2026 Santacruz Bullit Owners - Setup - Tricks - Discussion

Wow, those are incredible #'s for everything. Can you let us know what size is your sick bike, and your height and weight please?
B.E. review reports he is roughly 200lbs and only got 3,300ft on a full charge on his Bullit
 
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Wow, those are incredible #'s for everything. Can you let us know what size is your sick bike, and your height and weight please?
B.E. review reports he is roughly 200lbs and only got 3,300ft on a full charge on his Bullit
I am 6'2" - 175lbs and my bike is an XL.
 
I've had a gnarly run at work lately with a brutal grind to a deadline. I used that as an excuse to take a Monday/Friday off and treat myself to a 4 day weekend of bike riding and working on bikes. Much needed and overall it was a success. I had plans to ride all of my bikes in that time period, but the stress meant that my neck was a mess, so I changed my plans to spend 4 days riding the bullit... what a bummer :p

I do have a substantial amount of information to share with regards to range both with and without the range extender, see the below list of rides and battery consumption.

I've also been playing with bike setup and trying out some different parts:
  • PNW Loam Carbon 50mm Rise Bars & RF Turbine R 40mm Stem. I find that my thumbs/hands benefit from the additional back sweep of the pnw loam bars. They are a touch stiffer then the oneup carbon bars (not quite as stuff as the oneup alu bars) and they provide a bit more direct feel. That being said, the benefits for me are a slightly shorter cockpit/reach and the hand position due to the increased back sweep.
  • Avalanche tuned Marzocchi bomber CR - This was tuned for my transition relay and I am keeping it to try on the bullit. The first ride I did with it, I left the bike in low progression and I didn't quite feel like the coil shock was better then the stock float X. I did the second ride with the bike in the higher progression setting and it was way better. I am still fiddling with the compression, rebound and spring rate so it's very initial days. That being said, the coil shock does have some traction advantages, although they are not as significant on this bike as the difference between air/coil on other bikes IMO. I think right now, I'm 50/50 on if this is an improvement or not. I don't think that points to anything bad about the coil setup, but more that Santacruz did a great job with the float X tuning and that the kinematics for this bike are something special. More time/tuning to come before I will give a real comparison.
At any rate, onto the riding and the range impressions.

Day 1 - Epic Day Range Test - 27.6 Miles / ~7,000' elevation gain - w/Range Extender - 25% battery remaining. Mostly tour/emtb with boost a handful of times for steep climbs.
View attachment 160132

Day 2 - 14.5 Miles / ~3,500' elevation gain - NO range extender - 40% battery remaining - Tour/Emtb and boost for some of the steeper climb sections only.
View attachment 160131

Day 3 - 24 Miles / ~5,100 elevation gain - NO range extender - 5% battery remaining - Nearly equal usage of all modes.
View attachment 160130

Day 4 - 24 Miles / ~5,500' elevation gain - Range Extender - 30% Emtb / 70% Boost - 15% battery remaining.
View attachment 160129

And some bike glamor shot photos from the rides along the way.
View attachment 160122

View attachment 160123

View attachment 160124

View attachment 160121
I bet there are loads of snakes hiding out there!
 
I've had a gnarly run at work lately with a brutal grind to a deadline. I used that as an excuse to take a Monday/Friday off and treat myself to a 4 day weekend of bike riding and working on bikes. Much needed and overall it was a success. I had plans to ride all of my bikes in that time period, but the stress meant that my neck was a mess, so I changed my plans to spend 4 days riding the bullit... what a bummer :p

I do have a substantial amount of information to share with regards to range both with and without the range extender, see the below list of rides and battery consumption.

I've also been playing with bike setup and trying out some different parts:
  • PNW Loam Carbon 50mm Rise Bars & RF Turbine R 40mm Stem. I find that my thumbs/hands benefit from the additional back sweep of the pnw loam bars. They are a touch stiffer then the oneup carbon bars (not quite as stuff as the oneup alu bars) and they provide a bit more direct feel. That being said, the benefits for me are a slightly shorter cockpit/reach and the hand position due to the increased back sweep.
  • Avalanche tuned Marzocchi bomber CR - This was tuned for my transition relay and I am keeping it to try on the bullit. The first ride I did with it, I left the bike in low progression and I didn't quite feel like the coil shock was better then the stock float X. I did the second ride with the bike in the higher progression setting and it was way better. I am still fiddling with the compression, rebound and spring rate so it's very initial days. That being said, the coil shock does have some traction advantages, although they are not as significant on this bike as the difference between air/coil on other bikes IMO. I think right now, I'm 50/50 on if this is an improvement or not. I don't think that points to anything bad about the coil setup, but more that Santacruz did a great job with the float X tuning and that the kinematics for this bike are something special. More time/tuning to come before I will give a real comparison.
At any rate, onto the riding and the range impressions.

