Rocky Mountain Bicycles recently launched their updated Instinct and it features more adjustments than a chiropractor's office on a monday morning. Am I excited for this bike? Absolutely, specifically because this might just be a bike with the most adjustments to the geometry that I have ever seen. In a day and age where it seems like most consumers have a complaint about why a company went with a certain aspect to geo, Rocky Mountain is giving you the ability to make this bike into anything you want and that is a very interesting selling point. Unless you have trouble making decisions. If that’s you, you might want to sit this one out.
So what is the Rocky Mountain Instinct? It’s their 140mm travel 29er (27.5 in size XS and SM). Now normally I would follow this with the headangle the bike has, but I am unsure what to put here. That is because Rocky Mountain utilizes their new Ride-4 adjustment system, giving you 4 ways to set this bike up with adjustments from “steep” to “slack”. So I guess for head angle we'll stay somewhat neutral, in the position I think I would want to try first, and that is 64 degrees in the 3 position. The crazy part? This bike will go down to 63.5 degrees slack, making me think this bike has the ability to ride terrain more technical than most 140mm 29ers can tackle. The ride 4 system also adjusts other geo numbers with each adjustment made as you can see by their geo chart, where the seat angle goes from 76.5 to 77.3 degrees when switching from 1 to 4 position.
Now most people would probably be happy with the ability to adjust the geo and ride quality through the ride4 system. But Rocky Mountain clearly doesn’t want to stop there. The chainstay length on this bike is also adjustable with 3 settings being offered giving you 10mm of adjustment via 5mm increments. I am a huge fan of this adjustment as I find ride quality to most drastically differ via different chainstay lengths. Adjustments here will take the rear center from 440mm-450mm.
Once again most people will be fully satisfied with geo numbers as well as chainstay length adjustment. But once again, Rocky Mountains seems to have said “hold my maple syrup” and also given us reach adjustment via an adjustable headset, offering a plus or minus 5mm adjustment. Want to run a long chain stay, long reach, and super slack head angle? Yes. Want to run a shorter chainstay, lower bb, and shorter reach? Yes. Want to run a long chain stay, high BB, and short reach? You’re just weird.
The bike also comes with internal frame storage via their “penalty box” frame storage system. It looks like color options are plentiful as well with lots of 2 tone paint jobs being offered. Side note, this is the last 2 tone paint job I am allowing from the bike industry. We have reached max capacity.
Now what do I think of this bike and why do I want one? This bike clearly is an aggressive trail bike. The fact that it can go down to 63.5 degrees slack, with a 450mm rc, and option to run the reach at well past 510mm, is insane for a 140mm 29er. The ability to then make adjustments to take the bike back up to 64.3 degrees slack, shorten the chainstay length 10mm and decrease the reach by 5mm, all without changing out the shock is absolute insanity and I love it! Whistler bike park one week and then South Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona the next? Say less, this bike will be ready for both!
So if you are the type of rider looking for a capable 29er and ride a wide variety of trails, this is hands down a bike to consider. This bike is actually going to be coming in for testing and the biggest question I have is going to be how it pedals. The seat angle is very steep, which is promising. I'm curious though how the suspension design will feel, especially in the 4 different ride 4 settings. On paper, the bike looks to have a more active suspension approach, and that would make sense given their back yard trails in BC. But if this bike climbs efficiently and has the ability to transform into all those different style rides, this is going to be a very interesting bike to consider.
Stay tuned for more.
Check out the Rocky Mountain Instinct here: https://bikes.com/pages/instinct-overview
-Mo Awesome
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