Bike Setup: really nice bike but forks could be better.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Craig
a Weekend Warrior
from London, UK
Date Reviewed: October 31, 2007
Strengths: very agile, beautifully made, light, very strong, titght rear end, stif,
Weaknesses: relatively short top tube for trails
Bottom Line:
Beautifully agile flick in and out of corners on single track with ease, rails berms, considering in isn't the longest wheelbase it tracks well at speed, great head angle for hitting descents, jumps with control, considering the very strong and stiff build it is very light. The geometry is great for a do it all bike. You could complain the top tube is a little tight for fullon xc runs but this has many advantages on twisty single track and 4x tracks. Can still peddle for good distance in comfort. Back end isn't as compliant as steel frame but not too harsh... allows the power to be put down easily.. would highly recommend for a do it all fun solid beautifully built hard tail.
Similar Products Used: haro escape, specialised rockhopper, scott voltage
Bike Setup: 2005 flow 3.0 16.5inch (i'm 5' 11"), built up frame (price paid above is for frame)halo freedom disc wheels, hone cranks, dmr stem, manitou nixon 145mm rtwd forks, shimano deore disc brakes.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Charles Lagacé
a Weekend Warrior
from Matane
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2007
Strengths: -very responsive -Handmade frame in canada -The fork it came with -The crankset
Weaknesses: The chain can get stuck between the chainring and the chainstay wich is ripping off the paint. That's all
Bottom Line:
Probably one of the stiffest hardtail out there. "The 2006 is stronger than the others" said the rocky mountain dude when i called him. He said the 06's have stronger chain stay and downtube to prevent any breaking. If you want a light and strong hardtail, you must buy the flow's. But if you want to run a bigger fork (150 and over), you should not.
Similar Products Used: Flow 2.0/1.0 norco manik devinci basher and kicker
Bike Setup: Dirt jumper 3 that i'll maybe switch to a 06 z1 sport in 130mm Race Face Evolve Dh X-type Front avid juicy 7 and rear hfx-9 Mavic 325 rims
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Zach Kuss
a Downhiller
from Rosman, NC
Date Reviewed: November 14, 2006
Strengths: Solid and light frame. Stiff as hell for aluminum. Sweet acid green color. Great customer service from a great company.
Weaknesses: On the 05 Flow the disc break mount and stays left something to be desired, has been corrected for 06!
Bottom Line:
This frame is sweet. I had an 05 that took a ton of abuse including cased doubles, botched 360s, and pedal grinds gone bad! finally this year the disc break mount severed from the stay. I was bummed but much to my relief Rocky quickly responded and I was shredding the local park in 3 weeks from the time of breakage! The 06 frame has beefier stays and Rocky was cool enough to let me pick the acid green for my new Flow wich was sweet. Not only do they respond quickly to warranty request but they let you customize your ride!!! This frame spins, manuals, and glides through the air like a hawk. This frame is sweet and I love to ride it. I would recommend this frame to anyone who rides Dirt, Park, or Street. Sick frame and great company!
Bike Setup: 06 Flow frame set up for DJ/street Bombshell wheels, rear break only, E13 SRS guide, Maxxis Holey Roller tires, Manitou Stance fork, Truvativ Husselfelt Cranks, Crankbrothers 50/50 pedals, Deore transmission (soon to be SS), and Truvativ DH BB.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
John Savalle
a Downhiller
from Vancouver
Date Reviewed: September 16, 2006
Strengths: The frame is extremely strong, the forks are incredibly strong...you can put air in both shocks up to 25 pounds!, I have 5 pounds in each and doing 6 foot drops and not close to bottoming out!, the whole bike is very strong. Awesome tires too.
Weaknesses: rear disc brake squeeks, can be fixed easily though.
Bottom Line:
This bike is impressive, when I bought it I was kind of iffy about the price but once you get on it your mind is blown away on how great this bike really is! Thhe front forks are a bit heavy, not made for cross country on pavement (only in dirt crosscountry), the forks are made for heavy jumping and downhill and freerideing, but of course thats what the bike is made for STUNTS and crazy jumps!
Anywhooo.........this is an awesome bike for the price and the quality, if you are looking for a bike for extreme stunts and jumping (freeriding), this is the bike!
