- That's a part of our job.
(laughter)
One more lap.
(laughter)
Get up there, circus clown.
(laughter)
Do it again.
(upbeat music)
- Hey everybody. I'm Mike Levy and welcome
back to another Value Field Trip bike review.
And this time around
we're talking about Rocky Mountain's Growler 40.
Now Rocky builds this as an extremely capable hardtail
and it comes with 140mm travel Suntour fork
up front and, at 64 degrees,
the slackest head angle of the bunch.
And you can pick
up a Growler 40 for yourself for $1,669 American.
Alright, let's take a look
at some frame details and, being a hardtail,
there's not a ton to cover.
But still, Rocky has included a number
of things that you'd want to see on any trail bike.
Now we'll go down the list
and that includes a threaded bottom bracket,
a whole bunch of tire clearance,
and a boost thru-axle at the back end.
There's also internal cable routing and those enter
up at the head tube through a rubber port.
The idea being you could pull those rubber grommets
out and that provides more room and makes the job easier.
All right, let's move on
to a couple of things that the Growler doesn't have.
And the first
and easiest to solve is chainstay protection.
This thing comes completely naked
and the solution is, of course,
just to wrap it old tube around the chainstay for free
and then your bike's going to be a whole lot quieter.
Now, the other thing to note is
that you can definitely carry a water bottle
on the down tube where they belong
and that's where you'd expect to see one
but there aren't any water bottle bosses
on the seat tube.
Being a hardtail
Rocky had all the real estate
in the world here to mount a bottle cage
but not this time around.
One last thing to touch on here.
If we go back and look at the rear brake mount
it uses something called
a flatmount rather than a postmount.
Now this uses smaller bolts and the actual adapter
it attaches to the chainstay itself.
Now there's no right or wrong way to do this,
but it does make adjusting the caliper
a little bit trickier.
Moving on to geometry let's go back
to that 64 degree head angle that I mentioned earlier.
That's the slackest of the bunch.
And we should probably talk about why.
Being a hardtail,
obviously there's no rear suspension for you to sit into.
So when you sit on a hardtail
your fork compresses a little bit
and that head angle, well
it gets a little tiny bit steeper.
So that is important to note.
Seat angles on all the sizes sit at 75 degrees
and all sizes get the same 435mm chainstays.
Now reach numbers,
well those vary from 425 for the smallest size,
all the way up to 500mm.
We have a medium-sized test bike
and that sits at 450MM.
The Growler 40 costing 1669 American is the middle child
of the bunch.
And it also weighs 31 lbs and 3 oz.
Now, if you don't have quite that much money to spend
you can get the Growler 20
and that costs you $1039 American.
That bike gets a different spec.
Of course, with the two standout features being
a less expensive Suntour fork.
And it ditches the dropper post
in favor of a traditional post that you got to
move up and down manually.
The most expensive version is the Growler 50
and that one costs $2,100 American.
For that you're going
to get a RockShox 35 Gold fork upfront,
a dropper post, of course,
and a whole bunch of other nicer components.
And that's the Growler model range.
And the next thing to talk about, well
of course is how this thing rides.
So let's jump into it.
- So there's not a lot of setup going on with the hardtail.
Of course, we pumped the tires up 21, 23 PSI.
We run in the same pressures in pretty much all the tires.
The one thing I will mention is
that it comes with 140mm Suntour fork.
We're going to talk about that fork later on
but there's no recommended air pressure setting sticker.
You know, when you look on the back
of the fork leg and there's that little sticker
that tells you like a rough idea
at least where to start.
I mean, it's usually not right anyway,
but it gives you an idea.
That's not the case with the Suntour.
So kind of fiddling around there to get it sorted.
But yeah.
- If you're looking at the numbers on the DEO charts
it looks like this thing is all about the descents.
How does it climb?
- Obviously Rocky has designed this thing to be a blast
on the way back down.
So I was curious about, I mean, how much that
took away from its climbing ability.
It turns out not a whole lot, really.
