"With your 1.67 metres, what do you want with a 29er?" I was often told at first. But I wasn't dissuaded and immediately felt comfortable on the 16.5-inch frame. Thanks to my height, I really sit in the bike, which, in combination with the 70 millimetre stem and the 660 mm handlebars, gives me a lot of traction and confidence on both uphill and downhill trails. During the endurance test, I tried out different cassette ratios, as the standard 12-36 sprocket is too coarse on undulating terrain. After just 500 kilometres, I switched to the 11-28 cassette from Shimano's SLX groupset, which has smaller steps. On my tours in the Alps and on Lake Garda, I used an 11-34 XT cassette.
My Rocky was really put to the test twice: At the 24-hour race in Munich's Olympic Park and during my week-long crossing of the Alps in August. For testing purposes, I swapped the pre-mounted Continental Race King for the Wild Racer from Michelin. The 2.1-inch version is wider than the name suggests, has good grip on gravel and offers sufficient puncture protection. My bike held up perfectly, just like the installed Formula K24 in maple design and the Fox F29 100 RL.
My conclusion after one seasonTwentyniners like the Vertex from Rocky are also a great thing for small riders, however strange the look may seem to some of their contemporaries.
DEFECTS/CHANGES:
1st BRAKE PADS WITH RINGING NOISE 700 km: Change from sintered to organic pads
2. rattling rear wheel rim 980 km: rattling locating pins at the rim joint fixed in the rim well again
3. fork jerks 1600 km: small fork service, wiper cleaned and foam rings oiled
4th CHAIN BENT 2000 km: chain replaced after chain jam
Continuous test performance of the Rocky Mountain Vertex 29 SE: 3188 km / 26190 m elevation gain
Web: www.bikeaction.de
