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Jun 27, 2023

BikeRadar Builds

Not one, not two but three mullet bikes for MBUK video presenter Will Soffe This competition is now closed By Will Soffe Published: June 4, 2023 at 6:00 pm Mullet bikes use a larger front wheel and

Not one, not two but three mullet bikes for MBUK video presenter Will Soffe

This competition is now closed

By Will Soffe

Published: June 4, 2023 at 6:00 pm

Mullet bikes use a larger front wheel and smaller rear wheel, just like a motocross bike, to offer a business option on the trail up-front and a party at the back.

Mullets have grown in popularity in recent years and I absolutely love the feel of a mullet bike.

In fact, I’ve been obsessed with mulleting bikes ever since I first rode one in 2014 that I mulleted all of my personal bikes.

You might be wondering, “Why on earth did he do that?”.

Well, in the latest instalment of BikeRadar Builds, I’m going to walk you through each of my three mullet bikes – a downhill bike, a trail bike and an enduro bike – to show you the different ways you could convert your bike to a mullet setup.

You can also watch the video below to take a closer look – and to see where each bike shines on the trail.

Full disclosure: you may void your warranty by converting a bike to a mullet setup, so always seek advice from the manufacturer before you start experimenting.

The first bike I mulleted was my XXL 2018 Commencal Supreme DH.

I picked it up second-hand, and it came fitted with a pair of 27.5in wheels as standard.

I’m 5ft 10in, so why the double XL bike? Well, I looked at the geometry charts, and saw that the 2018 XXL was between a 2019 medium and large, so, despite the inflated size, it’s just about right.

The first thing I did was take off the RockShox Boxxer coil-sprung fork, which was fitted with a custom-tuned Avalanche open-bath cartridge. It was incredibly heavy and overdamped.

I replaced it with a Fox 49er, which at the time was considered by many to be the best 29in fork you could buy.

I paired it with a Hope 29er Boost front wheel shod in Specialized rubber.

Fitting a 203mm-travel fork with a 29in front wheel raised the front wheel and slackened out the head angle to about 62 degrees, which was way too slack even for me.

I slid the forks all the way through the crowns to their minimum to make the front end as low as possible. I then fitted an angle-adjust headset I had from a 2009 Mondraker Summum.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy, because I then realised I had to spin the inside down in the lathe, and angle-grind the outside where it fouled on the fork-arch.

I also fitted a MORC, which stands for Mojo Offset Reducer Crown, made by suspension specialists Mojo Rising.

This reduced the fork offset from the colossal 58mm as standard to a more manageable 50mm.

After all this, I managed to snap the linkage in the rear suspension, but thankfully Commencal sent me an updated version, which appeared after my bike was produced.

Why I love it: This is a bike that really shines on technical downhill tracks. The mullet setup excels on sharper, more awkward corners where the going gets flatter, and it can be hard to get a 29er turned in.

BikeRadar Builds is our occasional look at the team’s personal bikes, including custom rigs, commuters, dream builds, component testbeds and more.

This is our chance to geek out about the bikes we’re riding day-to-day, and explore the thinking (or lack of it!) behind our equipment choices.

Away from the world of downhill, I often like to go for a more chilled trail ride, and when I do, I pick my Cannondale Habit.

It’s a large-size 2019 Habit 4 AL I bought second-hand as a frame. It came with a Cane Creek Double Barrel coil, which I hated: not enough rebound control and it topped-out horribly.

I rode the Habit for a while and found it fast and efficient, but I knew I wanted a bike that was more playful so, you guessed it, I decided to mullet it.

I fitted a 27.5in rear wheel and a longer eye-to-eye shock. The standard shock is 210mm, but the Fox Float X2 Factory is 216mm.

This also means the bottom bracket height in the ‘high’ setting is pretty close to the standard BB height in the ‘low’ setting.

Why I love it: On jump-filled tracks, the bike is easier to drift, because of the smaller rear wheel and the lower BB height. It’s easier to pop into a manual and feels more playful with the smaller rear wheel.

This is perhaps the strangest and rarest bike in my collection. It’s a 100mm-travel, limited-edition Specialized Enduro SX from 2014 in size ‘long’.

Specialized only made around 100 of these (or so I’m told) and I always wanted one, ever since I saw Specialized pro rider Mitch Ropelato compete in the Sea Otter dual-slalom on one. When I saw this frame for sale close to where I live, I had to buy it.

The bike came with 26in wheels, but I fitted a 27.5in wheel into the 26in-specific Fox 36 Factory fork to make a mini-mullet setup. The fork itself has been dropped to 120mm travel with an aftermarket air shaft.

The advantage of the mini-mullet – 27.5in at the front, 26in at the back – is it makes the steering a little calmer and slackens the head angle.

It handles bumps slightly more confidently and is easier to drift thanks to the extra grip from the larger front wheel.

Why I love it: This bike is perfect for sculpted jumps, as well as manual duties. It’s really easy to move around underneath me and I can pop into a manual with the short back end and 26in rear wheel. The 27.5in front wheel adds stability due to its greater rotating mass, and adds some extra cornering traction on the front end.

Staff writer, MBUK

Will Soffe is a contributor to BikeRadar and the staff writer on our sister title, Mountain Biking UK. Will has experienced mountain biking at the very highest level, racing on the World Cup circuit in 2014 and then working a full season as a mechanic for Trek Factory Racing. More recently, he’s worked at Mojo Suspension, where he first experimented with asymmetric wheels. As a result, Will is an expert on all things mountain biking, from suspension setup to testing the latest bikes to their limit. He’s also a qualified coach for British Cycling and runs bike set-up clinics with skills coaching company +3 MTB.

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