I had both. The new one felt lighter, stiffer, and better as soon as I hopped on it. The swingarm pivot and both shock mounts use much better hardware. A 150 thru-axle is now available (I tried both axles on the new frame and there is a very big difference in stiffness). The new one also has a 1.5 headtube.
Current gen offers a floating brake on the 150mm spacing hub to eliminate brake jack. It basically removes anyone's claim about the downfalls of single pivot designs.
I think there might have been a 1st gen Bullit with 6" travel but I can't find pictures or verify that. It would be old though, at least pre-2002. The previous one (gen 2?) had 7", like the current one.
Current gen offers a floating brake on the 150mm spacing hub to eliminate brake jack. It basically removes anyone's claim about the downfalls of single pivot designs.
I'm not so sure the newest generation Bullit is actually lighter than the original. I had a '99...first year...and still have an '03. The newest model Bullit is really a different bike and a whole lot burlier...therefore, I'm almost sure it's a tiny bit heavier. The original Bullit frame was not that heavy. Many of us made very decent trail bikes out of them due to them not being a boat anchor. That said they had more flex in the rear triangle because of that but not terribly so. The newest Bullit is a much burlier bike and is only a Bullit by name instead of a direct comparison IMO.
You gotta remember that the Bullit came out in '99. Look at what else was available at the time, and you'll probably agree that original Bullit was something special. In fact it was good enough to hang around relatively unchanged until 2005. Not many bikes in the big hit category have that long a run in the modern era with as few changes as the original Bullit.
On the Bullit's travel, the '99-'02 model had a 7.875 X 2.25 shock that yielded about 5.8". In '03 it came with an 8.5 X 2.5 shock that yielded about 6.5". However, you could exchange shocks ranging from 7.5 X 2.0 to 9.0 X 3.0 between all year models to get anything from about 5.2" to 7.8" of travel. The original Bullit design was one of the most versatile bikes around. It could be built from 28 pounds to 50 pounds for all kinds of applications.
That Bullit in the last pic is an '03 or later as indicated by the gusset plates at the head tube. Yes, SC didn't do exact year models, but my year model references here are pretty close.
My old Bullit had a coil Roco shock and my new one has a DHX Air. I remember the frame weight being about 1.25lbs lighter, mostly cuz of the shock.
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