Rocky Mountain

ALTITUDE CARBON 70 | $5,300

- Ryan Palmer

I KEEP WANTING TO CALL THIS BIKE A “SLAYER” BUT I CAN’T really do that, can I? The Rocky Mountain Slayer is a slayer. This is an Altitude. I presume the Altitude got its name because it can “reach the highest peaks” or some similar marketing jargon. But if you reach the highest altitude, wouldn’t you want to slay the descent you worked all morning for? Yes, you would. Which is why the latest Altitude is a lot more like a Slayer. But, it’s still very much an Altitude, in that it’ll slay the climbs like it always has—actually, better.

This is thanks to higher anti-squat values to improve pedaling performance, a stiffer chassis and the use of supple, yet supportive Fox DPS and DPX2 EVOL shocks. For a bike with 150 millimeters of rear-wheel travel and 160 up front, the Altitude is surprisingly great at getting up to where the air is thin. Even though the headtube angle has been slackened to a range of 65-66.1 degrees, from the previous range of 66.6-68.3, it doesn’t slow the bike any on the climbs. The front wheel is a bit farther out front, but it doesn’t display an overwhelming tendency to wander. The relatively steep 74-75.1-degree seat angle lets you get over the bars even on the steepest climbs. Plus, the Fox DPS EVOL Performance Series shock spec’d on the Altitude Carbon 70 utilizes a higher volume negative spring—like all of Fox’s new shocks—which offers greater support and rides higher in its travel. For all but the smoothest climbs, I chose to keep the shock wide open because of the added traction on technical terrain, but locking it adds serious efficiency on smooth stuff.