I mean, it's not meant to go flying
up the hills and it doesn't do that
but it definitely gets you to the top.
In the tight stuff,
that 64 degree head angle
I was a little curious how it felt compared to the Canyon
and the Norco and the other hardtails we have here.
It's the longest hardtail as well, the longest wheel base.
But yeah, in the tighter stuff, it was fine.
It worked just fine.
Again, proving there's way more to this
than just the numbers, one or two numbers.
Yeah. It just works well.
- So if somebody's looking
at buying a hardtail and they're thinking, well
of course it's efficient because it's a hardtail.
Like what are some
of the things that are actually different between, you know
the BMC or this?
- Right, yeah. Okay.
So it climbs just fine, but if we want to boil this down
it's definitely not the hardtail to go flying up the hills,
or whipping through the tech stuff.
It really comes down to it
just not feeling, I mean
overly inspiring in that kind of setting, you know?
It doesn't really encourage you to get
out of the saddle and pedal hard.
So, but again, Sarah
I'm not sure the intended Growler rider really cares much.
Obviously this bike is more about fun than fitness.
It's more about just getting you to the top.
It's not a climbers bike.
And let's talk about what happens when you get to the top.
- The Growler has a 64 degree head tube angle,
it's got that longest wheel base that you mentioned earlier.
Does that mean it's a good descender?
- Yeah, I think that's a huge part of the equation.
Rocky calls this "geometry progressive."
I mean, I think I should just call it
"It should be everywhere."
I had a blast riding the Rocky and it was the only hardtail
of the bunch that I rode like a full suspension bike.
And what that means is I was taking the same lines
as I was on the full suspension bikes, which isn't true
of the Fluid or the Canyon Stoic,
but I was also doing the same things on the trails,
the same manuals and the same wrong, wrong lines,
that kind of stuff.
Whereas on the other hardtails,
I didn't have the confidence to do that.
On the other hardtails,
I was just going down the trail, you know, still having fun,
but on the Rocky there's more trail to ride
and it's because of that geometry.
Sort of the trail opens up, you have more possibilities,
it feels like things are coming at you a little bit slower.
And that means that I spent more time doing manuals,
more time doing silly skids that I probably
shouldn't be doing, all that kind of stuff.
- You've mentioned the Norco.
We've got that bike, which is pretty similar to the Vitus.
How does this bike compared to those two?
- Well, it's interesting because both of those brands
Norco and Vitus, they both describe their hartails
as using progressive geometry
but, I mean, they're definitely not compared
to the Rocky Mountain.
The Rocky Mountain's geo
that's the geo that should be on all of these
so-called "progressive hardtails."
It makes the bikes way more fun.
And to be honest,
it doesn't really subtract from them on all
but the most technical trickiest of climbs which, I mean,
I don't think most Growler owners are going to
be too concerned with.
So yeah, way more capable.
It comes down to that geometry mostly.
And now the flip side to that is that both the Norco
and the Vitus have a more traditional feel to them
and I mean, I've been talking smack
about that for the last few minutes
but there are probably still plenty
of riders out there who are looking for that.
The Growler doesn't have that quick responsive handling
that some people are still looking for.
If you still want
that traditional quick handling hardtail feel
you're going to find it from the Norco
and the Vitus Sen, Senti, Sentier?
- [Sarah] Sentier? Let's just call it the Vitus.
- Yeah. Let's just call it the Vitus.
Whereas the Growler is definitely more
of a forward-thinking kind
of hardtail that lets you go faster.
So if that's not your jam and you don't need that
then maybe the Norco and the Vitus are your better options.
- Let's talk about some of the components.
Do you want to talk about some
of the highlights of the builds on that Rocky?
- Yeah. Let's start with the good stuff first.
I've already mentioned it comes
with that wide handlebar.
That really goes a long way
to making the bike capable and ready for anything.
Yeah. Let's talk about the other thing
that helps this bike be so capable is
that Deore 12-speed drive chain.
It comes with an 1151 cassette on the back.
