As Ben1988 pointed out, word on the street is that the Altitude will be an aggressive 29-er.
Post what rumor tidbits you have as you get them here!
Post what rumor tidbits you have as you get them here!
2021 Altitude Speculation Thread.
rideit
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Blatant - would love your take on the Altitude vs Titan. I have the Titan, great bike, but there are some crazy deals on the Altitude right now and I have an itch.FWIW your Titan review got me on the Banshee train, and it's been a blast. Appreciate it's not all about better and maybe just different but any perspective appreciated.
I also had a titan for a long time. the altitude is a lot more sporty feeling; chainstays are shorter, suspension feels a bit more poppy. i dont think the altitude climbs better but theyre pretty close, the altitude feels a bit better on trail climbs. obviously quite a bit lighter. I put an angleset in both of them eventually. i preferred the altitude for all around riding, the titan was great for long climbs and long steep descents, but the altitude does that well too while also being more active on lower angled trails.
Thanks for the kind words. All things being equal, I’d take the Titan over the Altitude. Subjectively, the Banshee looks better and build quality is nicer. The weld quality on the RM is not in the same league. There’s a reason Banshee costs what it does.
On that note, I don’t work in the industry and pay retail or some bro discount out of my own pocket. I got the complete Altitude for a little more $$ than the Banshee frameset. And it’s a reasonable build; I spent a couple hundred on touchpoints and that’s it.
Superfun bike and I have no real complaints. I think the Ride 9 thing is pretty fiddly, but I do love the ease of the 10mm change in the dropouts. Ran both and prefer the longer setting. The RM feels softer off the top at 30% sag than the Banshee, but it is weirdly progressive. I just took the volume spacers out of the shock to tame that brick wall feeling. The Banshee climbs shockingly well and the Altitude is right there with it. Time-wise, I’m faster on the Titan, but the RM is no slouch. It’s incredibly comfortable to sit and spin up a mountain.
No descending complaints with either, though not sure my body position on the Altitude is sorted. I do feel like the front wants to tuck a little turning at high speed. You might argue that, assuming good shock tune, the Titan is a little more settled in the rear in big chunk at high speed. But for mortals, both are great.
I do feel, if you pulled the RM build off and put it on a Titan frame, I’d personally be faster. That said I’m pleased with the bike and happy to ride it. But if an opportunity to get back on a Banshee reared its head, I’d take it.
Hope that’s helpful.
On that note, I don’t work in the industry and pay retail or some bro discount out of my own pocket. I got the complete Altitude for a little more $$ than the Banshee frameset. And it’s a reasonable build; I spent a couple hundred on touchpoints and that’s it.
Superfun bike and I have no real complaints. I think the Ride 9 thing is pretty fiddly, but I do love the ease of the 10mm change in the dropouts. Ran both and prefer the longer setting. The RM feels softer off the top at 30% sag than the Banshee, but it is weirdly progressive. I just took the volume spacers out of the shock to tame that brick wall feeling. The Banshee climbs shockingly well and the Altitude is right there with it. Time-wise, I’m faster on the Titan, but the RM is no slouch. It’s incredibly comfortable to sit and spin up a mountain.
No descending complaints with either, though not sure my body position on the Altitude is sorted. I do feel like the front wants to tuck a little turning at high speed. You might argue that, assuming good shock tune, the Titan is a little more settled in the rear in big chunk at high speed. But for mortals, both are great.
I do feel, if you pulled the RM build off and put it on a Titan frame, I’d personally be faster. That said I’m pleased with the bike and happy to ride it. But if an opportunity to get back on a Banshee reared its head, I’d take it.
Hope that’s helpful.
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Something I don't see commonly posted is that the Altitude with a 30t or 28t chainring actually climbs substantially better than with the 32t it comes specced with. The chain line is more in line with the pivot point on 28t and increases anti-squat substantially. If you have a lot of climbing on your rides it's actually worth doing. My friend who owns an Ibis Ripley rode my Altitude and said it climbed about the same. While I'm sure the Ripley climbs slightly better still, the 28t chainring does magic for this bikes climbing prowess. According to my (very rough) estimates, the 28t puts anti-squat on the altitude close to 100%, making the back feel a lot more neutral under hard pedaling.
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163 Posts
Curious and interested!
The 2021-2023 Altitude specifications list a 30T minimum. How is the 28T chainring working out? No rubbing, I suppose (hope).
Thanks!
Update from RM:
Did you solve this one way or another? Same height potentially looking at a 2023 Altitude.
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163 Posts
2021 Altitude Size Specific Shock Tunes Information
Altitude 27.5" Wheels Frame Size Fox Tune Rock Shox Tune Small Float X2 SM = 0.3 Spacer x1, CL001, JCR010, Rezi CM DH X2 SM = 400lbs/in, CL, JCR010, Rezi CM DPX2 SM = 0.2 Spacer, CEC001, LRM, Rezi M2...
rockymountainsupport.freshdesk.com
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73 Posts
Here's my 2022 Altitude (nicknamed "Warranty Voiditude") in size XL. It has 190mm travel front and 190mm+ travel rear. The fork is a 2023 Zeb 190mm and the rear shock is a DNM RCP-2S 240x76mm with some internal mods. Built to scare the engineers over at RM 
![Image]()
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73 Posts
On full compression the fender will slightly touch the seat tube, but I'm going to move the fender rearwards this afternoon
The tire will not touch anything, but observe that this is a 27.5" rear wheel and the chainstay is in the "long" setting. Also, the shock bottoms out well before the link hits the top tube. I haven't measured the BB height on full compression, but there is still plenty of ground clearance. I'll measure it next time I am taking the shock off.
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163 Posts
FWIW, I spoke to Fox re: the Rocky Mountain tune. The advice was that the retail tune for the 2025 DHX2 coil shock was not so different. "Why bother" so to speak per changing.2021 Altitude Size Specific Shock Tunes Information
Altitude 27.5" Wheels Frame Size Fox Tune Rock Shox Tune Small Float X2 SM = 0.3 Spacer x1, CL001, JCR010, Rezi CM DH X2 SM = 400lbs/in, CL, JCR010, Rezi CM DPX2 SM = 0.2 Spacer, CEC001, LRM, Rezi M2...
Find your s/n and call Fox!
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81 Posts
Those of you that have a 2021-2023Altitude/instinct, what did you do to make it quieter? I don't have any creeking or cracking on it. I clean and retorque everything every winter. But I have a lot of chain slap (shimano derailler) and I think that the housing are having party inside the downtube.
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73 Posts
Hm, my Altitude is very quiet with no particular mods which I credit to the tube-in-tube design. I also have a Shimano derailleur but I keep the clutch in top condition. Have you checked that your clutch is enabled?
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81 Posts
Yes the clutch is on. Do you have the alloy or the carbon version? On the alloy version, there is a foam tube arround the housing inside the frame. Some carbon frame have rigid tube that guide the housing inside the frame, does the carbon altitude have that or is it the same as the alloy Altitude?
My derailler is new from this summer as I had to replace it after knocking it.
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73 Posts
Ah, I see. The carbon Altitude (of that generation) have a tube-in-tube system through the frame, so there is no room for the cables to rattle around. I use foam housing on my other bikes that can be found fairly cheap on aliex. If your bike has had any cables replaced at some point, it's not unlikely that whoever did that ignored the housing that was on there and just pulled the new cables through.
I thought it was chain slap but it turns out it was the derailleur slapping like crazy against the b-tension screw. I still have not found a solution but it clangs like crazy. I have a Sram X01 AXS eagle rear derailleur.
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