Rocky Mountain Element 950
As the weather closed in, the week before the Otway 300 mountain bike race, and with a forecast of rain for the event I was becoming increasingly nervous about riding a 1 x 11 speed bike in an event that tears at the legs for over 9 hours the first day and close to 8 hours the next! There are a few climbs that are too steep to ride no matter what gearing you’ve got but the majority of the 6000 meters of climbing is 5-10% gradient and 2-10 kilometers in length. The harder you do each climb the harder each climb becomes as you go past the 3-hour mark and you always have in the back of your mind that you need to face up again for Day 2!
Then the offer came to ride a demo Rocky Mountain Element 950 for the event AND it had 2 x 11 speed gearing! Normally the last thing I would do is to change bikes at the last minute, the handling is different, your position on the bike needs to be duplicated but often you can’t get it exactly right and the bike (almost new) hadn’t been really tested in mountain bike conditions. The nagging thought was that if the weather for the event was bad the muddy conditions would make a very hard event even harder and my lack of confidence to get through the event made the decision to ride the Rocky Mountain Element 950 a “no brainer.”
There were a few changes I made to the bike to do the event, firstly I fitted my Fizik Gobi seat which I use for the first day then change to a totally different saddle for the second day, gives a whole lot of relief to backside bruising endured over the first 9 hour day! Second, I upgraded the brakes to XTR from the basic Shimano hydraulic brakes that came standard on the bike; next was tyres to a more open pattern to handle muddier conditions as forecast and from there the bike was ridden as spec’d.
One thing I must make a big deal about is that you feel a difference in the first 5 meters of riding this bike. The geometry is lively and more responsive than most, I instantly liked the feel of the bike. The ability to have front and rear lock out engaged for the long forest fire roads and the occasional bitumen section also meant some energy saving and the handling of the bike was still responsive and comfortable.
The 2 x 11 was the right choice with the Shimano XT components performing flawlessly, though I did notice that getting towards the end of the day the pressure at the gear lever was noticeably more than the XX1 SRAM that I use on my other bike. The XTR brakes were so smooth and predictable and never lacked in power even on the long descents that often contained big enough water bars to buck you off, if you didn’t slow down. Both days I checked the travel on the suspension (100mm front and rear) and the fork and shock pressures, I’d used 100% of the travel on both days but felt that the suspension had taken most of the battering and saved my body from enduring any more fatigue than it needed to. Truth is that I have no question in my mind that I couldn’t do an event like this on a hard tail! I do wonder whether 120 mm of travel would be a better option for some of these events but it normally comes with a weight and efficiency penalty…..
Summary
Anyone considering cross country riding, marathon and epic races would be advised to consider the Rocky Mountain Element range. The handling, the exceptionally light weight and the level of the frame finish is as good as anything on the market. Component levels vary among the models which range from $5500 up to a whopping $14,000 for a state of the art, custom bike. At the very least get your hands on a demo for a test ride, I’ll reckon you’ll love it!
Nigel Letty
