Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS Mountain Bike Evaluation

Mountain bike design, particularly suspension, includes managing tradeoffs. Weight, worth, suspension journey traits, dealing with, and even pedal top (to keep away from pedal strikes) should all be thought of. The ultimate set of compromises hopefully aligns with the designer’s unique mission assertion for the bike.

Rocky Mountain could have by no means obtained that memo, as its Intuition Carbon 70 AXS made it troublesome to pinpoint what was given as much as produce such an opulent journey whereas sustaining favorable climbing and dealing with manners.

The Canadian model appeared to acquire the right alchemy for a 150mm entrance and 140mm rear journey bike destined for all-day rides on unforgiving and unpredictable terrain. This plush bike additionally bends, fairly actually, round corners, flexing in a means that makes it a scalpel on the path.

Over the 8-month testing interval, I logged all the pieces from path rides on Central Texas’s limestone-littered, hilly trails to downhill runs at a lift-served bike park. And all through, I couldn’t actually be aware a major shortcoming whereas going up, down, or leaning over.

In brief: If you need one bike that may effectively deal with quick trails with steep ascents whereas additionally being a succesful downhill bomber for bike park days, the Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS is an extremely succesful mountain bike. It’s a uncommon machine with no important shortcomings and distinctive cornering manners.

Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS Essential Specs

At an MSRP of $7,899, the carbon Intuition Body can be anticipated to incorporate good componentry. The Intuition Carbon 70 AXS delivers. The componentry decisions appeared clever. It mixes efficiency and sturdiness whereas maintaining the value of the bike out of the five-digit vary.

Chassis

The Rocky Mountain Intuition carbon fiber chassis was a gorgeous factor to unbox. The twin-tone yellow and brown gloss paint scheme seemed and felt high-quality. The seen technique of adjustability hinted at a motorbike made to adapt to the pilot and never vice versa.

The shock eyelet on the rear suspension swing hyperlink has a four-position flip chip. This chip adjustments the top tube angle from 63.5 to 64.3 levels (and associated seat tube angle) with a single Allen key.

With out a UDH, the rear dropout permits the rear axle to regulate the efficient chainstay size by 10mm. Our tester, which ran a SRAM GX Transmission (the buyer model could have SRAM XO Transmission), needed to default to the 447mm chainstay size. The headset cups may be moved fore or aft 5mm to personalize the attain.

The downtube homes an in-frame storage space. It features a custom-fitted gear “sock” and an Apple AirTag port on the big door. Cable routing is inside, with the housings clamped on the entry level on the facet of the top tube.

Lastly, each pivot level on the chassis is a completely sealed cartridge bearing.

Suspension

Rocky Mountain outfits the entrance of the Intuition with a RockShox Lyric Choose+ 150mm fork and a Charger RC3 damper with a 43mm offset. The rear suspension duties come through a RockShox Tremendous Deluxe Final, which will get {custom} damping charges to match every body measurement.

Drivetrain and Brakes

Rocky Mountain outfits the Intuition Carbon 70 AXS with an SRAM drivetrain that features an XO Transmission rear derailleur wirelessly managed through an AXS Pod controller. The crankset is product of GX Transmission aluminum alloy and has a 32-tooth chainring. The 12-speed rear cassette has 10 to 52 enamel.

The brakes are SRAM G2 GSC 4-piston items with resin pads.

The edges are Rocky Mountain’s personal 30 AM Carbon. The rear hub is a DT Swiss 370 with an 18-tooth star ratchet. The entrance hub is an aluminum, sealed-bearing, house-branded unit. Tires are Maxxis Dissectors in a seemingly slim 2.4″ width.

Cockpit and Wheels

The entrance cockpit hosts Rocky Mountain’s AM carbon bar and alloy 35AM stem with a 5-degree rise and a 40mm size. WTB provides its Volt Race 142 saddle. The headset is an FSA Orbit with chrome steel sealed bearings.

The edges are Rocky Mountain’s personal tubeless-ready 30 AM Carbons. The rear hub is a DT Swiss 370 with an 18-tooth star ratchet, whereas the entrance hub is an aluminum, sealed-bearing, house-branded unit. Tires are Maxxis Dissectors in a seemingly slim 2.4″ width.

Our tester was a measurement L, and it weighed a verified 30.1 kilos with out pedals or bottle cages.

Rocky Mountain provides the Intuition in 9 completely different builds, together with Shimano and SRAM drivetrains, Fox, RockShox, and Marzocchi suspension. Some builds have aluminum Intuition frames as a substitute of carbon.

The Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS on Filth

Wonderful Cornering Manners

I selected my native lift-served bike park for the inaugural journey aboard the Intuition. On the primary run down the simplest path, which had completely groomed excessive bowl turns, it was apparent that the body had some lateral give.

Though body flex is mostly thought of a destructive, the forgiveness allowed the bike to “bend” round flip apexes. It was shocking, however it gave the chassis unimaginable cornering manners.

The sooner I used to be going within the flip, the extra I appreciated this “bending across the flip” attribute. Once I needed to chop down on the bowl flip exits, it didn’t really feel so compelled and abrupt. I may flip down nearly telepathically with out intentionally tensioning my physique to take action.

This inherent lateral flex helped on my quick, native, hardpacked trails, simply because it did on the bowl turns on the park. However when crawling via hairpins or selecting my means via rock gardens, I needed to compensate and keep in mind to count on a bit of sideways give. Gradual maneuvering, particularly forcing the again of the bike round via the pedals, required some further oomph.

