Great review! I finally got my san quentin 3 and threw a 170 Lyrik up front and love it. One thing it I'm only 5' 8" and ride a medium but had to go with a 200mm dropper to take advantage of the low seat post. When the seat is down, you have all the freedom in the world to jump, whip, even practice trials if that's ur thing.
Absolutely love the lyrik up front. It's super smooth, sometimes I forget I'm on a hardtail. I need to lean forward a bit when climbing but it's worth it. I'm also in florida so I'm overbiked but there's nothing in florida that bike can't handle. I'm also getting 65 degrees when I measure it with my phone app which in a way is ok here in florida since it's so flat
I rode my Chameleon for four seasons with 27.5 wheels. I changed to 29er wheels but I was curious to try a mullet. I had the extra wheel so I did a couple back to back to back rides changing the rear wheel a couple times. I couldn’t detect a difference on the trails I typically ride. That doesn’t mean there is no dfference but if I couldn’t tell it doesn’t matter to me. If a rider goes from two small wheels to a 29 front, they will have one experience. If you go from two big wheels you’ll get another. If you buy a bike built as a mullet it will be different again. I like big wheels I cannot lie. And I’m only 5’4". Long inseam though at 31 inches. I can just fit a 170 mm dropper.
Great test as always, your right little handlebar changes or stem spacers can change the enjoyment of the ride. The offset stem maybe would be a plus or not. You did a great first setup to put that in a mullet. My mullet is at 140mm I wanted it at 130mm to be more close to the original geo, but it rides great. Maybe a perfect full 29er is what most people ride, but if a great 27.5 RSD rides like it does……..but if I can take all these frames and try all the different set ups? Real that’s the best bike of all. This is my experience with finding my favorite modern hardtail….. different frames, different bars, different wheel set ups, Crank length, even thicker grips. Your tests are pertinent! I use to change nothing on my bikes, I was oblivious, even my controls ? Keep sharing
This is awesome, for this season im keeping the 27.5 and maybe next season id mullet it with the Zeb ultimate (150)… i love my marley but it was time for new bike 🤘🏾
great video Josh, some good info there. I will say that the Marin looks super rad as a mullet set up! it's got me thinking about throwing a 27.5" wheel on the back of my Hello Dave to try it out! that bike as a mx set up is going to be a lot of fun at the bachelor bike park when it opens this summer!!
wow, the bike seems to make more since with the mx setup. btw, if the ha only changed 1 degree, that's all the sa could have changed. your phone may have lied. lol. great video, bro.
Try the mullet setup on some more uphill climbs, some easy to medium to technical. I’m curious to see how challenging it is to keep the front wheel pointed in the direction you want to go. I’m leaning towards you may feel it uncontrollable at times during the climbing.
I find the frames with a head tube of 64.5 to 63.75 , when you turn it into a mullet it climbs fine with no bob. No fighting it, or having to weigh the front. It only is not ideal when things get crazy steep. The ragley mmmbop was great,Santa Cruz chameleon Mx, RSD middlechild likes to mullet. All good climbers considering they do so much other stuff at a level ‘10’.
I want to do this for my sq3 … any advice ? Trying to get used parts lol. So just a fork that takes 29 inch? Have any budget recommendations? Will probably need wheels and tires too right ? Will look on marketplace.. Should I get same type of tires on the front ? The assegais ?
I have been considering running mullet with my newest build. The frame I am using is a 27.5 and was tossing the idea of running shorter crank length, but with the geo changes of a mullet I may not need to. Do you notice the seat tube angle change to be noticeable in either a positive or negative way?
It was hard to say with the limited amount of seated climbing I did for the test, I’ll need to do some more trail riding to know for sure. But with how steep the STA is on this thing already, I’m not too worried about in slackening up a degree or two
Is 1 second really a good barometer..? Riding the same trail you could of had a better line or flow. For manuals, you have more familiarity with the bike even though it's mullet now. But good vid anyway 😊
Interestingly I actually manueled better on the bike I had less experience with! And yes, ultimately a longer descent would have been better, but I did 5 trials on each bike the mullet was consistently .5-1.0 seconds faster, so I feel like the results are relatively accurate
Something is wrong with you BBH measurement. On a ht it would be 290-320mm (axle to ground). 90-110mm would be impossible to ride as your cranks are longer than that. Maybe confused cm for inches?I would mullet that frame too, but with a 120mm fork to keep geo relatively unchanged.
The BB height measurement doesn’t seem right. I did mullet my Middle child, felt it was dragging and slower but actually I break my PR on one downhill section while not even trying😂.
