetVet]

One more thing you can do, if you’ve got ample clearance for your rear tire, is to use a shorter rear shock. I’ve done this on my cheapo Gravity FSX 275LTD and, along with a 1.5 degree angleset, slackened the head tube angle from a putrid 71 degrees to palatable 66.5. Time will tell how much that shock bottoms out and any other consequences that may arise, but it’s a fun experiment in the meantime. Next, I might overfork and put the longer shock back on—or not—and see how it goes.

[MCougar]

Awesome video, I have been playing with the idea of putting an angle set on my 27.5 Trance (67HTA/73.5 STA). I think this will bump up the geo a bit to more modern standards. I really like that it steepens the STA as well it seems kind of a win/win.

[rcbigdaddy]

Talking ebikes here. I played around with the settings on my S5 Gen3 Turbo Levo and ended up going full slack on the front with the flip chip high on the back. 64 degree head angle. That was a good compromise for me between stability, ground clearance, and agility. The agility suffers a bit though and sometimes I have issues with tight steep uphill turns. Worth the tradeoff though. Previously I had a size large SC Heckler which was too small for me (6'2") but nimble. I put a 29 wheel on the front which helped the bike overall but made climbing a real challenge as it wanted to wheelie way too much. No doubt lifting the back would have helped. That, combined with the abrupt E8000 motor, had me getting stuck on climbs pretty often. In contrast the Turbo Levo climbs very very well with the setup I have. Any more slack would be too much for my riding.