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Rocky Mountain
Element 50
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Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Grand Rapids, MI USA
Date Reviewed: April 30, 2008 | | Favoriate Trail: | Yankee Springs | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$2200.00 | | Purchased At: | Grand Rapids Bicycle Co. | | Strengths: | Rock solid stability, razor sharp handling, fantastic climber, trail trash rolling resistance (it goes over everything with little to no drama), fairly light. | | Weaknesses: | A bit of bob when climbing out of the saddle, but you feel so great after the down hills it doesn't seem to matter. | | Similar Products Used: | Tested various products from Cannondale, Specialized, Giant and Gary Fisher. | | Bike Setup: | Stock with upgraded RaceFace crank set, composite seat post, bar ends, Oury grips. | | Bottom Line: | This is a follow up to my entry of a few months ago. My RM Element 50 continues to impress. At 44 I had all but given up trail riding due to lower back problems on my old hard tail. I now ride, not so much faster, but with so much more endurance and fluidity it's scary. I literally find myself smiling after easily passing sections of trail I either dreaded or had problems negotiating in the past. I highly recommend this bike to anyone who wants a bike that feels like an extension of your own body and only has you going back to the bike shop to thank them for selling you such a great bike. Speaking of which, if your in GR stop by and see Brian and/or Sam at Grand Rapids Bicycle Co., they are the best! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
David
a Cross Country Rider
from Castle Rock, CO USA
Date Reviewed: April 28, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2600.00 | | Strengths: | Extremely comfortable, responsive, downright lively. Fast on the downhill, and a faster climber than my old hardtail. | | Weaknesses: | Wish it was a bit lighter. | | Similar Products Used: | Old school Kona, Cannondale, Gary Fisher | | Bottom Line: | This bike rocks. I rode a ton of bikes until my brother in law pushed me to try a Rcky Mtn. What an awesome bike. While it's a bit heavier than some of the others I tried, I actually think I climb faster on this bike than I do on others. I would absolutely buy another Rocky Mountain, although I'm going to be on this for years to come. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James
a Weekend Warrior
from Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: April 20, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$3200.00 | | Purchased At: | Cyclepath Kingston | | Strengths: | The bike is so fast, the components are amazing and the handling is unmatched by any other bike. | | Weaknesses: | Rider training must be increased to match the performance of the bike. | | Similar Products Used: | Trek Fuel EX, Rocky Mountain - Stratos, Rocky Mountain Element, Gary Fisher HiFi | | Bike Setup: | SRAM X.O Grip Shift with X.9 Front and Rear Shifting. ODI Lock on Grips, Formula ORO K24 Brakes, Raceface Crank, stem, bars, seatpost, WTB Saddle, Crankbrothers Candy Pedals. | | Bottom Line: | This bike handles better than any other bike I have ridden. The stock components are top-notch (I am a grip shift guy though). The Formula ORO brakes are incredible, no squeaking and amazing power and modulation. Thank you Rocky for putting them on at the factory. The suspension and geometry make this bike both smooth enough for a fun weekend of trail riding and weekend races. I am looking forward to doing to the BC Bike race at the end of June and the Epic 8 hour race at the end of May.
THIS BIKE IS AMAZING! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Michael
a
from Grand Rapids, MI
Date Reviewed: December 29, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$2100.00 | | Purchased At: | Grand Rapids Bicycle Co. | | Strengths: | Great design. Purpose built, solid and @ 25 Lbs fairly light. | | Weaknesses: | None so far. | | Bike Setup: | Stock w/ carbon bars and seat post adds. | | Bottom Line: | As quick as my old hard tail on climbs. Great in the turns yet oh so comfortable on big down hills and all the trail junk you encounter on long CX rides. It feels so solidly well centered you can just aim and shoot on any part of the trail with no worries. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
JOHN DIONNE
a Cross Country Rider
from HAMILTON,ONT , CANANDA