However the flexy cornering attribute was probably the most enlightening of the 12 months for me. I may easily carve a flip and didn’t really feel the necessity to abruptly apply muscle energy to get the bike to hit the exit I needed. It felt like snowboarding massive arcs as a substitute of kick turns.

I thought of the Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS top-of-the-line high-speed-cornering bikes I’ve ever used on the bike park.

Going Up

Climbing aboard the Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS was surprisingly good, given the “path plus” bike specs.

I don’t ever suppose a motorbike with this a lot journey will climb shortly. I by no means attempt to race up the hills on bikes on this class. Approaching the Intuition with this stance revealed that it was a comparatively succesful climber. Even with the shock left extensive open, seated climbing felt comparatively environment friendly in comparison with different path bikes I’ve tried.

Sure, there was some softness and bob, however it wasn’t as unhealthy as different path/enduro bikes. And the comparatively low weight of the chassis and tires gave it a sprightly feeling.

The entrance wheel remained very planted and secure even on the steepest sections. I didn’t make use of radical physique positioning to maintain the bike driving upwards with the entrance tire down. The rear wheel was the identical. It felt additional again than it was, giving me a secure base whereas consuming up the smaller steps and ledges with out breaking stride.

For having such a compliant suspension really feel, the Intuition was an amazing ascender.

Going Down

After being wowed by the Intuition chassis’ turning capabilities on the simpler runs, I began using the chunkier, extra superior trails on the bike park.

Fork Motion

These runs concerned rocky ledges, typically many in a row. The paths are embedded with rocks of all sizes, from tennis balls to basketballs. The Rock Shox Lyric Choose+ fork felt amazingly plush instantly with the instructed air stress and clicker changes.

These instructed settings positioned me firmly in the course of the low and high-speed damping adjustment ranges. The compression and rebound damping was super-compliant, and I felt zero stiction in the course of the preliminary journey. This saved the tire on the bottom whereas minimizing high-frequency chatter.

Because the entrance wheel moved into the midstroke, the compression damping ramped up predictably. I didn’t really feel the sudden enhance in resistance that I’d felt in different longer-travel air spring forks. Because the fork compressed during the obtainable journey, that very same predictability in damping carried via, and I by no means had a harsh bottom-out or had a wheel skip out as a consequence of incorrect rebound damping.

Shock Efficiency

The Tremendous Deluxe Final shock wasn’t as free-feeling within the preliminary journey. Nonetheless, it had a super-planted feeling mid-travel and past. The shock delivered a relaxed journey high quality, particularly when bombing down successive ledges.

My favourite and quickest part has about 100 yards of successive limestone ledges which might be about 10-24″ tall. The part is straight however steep. Speeds are among the many highest within the park. The shock’s composure within the meat of the stroke, mixed with the compliant but supportive fork, produced my quickest runs ever via this part. And I by no means felt something however in management.

The rocker shock mount’s flip chip has 4 obtainable positions. I selected the place that gave the bike the second steepest angle. After rotating via all of the settings, I returned to that one and left it.

The rear dropout flip chip wasn’t adjustable on this bike because it used a UDH. I additionally left the headset adjustment cups within the zero-offset place. This capacity to regulate these three parameters to go well with physique dimensions and most popular geometry was a novel and usable characteristic.

Different Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS Trip Qualities

The Intuition was an pleasant bike on the paths and on the bike park, because of its superb cornering manners and succesful suspension. The remainder of the bike adopted go well with.

The SRAM AXS wi-fi shifting was a pleasure to make use of. Irrespective of how a lot the bike bounced round, the big buttons, distinct “click on,” and traction-enhancing surfaces of the shifter pod, mixed with the SRAM GX (XO on client bikes) Transmission, made gear adjustments a non-issue. I by no means as soon as missed a shift. This was true even when the chain was below excessive rigidity whereas climbing or accelerating out of a flip.

The SRAM G2 GSC brake pads took a very long time to mattress in. However as soon as they did, braking was dependable and predictable. The preliminary chunk wasn’t as crisp as Shimano items, however the progressiveness and most stopping energy suited the bike’s meant functions effectively. Once more, just like the shifting, I hardly ever considered braking; I simply did it instinctively.

I assumed that I’d wish to swap to 2.6″ extensive tires. The two.4″ Dissectors appeared to slim for the quantity of journey and chunk issue of my native trails. However I used to be confirmed incorrect. I loved the sunshine feeling whereas climbing and accelerating. And never as soon as, even when climbing steep and unfastened pitches, did I yearn for wider rubber.

Conclusions on the Rocky Mountain Intuition Carbon 70 AXS

The standout attribute of the Intuition Carbon 70 chassis was its capacity to carve turns. I’ve by no means felt this “bend round turns” in a carbon bike. I’ve felt it in metal and titanium highway bikes and on motocross bikes. It was refreshing to really feel it on the Intuition, and it gave me a hopeful outlook on the event of future carbon frames.

I spotted whereas using at velocity in turns that my assumption that each one carbon frames are unequivocally stiff laterally by design was incorrect. Let’s see some extra “flexible” bikes so we are able to circulation via turns, seemingly with out effort.

The remainder of the bike’s traits had been favorable, which means I didn’t have to use a lot thought or any undue effort to get the bike to do what I needed. And for a motorbike of this nature, it undoubtedly was gentle and felt that means going up and on lean.

I believe Rocky Mountain has a winner right here. It might increase upon the revamped chassis’ cornering prowess. I’m an enormous fan of the cornering manners and hope to see extra bikes like this sooner or later.