Roy is a passionate rider from Edmonton, Alberta, who sent in the story of his RMX to help us celebrate our 40th anniversary.
My first Rocky was a 98 Element Race, which got me into XC racing, the following summer I bought a 99 Vertex TO. Both bikes were amazing and cemented my love for your brand! In 04 I bought a mint condition 03 Kona Stinky 9 (impulse purchase lol) which got me into freeride. It was a fun bike, but it just wasn’t a Rocky. So, I told the service manager that I wanted to buy an RMX frame and build it up using as many components as possible from the Stinky. In the fall of 04, he called me, telling me to come down and look at the new catalog that just came in, and more importantly the Special Edition RMX Canuck frame. I immediately ordered one in and decided to build with all new components because it was just too amazing to put ok’d components on.
Early in 05, the frame arrived and the build began. I decided on Saint and Diabolus to be the main component groups. When it came to the cranks, I told the service manager that I wanted polished Diabolus, he said they weren’t available. So, we tried several Race Face cranks that were silver, I didn’t like any of them. I was talking to the Rocky Rep (Keith I believe) about the cranks, and he said “let me look into this for you” he called Race Face and convinced them to produce one set of polished Diabolus Cranks specifically for my bike, my mind was mind blown by this!
Did the build and rode it around the city for about a month or so, doing the urban freeride thing. Took it to opening weekend at Kicking Horse, when I returned home it was stolen along with the Stinky. I recovered it about a month later and enjoyed it until the fall, at which time I sold it to a local shop. It hung in that shop for a few years till it was sold, no market at the time for it here in Edmonton. The fellow who purchased it crashed it on his first ride and broke his collarbone. That scared him so bad that he hung the bike on a wall for about 10 years, before deciding to sell it on FB Marketplace, where I happened to see it, so I immediately bought it back, this was in 2018.
In January of 2020, I took it to Hardcore Bikes in Edmonton for a complete rebuild. They stripped it down to the frame and went over every component. Replaced all the bearings, cables, and housing. Next, I took it to Rocky Mountain Auto Salon in Canmore, where they did colour correction, paint restoration, custom self-healing wrap, and full ceramic coating.
It’s only been ridden twice since the rebuild and restoration, it’s just too nice now and I don’t want to beat it up.
Frame: Rocky Mountain RMX | Size: L
Fork: Marzocchi Monster
Shock: Fox DHX5.0 | 600 spring
Stem: Funn Head Huncho
Handlebars: Race Face Diabolus | 660mm | 40mm| 31.8
Grips: Lizard Skins Palm Grip
Brakes: Shimano Saint BR-M800 | M06 pads | SM-RT80 203mm | SM-RT80 203mm
Shifter: Shimano Deore XT SL-M750
Derailleur: Shimano Siant RD-M805
Crankset: Race Face Diabolus | 175mm | 32t-22t
Cassette: Cassette: CS-M760 | 11-32t
Chain: Dura-ace CN-7701
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT 2x
Pedals: V-Sixty B-87
Wheels: Shimano Saint M800 hubs and Sunringle Double Wide rims;
Tires: Nokian Gazzaloddi jr. 26x2.6 | Nokian Gazzaloddi jr. 26x2.6
Seatpost: Race Face Diabolus | 30.9
Saddle: SDG Belair
Jordon at Mud, Sweat & Gears Edmonton did the detailing for the photoshoot. Photos were taken by Lance Ghostkeeper at Ghostkeeper Photography.