Date Reviewed: October 6, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | waterdown | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$2400.00 | | Purchased At: | Scattalon Bikes | | Strengths: | Overall great bike good geometry, feels good on the road and seriuos trails | | Weaknesses: | So far I have had it a month in the 1st week lockout on rear shock went, took back to the shop been without a bike for 1 1/2 weeks, poor service from ROCKY MOUNTAIN no way to contact them with concerns, Fox shocks isn't a whole lot better, I would think that they would be s embarrassed that the product failed prior to even seeing the trails, that they would send out a new shock no charge to keep me rolling, guess not..... | | Similar Products Used: | upgrade from Vertex 10 | | Bike Setup: | 18" stock | | Bottom Line: | Great design poor service,terrible customer relation, probably would by a different brand that is more customer friendly, I bought Canadian and kind of regret it. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeston Norenberg
a Cross Country Rider
from Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: March 24, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Stevens Canyon | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$1899.00 | | Purchased At: | Mike's Bikes Palo Alto | | Strengths: | Beautiful finish, blistering fast on cross country climbs and descents. | | Weaknesses: | A bit twitchy on the downhills. | | Similar Products Used: | Jamis Dakar XLT 2.0 Ibex Apogee XT | | Bike Setup: | Stock except for Easton Monkey Lite carbon fiber handle bar and Lizard Skins Lock on North Shore grips. | | Bottom Line: | Great bike, I absolutely love it. It is fast and responsive and handles well under my 220 aggressive pounds. I am having a slight problem with the bottom bracket so I will repost on that. Not a problem from the bike. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ramon
a Cross Country Rider
from Bay Area, CA
Date Reviewed: December 14, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$1899.00 | | Purchased At: | Mike's Bikes | | Strengths: | Light (27.55lbs)for a 100mm full suspension ride. Great climber and quick handling. Solid level of components. Nice paint job. | | Weaknesses: | A bit twitchy on steep technical downhills. Tires are ok for hard packed dry terrain but tend to wander quite a bit when things get wet. | | Similar Products Used: | Specialized Stumpjumper, Kona Mokomoko | | Bike Setup: | Shimano LX dual control, XT front and rear deraileurs, Easton stem seatpost & bars, Mavic 317 w/ LX hubs, Race Face Evolve cranks, egg beater pdls, Selle Ita seat. | | Bottom Line: | So far the bike has been great. I'm coming off a 30lbs Kona so the Element feels light as a feather. It climbs extremely well and tracks very well. The only complaint so far is on steep downhills that are extremely rocky. It gets a bit twitchy because of the steep head angle (71.5) so you really need to concentrate. Overall it's been great. I'll follow up with another post in a few months to see how it holds up after a good beating. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
aaron weaver
a
from salt lake city, utah,usa
Date Reviewed: May 20, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | crest to millcreek | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$1280.00 | | Purchased At: | canyon bicycles | | Strengths: | Strong ridgid frame, predictable handling, handles similar to a hardtail but takes the bumps. | | Weaknesses: | pivot points must be periodically lubed or suffer squeeks, shimano 525 hubs, I hope they don't strand me on the trail. | | Similar Products Used: | trek 8700, diamondback ascent | | Bike Setup: | shimano hydralic brakes, long neck with rise; a disadvantage in steep uphill, a relaxed advantage in every other situation, 525 hubs (recieved many poor reviews) mavic rims, liberator seat (big help, rock shox duke-nice, beats my old sid by a mile. | | Bottom Line: | You can't go wrong with a rocky. My friend has ridden one for six years. He used to kick my butt, now i kick his. His rocky has handled many hard miles well. I expect the same. I got my bike for a steal. It's an 04, I bought it in 06. every year it dropped in price. it's a 19" frame, thats why it didn't sell. in 04 they wanted 2k for it. I recomend the ellement to anyone. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Huvis
a Weekend Warrior
from Burnaby BC
Date Reviewed: November 15, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Purchased At: | Simons Vancouver | | Strengths: | Well built solid frame with a proven design. "Built in Canada"
| | Weaknesses: | Chain Suck but maybe its me.
