Carson Storch's Prototype Rocky Mountain - Crankworx Whistler 2016
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When Carson Storch signed a two-year deal with Rocky Mountain earlier this year, his new sponsor didn't have a purpose-built, off the shelf slope bike for the Oregonian to compete on. Their last dedicated slope machine was the Slayer SS, a pint-sized version of Rocky's older all-mountain machine that was retired after 2014, so Storch was in need of an entirely new bike to compete aboard.
Enter the 100mm-travel Thunderbolt SS, otherwise known as the Funderbolt to those inside Rocky Mountain.
While Carson's new toy is loosely based on Rocky's 120mm-travel, alloy Thunderbolt platform, the SS has been made to suit Storch's needs from front to back, including the numbers that he prefers. This means a shorter rear-end by way of custom chainstays and seatstays, and a front-end that has been cleaned up of superfluous cable guides that he doesn't need.
And to allow Carson to drop his seat to where it needs to be, engineers at Rocky have also completely eliminated the mast that would usually protrude high above the seat tube.
While Carson's new toy is loosely based on Rocky's 120mm-travel, alloy Thunderbolt platform, the SS has been made to suit Storch's needs from front to back, including the numbers that he prefers. This means a shorter rear-end by way of custom chainstays and seatstays, and a front-end that has been cleaned up of superfluous cable guides that he doesn't need.
And to allow Carson to drop his seat to where it needs to be, engineers at Rocky have also completely eliminated the mast that would usually protrude high above the seat tube.
So, when will you be able to pick up your own Funderbolt? Sometime between never and no way, according to Rocky Mountain. While the bike pictured here is the second version that they've made for Carson, they have no plans to take it to production. Sad face.
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A modified rear-end and Suntour shock provide 100mm of very stiff suspension travel.
The bike's rear-end has been shortened up compared to the stock Thunderbolt.
Who needs a shifter when you have a screwdriver? Carson simply adjusts the limit screws on his multi-speed single-speed to select the best gear for the course. He's also gone with a Trixer hydraulic-gyro rather than having an extra-long brake line. |
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I've built up several slope/4x bikes for that purpose, most recently a Pivot M4X (which I'm selling right now unfortunately) and it's awesome. Comfortably climb to the top of the jump trail, telescope the dropper all the way down to the frame with the qr, and get sideways all the way down. Raise the post, climb back up and repeat.
I look at trail bikes and I always wish that seat mast was gone. A medium frame could easily have a "14 seat tube instead of a "18, a large could have a "16, and so on. I understand why they don't, though. For one thing most people wouldn't understand the sizing. It would make selling to more casual riders difficult, explaining reach and effective top tube. They would just think low=small. The frames would also have a much smaller range of seatpost/tube overlap. There would be a lot more idiots breaking their frames. I think the way to do it would be integrated droppers built into the frame that have an adjustable upper limit setting. We could have 200mm travel droppers, no seatpost clamps, and super low & strong trail bikes that we could ride 30 miles and then do no foot cans on.
When we look at bikes like these in context (literally) of a slope style competition, it's easy to say 'sad face' when it's followed by the 'no plans of production', but why would they? It's a very specific thing to need a full-suspension, 100mm travel slope bike. Most kids and kids-at-heart have backyard dirt jumps where a hard-tail is more than enough, not buffed, big slope courses like Crankworx. Hell, the Specialized P-slope went out of production and no one even noticed. Trek producing the Ticket in a frame-only was a good move because they have the top two biggest names in slope style plus the new monster marketing addition of Drew Bizansen all aboard the bike.
What I think you're saying @mecabeat is that sometimes companies throw the baby out with the bath water. While we don't have giant slope courses, we do have lift-access bike parks. I always have a difficult time watching videos of the Coastal Bike Park being ridden on Santa Cruz V10s. Granted, a 100mm twitchy slope bike isn't much better. But what about a 150mm, low, 26" bike? Basically, a BMX for the mountains. It's why I bought a Scott Voltage FR frame, and it's been a sad thing watching the 27.5" trend decimate all things good about the small 26" wheel. There is oodles of versitility that apply to real people in the real world and the real places they ride their bikes. Not wind-swept single-track in magazines.
So I'm talking about a climbable bike that can be seriously thrown down on as well, preferably with 26" wheels. There are not many frames out there like that. This is a thing that people want, though. The owner of BLKMRKT had a Killswitch built up this way. One employee of Pivot has a similar M4X build. I think at least a couple people at Transition had Doubles that could get into the backwoods.
I think more of these frames could be sold if these other build options were showcased. Some people can only afford to have one high quality full suspension bike at a time. If you want a jump/slope bike and a trail bike, but can only afford one, there you go, set one of these up for both. But I've never seen this idea advertised. It could also be a great way to put all the old 26" parts that are laying around to use.
The other thing I said about regular trail bikes changing to shorter seat tube lengths per frame size is a separate issue that I think would make just trail riding more fun. Think about huge bunnyhops with the seat low like a trials bike. Boosting over rough sections in a tuck air with the seat completely out of the way. The Thunderbolt would be cooler with a even a 2" lower seat tube, but for the reasons mentioned above, plus the fact that the seat tube would either need to be reinforced somehow, or be a larger diameter, it probably won't happen anytime soon.
like 4799€ for the Slayer Msl 730... sorry, Rocky Mountain Bikes, you guys are nuts!
Also, sort of related: I know lots of riders do the tire-tube crankstops on slope bikes, do people do this on their downhill bikes if they're freeriders (for tricks like supermans, can cans, etc)
If Rocky went into production with this bike the cred the company would recieve would help the companies image.
How bout a limited run of 200 bikes with a rad paint job and each frame numbered.?