Bike Setup: half the bike is raceface!, maxxis! RMB U.S.A seat, omega gear shifters!
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Joel
a Weekend Warrior
from Bozeman, Montana, USA
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2006
Strengths: Hand-built frame, DJ 3 fork with QR 20, Race Face Cranks, really strong, great geometry for freeride/trails/dirtjumps.
Weaknesses: Needs a 2 bolt seat post. I've broken the bolt twice.
Bottom Line:
Really solid all around bike: great for freeride, dirtjumps and going DOWN trails. Going up takes a little more work, but it still climbs decently. Great if you want a solid bike that you can still actually ride up.
Strengths: i love the frame and obviously the price i got it for. sweet bike 24" rims rock (it was costom built by the shop). i like the dj 3's but they're kinda heavy but this thing is sweet. i havn't done any jumps yet becasue it's winter but i can bunny hop so good i love it. if you get this bike for a good price get it other wise u better have lot's of money
Purchased At: the toronto bicycle show it's canadian dollars usually like 1600
Similar Products Used: kona scrap it broke
Bike Setup: 24" wheels kenda k-rad sun rims single track shimano deore single speed
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Terri.
a Racer
from Leduc, AB, Canada
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2006
Strengths: Add on to Review Down Below... This is just about problems I have come across since last review
Weaknesses: 1.The brakes still squeal quite a bit after riding it almost every day for the last 4 months. 2. The cabling isn't set up the best, it catches on certain parts of the bike and takes nicks out of the cables. 3. The chain sucks up in between the front sprocket and the frame (won't leave the front sprocket and tries to go all the way aroud) when I shift sometimes and takes of a bunch of paint. 4. The bolt holding on the seat randomly snapped.. on closer examination it looked like it had a fault line in it. 5.Front tire split for some odd reason between the treads, Someone else said there minion stock tire did this too. 6.Chain snapped after 50 hours of riding... was doing some trail riding and kept it in good gears but it started to make funny noises then snapped. To add insult to injury the derailer swong back and jammed into my spokes so I couldn't even coast down the rest of the way. Turns out it came with a bent rear hanger. 7.Bolts have to be tightened regularely, they seem to come loose fast 8. The shifting isn't always to nice and often skips over a gear or too...probably has something to do with that bent rear hanger 9. There is a lot of side to side play in the rims... axles already starting to go? I hope not. Gonna see if it has one of those quick fix tightening bolts like some hubs come with
Bottom Line:
This is still a excellent bike for the money. All the problems have been pretty much minor. Nothing a little TLC and some MASTER MODEL paint can't fix. Get some black and white model paint and touch up your scratches. This is a showy bike that deserves to remain looking nice. Go easy on the fork... it doesn't like heavy nose landings. I will probably upgrade to a Rock Shox Pike in the next year, cuz as many people have said... this bike deserves a better fork. It rides nice and smooth and can keep up with the xc kids, and then beat them all on the downhills. It likes the jupms and the dual slalom courses, but it also puts up with some urban here and there.
Bike Setup: Stock... Currently have a Bontragger Comfort Plus rear tire for my trainesr/commuting. And little flashy lights on my valves to let cars see me in the dark lol...
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Mark
a Weekend Warrior
from Sherwood Park, Alberta
Date Reviewed: December 17, 2005
Strengths: sweet frame, good fork, RACE FACE!!!!
Weaknesses: shifters
Bottom Line:
this is the tightest bike ive ridden, you wont find a over all better bike. you may be a norco or kona guy but for all the strengths you cant find any thing better. and where else do you get race face sh!t? there anit no better frame so even if you just get a frame do it because you cant beat a hand crafted TiG'ed frame. Plus its a Rockey!!
Awesome bike for all skills. great for dirt jumping or just plain street riding! The MSRP is high but you can get for cheaper just about anywhere. Rocky mountain bikes are the bomb. GET ONE NOW!
Bike Setup: E-13, 12-26 in the rear, 34-24 up front, Planet X stem and seatpost, Maxxis Hookworms, Shock had incorrectly installed bushings, it just came back from Marzocchi. some yellow dice caps - Every run is a gamble at 32!