But for me I didn’t keep the mullet setup on the MC, I actually planning on swapping the fork and front wheel between the MC and my SB140 27.5, which fox36 160mm travel 27.5 fork. The MC has 140mm travel 29 fork. I hope that would make the MC more playful while make the SB140 faster to further differentiate them
Nice! Ya I realized while I was editing that those numbers were way off lol, I’m not sure what happened…maybe looking at inches? IDK, but I didn’t want to refilm it lol
Yeah, it's a big difference. I went from a 27.5 to a 29 and then tried the 27.5 again after a season. The degree to which you get hung up on rocks, climbing on the 27.5 was pretty eye-opening! No way would I go back to 27.5 as a rear wheel. But, I don't ride anything where a smaller wheel size would help.
Very true! This was designed to be a short term, objective test. Check out my long term thoughts on the mullet San Quentin here: th-cam.com/video/Kl_qZXxVAgM/w-d-xo.html
I like how commencal sells their hardtails with mullet option for Small and Medium frames. Will be my next purchase.
Great review! I finally got my san quentin 3 and threw a 170 Lyrik up front and love it. One thing it I'm only 5' 8" and ride a medium but had to go with a 200mm dropper to take advantage of the low seat post. When the seat is down, you have all the freedom in the world to jump, whip, even practice trials if that's ur thing.
The short seat tube is so rad, I really hope that trend catches on with other aggressive hardtails! How do you like the 170mm fork on there?
Absolutely love the lyrik up front. It's super smooth, sometimes I forget I'm on a hardtail. I need to lean forward a bit when climbing but it's worth it. I'm also in florida so I'm overbiked but there's nothing in florida that bike can't handle. I'm also getting 65 degrees when I measure it with my phone app which in a way is ok here in florida since it's so flat
Nice! I have a Lyrik on my RSD and really like it!
I rode my Chameleon for four seasons with 27.5 wheels. I changed to 29er wheels but I was curious to try a mullet. I had the extra wheel so I did a couple back to back to back rides changing the rear wheel a couple times. I couldn’t detect a difference on the trails I typically ride. That doesn’t mean there is no dfference but if I couldn’t tell it doesn’t matter to me. If a rider goes from two small wheels to a 29 front, they will have one experience. If you go from two big wheels you’ll get another. If you buy a bike built as a mullet it will be different again. I like big wheels I cannot lie. And I’m only 5’4". Long inseam though at 31 inches. I can just fit a 170 mm dropper.
got an old trek elite 8.9, repainted it and convert to mini mullet, 26in rear/27.5 front with 120mm rockshox reba😂👌🏽
You could have put a 50mm stem to gain the longer reach. Just a thought. I run mullet on my Esker Hayduke and like it but prefer with matched
This thing actually has a pretty long reach at 500 mm. Good call if you’re looking to lengthen a bike though!
Great test as always, your right little handlebar changes or stem spacers can change the enjoyment of the ride. The offset stem maybe would be a plus or not. You did a great first setup to put that in a mullet. My mullet is at 140mm I wanted it at 130mm to be more close to the original geo, but it rides great. Maybe a perfect full 29er is what most people ride, but if a great 27.5 RSD rides like it does……..but if I can take all these frames and try all the different set ups? Real that’s the best bike of all. This is my experience with finding my favorite modern hardtail….. different frames, different bars, different wheel set ups, Crank length, even thicker grips. Your tests are pertinent! I use to change nothing on my bikes, I was oblivious, even my controls ? Keep sharing
Thanks for the kind words! Ya I love how versatile RSD’s frames are! I’ll definitely keep doing different tests with them!
This is awesome, for this season im keeping the 27.5 and maybe next season id mullet it with the Zeb ultimate (150)… i love my marley but it was time for new bike 🤘🏾
great video Josh, some good info there. I will say that the Marin looks super rad as a mullet set up! it's got me thinking about throwing a 27.5" wheel on the back of my Hello Dave to try it out! that bike as a mx set up is going to be a lot of fun at the bachelor bike park when it opens this summer!!
Ya it definitely looks mean!! Dude the Hello Dave as a mullet would be crazy haha, would you do anything to offset the geo change?
@@ridingwithjoshandwendy you k la honestly I don’t think I’d do anything to offset the geo if I go mx wheel… I looooove how slack that thing is!
Great info Josh! Did you ever try the Mullet setup on your MiddleChild?
Thanks Jason! I honestly love it full 27.5, but for the sake of “science” (lol) I might just have to give it a try!
wow, the bike seems to make more since with the mx setup. btw, if the ha only changed 1 degree, that's all the sa could have changed. your phone may have lied. lol. great video, bro.
