 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Santa Cruz Bullit
I wanted one of these beasts for ages and last year, a number of
factors clinched it for me:
1) They now come with a 5th Element Shock, and have increased the
rear-wheel travel to 7in
2) They removed the canti bosses
3) Marzocchi released the Z1 Freeride dropoffs in black, also with
canti bosses removed
Once I realised that I could get my dream bike, all in black, with
no ugly bosses sticking up and with the new Progressive shock, I
had to have one. 0% finance is truly a beautiful thing.
I've been riding it now for about nine months, and the thing just
keeps getting better. The rear shock has been fiddled with by Mr
Tim Flooks and I don't know what it was that he did, but it feels
amazing. When you first ride one, the platform in the 5th Element
shock tricks you into thinking that the bike has much less travel
than it actually does. As soon as you hit a drop off or generally
point the bike downwards, though, the whole bike just goes 'whhoomphh!'
(technical term) and just absorbs everything. It's great!
Climbing is obviously harder than it would be on a hardtail XC bike,
but the rear shock hardly bobs at all - it just sits at the sag
point. I rode it all the way to the top of the black route at Glentress
recently, with only three dabs, and these were more down to physical
crapness, as opposed to any weaknesses in the design of the bike.
The bike really wakes up when you point it downhill, though. The
first time I went out on it I hadn't ridden a mountain bike for
about a year and a half. I got to the top of Dumyat in Stirling
with a lot of huffing, puffing and pushing and then went for the
descent. You know when you're riding over something like a rock
or tree root and you just know that you're going to get thrown off?
Well that's what I was like for the whole top, rocky section - I
was bricking it and just holding on. The bike, however, just took
it all, and despite everything, I stayed on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
