Submitted by
Alvin Goodrich
a Cross Country Rider
from Berwick, Maine
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2005
Strengths: Everything: Rocky Builds the best bikes period. Ride, durability, handling, incredible frame and if you havent rode a 3D link you havent lived.
Weaknesses: Do not know of any!
Bottom Line:
If you can afford the extra for a Rocky do it! You will be thrilled. The best there is.
Bike Setup: Ritchey OCR wheels, Z-Max tires, Ritchey WCS headset and bars, Marzocchi Marathon SL, Race Face Next Lp crank, XTR Shifting
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Michael
a Cross Country Rider
from Sequim
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2003
Strengths: Light weight full suspension that climbs better than my last hardtail and way better than my last suspension bike. It is stable at speed and holds a line even on the roughest ground.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
If you want light weight, efficiency and low maintenance, this is the bike for you. The Rocky Mountain tech department has always been very quick to reply when I have emailed questions to them.
Bike Setup: Large frame, XTR, 2003 Marzocchi Marathon SL.
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Submitted by
Keith
a Cross Country Rider
from Lafayette, Louisiana
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2002
Strengths: EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!! It handles great. Climbs great. There isnt anything that I can complain about.
Weaknesses: Stickers............they started to wash off the other day
Bottom Line:
This is an unbelievable ride. The suspension is supple and soaks up the stutter bumps well. Took about a 3 rides to dial in the rear shock not it rides even better. It takes the corners well, doesn't bob when climbing. This frame was 5 lbs out of the box for a 20.5", I was impressed. They said it was a 5 lb frame and it was. There isn't anything not to like about it(although I like the 2002 color scheme better) BUY ONE AND YOU WILL BE IN LoVE FOREVER
Bike Setup: Rebuilding with Fox Float RLC, Hope Minis, AC, KING wheels XTR
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Arnaud Freyburger
a Cross Country Rider
from Alsace, FRANCE
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2001
Strengths: - Suspension design - Great handling - Accelerates like a rocket - Fast in all conditions
Weaknesses: - Fragile decals
Bottom Line:
I was the happy owner of a “steel is real” Sunn hardtail for 5 years when I decided the time had come to change my bike. The FSR S-Works being out of sold, I ordered a Rocky Mtn Element Team Sc frame and put it together with new “not-fancy-but-fully-efficient” parts. Now believe me or not, this bike makes me enter a new dimension of riding. Climbing. The chassis feels stiff and very responsive, and the bike shows terrific power transfer capability. By the way, what is bobbing ? The suspension is actually active under power (you see it move beneath you) but you do not feel the slightest bob. Out of the saddle, this Rocky feels firm. I think that on that bike I can now climb as fast as on my hardtail (if not faster), and ten times longer. Singletracks. This is really where this Rocky is the most impressive. Its fast steering, quick handling and extraordinary acceleration make it a dream to ride on singletracks. I have definitely never ridden a MTB that accelerates this fast. The suspension works as I think it should on a XC full suspension bike. Downhill. This is a confidence inspiring bike which makes me improve a lot on the descents. The plush rear suspension enables you to play on the roughest descents I would have feared to go through on my hardtail. It is really a very fun bike downhill. Only the fast steering demands some attention from the rider. Conclusion. This bike is simply the bomb. It is rather expensive, but it delivers so much fun that I am happy to have spent the extra bucks to get this high quality Rocky Mountain. To me, this is the ultimate XC trailbike, yet it is so good that I am planning to race it next season. My advice ? Don’t try it. Once you try, you’re f#$@&d.
Bike Setup: Manitou MARS Super fork Mavic Crossmax UST wheels Ritchey WCS stem, seatpost, pedals and headset Easton bar Fisik Pave saddle, Hutchinson Python tires The rest is Shimano XT
Strengths: Climbing, descending, sprinting, jumping, bunny-hopping over logs, trials.....Basically anything that involves pedaling. The Scandium frameset makes 22lb full-suspension bikes a reality.
Weaknesses: er........I had to wait a long time for the Canadians the weld the damn thing. But it was worth the wait and then some.
Bottom Line:
Well, it seems as thought he staff of MTBR cannot read because I have submitted several requests to list the Element Team SC ( scandium ) on the list. However, I think I used one syllable too many because they got confused and have yet to list this frame. The bottom line is that this is the best cross-country frame you can buy. It is incredibly light, stiff, and the construction is beyond belief. If you want a frame that just begs to be raced, settle for no other frame. I'm giving it five of the falic things!
Strengths: Awesome full supspension frame and reasonable weight. Zero pedal bob. Climbs like a hardtail and descends like a downhill bike. BEst of both worlds.
Unlike the previous review I had very good luck with Rocky Mountains warranty dept. I had a problem with the rear swingarm and showed my local shop and Rocky sent the part out that day. Same goes for a friend which had a problem and they replaced his whole frame within a week.
Bike is great-Rocky Mountain's Warranty sucks major ass to put it lightly. After racing/riding the complete for approximately 4 months, the top tube started to fatigue-it looked like two dimples on the top tube, which were getting bigger the more i rode it. After talking to the rep, talking to the warranty department, and talking to the shop owner, we all decided it was fatiging and would be covered by warranty. It is to note that where these dimples were appearing, had absolutely no scratching/scuffing that would indicate i hit something, and the stickers that were above the dings had no tears in them at all-no way did i hit this thing. One other noticable thing to note was that the dings were close to the cable stops-which rocky later claimed that i had the bike in a park stand, which would of actually had to of been clamped over top of these, thus rendering any type of cable adjustment impossible. this bike was only transported in the back of my subaru outback on on fork mounts-no mount of any type had touched that top tube. yet when i talked to rocky warranty, this suddenly became a non-warrantied frame. they could not tell me what happened, other than somehow it was my fault that the frame was doing this. I am not a happy camper-this was total crap. They don't stand behind any of their lines which is ridiculous considering that this bike retails at over 3000 dollars. This is especially more ridiculous when one considers that i was an grassroots rider for rocky and in no way did they ever help out. Since then, they have promised me a frame, but it has not come yet, and i have never heard from anybody about what the hell is going on. It appears to me that they will not warranty anything that anybody rides with the name rocky mountain on it. I have had several friends with bikes from trek, schwinn, gt, merlin, khs, torelli--that have had problems with their frames (similar to mine) and the frames were replaced IMMEDIATELY. Rocky Mountain is a company I will never deal with again and will never recommend-if they cannot support a grassroots rider with a clear clase of a bad frame, then how do they treat the general public. Bottom line, their warranty sucks and their response time sucks even more. Please feel free to contact me and I will be more explicit in my wording and my feelings toward this company......
I may have the opportunity to buy a used (and well cared for) 00' Element TO. I've just barely started researching bikes from RM and all I've heard are good things. If anybody ha Read More »