| | Similar Products Used: | Kona Dawg Delux, Caldera , Stuff and Stinky | | Bike Setup: | Stock except Fox RLC100mm Air fork. | | Bottom Line: | A great ride mine is 30lbs with my digital bathroom scale. I like the higher bottom bracket as I rarely hit the pedal on rocks ect. Climbs well minimum bob, desends well except I like my Dawg better for down. I would buy this again and have recomended it to freinds. Only 4 Chillis for value as this is alot to pay for a bike
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Submitted by
Kevin
a
from Canada
Date Reviewed: October 7, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | it's me again.....the bike is actually 27lbs, and once you get used to heavier wheels it's just as fast as anything else out there.....not training for a month is probably the real culprit for being slower on hills lol... | | Bottom Line: | It's light and fast, buy it! I don't know why I don't see more of these around..AMAZING | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Kevin McMahon
a Racer
from Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | Jumping Pound Ridge | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$1951.00 | | Purchased At: | The Bike Shop | | Strengths: | Great bike. This thing is fast as hell, excellent ride, great frame, well built. The suspension is a great design, the components are pretty good. The suspension is amazing, better than the Epic, Superlight. I love the dual control levers and LX discs. The Eggbeaters are cool, the tires are light, saddle is pretty decent. and hey, the colour is pretty sweet, too. | | Weaknesses: | It's too heavy!!! I wanted a bike that I can race in Jr Expert to replace my hardtail Norco Rush; which is fast, but has no discs or full suspension. Well, this was a great upgrade, with similar LX/XT components but it weighs about 2-3lbs more than my Norco. My bathroom scale (yeah unaccurate, but still) shows nearly 30lbs (29something). That's very sad for an XC bike. I want to race, and I am much slower on climbs with this. On a good day I'm several minutes slower (maybe 10) on an 80 minute training ride with a lot of hills on pavement. That's not as competitive as I'd like to be.. Also, the Fox fork in front doesn't feel quite as nice/progressive as my Rock Shox SID race fork on my Norco, but as it has broken in it feels better and better. | | Similar Products Used: | I checked out a Scalpel 1000, Norco EXC full suspension, Santa Cruz Superlight, Specialized Epic....This has better suspension parts than the superlight, active suspension that the Epic is missing, and I'm not a Cannondale man. But that Cannondale was pretty light. | | Bike Setup: | Stock, but investigating ways to lose some weight from this. Email me with any advice, please!! (I will probably go with a EC90 flatbar, EC70 post, super light Selle Italia saddle, and maybe a Carbon stem, but any other options are also welcome. | | Bottom Line: | It's a great XC bike for enthusiasts, just excellent. But if you want to race, you need everything you can get to make you faster uphills, not just down hills. At a $3000 CAD MSRP, I thought I was covered, but unfortunately I'm stuck for now with a great bike that's too heavy to race and be faster.. Maybe I should have sprung for an Element 70 (but I didn't see any in stock). This bike would be perfect all around if it were 27lbs, maybe even 28 I could live with. but 29/30 is just too much.. It climbs pretty good and the shock lockout is awesome, but I just don't feel that competetive edge that I know I get on a hardtail.
Rocky Mountains are expensive, and I wasn't going to get one because of that, but I got a great deal on this.
I still give the value 4 because of the suspension components. Most other bikes didn't have the RP3 which is an outstanding shock, or the Fox RL 100, which is also an amazing fork. The Superlight is lighter, but I didn't want a Duke fork or LX components. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Santa Barbara, CA
Date Reviewed: April 9, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$1450.00 | | Purchased At: | Copeland Sports | | Strengths: | High quality component package. Hand wielded frame. Beautiful paint job. Great hydro brakes. A bike you can trust.
| | Weaknesses: | Stock tires are ideal for packed dirt racing but not all around XC. They are quite light though. | | Similar Products Used: | None. Owned a 2004 Trek 4500, but that is the bush leagues compared to this beast. | | Bike Setup: | All stock except for IRC Mythos 2.1 tires. | | Bottom Line: | This bike costs a pretty penny MSRP. I managed to purchase it for approx $1400 on a closeout. I had researched many bikes and had never considered the Rocky Mountain line. I must say that the bike is wonderful. The first month or so that I owned it I had several problems with the deraillers staying tuned, this was probably due to the mud riding I had been doing. The rear hanger got bent somehow as well, and the rear brake was feeling really soft. Copelands tuned it all up 2 or 3 times and now everything is fine. After an initial break-in period, the bike is great. I would not buy this at MSRP. It's a good bike, but not a steal for $2300. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Trevor Hennes
a Racer
from Medicine Hat, AB, Canada
Date Reviewed: July 20, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | anywhere in the Canadian rockies!! | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$2066.00 | | Purchased At: | The Bike and Run Shop | | Strengths: | Affordable, handbuilt racing machine!! Easton ultralite tubeset. Rocky's brilliant 3D link travel. Strong parts package and a beautiful paint job to top it off!!!! | | Weaknesses: | If not cared for, and not maintained, the linkage can loosen and cause a bit of creaking.(But that takes alot of neglect to the bike to have that happen)! | | Similar Products Used: | Intense Spider, Ellsworth Truth, Santa Cruz Superlight/Blur,Devinci Dragonfly, etc..... | | Bike Setup: | Stock when purchased, but i'm slowly upgrading it to have it at 25 to 26 pounds! | | Bottom Line: | A handbuilt racing rig at a decent price that is proven itself numerous times in the racing scene. If you want a cookie cutter bike that is super affordable than don't buy a Rocky, but if you have the knowledge and you ride enough to notice the difference, than look no further! I race this bike, commute to work on it and train off road on it aswell! It has taken a beating in the mountains and on the singletrack of the prairies, only to stand up for more abuse. What more can i say?, i love my Element! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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