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2013 Instinct FAQs

30K views 103 replies 24 participants last post by  Sweetness 
#1 · (Edited)
Cause I have a lot of them, questions that is.

I was all set to order a Element 970 RSL BC Edition, and then the Altitude 790 MSL came along and I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, and then with no fanfare at all you guys tossed that Instinct 970 in the mix, and it really looks like a bike well suited to the more challenging XC trails on the coast here. Bike Magazine seems to like it a lot.

Rocky Mountain Instinct 970 Trail Bike | Bicycling Magazine

2013 Rocky Mountain Instinct 29er | Mountain Bike Review

The only gripe I have about my Element 70 MSL is pedal strikes on some of the humpier and rootier trails here, and it looks like the Instinct with the Ride 9 feature has a lot of options for BB height adjustment, anywhere from 21-40mm of BB drop.

So here's the first of my FAQ's for the Instinct bike

1. What's the nominal zero reference height for the stock 29" wheels to calculate the BB drop?

2. What's the weight for an Instinct 970 in a M or L?

3. The review says chainstays are 452mm, the cut sheet says 445mm, it looks longer in the stays than the Element. Which one is right?

4. When will the Instinct be shipping?

5. From a product development point of view, where does Rocky place the Instinct in comparison to the new Altitude and the Element 970 RSL BC edition. What is the Instinct ideally suited to?
 

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#2 ·
Beauty bike!

Only part of the spec I question is the selection of Fox 32 instead of 34 for 130mm 29er fork. It would add a little weight to go 34, but well worth it IMO. I guess they are going for a lighter spec on the Instinct as it is placed in the "XC" category rather than "Trail"... differentiating this model from the Altitude by minimizing weight?

I'm very happy with the 34 at 120mm on my 2012 Altitude 970. (once initial stiction was resolved) I may experiment with longer travel on it.

sh0rty :p
 
#5 ·
Interesting... I wonder if the Instinct is going to be a short lived orphan at birth

The Future of 27.5 and 650b Mountain Bike Wheels | Bicycling Magazine

Peter Vallance, Rocky Mountain Bikes Brand Manager: Worldwide, 26 is already becoming a really tough sell. Our MSL killed it for two years in the States. And it's still a great bike, a totally valid design, but anything under 120mm in 26-inch is moving to 29er sales. Moving forward we will still have a 26-inch-wheel Element, but anything in the 120mm to 150mm range is a 27.5 bike. How that 165mm/170mm bike looks, that's an open question.
 
#6 ·
I rallied the **** out of the Instinct at Outerbike, I demo'd the thing 3 times over the weekend because I could not believe what I was riding. This bike is Rocky's sleeper for 2013. The bike is a phenom. I will be racing it in the MSC and BME next season. Lively, active, airs very nicely, flickable, corners are wonderful, lively and set it and forget it ( it holds a line without having jazzercise fore/aft body movement ), responds to mid-turn, mid-apex steering input exceptionally well.

The bike is stellar, hands down my favorite long travel 29er i've ridden. I demo'd the bike in low/slack mode, neutral, and one in between. I can't say enough nice things about the bike. Stiff, and though I did not have a scale, it is well under 30lbs if my 10 years of building bikes is serving me well.

I highly recommend getting on one of these, they have killed it on this one.
 
#8 ·
That's some great input, on paper that's exactly what the Instinct 970 looks like. Good build kit and good range of geometry.

I rallied the **** out of the Instinct at Outerbike, I demo'd the thing 3 times over the weekend because I could not believe what I was riding. This bike is Rocky's sleeper for 2013. The bike is a phenom. I will be racing it in the MSC and BME next season. Lively, active, airs very nicely, flickable, corners are wonderful, lively and set it and forget it ( it holds a line without having jazzercise fore/aft body movement ), responds to mid-turn, mid-apex steering input exceptionally well.

The bike is stellar, hands down my favorite long travel 29er i've ridden. I demo'd the bike in low/slack mode, neutral, and one in between. I can't say enough nice things about the bike. Stiff, and though I did not have a scale, it is well under 30lbs if my 10 years of building bikes is serving me well.

I highly recommend getting on one of these, they have killed it on this one.
 
#16 ·
This bike has me really excited as well. I think out of all the 2013 bikes from Rocky, this is the one I am most interested to test ride. I think that for the majority of the riding and racing that I do in BC, the 100mm of travel with the 29er Elements is not quite enough. 120mm on my 26er Element seems perfect, and the Instinct comes closest to that.

I'm excited that the head angle is more relaxed than the Element, and the adjust ability just makes it easier to buy; if you find you don't like the relaxed head angle, easy enough to change it. I'd love to see a weight on it too. One concern, and this probably isn't fair as I haven't even seen one, let alone ride one, but the chainstays seem a bit long to me. And I'd prefer carbon!

If the instinct were able to be built sub 25lbs without spending a ton of money, I think it would be the ultimate BC race and XC bike!
 
#18 ·
This bike has me really excited as well. I think out of all the 2013 bikes from Rocky, this is the one I am most interested to test ride. I think that for the majority of the riding and racing that I do in BC, the 100mm of travel with the 29er Elements is not quite enough. 120mm on my 26er Element seems perfect, and the Instinct comes closest to that.

