Can you still remember the tiresome wheel discussion? When 26-inch wheels were being phased out and everyone was scratching their heads about whether 27.5-inch or 29-inch? The advantages and disadvantages are now well known and can be broken down into one sentence: 29 inch = smoother and more comfortable, 27.5 inch = more playful and agile.
Nevertheless, a lot has changed since then. The geometries have been adapted and refined. If you sit blindly on a bike, you often don't even realise whether it's 29-inch or 27.5-inch. It's only when your bum rattles against the rear wheel on steep gradients that you realise: "Ah, 29 inches!" That's how we felt about these two duelists. The Rocky Mountain Altitude A50 rolls on the small wheels. The Altitude is Rocky's new all-round enduro bike since the Canadians transformed the former enduro model Slayer into a freerider.
The duel opponent Trek Slash 8 has 29-inch wheels; you have to put 600 euros less on the counter for the Trek Slash. So, now we have a confession to make: We tested the 2019 models because we wanted to take advantage of the good autumn weather, and the manufacturers assured us that nothing would change for 2020 apart from the paint job. Now it turns out that Rocky are giving their 2020 Altitude Rockshox suspension instead of the Fox suspension fitted in 2019. Will this change the performance? Well, we can only speculate here - the shock is slightly more potent, which would make the rear end more comfortable - a good change in our opinion!
You can read what you can expect from these two competitors in practice in the PDF, which you can find in the download area below - including all the information, measured values and scores.
Downloads:
Laurin Lehner
Editor
