![]() ![]() ![]() What I should have considered sooner was tuning the rear shock. 4 steepened my steering angle by 0.4°, but the BB still feels low at a 29mm drop and I’m quite comfortable with the 453mm reach. Relying on the Ride 9 chip to tune the shock rate does mean that when I find the setting that’s linear enough for me, I’m limited to whatever geometry that setting provides…. In that setting I’m using almost all my travel on most laps, and it still takes a hard hit to bottom out. I did start out with the Altitude in the slackest Pos. *This pic shows the Ride 9 chip in the slackest position (Pos. While it makes sense to have the shock grow more progressive as you go slacker, I have one issue with that as a lightweight rider: I can’t bottom out the Altitude in its slackest few positions, yet I’d love to keep the bike fully slacked out for my local terrain. The effect the Ride 9 chip has on geometry is logical As the bike goes from slacker to steeper the reach increases, the BB rises and the stack height drops, moving you from a slightly laid back, downhill friendly stance into a more aggressive trail riding position. 9, the shock rate steadily gets less progressive and more linear. Up front, stack height varies from 624mm in slack to 616mm in steep mode.Īs for suspension, the chip allows you to fine-tune how progressive or linear the Altitude feels. 1 is 34mm, but that goes up to 19mm in Pos. Reach ranges more, stretching from 449mm to 461mm. 9 (steep), your key angles don’t change much as the head tube varies from 64.4° to 65.5°, and the seat mast goes from 75.4° to 76.5°. RMB’s Ride 9 chip is an interesting adjuster, as it alters both the geometry and suspension characteristics: Let’s start with geometry. I set both to their factory recommendations (LSC ¾ to fast and LSR halfway) and that seemed to work well for me. The Float X2 shock only offers low-speed compression and rebound adjustments. RMB’s chart suggests 180, but going a bit on the low side is consistent with my usual setup (I weigh about 145lbs without gear). Where I usually run 140psi in a ‘psi = body weight’ situation, I settled on 170psi for the Altitude Carbon 70’s Fox Float X2 rear shock. Where previous RMB bikes I’ve ridden followed factory recommendations for rear shock air pressures (often your body weight in psi), the new Altitude linkage features a more linear rate curve and a higher average leverage ratio, so it requires a little extra pressure. 2021 Rocky Mountain Altitude shock tuning: This article is all about how the Altitude Carbon 70 29 rides, so check out my launch article for all the details on Rocky Mountain’s 2021 Altitude lineup. The bike’s aesthetics suit its wide ranging capabilities perfectly it’s a lean but mean machine that can be a real wolf in sheep’s clothing. Where some enduro bikes put off a more brutish vibe, the Altitude’s leaner looks give you a sense that this bike would be pretty good at climbing and trail rambling too. But while that’s always fun, what impressed me was the Altitude’s versatility, as it offers a very trail friendly ride when it’s set up steeper and shorter. With 170/160mm travel, modern geometry, adjustable chainstays and the Ride 9 chip’s tunability, this bike easily meets today’s enduro standards in slack and long mode. The paint isn't too much to write home about either, in just a month of testing, our bike was looking decidedly tatty.After holding down the long travel trail category for many years, Rocky Mountain Bikes’ Altitude has stretched its legs and grown into a full enduro machine for 2021. This model was fitted with Maxxis Wide Trail tyres front and rear and sadly a press fit bottom bracket. The Altitude now boasts boost spacing, and clearance to run wider diameter tyres. Cable routing is all internal with cables entering the frame near the head tube then popping out near the bottom bracket for the rear gears and brake, it’s a nicely secured and rattle free affair. The frame now features sealed bearings all round rather than use grease ports. You can buy an Altitude from Tredz here.This, no doubt, goes some way to contribute to the low weight of the full build, even in this low spec the bike manages to come in at 31.1lbs (14.1kg), a good weight for a 150mm bike at this price. The redesigned frame uses Rocky Mountain’s Form alloy with each tube optimised for strength, weight and ride quality. The frame of the Altitude has been updated across the range for 2018 and that includes the Alloy 30 model that we have in for test. ![]() Sporting longer travel, a new frame and redesigned linkage the Altitude is longer, slacker and feeling the benefits. Rocky Mountain slot the radically overhauled 2018 Altitude into the category of an ‘aggressive trail’ bike.
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