Rocky Mountain Altitude 2024: The new Altitude - this is enduro in Canadian

With its versatile frame, the Rocky Mountain Altitude rode its way into the hearts of racers and trail adventurers in the early years of the enduro boom. It wouldn't be a real Rocky if the new edition of the Altitude didn't have a big pinch of cult character. The Canadians have bid farewell to the previous design completely and reintroduced one of their tried-and-tested chassis - not without tweaking all sorts of optimisation screws, of course. With this mix of experience matured over time and forward-looking details, the new Rocky Mountain Altitude has what it takes to become a modern classic. In this article you'll find all the information about the brand new full suspension bike with 170 millimetres of travel at the front and 160 millimetres at the rear.

Details about the Rocky Mountain Altitude 2024

• Area of application: Enduro
• Suspension travel: 170 mm front / 160 mm rear
• Wheel size: 27.5" (size S) / 29" or Mullet (sizes M-XL)
• Frame material: carbon or aluminium
• Prices: between 5200 and 8400 euros
• Complete bikes: Five models
• Frame kit: Yes, 4600 Euro
• Special features: LC2R rear triangle, Ride-4-Flip-Chip, Reach-Adjustment, down tube storage compartment

New frame design on the Rocky Mountain Altitude 2024

Rocky Mountain recently presented a series of new, exciting bikes. While the frame of the previous Altitude was previously identical to that of the Instinct all-mountain model, this is now changing for the upcoming model year. While the new Rocky Mountain Instinct is based on the familiar frame designthe relationship between the new Altitude Enduro and its predecessor is hard to guess. Visually, the new bike with the shock running through the seat tube may remind die-hard enduro riders of bikes from Santa Cruz or Specialized, which may also have to do with expiring patent rights. In fact, Rocky Mountain already relied on the "LC2R" rear suspension system 18 years ago.

LC2R stands for "Low Centre Counter Rotating" and describes a system that was first presented at the Rocky Mountain Slayer 2006. Incidentally, the Slayer freeride bike was also recently reissued by Rocky. The rear triangle design was also adopted from the Flatline downhill fully in 2008. In the history of Rocky Mountain's iconic downhill bikes, the LC2R has a long tradition and promises a convincing combination of performance, traction and comfort. Behind the combination of letters and numbers lies a rear triangle with a virtual pivot point and a leverage ratio of one to three. This system should respond particularly well to small bumps in front of the SAG range.

Rocky aims to maximise traction by separating the suspension and drive system to minimise pedal kickback. The new Altitude should now also pedal up the mountain more efficiently. Furthermore, the behaviour of the LC2R rear suspension on the new Rocky Mountain Altitude should be predictable on the trail at all times thanks to a linear suspension curve. The system is also designed to absorb medium and big hits without compromising control and speed.

In the last 25 millimetres of travel (equivalent to 36 percent of the full stroke), a slightly increased leverage effect should make the bike particularly controllable at the limit without the rider having to fear hard bottom-outs. Even under high loads, Rocky Mountain promises that the rear wheel will remain in constant contact with the ground. Thanks to the one-piece rear frame triangle, oversized bearings and short connections between the individual parts, the Canadians claim to have achieved a high level of lateral stiffness, which should also contribute to the feeling of safety when riding aggressively.

Another advantage of the revitalised rear suspension system is the new Rocky Mountain Altitude's lower centre of gravity. The main pivot point has been positioned close to the bottom bracket, which means that the suspension components are embedded low down in the frame. In addition to advantages in handling, the Altitude should be more stable on the track at race speed, than its predecessor, whose damper was attached to the top tube. Depending on the frame size, Rocky provides the Enduro with a special damper setting in order to achieve comparable performance even with different rider weights. The developers were able to collect the necessary data during numerous test rides.

Geometry updates on the new Enduro from Rocky Mountain

Of course, Rocky Mountain has not left the geometry table untouched in the new development of the Altitude. Thanks to the proven Ride-4-Flip-Chip system, the geometry can be customised in four steps. The insert on the front shock mount allows the steering angle, seat angle, bottom bracket height, reach and wheelbase to be customised. If that's not enough, the reach value can be adjusted by a maximum of ten millimetres in three steps thanks to special headset shells.

Typical for a modern enduro bike the steering angle of the Altitude is slack at up to 63 degrees and the reach is long at up to 483 millimetres in size L. Unlike the new Rocky Mountain Instinct, the Altitude comes without an adjustment option for the chainstay length. Instead, this increases with the frame size from a short 424 in size S to an impressive 450 millimetres in size XL. While the frame size S comes with small 27.5-inch wheels at the front and rear, riders in sizes M to XL have the choice between a 29-inch or a mullet setup.

New features on the Rocky Mountain Altitude 2024

Rocky Mountain offers the Altitude Enduro with both carbon and aluminium frames. The former are produced using the company's own "Smoothwall technology", which is intended to achieve optimum shaping and thus less excess material by using particularly hard cores in the manufacturing process. The use of different carbon fibres in different areas of the frame promises the ideal mix of weight, impact resistance and stiffness. Rocky does not publish weights.

The Canadians also emphasise the exclusive use of the highest quality materials for the aluminium frames. Only the carbon frames come with the "Penalty Box 2.0" storage compartment in the down tube. In addition to a tool bag, this also has an integrated secret compartment for an Apple Airtag tracking sensor. The bottle cage mount sits on the locking mechanism. All cables are routed internally on the new Rocky Mountain Altitude frame. The design also allows for a moto-style brake setup.

Models and prices of the new Rocky Mountain Altitude

Rocky Mountain is initially offering the Altitude in four equipment variants in this country. Customers can choose between a carbon or aluminium frame, Rockshox or Fox suspension and Shimano or Sram components. For the wheels and attachments, parts from Canadian national colleague Race Face are used for the most part.

The following complete bikes come with carbon frames:

• Rocky Mountain Altitude Carbon 70 Coil - 8400 Euro
• Rocky Mountain Altitude Carbon 50 - 6800 Euro

The following complete bikes come with aluminium frames:

• Rocky Mountain Altitude Alloy 70 Coil - 6500 Euro
• Rocky Mountain Altitude Alloy 50 - 5200 Euro

Rocky Mountain is also teasing a C90 model in a rally edition and the Carbon 99 model, which is to be equipped with the electronic Rockshox Flight Attendant suspension, among other things. Whether and when these bikes will be available in Germany remains to be seen.