The Vertex had Easton Ultralite tubes and it was maybe 0.1-0.2 pounds lighter depending on the frame size. The Stratos had the Elite HBO tubing. HBO stood for Hand Build Only tubing, so they all were hand built. The big difference was the components.

The Fusion had Reynolds 7005 taperwall tubing in the 2001 and 2003 model year, and was a CrMo frame in 2000, so you may have a rare model with Easton Elite tubes. There's no links to the 2002 model year pages on the Internet Wayback Machine so there's no handy reference.

http://web.archive.org/web/20001017233009/www.bikes.com/fusionb.html (2000)

http://web.archive.org/web/20010210173048/bikes.com/html/fusionpage.htm (2001)

http://www.bikes.com/bikes/2003/sport_hardtail/fusion.aspx (2003)

 

The fusion has never had easton tubing, its not a model high enough the totem pole as it were to get the easton pipes (its also never had better than Deore LX group other than in the rear derailleur, in the 20 some years of the model). Either someone mislabled the tubeset or they misslabled the frame model (wouldn't surprise me given the other incidents of bad decalling).

The Rocky Catalog for 2003 lists the fusion as simply RMB Custom 7005 tubeset, the elevation was the lowest model to get an Easton frame. I found the specs for the 2002 and its supposed to be just a 7005 tubeset.

http://www0.epinions.com/bicycles_2002_Rocky_Mountain_Fusion

 

The fusion has never had easton tubing, its not a model high enough the totem pole as it were to get the easton pipes (its also never had better than Deore LX group other than in the rear derailleur, in the 20 some years of the model). Either someone mislabled the tubeset or they misslabled the frame model (wouldn't surprise me given the other incidents of bad decalling).

The Rocky Catalog for 2003 lists the fusion as simply RMB Custom 7005 tubeset, the elevation was the lowest model to get an Easton frame. I found the specs for the 2002 and its supposed to be just a 7005 tubeset.

http://www0.epinions.com/bicycles_2002_Rocky_Mountain_Fusion

I'm not sure I agree. My Fusion is clearly labelled as "Easton Elite Taperwall", and so was every other Fusion in the showroom at the time (there were at least 2 others of different sizes). Is there any other way that I can tell exactly what the frame is other than the decals?

 

As you noted they had the same geometry as the other alloy hardtails, it's entirely feasible that they might have had a glut of Easton Elite frames at some point near the end of the model year and it was better to paint and badge them as a Fusion and sell them as part of a lower cost bike package rather than blow out Oxygen, Elevation, Soul or Stratos models at a cheaper price. That's why I was thinking you might have a rare combo.

 

Easton frames would have an easton stamp into the tubeset, usually dead center top of toptube, right behind the headtube junction. Of course with rocky using so much powdercoat usually the stamp in the metal becomes obscured on many bikes. My 2003 Elevation has this excessively thick powdercoat and you cannot see the stamp and other than a couple small Easton Elite Taperwall decals on the toptube, there's no proof there's any Easton tubing in the frame OTHER than in the toptube (the laws on bicycle frames are kinda goofy that way, in that the only tube required to actually be a certain type, is the one you put a decal onto, which is why you always see Reynolds 853 decals on toptubes, downtubes or seattubes... never on the stays though, because they don't make stays out of 853).

Rocky also used to do select-market runs of models that didn't exist anywhere else, or even part of the regular catalog with different specs to appease distributor/dealers who were spending a lot of money. When gripshifters were new in the early 90s, Rocky was one of the first companies to try using them on mountain bikes, and while the catalog listed the Hammers as having Deore DX rapidfire shifters, they were offering alternatives of DX thumbshifters or Gripshift CX-DT shifters which dealers could order if they wanted.

More recently, the "team" etsx frames a few years ago which were SUPPOSED to get carbon rear ends, but instead for the most part got aluminium ones with a scandium front end. Then there was the 2006 reintroduction of the Sherpa model name, using leftover Mikado 853 touring frames repainted in rocky colours. I actually have to wonder if the new 29er Rocky model coming out next year will be using repainted 2003 Oryx Raid 29er frames (of which they had a lot of at the procycle factory in quebec) to test the waters/demand for the model.

 

I remember how there were "Scandium" frames made by a certain manufacturer, then my local dealer told me not to get to excited because it's only the downtube.

 

Hmm. I hope you're right rockyuphill - I'd be a bit annoyed if I'd been operating under false pretenses all these years thinking I had a fairly badass hardtail frame only to discover it's decidedly average and mislabeled! Although, to be fair, it has done well by me for 5+ years so I can't really complain at this point .

I wonder if it's possible to contact RM with my serial number to find anything out about it. By the looks of the 'contact' section of the website they try to avoid dealing with customers as much as possible!

 

The 2002 Fusion and Trailhead both use Easton Elite tubing (main frame). Two colour choices available - Yellow or White. Easton decal on the top tube near seat tube. Check your downtube just below the headtube for an "E" stamp for Easton. The bike came spec'd with Acera / Deore parts.

 

Considering the fusion/trailhead were the very bottom rung of the rocky line at the time, i severely doubt they really used easton tubing for more than a small production batch, if it all (the misslabeling of a production batch on the other hand I could clearly see given what a guy I know who worked at the rocky factory in that period told us later).

As to contacting rocky... first problem is how... you can phone them, but they make emailing them a real pain usually... then there's a question whether they'd have the records or not (they "lost" all the pre-procycle buyout records years ago, wouldn't surprise me if they lose records whenever it suits them, especially as warranties expire). There's also the question of whether they'd admit to an error (like mislabeling the tubeset on a batch of frames) if they made it or not.

