First Ride: Rocky Mountain Altitude 2021: Two become one

Product News / First Ride: Last week, Rocky Mountain invited to the pre-presentation of their new main platform for the Enduro area in the Samerberg Bike Park. Already known, but completely redefined - the Rocky Mountain Altitude. The Canadians made a new bike out of the predecessor Altitude and the Instinct BC, which from now on will dominate the enduro segment of the cult brand from Vancouver and is brimming with new, interesting features.

As usual, the guys and gals from Bike Action - the German distributor of Rocky Mountain - came up with a number of ideas to give us media representatives an unforgettable time. The launch took place in the municipality of Samerberg in the beautiful Chiemgau foothills of the Alps. After a short meet and greet in the valley, the shuttle service took us a few hundred meters up into the mountains, where a rustic mountain hut was hidden behind a knoll, which is only about 20 minutes by bike from the bike park. Up there, however, there were no beds waiting for us, but roof tents from the US company Yakima, which we were allowed to move into for the night.

The new Altitude was introduced to us in a presentation on the very first evening, so that we all had a rough idea of ​​how much blood and sweat went into the development process of the bike – but more on that later. After After the presentation of the bike, we went into the even more comfortable part of the evening and we wWe were spoiled with several courses of Sicilian specialties. Of course, a local brand from the region could not be missing here. After the evening ended pleasantly at the campfire, we were allowed to move into the test bikes the next morning, after a hearty and hearty breakfast, and a short time later we found ourselves on the trails again. Once again, a big thank you to the organizers!

You can find even more top fullies in our top 10 for 2021

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Two become one - The new Rocky Mountain Altitude

In recent years, Rocky Mountain has been spoiled for choice when it comes to a bike for enduro use. You could choose between the Altitude with 150mm travel and 650b wheels or the Instinct BC on 29ers and 155mm. From now on, it will be a little easier for the customer, since now the new Altitude is to take the place of the enduro bike in the Canadian range.

With the new Altitude, the cult brand from Canada wants to put a smile on the faces of both ambitious racers and less experienced weekend riders on the trails. For this reason, the developers attached great importance to the greatest possible adaptability of the bike - but more on this below.

The most important facts in a nutshell

• Application: Enduro
• Travel front: 170 mm
• Rear travel: 160 mm
• wheel size: SM-MD 27,5 inch; MD-XL 29 inch
• Frame material: carbon or aluminium
• Variants: carbon 99, 90, 70 and 50; Alloy 50
• Availability: from now on

New ways of customizing the Rocky Mountain Altitude 2021

As briefly mentioned above, the Rocky Mountain Altitude is bursting with customization options. For this reason, the geometry data of the bike is extremely varied and a bit complicated at first glance, since of course almost every change to the frame affects the geometry. Such as the frame design, which differs from the smallest frame size to all others in order to always get the maximum out of riders of different sizes. In order to ensure comfort on the Altitude and to make it as durable as possible, Rocky used some well-known solutions, which they supplemented with a few innovations.

Variety of variants and equipment for the Altitude

The Canadian brand's new enduro bike is now available in four different carbon versions, one aluminum version, and as a frameset. The frame kit costs €3.800, and the complete bikes range from €4.000 to €1.1.500 Euro, depending on the equipment and frame material. From budget-friendly to absolute high-end, Rocky Mountain has it all. The color selection is huge and includes combinations like "Grapevine," "Black Dog," and "Heartbreaker." The latter can be seen in the detailed photos here. You can find all further information on the prices of the equipment and colors here. .

First riding impressions with the Rocky Mountain on the trails

In order to gather first driving impressions with the Altitude, we went to the Samerberg bike park, which offered everything you need for an extensive test ride, from narrow single trails to the created flow/freeride route. However, we only reached the lift after a short tour around the Hochries – so we could also test the Rocky Mountain Altitude uphill. The test bike in size LG and 29 inch wheels could be pedaled solidly even on longer climbs and definitely made you want more. Of course, the focus when presenting the new enduro weapon was mainly on the downhill properties. These were first examined extensively on the tour from the hut to the bike park and later on the routes.

The LG-sized test bike had a wheelbase of 1249mm, rolled on 29-inch wheels and came with the Fox Elite chassis. At 65°, the steering angle was almost a bit steep by modern standards, but this hardly worked in practice. The Altitude conveys a real downhill feeling on the descents and is brimming with smooth running. Fast, rough passages are particularly good for the bike and even a high drop doesn't bother it at all - a real pleasure on technical trails. If you want to look for the hair in the soup, you will most likely find it on flowing bike park routes, because here the bike requires a lot of initiative to fly through the curves.

In our opinion, however, you can get over that with the intended use of the brand new Altitude, since it primarily appeals to racers in the enduro area and is also absolutely mature in this area. Just a week ago, Jesse Melamed showed what this bike is capable of and promptly won the EWS in Zermatt with a prototype version. For all of you who want even more reserves or feel more comfortable in the bike park, Rocky Mountain has that too Slayer in the range, which I was only able to test last season.

Our assessment

The Rocky Mountain Altitude delivers what it promises and is a real weapon, especially for racing. Of course, the Canadians had to make some compromises, which means that its length generally has some advantages, especially for experienced drivers, but also for beginners. Thanks to the ingenious geometry, the bike has a lot of smooth running and conveys a lot of security both at high speeds and at more leisurely speeds. A special recommendation goes to the racers who are not looking for a playful freeride bike, but want to really let it rip on fast stretches. In the following video you can get an idea of ​​how the Rocky Mountain behaved on the trail. Have fun!

Website 

www.bikeaction.de
www.bikes.com