2021 Rocky Mountain Instinct - Kevin Calhoun

Kevin Calhoun is one of the longest-serving Rocky Mountain athletes, product testers, and brand ambassadors we have. Starting way back in 1996, Kev’s been riding on our bikes for nearly 25 years. Originally from small-town Ontario, his passion for mountain biking and the West Coast lifestyle brought him to Vancouver where he began working for Rocky Mountain in 2001. After a couple of decades of traveling and racing cross-country, his riding preferences began to change and he gained interest in longer travel bikes for riding his backyard trails on Vancouver’s North Shore. The Instinct was that bike for Kevin, which helped him to unlock a whole new level of passion and progression on two wheels.

 

 

“The Instinct has been my daily driver and ride of choice for over 10 months. Throughout those months I’ve put in some serious ride time and I’m stoked that it’s ready for everyone to enjoy! I tend to stick to my cross-country roots when it comes to bike setup. I still like a good sufferfest on the bike and I’m always interested in covering ground quickly on both the climbs and the descents.

 

My bike set up is a 150mm travel FOX 36 fork with FIT4, (78PSI, LSR 11 clicks, LSC 9 clicks) and FOX DPX2 rear shock at 220 psi. I run my Instinct RIDE-9 chip in Position 3 most days, but you can sometimes catch me in Position 1 depending on the day.

 

I’ve been a long-time Shimano supporter and have this bike built up with a Shimano XTR drivetrain (32T front ring and 10-51T cassette), XTR Trail four-piston brakes with a 203mm front rotor and 180mm rear rotor, and XTR Trail pedals as I prefer the wider pedal platform. I did sub out the XTR crank for a Race Face Next R carbon crankset, 170mm in length, just to shave some grams.

 

At home on The Shore, it’s often wet here so I run Maxxis wide trail 2.5WT tires, swearing by the MaxxGrip compound on the front and MaxxTerra on the rear. I typically run low pressure on most rides (19-20PSI front, 22PSI rear) and even less if it’s wet. In case you didn’t pick-up on this, I’m a bit particular with my bike setup. If you look too closely, you’ll find that I am guilty of the odd titanium bolt here and there, aluminum presta valves, carbon steerer tube spacers, and a Chris King headset just because…”