New from Rocky Mountain: updated Element, new Vertex
Originally posted on July 12, 2011 at 16:42 pmIntroducing the 2012 Element Alloy 26 and 29 from Rocky Mountain Bicycles on Vimeo.
It’s a good week for Rocky Mountain, celebrating Chris Sheppard’s win at the BC Bike Race and pulling the wraps off three new bikes.
New alloy Element
The Element series is updated with three 29-inch and three 26-inch models, with 95mm and 120mm of travel respectively. The geometery is all-new as well, and they have adopted a SmoothLink suspension setup, a BB 92 type bottom bracket, tapered head tubes, internal cable routing, E-type front deraileur mounts, and 142mm x 12mm rear axle. The 29ers are designated by the "9" in the name. The 26-inch bikes have two-digit names.
The top-spec 970 gets a RockShox SID 29 fork, SRAM XO/X9 bits, Formula R1X brakes and DT Swiss wheels. The 950 gets a Relevation fork with a 20mm Maxle, X9/X7 parts and Formula RX brakes. The lowest price model, the 930, gets a Recon Gold fork, X7/X5 parts and Avid brakes. All 29-inchg Elements get Monarch rear shocks, either the RT3 or RT.
The 26-inch bikes are equipped with a Reba SL (Element 50), a Recon Gold (Element 30) or an XC32 coil-spring fork (Element 10). The rear squish is handled by a Fox Float on the 50 and a RockShox Ario on the others. The 50 and 30 bikes are also Shimano equipped.
No word yet on pricing or availablility.
New carbon Vertex 29er
Rocky Mountain has fully embraced the 29-inch XC racing hardtail, not even offering a 26-inch version. The sculpted and shaped tubes include smooth-wall forming, a BB92 bottom bracket shell and 142mm x 12mm rear axle. There will be two complete models – the RSL990 and RSL970 – with mostly SRAM and RockShox parts.