Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt 770 - First Ride
First Ride:
Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt 770
Rocky Mountain's new Thunderbolt is the Canadian company's take on a 27.5” wheeled XC / trail bike. Designed with cross-country riding in mind, the bike has an aluminum frame and 120mm of travel, but lacks the steep head angle (and twitchy handling) commonly associated with a purebred XC race bike. Rocky's designers wanted the bike to be more of an all-rounder, so they gave it a 68.5 degree head angle and 427mm chainstays, numbers intended to make for a lively ride that's still competent on the descents. | Thunderbolt 770 Details • Intended use: XC / trail • Hydroformed aluminum frame • Rear wheel travel: 120mm • Wheel size: 27.5" • Head angle: 68.5 degrees • Smoothlink Suspension • MSRP: $3999.99 USD |
The Thunderbolt uses Rocky Mountain's Smoothlink Suspension for its 120mm of travel. It would be easy to mistake this suspension layout for a Horst link design, but take a closer look - the chainstay pivot is actually located above the rear axle, a design derived from Rocky's ETS suspension patent. According to Rocky, this pivot position gives them a wider range of gears where the suspension remains unaffected by pedalling, and also lets them manipulate the rear shock's end-stroke behavior to prevent harsh bottom outs.
The bike's hydroformed aluminum frame has a tapered head tube, internal cable routing (including the option for stealth dropper post routing), and a 12x142mm rear thru axle. There are four models in the Thunderbolt lineup, with prices starting at $2099 USD for the Thunderbolt 710. The top tier 770 model (3999.99 USD) we checked out comes smartly specc'd with a mix of Shimano and Race Face components, including Shimano's XT brakes, an XTR rear derailleur, and Race Face's Turbine cranks. The bike rolls on Shimano XT hubs laced to pair of Stan's ZTR Crest rims and shod with Continental's X King 2.2” tires. Fox takes care of the Thunderbolt's suspension, with a Fox 32 120 Float CTD front fork and a Float CTD rear shock. A handlebar mounted remote ties the suspension together and lets riders switch between Climb, Trail, and Descend modes on both the front and rear shock by pushing the thumb activated lever.
Initial Impressions
The Thunderbolt is a nimble climber, with a fairly upright climbing position that made it easy to balance our weight over the front or rear of the bike as needed. With the rear shock all the way open there was some suspension movement during hard pedaling, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed with a quick push of the CTD remote lever. Although we're not typically fans of extra handlebar mounted accessories, we ended up using the CTD remote more than expected. Want a firmer platform for a smooth section of trail or an out of the saddle sprint? Push the lever into Trail or Climb mode and pedal away to your heart's content. When things start to get rugged, give it another push and Descend mode puts the suspension into its plushest setting. Having the remote made us more likely to utilize the full range of shock settings since it wasn't necessary to take a hand off the handlebar to switch modes.
On the descents the Thunderbolt had a puppy-like eagerness, darting down the trail and sniffing out every little feature to pop off of. It's easy to get it airborne, and just as easy to get set up for landing. The Thunderbolt's stock spec is perfect for its XC / trail intentions, but our preferred riding style and terrain had us scheming how to eke even more performance out of it. A wider handlebar, meaty tires, and a stouter front fork with slightly more travel could make this into an absolute shredder, a playful, short travel trail bike with enough guts to confidently pick its way through the tricky, technical stuff. Still, the current spec is well thought out (although lacking a dropper post), with a solid parts package well suited to a bike that's meant for long trail rides, but could still roll up to an XC race and hold its own.
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Member since Feb 1, 2009
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"This single speed hardtail with shitty tires was so much nicer to ride than that single speed hardtail with shitty tires. Man where do I start?"
Couple things. He expressed his opinion and that's fine. He's entitled to it despite the fact we actually get a good mix of bikes reviewed... But anyways... Those downvotes are other peoples way of expressing their opinion that they disagree with him. They don't have to explain themselves. And truthfully, complaining about props is really silly. Do they invalidate what he says? No. Basically what you're doing is complaining that people don't agree with what you or he thinks. So in essence you think everyone should agree with you, which is... I'll be nice and call it "silly".
>You guys are mad.
I think you're mad.
>Then Dr sanches gets +15 for saying every dj bike is just a shitty hardtail with shitty tyres. I would put forward the suggestion that perhaps dr sanches' wheels don't stray to far from the ground?
I think you missed where he said he wasn't being serious about that post, but okay... Make personal attacks towards him if it makes you happy.
> but don't rip on someone just cos they can do something you are scared of.
Kind of hypocritical that you say this after ripping on someone, but again, okay...
And what the hell is a whinger?
So you're saying there's a chance!
I think if you could convince most "freeriders" to try a bike like this rocky, they'd buy one.
So basically, if this were an entirely different bike, we could go downhilling with it.