I’m considering buying a 2019 Top Fuel race bike. It’s really nice build for a good price up here in Canada. The only thing holding me back is the older geometry and the 70 degree HTA. Upon doing some research, several companies offer angled headsets which shift the HTA by up to 2 degrees. That would slacken out the bike to 68 degrees.
I’d like to hear people’s experience with angled headsets. Durability, installation, ride characteristics. On paper, I think that generation top fuel would be a wicked race bike with a 68 degree HTA but maybe I’m missing something.
Wolf tooth geo adjust headset goes a long ways in breathing new life into a very slightly outdated bike. I put one on my '17 RM element instead of buying a new bike last year and zero regrets.
I’ve got about 500 miles on it now and it has been completely trouble free. You have to be precise with the installation but it’s simple if you take your time and have the proper tools.
On paper the HA was changed to 68 deg in the slackest setting and lengthened the trail from 90mm to 97mm. Some quick back of the napkin calculations tell me the 1 deg adjustment on my 120mm fork results in 3.3 mm lower stack height and 8.6mm longer wheelbase. These values would be doubled with the 2 deg angleset. So this would have a very minor effect on seat angle and bb height. Totally worth it in my case.