I'm excited that the head angle is more relaxed than the Element, and the adjust ability just makes it easier to buy; if you find you don't like the relaxed head angle, easy enough to change it. I'd love to see a weight on it too. One concern, and this probably isn't fair as I haven't even seen one, let alone ride one, but the chainstays seem a bit long to me. And I'd prefer carbon!

If the instinct were able to be built sub 25lbs without spending a ton of money, I think it would be the ultimate BC race and XC bike!
Long chainstays? I don't think you're going to find anything shorter on a 29er with 5+ inches of travel.
 
#17 ·
I'm guessing a carbon version in 2014

I'd be surprised to see this come close to 25lbs without some crazy money invested. Closer to 30lbs is my guess but hopefully I'm wrong.

9 days and counting till demo...
 
#22 ·
The Altitude 29 had 452mm (17.8") chainstays

The Element 930/950/970 and 970/990/999 RSL have 445mm (17.5") chainstays

The Instinct 950/970 have 452mm chainstays.

Likely the only way you get 17" chainstays on a 29er bike with more than 80mm of travel would be if it was some kind of linkage suspension like DW/Maestro where the wheel can move up and back instead of in an arc from a pivot near the BB.

The Vertex 950/970/990/999 RSL has a 433mm (17") chainstay and it needs a curved seat tube to clear the rear wheel.
 

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#26 ·
I rode the Instinct 29'er briefly (20 minutes) after a 4 hour, very technical, rock and root infested NEMBA ride and on pretty spent legs and 1 nasty trip over the bars. Towards the end of the 4 hour ride it started raining and the trails got really sketchy and you had to be really careful getting on the front brake. The roots were like ice and it was really easy to spin out on the rocks in difficult climbs.

The bad news for me...the new 650B Altitude never made it. I was totally bummed about that as that's the bike I really wanted to try since my current bike is a 650B Jamis Dakar. The Rocky guys said there's only a handful in the US and apparently out west someplace. The Instinct 29'er was there in my size which I rode once again on tired legs and slick wet trails. I think it was setup to stiff in the back but surprisingly the Fox fork felt pretty smooth and plush. Otherwise it really didn't do anything for me on this brief ride to make me go wow (Stealth Reverb was sweet though). Yup the wheel rolls over stuff a bit easier but it just felt like you were riding a big bike that plows over and through stuff. My Jamis 650B feels more lively which I like and honestly I preferred the Specialized Test FSR Stumpy Comp 29'er better (but I had it for 3 days and dialed in all the settings). Both have 130mm travel. Funny, I didn't really care for the Rocky Element 29'er I rode either at another event (not my style bike really). The Instinct also had this feeling of heaviness to it even if it might have been 30lbs like the Rocky guy thought. I was tired though and that very well could be part of it. Ride was to short for a real proper evaluation so take it with a bag of salt but that's my first impression. Also haven't ridden allot of 29'ers but I almost hate to say this but I did really like the 2012 Spec. Test bike...but that was coming off my 08 Prophet which I now realize sucks in so many ways compared to a new bike. My new Jamis Dakar is really nice but to many pedal hits in New England rocks is a bummer. Very tall new 650B Schwalbe NN tires en route from Germany now which may help that a bit.

When my local Rocky dealer has the Instinct and Altitude for demo I will spend a day on each one for a proper test. Sadly it probably wont be until early next year and we could be buried under snow.
 
#31 ·
Part way there. I have an Instinct 970, now the snow and slush just needs to melt so the riding can begin. Interestingly, it came in setting 1 with 30mm of BB drop, so that's where I'll start, and we'll see if I need to switch it to setting 9 to get 25.34mm of BB drop.

30.42 pounds with the saddle swapped to a Selle Italia Flite Ti (about 30gms lighter than stock and a very familiar perch for my butt) and with Eggbeater SL pedals. So it isn't as feathery light as my Element 70 MSL, that's about 8 pounds heavier. We'll see how all this translates to trail feel.

The 725mm wide bars seem to get hung up on everything moving it in and out of the LBS and my house. That extra 25mm of bar width seems to throw off my estimate of how it fits through doors.
 

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#36 ·
I figured I'd start my 29er FS experience with an affordable version, in case 26" is more appealing. There'll likely be a carbon Instinct next year.

I'm curious about the whole CTD setup thing as I have a setup on the ProPedal shock on the Element 70 MSL that I like in all conditions, I never tinker with the lever on the shock. It will be interesting if it turns out that I get a tune in the Trail mode and never tinker with it.
 
#37 ·
Here's some photos of some of the details.

The Instinct 970 ships with the Reverb seatpost with the internal remote hose routing. The hose enters the downtube at the head tube and then pops out under the BB and re-enters the seat tube just above the FD height. Having heard how many of the Reverbs had warranty issue in the first year that concerns me a bit since the Reverb is a remote hydraulic control so that could be a messy seatpost repair if the remote hose has to come off to get the seatpost out, but it sure makes things tidy. There are cable guides on the top tube for an external seatpost remote as well. The rear shock lockout cable is externally routed.

The swingarm has two cable guide options, one for Shimano and one for SRAM FD's.

It looks like the welds have been finished and smoothed before painting, maybe with a wire wheel or something, very nicely finished.

Lots of nice details.
 

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