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Stephan Cote
a Weekend Warrior
from Jonquiere, Qc. Canada
Date Reviewed: October 9, 2005
Strengths: Burly and strong like rock. Super nice quality components( Race Face) Super Esthetic look. Realy Nice set of Brake, I know some people complain about the Haye Nine, but mine work like a dream... (Only tooks 3 days to burnish) They only make a bit of noise when they are overheated.
Weaknesses: Low speed bike... The race face Crank is built bomb proof, but, is only a 22/32T small Ring with a burly Bash Guard, So the top speed of the bike is around 43 Km/h, faster then that, your legs simply cant folow the pedals... The Fork.. A Marzocchi Dirt Jumper III need a lot of tuning... Mine is way too fast on rebound, and still too stiff with no air in it, I'll have to put some 7.5 or even 10 grade oil in it, and reduce the oil level....
Bottom Line:
Well, all around it's a really nice bike! But, It's hard to beleive that someone can folow his wife who ride a XC bike... The FLow 3 is a bit heavy, (but not tooo much) and mainly, geared too low... If you like to bee looked at, this is the hardtail you need.. About 35 people ina day came to see my bike at the skate park, and all comment were nice too heard! The Flow is also feeling realy controlable for every little to any big trick... Wheelie are feeling natural position on that bike... It's like if the bike knew that you wan tit to stand up on a wheel... Big air jump and 5 feet flat land are no big deal for that bike, Bottom line!: DON'T WORRY, YOU WONT BRAKE IT! Cheer
Similar Products Used: Brodie Electro 2003.... Realy a nice bike too!
Bike Setup: All Stock part.... Hayes brake, RaceFace BB, Crank, stem, handle bar.. FAS Pig Pro DH head Set, Mavic EX 325 Disk Rim, Maxxis Minon F/R DN ST tire...Shimano LX Shifter and derailleur, Rear disk hub. Front Rocky Mountain Bikes 20mm Disk hub..
Strengths: wow... this bike for $1600 canadian.... Strenghts are all the Race Face Down Hill components and the handbuilt frame and wheels
Weaknesses: Nothing so far
Bottom Line:
Awesome bike.... hucks easily, easier than others to cat walk, not to heavy... and it loves too jump. The handbuilt frame and wheels it give it an edge over the others.... it is realatively smooth and easy to pedal.... not meant to do a 12 mile climb. You should buy it if you need a versatile bike that takes everything in its path; from 20 foot gap jumps to a stroll through the park. Plus the frame is white!
Bike Setup: Marzocchi 04 Dirt Jumper 2, Race Face Evolve DH, handle bars; bar clamp; seatpost; some other stuff, Maxxix Minnion 2.35 tires, Shimano Deore drive train, Heyes 9 disc brakes, rocky built frame, seat, grips and wheels, VP pedals,
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Adam
a Weekend Warrior
from Edmonton,ab,ca
Date Reviewed: May 10, 2005
Strengths: Burly frame Super tough components Hand made in Canada Tough wheel set Its WHITE.
Weaknesses: none besides its weight, but when the rider is heavy it doesn't really matter
Bottom Line:
I wanted a bike that was tough enough for a 6'4 230 lbs guy to really put through its paces and that is what the Flow 3.0 is. The frame is solid and pretty light(4.5lbs) in the grand scheme of things and is a great platform to get out there on and start. The parts that Rocky put on this bike are wicked(Race Face all over), the bottom bracket is so hot and the cranks are rock solid even when you really mash on them. I have rode this all over from downhill to dirt jump to cross country trails chasing my wife and except for some of the climbs this can keep up with her xc race bike without to much trouble. I originally was going to get a cheaper bike and upgrade the fork but now i think an e13 drs, holy rollers, and an ibeam seat and post are all that are needed. mabey some day i will get around to getting a fox 36 or marz 66 onto it but for now i am all smiles. if you want a burly hard tail that you can thrash all day at the park or jumps then have no worries about crusing the trails home this is your bike.
Strengths: The geometry is awesome with the Fox Talas fork, the welds are amazing and overall the bike feels so strong. I take it down silly DH tracks (Thredbo) with no problems and it “flows” all the way down.
Weaknesses: It makes my other bikes look bad.
Bottom Line:
I have ridden many hard tails, but none feel as good/strong as this, and when you decide to tackle a DH you don’t want the frame letting you down, this could hurt!
Yes they are expensive, but you get what you pay for.
