- Hello, and welcome to Pinkbike.
Behind me, we have the Chief.
Now, it stands over 700 meters above sea level
and is one of the largest granite monoliths in the world.
Ah, guys, howl's teeth, we've done it again.
We've done the wrong (beep) Rocky Mountain!
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
Hello, and welcome to Pink Bike.
Now, you can ignore Dwayne Johnson over there
because this is what you've come to see.
This is the brand new Rocky Mountain Element.
So what is it?
Well, it's a bike that mixes cross-country weight
with a trail amount of travel and geometry
that would shake a fist at many Enduro bikes.
Now, if only there was a name for this category of bike,
but I'm drawing blanks.
I think cross trailer, it's going to have to be.
Now before we get into the tech,
can we just take a moment and look at it?
I think it's absolutely gorgeous.
Now this is a bike that goes about trying to pick as many
birds out of the sky as possible with just the one stone,
but does it risk biting off more than one bike can chew?
Now, the eagle-eyed amongst you might notice
that this is a pre production version
and some of the parts that come on it
might not be what you expect a 2021 OE build.
The Element uses 29-inch wheels across the board,
except for the extra small, which uses 27.5.
Now the bike features are trail friendly,
120mm at the back paired to a 130mm fork,
an Enduro-like 2.6 inch clearance.
And that's not even mentioning enough water bottle mounts
keep any X-y rider happy. So what about the geometry?
Well, the reach size is in the neutral position,
go from 403 and 430 for an extra small and small
respectively,
to a 455 for a medium, 480 for a large and a 510 for
the XL. So, so far, so Enduro.
The bike features are very trail-esque,
65-65.8 head degree angle and is four degrees slacker than
the current and outgoing Element. Now this is huge.
It's like Brian May going into the hairdresser,
asking for a trimmer about that much and coming out,
looking like Sinead O'Connor, it's bold, it's ambitious.
And it's absolutely fantastic.
That head angle is paired to a 76.5 degrees Ctrip angle,
depending on the flip tip orientation.
And it's got a 435 rear end,
which aims to combined mem-bility with traction,
similar to the outgoing element,
this bike comes with 50 mils stems across the board.
However, on the majority of models,
they now come equipped with a 780mm handlebar.
Now I know most of you would cut them down and I probably
would too, but isn't it good to have options?
This size large here has a 445mm seat tube,
and that's paired to a generous amount of drop on the seat
post itself, depending on the exact model you go for.
You're either going to have on a size large,
170 or 175 mil of drop on that seat post compared to
previous versions of the Element.
This bike also sees a slightly higher value of anti squat to
aid pedaling performance.
It's also got revised kinematics that basically reduced the
amount of end stroke ramp-up to make using the full amount
of travel easier.
This bike is also intended to be run with slightly less
spring rate and a lighter compression tube.
This should hopefully calm down the ride and take the edge
off to make it not only more controlled,
but also more comfortable.
The bike is pretty laden with features and what's
interesting is a lot of them take heat from the gravity end
of the spectrum. For instance,
there is more frame padding than a futon factory.
There's a geometry adjustment.
There's a universal derailleur hanger as well as routing
that lets you run your brakes either way.
The Element will be available in both alloy and carbon bikes
and predictably, the higher end build kits will come on the
non-metallic bikes.
Now the alloy version starts around 2400
and goes all the way up to 4,000 US.
And the carbon version starts a bit beyond that,
around 4200 and goes all the way to an eye-wateringly close
10 grand US for the top build version.
There are also frame only versions available for 3,200 us,
but how does this ex Tran Duro bike ride?
And does its salivating tech sheet transfer to on trail
performance?
Well, it's a really interesting bike to ride.
So I've had a few days on it and hopefully we're going to
get it in for a longterm review.
Most notably, the low front end kind of holds sway over the
entire bike and gives it a really X-y racer feel.
Now, its stack height of around 590mm is about 30mm less
than many bikes of the same elk.
Most notably, the Transition Spire or the
specialized Epic Evo.
That low front end does give it a racy, x-y feel,
even if it's in a very aggressive package.
And it almost seems like a way to try and appease to
different groups of people.
Yes, the X-y riders are still getting their race bike,
but people like me who typically spend time on longer travel
bikes, also kind of having what we want too,
we're having our trail and Enduro geometry,
we're having our long drop seat posts,
but it's all coming in a package that weighs significantly
less than your average trail bike.
That racy feeling is no bad thing, but getting on this bike,
it becomes immediately apparent that to get the most of it,
it's something you really have to grab by the scruff of the
neck.
Thank you very much for watching this video on both geology
and bikes. My two great passions in life.
Now, if you'd go and like the video,
that'd be absolutely fantastic.
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