So a huge gearing range, which if you're a new rider
and this is your first mountain bike
or maybe you're just out of shape and that's fine,
the drive chain really helps get you
to the top of all the hills.
You're not going to have any reason
to change any parts of that.
The other thing I want to point out: the tires.
Sarah, I'm not usually a fan of 2.6 inch tires.
I talk a lot about how I like,
you know, 2.35, 2.4s.
They feel more precise, but on a hardtail,
I mean it's obviously a different story.
I need all the help I can get.
- Yeah. That's all the suspension you got, right?
In your tires.
- Yeah. So it comes with WTB Vigilante
and Trail Boss Tires and a 2.6 inch width.
They don't say Maxxis or Schwalbe on the side
but they work really well everybody.
I was impressed with them.
We ran them at 21 to 23 PSI.
Same as the others.
And they gave me absolutely no troubles except
for maybe not being the fastest rolling rubber out there.
And that's fine again.
I don't think Growler riders care.
- [Sarah] No.
- Yeah. The other thing we need to point
out here is that Suntour Raidon 140mm travel fork.
And I don't rave about Suntour forks all that often,
you know, but this thing,
it actually worked really, really well.
It has a lockout lever on the front which comes in handy
if, you know, you're doing a lot of climbing.
It's 140mm fork.
If you're out of the saddle and peddling hard
you might want to firm it up.
The other thing to mention it has a functional rebound dial
which is more than I can say for some
of these forks that you have here on tests.
It works well.
It's easy to set up once you have your air pressure sorted
and it's reasonably smooth as well.
And yeah, no reason to upgrade
until you start really sending it or something goes wrong.
- What are some of the things that maybe you'd want
to change if this were your, you know, daily hardtail?
- Honestly, the list is really short
and it comes down to the brakes.
Again, that's a theme for these value bikes,
isn't it, Sarah?
- [Sarah] Yeah.
- A lot of times value bikes come
with organic or resin pads to save money
and the rotors required for them to work with those pads.
And they're lacking initial bite.
Now with the Rocky, their particular 2 piston brakes,
I think they were MT 4100s or something like that.
Too many numbers, but they worked much better
than the breaks on the Norco
and some of the other bikes, but there's still
not enough initial bite and not enough overall power.
They're just 2 piston brakes.
Now I don't think that you need to go to 4 piston brakes.
That's an expensive upgrade but you definitely
need to swap pads and rotors.
Put some metallic pads and better rotors on there,
and maybe even bigger rotors, especially
if you're a bigger rider or your terrain is steep,
you're definitely going to want that.
- Yeah you're sending it harder on the Rocky right?
- Well I guess, yeah.
- Time for the pros and cons. What's the good stuff?
- Yeah. If you're looking for a capable hardtail
that's not going to hold you back,
it's obviously this bike.
This is the most capable hardtail of the bunch
and in a lot of ways, it's more capable
than some of the full suspension bikes we have here.
So there you go.
A con though,
if you're looking for a traditional hardtail
just stop, don't look for that.
But if that's exactly what you want, this isn't your bike.
You're better off with the Norco or with the Vitus.
They offer more traditional handling, quicker handling,
and maybe that makes a lot of sense
if your trails are less demanding.
- Let's sum up the Rocky Mountain Growler.
- Yeah. I don't know. Sarah, is it weird
that I want to ride the Growler more
than I want to ride the full suspension bikes?
- I mean, you've not typically been known
for liking hardtails so this is pretty surprising.
- Yeah so the Growler reminded me just how much fun
a capable hardtail can be.
And if you're the kind of rider who doesn't have a lot
of money to spend, you could save a bunch of that money
by buying a bike that doesn't have a rear suspension.
And if that sounds like a good plan to you
the Growler is a good option.
If you like to have fun
on the descents then that's where you want to focus on.
- There, you have it.
That's the Rocky Mountain Growler.
Stay tuned for more videos from the Value Bikes Field Trip
as well as Roundtable videos, where we compare all of them.