Day 1 - Epic Day Range Test - 27.6 Miles / ~7,000' elevation gain - w/Range Extender - 25% battery remaining. Mostly tour/emtb with boost a handful of times for steep climbs.
View attachment 160132

Day 2 - 14.5 Miles / ~3,500' elevation gain - NO range extender - 40% battery remaining - Tour/Emtb and boost for some of the steeper climb sections only.
View attachment 160131

Day 3 - 24 Miles / ~5,100 elevation gain - NO range extender - 5% battery remaining - Nearly equal usage of all modes.
View attachment 160130

Day 4 - 24 Miles / ~5,500' elevation gain - Range Extender - 30% Emtb / 70% Boost - 15% battery remaining.
View attachment 160129

And some bike glamor shot photos from the rides along the way.
View attachment 160122

View attachment 160123

View attachment 160124

View attachment 160121
agreed on the shock tune for the bullit kinematics! i bought an off the shelf 2026 float x2 and tuned it for atleast half a day on our local trails! did all the bracketing and i could not get it to feel as good as the stock float X. i borrowed my friends Float X2 that came with the bullit and the difference is night and day! LMK if you need the Tune code for the float X2. i sent mine today to Fox to be retuned / re-valve and they charged me $150
 
agreed on the shock tune for the bullit kinematics! i bought an off the shelf 2026 float x2 and tuned it for atleast half a day on our local trails! did all the bracketing and i could not get it to feel as good as the stock float X. i borrowed my friends Float X2 that came with the bullit and the difference is night and day! LMK if you need the Tune code for the float X2. i sent mine today to Fox to be retuned / re-valve and they charged me $150

If you don't mind, share the tune code for it. I was thinking I was going to have my 11.6 re-configured for my bullit, but I need to ride this coil shock a few more times and decide what I'm going to do. I'm thinking that the progressive nature of the air spring rebound is nice for moving the bike around and there isn't much penalty for the air spring 'support' (read: stiffness) as the suspension action under braking is so spectacular.
 
If you don't mind, share the tune code for it. I was thinking I was going to have my 11.6 re-configured for my bullit, but I need to ride this coil shock a few more times and decide what I'm going to do. I'm thinking that the progressive nature of the air spring rebound is nice for moving the bike around and there isn't much penalty for the air spring 'support' (read: stiffness) as the suspension action under braking is so spectacular.
here is the shock tune for the Bullit V4 2026 Float X2 - CS40 - B40 - RS50 - 0.7B - 8cc - Position 2
 
agreed on the shock tune for the bullit kinematics! i bought an off the shelf 2026 float x2 and tuned it for atleast half a day on our local trails! did all the bracketing and i could not get it to feel as good as the stock float X. i borrowed my friends Float X2 that came with the bullit and the difference is night and day! LMK if you need the Tune code for the float X2. i sent mine today to Fox to be retuned / re-valve and they charged me $150
Curious how this all worked out... did you just call them and ask to have it setup to match the units that come from Santa Cruz directly? I have one inbound and figure why waste time mounting it if I should just send it direct to Fox.
 
Curious how this all worked out... did you just call them and ask to have it setup to match the units that come from Santa Cruz directly? I have one inbound and figure why waste time mounting it if I should just send it direct to Fox.
i created a service request through fox then input what i want on the comment section plus the tune code i want. dont waste your time on the off the shelf tune like i did lol! i thought i got it dialed until i put the float X back and im like WTFFFFFFFF LMAO!!
 
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Hi everyone, I ordered a Bullit sram 90 size M which should arrive at the end of this month, in the meantime I found a used ohlins rxf38 180 fork with the steerer tube cut to 185 mm and before making a wrong purchase, I ask the owners of size M frames if they can kindly help me by measuring the height of the steerer tube, thanks for the help.
 
i created a service request through fox then input what i want on the comment section plus the tune code i want. dont waste your time on the off the shelf tune like i did lol! i thought i got it dialed until i put the float X back and im like WTFFFFFFFF LMAO!!
super helpful. How did you track down the tune code for the bullit? And you're happy with the net result?
 
A 242 Wolftooth Resolve post can be inserted almost all the way in the size large Bullit.
 
I inquired with SC regarding the paint colors as I'm going to have slik graphics do some fork decals for me. Below is their response in case it helps anyone else.

For the Matte Teal Bullit the base color has a code of: Pantone 323c - with gold glitter
As well as the decal being the Gloss Pantone Black c.
 
Hope you have better luck with Slik than me recently. Ordered fork decals for my Bullit (last gen) in matte cider, the color is included in their configurator as it is an older bike. The hues didn't match despite color codes being correct, so they made and sent me a new kit based on my photos. Sadly it turned out even worse, trying with another decals provider now...
 
Hope you have better luck with Slik than me recently. Ordered fork decals for my Bullit (last gen) in matte cider, the color is included in their configurator as it is an older bike. The hues didn't match despite color codes being correct, so they made and sent me a new kit based on my photos. Sadly it turned out even worse, trying with another decals provider now...
Depends on the color. I've had slik nail certain colors like my wife's coral blue and copper rise, ny fs green megatower 1 and completely fail at other colors like my gloss gypsum nomad 6. Their ability to hit the colors is somewhat predictable, if it's a non metallic and it has a high degree of saturation, it's going to be hit or miss. That comes down to the fact that they are printing these on white vinyl and it's just the nature of cmyk printing without guaranteed calibration. I find that they for sure have better success with metal flake matches.

