First Ride: Rocky Mountain's 2024 Altitude Has a Completely Revised Frame Design

Frame Features

From geometry adjustments to wheel size, in-frame storage to clean cable routing, the Altitude has a ton of little frame features to touch on.

Rocky pared down on the flip chip options for this bike, deleting 5 positions from their Ride-9 system to arrive at the current Ride-4. Located at the forward shock mount, it's essentially a slack/neutral/steep position adjuster with a top secret 4th position. At the lower shock mount is the rear wheel flip chip, allowing you to compensate for the geometry changes between a 27.5" and 29" wheel. The wheel size adjustment is not available on the size Small bike, which is 27.5" only.

The headtube has a racetrack-shaped headset, with nice press-in cups that allow you to adjust the reach figure by 5mm forward or rearward from the neutral position. This adjustment doesn't affect any other geometry in a significant way, so it's purely to dial in the bike's fit.


The downtube contains more than just increased stiffness, it's also home to Rocky's new Penalty Box storage system. The opening is huge, the hatch is very easy to open with one hand, and the hidden AirTag integration is a clever little detail. The bike comes with two storage bags, one with some organization and one with a more cram-friendly design. Overall it's a very nicely executed take on the trend, and justifies whatever added complication was required to achieve it.

Cable routing is fully guided and internal, but Rocky didn't simply punch some holes in the frame and call it good. There are bolt-on cable clamps at the front exit, allowing you to tighten the cables down in place and eliminate any rattling that might otherwise occur.

While the alloy frames don't get the Penalty Box treatment, all of the other frame features are incorporated. It feels worth noting that the bikes do use a 30.9mm seatpost, which is just as standard as 31.6mm, but feels much less common on longer-travel bikes these days.



Geometry

There are a few geometries to discuss here, thanks to Rocky's use of the Ride-4 geometry adjustment feature. From the Neutral position, adjusting to Slack or Steep changes the angles of the bike by about 0.3° to 0.5°, with an overall head angle adjustment range of 63 - 63.8°. The bottom bracket drop has a range of 11mm overall, with neutral sitting at 31mm in the full 29" position. Aside from the BB drop, the rear wheel size change doesn't radically affect the geometry, save for a millimeter here or there. The seat tube angle centers around 77.5°, again changing slightly depending on your Ride-4 position.

Reach numbers for the four sizes are as follows: 430mm (S) / 455mm (M) / 480mm (L) / 510mm (XL). Those are the figures with the Ride-4 in the Neutral position, and with the headset adjustment in the central setting. The Ride-4 can change reach by +3mm or -5mm, and the pop-in headset cups offer +/- 5mm of adjustment.

There are three rear center lengths spread across the range, none of which change with the wheel size adjustment or the Ride-4 position. Small bikes are 27.5" only, and the rear center measures 427mm. Mediums get a 440mm rear end, and Large and Extra Large bikes share a 450mm rear center length.



Suspension Design

First seen on the 2006 Slayer, Rocky has reintroduced their LC2R suspension system - a counter-rotating dual link design not dissimilar to the well-known VPP layout. A fairly high starting leverage of 3:1 coupled with a light compression shock tune makes for a very fluttery feeling top end of travel, while the high overall progression (36%) means things will ramp up quickly in the last 25mm of travel.


The main pivot is concentric to the bottom bracket, and each bike ships with a special tool to tighten that hardware. This requires removal of the crank and drive-side bottom bracket, but it's a straightforward and easy job.

Build Kits

Lots to choose from here, but I don't think there are any wasted spots in the Altitude's lineup. Each bike gets solid components for the price, without any major weak spots that you'll need to replace right off the bat. Coil or air, alloy or carbon, there's a spec and price point to cater to a wide variety of riders. For those who can't choose, or simply want to carry over parts from a different frame, there's a carbon frameset option.







Ride Impressions

The Altitude feels like a race bike. Over the handful of rides I've taken it on so far, it's happiest charging down rough tracks, popping deep off drops, and pushing braking until the last moment. It's manageable on mellower terrain, but feels a little unenthused unless you're really picking up speed. The geometry is long, the suspension is very active, and the chassis is stout - all making for something that comes alive at speed. The kinematic feels very progressive - which might not be for everybody - but it does track nicely over chattery terrain before ramping up aggressively deep in travel. I'm running a good bit more compression than I typically would and things feel nicely balanced.

On the frame, fit, and finish level, things are nicely polished on the Altitude. The Penalty Box is one of the best in-frame storage solutions I've encountered, and if it withstands the test of time it might just end up being a favorite. The bike is very quiet, thanks to clean cable routing and some well-placed chainslap protection. I've already begun playing around with the Ride-4 flip chip and the reach adjust headset, and both are easy enough to use on a regular basis, even trailside if you're careful.

From the get-go this bike felt confident in serious terrain, and capable of going very fast. I'm still dialing in the suspension settings and getting a feel for which geo positions I prefer, but the early impressions bode well for the long term test. Stay tuned for a full-fledged review in time.

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Reviews and Tech First Rides Enduro Bikes Rocky Mountain Rocky Mountain Altitude