Haha ya I was wondering about that 😂 My math logic isn’t great lol
Try the mullet setup on some more uphill climbs, some easy to medium to technical. I’m curious to see how challenging it is to keep the front wheel pointed in the direction you want to go.
I’m leaning towards you may feel it uncontrollable at times during the climbing.
I plan to! I think it would be noticeable better!
I find the frames with a head tube of 64.5 to 63.75 , when you turn it into a mullet it climbs fine with no bob. No fighting it, or having to weigh the front. It only is not ideal when things get crazy steep. The ragley mmmbop was great,Santa Cruz chameleon Mx, RSD middlechild likes to mullet. All good climbers considering they do so much other stuff at a level ‘10’.
I want to do this for my sq3 … any advice ? Trying to get used parts lol. So just a fork that takes 29 inch? Have any budget recommendations? Will probably need wheels and tires too right ? Will look on marketplace..
Should I get same type of tires on the front ? The assegais ?
I awaly wanted to try a + mullet set up on my 120mm hardtail. 3.0 27.5 out back and a 3.0 29er up front
That’d be cool!
I love my full suspension mullet.
I have been considering running mullet with my newest build. The frame I am using is a 27.5 and was tossing the idea of running shorter crank length, but with the geo changes of a mullet I may not need to. Do you notice the seat tube angle change to be noticeable in either a positive or negative way?
It was hard to say with the limited amount of seated climbing I did for the test, I’ll need to do some more trail riding to know for sure. But with how steep the STA is on this thing already, I’m not too worried about in slackening up a degree or two
@@ridingwithjoshandwendy yea ur sta is pretty steep compared to a lot of other bikes
Great video!
Thank you!!
Awesome. can I try this to my 27.5 bobcat trail 5 2018 model?
Yep! I think it’s a good option on any 27.5” bikes, but I would recommend putting a smaller rear wheel on a 29er
Excelent. Marin should at least spec this bike with a fork compatible with both wheel sizes to experiment.
Ya, that’d be awesome!
Expensive set up😊
Less than $2,000 actually!
Is a reverse setup called a "chopper"? 🙂
Lol must be!
I wanna buy this bike
It’s sick!!
Is 1 second really a good barometer..? Riding the same trail you could of had a better line or flow. For manuals, you have more familiarity with the bike even though it's mullet now. But good vid anyway 😊
Interestingly I actually manueled better on the bike I had less experience with! And yes, ultimately a longer descent would have been better, but I did 5 trials on each bike the mullet was consistently .5-1.0 seconds faster, so I feel like the results are relatively accurate
So is a mullet gonna be a permanent change on your quiver?
On this bike! But I feel like it was more of a fix to a problem, the Middlechild is perfect as is haha
Will you be at Seaotter ❓
We will!! You?
@@ridingwithjoshandwendy I have replied to this but they keep pulling the post.🤷🏼♂️
I love my stylus mulleted
Something is wrong with you BBH measurement. On a ht it would be 290-320mm (axle to ground). 90-110mm would be impossible to ride as your cranks are longer than that. Maybe confused cm for inches?I would mullet that frame too, but with a 120mm fork to keep geo relatively unchanged.
The BB height measurement doesn’t seem right. I did mullet my Middle child, felt it was dragging and slower but actually I break my PR on one downhill section while not even trying😂.
But for me I didn’t keep the mullet setup on the MC, I actually planning on swapping the fork and front wheel between the MC and my SB140 27.5, which fox36 160mm travel 27.5 fork. The MC has 140mm travel 29 fork. I hope that would make the MC more playful while make the SB140 faster to further differentiate them
Nice! Ya I realized while I was editing that those numbers were way off lol, I’m not sure what happened…maybe looking at inches? IDK, but I didn’t want to refilm it lol
Now do full 29er and you'll be even faster
Yeah, it's a big difference. I went from a 27.5 to a 29 and then tried the 27.5 again after a season. The degree to which you get hung up on rocks, climbing on the 27.5 was pretty eye-opening! No way would I go back to 27.5 as a rear wheel. But, I don't ride anything where a smaller wheel size would help.
Faster yes, but I’d miss the agility/playfulness of that small rear wheel!
Interesting, but if get time try something longer than just a few seconds to get a better idea of the changes
Very true! This was designed to be a short term, objective test. Check out my long term thoughts on the mullet San Quentin here: th-cam.com/video/Kl_qZXxVAgM/w-d-xo.html
Now do it again woth a 26er 2.4 wheel lol
Bb height numbers are off
Haha ya they definitely are 😬 And the worst part is I don’t even know how I got them lol 🤦♂️