 

The 2002 Fusion and Trailhead both use Easton Elite tubing (main frame). Two colour choices available - Yellow or White. Easton decal on the top tube near seat tube. Check your downtube just below the headtube for an "E" stamp for Easton. The bike came spec'd with Acera / Deore parts.

Yup that's the one. Yellow with crappy components . Wonder why just the 2002 models got the royal treatment (as far as frames go) while all preceding and following model years got the shaft?

 

Thing is, every media picture from RM that I've seen of the 2002 Fusion has the same Easton Elite Taperwall sticker on the top tube. You'd think that they'd have made sure everything was spot-on for the media photos at the very least.

 

Except as pointed out, the 2001 and 2003 frames were just their RMB custom 7005, which meant...made in taiwan. Why use easton for JUST 2002, for that matter, especially when they were growing the company and beginning to shift production overseas to increase the model range (the elevation, instinct, edge, stratos, carve, fanatik, etc all vanished in 2004 to be replaced with more entry level models, and wider range of vertex, element and slayer pricepoints), as well as introducing the flow series, and then in 2005 the vapour and soul.

There's a saying in catalogs of just about every industry... "prices and specifications subject to change without notice". The 2004 Oryx catalogs for example, showed a totally different frame design for the Hurricane model as what was actually produced and shipped to dealers. The catalogs showed a horst-link 4-bar and what was actually produced was a single-pivot linkage similar to a Kona Dawg. If one division of procycle was doing it, chances are the others were doing it too.

Actually one amusing thing comparing the 2003 and 2005 catalogs...is the weight claim for the frames went from 3.9 Ibs (which is real) to 3.4 Ibs (which only applied if there was zero paint, and until the 2007 Soul, rocky hadn't offered an unpainted frame in about a decade).

 

It may have been a running production change, could be they intended to use the 7005 tubed Fusion frames but either had lower demand for the other Elite tubed models or over produced those Elite tubed frames and it was easier to use what was available and upgrade the Fusion rather than add some other frameset into the mix.

And of course sometimes the website and catalogs are just plain wrong, there's always something that slips past the proof readers, or a change that gets made just as something goes to print.

This year the website indicated that the Scandium Team frames were powder coated but they are actually wet painted because Scandium tubes and the PC baking process are not compatible.

 

That's a catalog error, nothing to do with the tubing... the team frames always get wet paint as its lighter than powdercoating (by about a quarter pound). Easton's SC7000 tubeset is no different than other Easton aluminium tubing when it comes to powdercoating the frames. In reality, the temperature rocky bakes the frames is outside the range you should even subject an aluminium frame to, and its not stopping them from doing it.

Other manufacturers powdercoat scandium frames without problems, and in fact easton's website indicates powdercoating is acceptable as long as the curing temperature is not higher thanr 325F and the time under 30 minutes.

 

I'll check my frame for any signs of stamping under the paint and report back. Maybe for once I just got lucky and got a better frame than I paid for .

 

I have a 2002 Trailhead, it's Easton Elite. I clearly remember the website from back when I was doing my shopping and they definately labeled the frames that year as such. One difference was that they said they used Elite tubing on the Fusion and Trailhead, once you got to the Elevation they used Elite Taperwall. I take this as meaning Fusion and Trailhead were straight gauge, thus slightly heavier. The downtube definately feels very solid on my bike.

 

I have a 2002 Trailhead, it's Easton Elite. I clearly remember the website from back when I was doing my shopping and they definately labeled the frames that year as such. One difference was that they said they used Elite tubing on the Fusion and Trailhead, once you got to the Elevation they used Elite Taperwall. I take this as meaning Fusion and Trailhead were straight gauge, thus slightly heavier. The downtube definately feels very solid on my bike.

The decal on my top-tube definitely says Easton Elite Taperwall, so I don't think it's straight gauge, unless it's mislabeled. I also recall the website at the time now that you mention it, and I think if you looked at the frame specs on the Trailhead/Fusion it said "Easton Elite Taperwall", whereas the higher models said something like "Easton Elite Ultralite" like what rockyuphill mentioned above.

I checked my frame last night but wasn't able to find any indication of a stamp on any of the tubes. Although, this could easily be buried under powdercoat/paint/decals.

 

I've got a 2000 Vertex with the Easton Ultralite tubes and there's no trace of the Easton imprint in the tubes, it's completely buried in paint.

 

I've only ever found the imprint on a very few rocky frames, and if you can see it at all its probably a case of under-coating the paint for them (which isn't neccessarily bad, as they put such thick paint on usually as to add a half pound or more to the frame weight of a material that isn't gonna corrode anyways).

.

 

I've only ever found the imprint on a very few rocky frames, and if you can see it at all its probably a case of under-coating the paint for them (which isn't neccessarily bad, as they put such thick paint on usually as to add a half pound or more to the frame weight of a material that isn't gonna corrode anyways).

.

I can confirm that with you. I have a 2001 Oxygen Race frame that is labeled with an 'Easton Ultralite Taperwall' stick and can't see the stamp. On my 2006 25 Year Special Edition Element Team Only Scandium frame, I do so the stamp clearly because of the thin wet coat paint.

 

I found the stamp on a 2007 slayer this spring... surprised the heck out of me given how its supposed to be powdercoated.

 

Right. So I think the consensus is that for whatever reason the 2002 Fusion/Trailhead did receive receive some Easton tubes but we have no real idea how they differ from the higher models. Wonder if we can find a weight spec somewhere....

 

Unfortunetly what was claimed for the weight of a 2003 Fusion (3.9 Ibs) with its "RMB 7005 Tubing" is identical to what was claimed for a 2003 Stratos/Elevation with its "Easton Elite Taperwall tubing". 2003 seems to be the last year of realistic weight figures from rocky, as they obviously included the paint still back then, and then in 2004 magically all the hardtails got lighter as they started weighing them after welding but before a trip to the paintbooth.