August 08, 2019 (Canmore, Alta.) – The challenge when choosing any mountain bike is finding the right model to suit your needs. Looking at Rocky Mountain’s line up, there are a lot of choices when it comes to the type of riding that you plan to do. Other things to consider are how much travel you will need and the size of wheels that work best for you… and your budget.

The Altitude is designed for aggressive trail riding and comes with 160mm of front travel and 150mm of rear squish. This amount of travel is so versatile out on the trail that I never felt like I was under served. Mind you I’m not a big air kind of rider like Wade Simmons or Thomas Vanderham, but with this much suspension travel I got to pretend that I was catching big air like those boys and sticking all of the landings. In reality I’m sure I was much closer to the ground than the godfather of freestyle, but at least I looked good on the Altitude.

The C70 is a head turner as the groms at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary often commented on it while in the lift line. The stock set up on the bike came ready to handle anything the gravity park had to offer. Tighter flow trails were perfect for the suspension to handle roots and ruts and smooth out the ride. I had to keep reminding myself to stay seated through that stuff and let the bike do the work, which it did with ease. With a weight of 13.1 kg (weighed w/pedals), the Altitude can handle both climbs and out-of-corner accelerations as well.

The C70 comes with an eclectic parts mix right out of the box. Fox handles the suspension on both front and rear with the Fox 36 Float EVOL Fit4 Performance Elite and Float DPX2 Performance Elite. Both shocks deliver very smooth travel without any stiction on small bumps. Both offer three positions that drastically change the ride of the bike. The first effectively locks out the suspension and is great for long road sections. The middle position firms up the suspension while allowing for half of the travel. This is great for flow and XC trails. Fully open, the suspension accesses full travel of 160/150mm (Front/rear) meaning it handled the bike park or Enduro runs with ease.

A 1 x 12 Sram GX Eagle drive train provides a 10 – 50 tooth casette range that has a gear for every condition. The lack of a front derailleur allows for the dropper seat post remote lever to be placed on the left handlebar position. On that note, the Race Face Turbine R dropper post is a great addition that comes stock. The Face Face post is made by Fox and offers an infinite number of stop positions allowing you to position it in any spot that works best in any trail conditions. Brakes are hydraulic Shimano XT with 180mm rotors that provide ample stopping power.

The frame is a Smoothwall carbon fibre construction that has fully sealed cartridge bearings in the pivot points. The internal cables make for a clean look on the bike except under the bottom bracket. If the cables aren’t cut to the optimal length, they sit lower than the bottom bracket and could get caught on something. The frame has one bottle cage mount, which is pretty standard these days and has some nice features like the rubber chain stay protector and the built in rubber protector on the underside of the downtube.

Ride-9 adjustable geometry is a feature on Altitude that allows for fine-tuning of the geometry and suspension. With the adjustment of the Ride-9 chip by rotating it into different positions, the geometry can be adjusted from more climb-friendly with quicker handling, to a more stable all-round position, to a more stable position for descending at high speeds. I rode the bike in the all-round stable position that provided balanced handling and stability. The multiple positions of the Ride-9 offers riders the ultimate adjustability to provide the geometry best suited to their riding style.

Another defining element of the Altitude is the 650b wheelset that comes with a set of 27.5 x 2.5 Maxxis tubeless ready tires. Wheel size is one of those things that is a personal preference and I found the 650b wheelset rolled well in all conditions. The 2.5 wide Maxxis tires were great in loose rocky conditions where traction is imperative on loose rocks but in faster rolling hardpack trails I may go with a 2.1.

Overall the Altitude C70 gets ‘two thumbs up’ for an all mountain bike. The only thing that I might like to add in the future to this bike would be a remote control for the rear shock to allow for changing the rear travel as you ride.

I would also like to spend an extended time on this bike to try out the different settings for the Ride-9 system and see the differences to the ride that it makes. Sounds like a great long term project but it seems they do need the bike returned.

Price: $7,399
Weight: 13.1 lbs as tested (Size Large)
Components: SRAM GX Eagle drive train with SRAM Stylo crank, Shimano XT hydraulic disk brakes, Race Face dropper seat post,
Frame/Fork: Smoothwall carbon frame with Fox Float DPX2 Performance Elite rear shock, Fox 36 Float EVOL Fit 4 Performance Elite
Geometry: Headtube 65°/ Seattube 74°
Sizes: XS, S, M, L , XL
Comments: A head turner that excels on all mountain conditions as well as the bike park

For more information visit Rocky Mountain Bicycles here.