Successes
PXL_20241231_195339795 (1).jpg

PXL_20220528_183420551.MP (1).jpg


PXL_20220530_142832387.MP.jpg



Not so successful
PXL_20240713_183250106~2.jpg
 
I inquired with SC regarding the paint colors as I'm going to have slik graphics do some fork decals for me. Below is their response in case it helps anyone else.

For the Matte Teal Bullit the base color has a code of: Pantone 323c - with gold glitter
As well as the decal being the Gloss Pantone Black c.
Be sure to post some pics when you get them!
 
Parts are arriving for the incoming bike! Always run MT7s so figured I’d try out their new offering

IMG_3028.jpeg IMG_3029.jpeg IMG_3030.jpeg IMG_3027.jpeg
 
Depends on the color. I've had slik nail certain colors like my wife's coral blue and copper rise, ny fs green megatower 1 and completely fail at other colors like my gloss gypsum nomad 6. Their ability to hit the colors is somewhat predictable, if it's a non metallic and it has a high degree of saturation, it's going to be hit or miss. That comes down to the fact that they are printing these on white vinyl and it's just the nature of cmyk printing without guaranteed calibration. I find that they for sure have better success with metal flake matches.

Successes
View attachment 160551
View attachment 160548

View attachment 160549


Not so successful
View attachment 160550

Most of those look great tbh, I'll see what NLDesigns provides this time. They did stickers for my old Orbea in completely custom colors and they came out perfect. Maybe it's due to a different printing process or just an operator with a better understanding of color calibration and matching, I don't know... Here's what my Bullit looks like with Slik stickers, not terrible, but not great either as stickers are just a tad too reddish.

20250413_122900(1).jpg 20250413_122914(1)(1).jpg
 
NL Designs did an excellent job for me on an old restomod dh bike I did - there was loads of back and forth until I was happy with the design and they came out great - would definitely use them again in the future.
 
Wow, those are incredible #'s for everything. Can you let us know what size is your sick bike, and your height and weight please?
B.E. review reports he is roughly 200lbs and only got 3,300ft on a full charge on his Bullit

I am out of shape and a good 20# overweight, and I would expect about this much from the battery. With a range extender, 5000' seems doable. Then again most of my rides are sub 2 hours, so not really an issue.
 
I was hoping you were going to say that, the yellow magura colors with the teal is going to look sick.

I had my first little crash on the bullit... got a bit lucky, it could/should have been way worse then it was and I managed to get away with barely a scratch on me. Of course I trashed a brand new set of PNW grips. I love how those grips feel but man are they fragile. I barely ever crash, but one way to be certain I'm about to is for me to put a pair of those grips on.

I did go back to the float x air shock for the last few rides and I do think that I'm enjoying that a bit more then the avalanche tuned marzocchi bomber cr. It's not that the coil shock is bad, it certainly has a bit more grip and does make the bike feel more stable. I just don't think that I need additional stability out of this bike and I prefer the way the bike bunny hops and jumps with the air shock.

Lastly... It's clear that this bike is going to be pretty expensive on consumables... Most of my riding is incredibly steep and full gas. 275 miles in and I'm about 80% of the way through the 2.5" dhr2 and the rear brake pads are maybe 70% gone. Going through $100 usd in rear tire 6 times a year is going to add up quick. Maybe I need to start riding like a responsible adult and chill out a bit... or maybe not because life is short.

Lastly part 2... this bike makes me ride like a cocky jackass and I love it.
 
Paint is not very strong. Already got a few micro chips after a few rides on down tube. Put some PPF so that it doesn't get worse.
 
here is the shock tune for the Bullit V4 2026 Float X2 - CS40 - B40 - RS50 - 0.7B - 8cc - Position 2
Hey, very interesting, thank you for that! How would you describe the difference between the Float x and the tuned Float X2 on the bike? I only got to test a build with the float x, while I had a ton of fun I wish it was it had a little more “pop“. Though suspension with the stock float x was not tuned well at all (only 1.5h test ride..). Since I got a bad back as of last year im leaning more towards the bullit than the poppier vala for my own safety. Im just curious if this can be improved (obviously by better suspension set up, or float x2 or maybe even a coil). Any comment would be appreciated!
 
Hey, very interesting, thank you for that! How would you describe the difference between the Float x and the tuned Float X2 on the bike? I only got to test a build with the float x, while I had a ton of fun I wish it was it had a little more “pop“. Though suspension with the stock float x was not tuned well at all (only 1.5h test ride..). Since I got a bad back as of last year im leaning more towards the bullit than the poppier vala for my own safety. Im just curious if this can be improved (obviously by better suspension set up, or float x2 or maybe even a coil). Any comment would be appreciated!
they both feel nearly identical but the X2 was plusher for the 1st 50% of the travel. if you want extra pop then volume spacers or 27% sag is the key but plushness will go away.
 
they both feel nearly identical but the X2 was plusher for the 1st 50% of the travel. if you want extra pop then volume spacers or 27% sag is the key but plushness will go away.
a little more plushness could be a good basis to play with rebound and sag for a tiny bit pop, thanks for the feedback.
 
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