Rocky Mountain Maiden - the most expensive production bike in the world. Bam! The magazine "Der Spiegel" gave the Maiden its first headline shortly after its launch. The limited version of the Maiden actually costs a staggering €13,000. But the Rocky engineers actually had other records in mind, such as victories in the Downhill World Cup. To emphasise the character of the bike in its name, the Canadians called their downhill battler Maiden - in reference to the noisy heavy metal band "Iron Maiden". The Iron was deliberately omitted, as the Maiden is made entirely of carbon fibre. It took four years of tinkering and, as the story goes, Rocky rider and project sponsor Thomas Vanderham kept shaking his head, which resulted in new prototypes. Now the time has come and four models will go on sale in October. Of course, according to Rocky, everything should be of the finest quality: the best kinematics curves, the best bearing technology, the best braking behaviour, even the best carbon fibres. One special feature stands out: You can put 26- and 27.5-inch wheels in the Maiden - without changing the geometry.
"With 26 inches, the Maiden is much more agile and better suited for jumps in the park," says Rocky team rider Geoff Gulevich, who will be riding this bike at the Rampage in Utah. And that brings us to the next trick the Rocky engineers wanted to pull off: Although the bike should be capable of top performance in downhill races (a World Cup team is planned), it should also make hobby freeriders happy in the bike park. We think so: It has succeeded. The Maiden is not a railway track, but surprisingly agile and manoeuvrable. The short chainstays (425 millimetres like the Specialized Demo) play their part in this. Striking: The Maiden's BOS suspension (whether with air or steel suspension fork) is super plush. This gives it enormous confidence even at full speed, it literally sticks to the ground and always feels in control. However, the comfort also means that the Maiden requires more pressure for jumps than many other 200-millimetre bikes. We rode it in direct comparison to Trek's Session, our park favourite among the big bikes. The Session felt more direct and lively, but also generated significantly less comfort.
ConclusionRocky has managed to catch up with the top. The Maiden is on a par with the competition from Trek, Specialized and Devinci. All that's missing now are the race wins.
PLUS Safety, chassis, appearance
MINUS Price
Manufacturer information
Distribution Bike Action www.bike-action.de
Material/sizes Carbon/S,ML,XL
Price/weight without pedals 8590 Euro/15.8 kg
Measurement data
Front/rear suspension travel 200 mm/200 mm
Rear suspension system Four-bar linkage
Equipment
Fork/damper BOS Idylle Air/BOS Stoy RaRe
Cranks/gears Race Race Atlas/Shimano Saint
Brake system Shimano Saint
Impellers Stan's Neo hubs, ZTR Rapid 30 rims, DT Swiss spokes, Maxxis DHR II 3C 2.4 tyres
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
