Rocky Mountain Altitude: Weigh In, Build Report and Frame Pictures

The Rocky Mountain Altitude is Rocky Mountain Bikes first full Suspension 29er.  I have been really looking forward to this bike. I have had dealings with Rocky Mountain Bikes for many years and hold the company in high regard.

The Rocky Mountain Altitude's one attribute that stands out  the most is the seat tube angle Rocky Mountain Bikes(RMB) uses. It is steeper then most which should put the riders weight bias towards the front of the bike. This should allow the rider a more pedal friendly seating position.  This position is dubbed "Straight Up Geometry".

Without going to much into bicycle fit, "The Straight Up Geometry" should enable fit technicians the ability to more easily line the knee to the ball of the foot in reference to the pedal spindle. I was actually taught to line up the bony protrusion just below the knee with the pedal spindle with the pedals at the 3 o'clock position. This allows the best power out put. I am not an expert on bio mechanics but this method has served me well.  Proper bike fit in addition to allowing for more weight over the front end of the bike is the purpose of  "Strait Up Geometry". Scroll down this page to get a little more info.Click on the technology tab.

How did the build go. Fine. The BB could have been a little cleaner. It took a bit of effort to get the bottom bracket to thread in. Threading in the BB is a little difficult. The Non drive chain stay is very close to the BB when it is threaded in. This is a design compromise and as 29er designers start pushing designs we will see tolerances get tighter before they get looser.  Also the seat tube could have been reamed better. The disc tabs were faced and looked great.

Tight Fit. If you find yourself switching you bottom bracket proceed slowly

Scratches on lower third of seat post

The  black paint job is sharp looking.  The frame weight is respectable especially for how stout the frame is. It weighed 7lbs 3 oz for our large test frame.

We stripped the Altitude 29 down to rebuild it with the 29eronline  tests kit. This is not because the build needed any changes. I will do a "value post" on the OEM parts a bit later. The stock parts are  very nice, well thought out and needs no upgrade. One thing I noticed while taking apart the bike is that it comes with a 1 1/8 inch fork even though the frame has  a tapered head tube . I actually called the company when I found out. Peter and Alex spent time explaining why . This leads to the tapered steer tube.

The silver piece inside the frame is a headset reducer. If you want to run a 1.5 tapered fork remove this and install a 1.5 press in style headset

There are evidently a couple of styles of tapered steer tubes. The one Rocky uses is designed to use a bearing that installs directly in the top built in cup.  The bottom is a press in 1.5 style bearing or the stock built in reducer/bearing cup. The RMB uses an internal reducer in the head tube with a 1 1/8 lower bearing. Rocky Mountain Bikes decided they wanted to keep the head tube as short as possible. this allows for the lowest front end that they could spec. It also saved weight going with this set up as opposed to the set up Niner uses which causes Niner and other brands that choose to use this style head tube to use a heavier head tube. The low front end along side the "Straight Up" geometry,115mm rear and 120mm front suspension travel should clue you in for what the bike is made to do. All day in the saddle! This was made to be ridden for long periods of time over rugged terrain in comfort.

Top tube view. You can see the insert from above. Use a headset removal tool to remove the reducer.

I will repeat my thoughts. I believe that this is the style most mountain bikers will get the most out of. I believe this style of bike is comfortable and well mannered. Run light tires and and rims and ride your favorite epic.  Put on beefy tires a dropper post and wider rims and you can ride rooty, rocky  terrain with a few drops in between. You want to do a marathon race? No problem. Trail ride with your friends, again no   problem. Versatility!

I also want to comment on the cable routing. I like it. It works. No need to go under the bottom bracket. Simple and easy to understand. They left areas where there is no housing under the top tube and full housing where it will gunk up the cables if they didn't.

Enjoy the photo's. We will do a spec report shortly.

cable routing. Click the picture for a larger view. Nice paint and tasteful graphics.

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