Design & technology
Design and tech
A really good bike doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s the result of a principled design process that combines decades of experience with a keen eye toward the future. Here’s how our design and engineering team approaches every bike (yes, even kids bikes), and how every bicycle from Rocky Mountain comes into existence.
Design for durability
Visit a packed bike park like Whistler, and you’ll see more than a few well-worn and well-loved Rocky Mountain’s out there on the trail. We’re proud of that, because we design and build bikes to last for the long haul. Full transparency, that means our bikes are not always the lightest. We think it’s worth it—total confidence that your bike will last in the long-term is way better than a few shaved grams.
Focus on function
We always think and design from function first standpoint, and don’t get caught up with unnecessary aesthetics. Don’t get us wrong—we’ll always make paint choices to make our bikes look rad as hell. But we never let design and aesthetics get in the way of long-term function and durability.
Hit the sweet spot
We design bikes with our racing in mind. But we also design with an eye towards “the rest of us.” We always aim for the sweet spot between race-ready and everyday ride-ready. Creating a super-specific, race-only bike usually results in a bike that is simply no fun to ride in 95% of situations. Every bike from Rocky Mountain has to be intuitive, fun to ride, immediately familiar to any rider, but also ready to tear it up at the start line.
Be accessible
We make meaningful component and material choices for every bike build, at a vartiety of price points. We think deeply from the customer’s perspective and needs, and build from there. Every bike from Rocky Mountain has to work really, really well—and that goes for any model at any price point (and that includes kids bikes).
Optimize for ride feel
Engineering and design can come up with the best theoretical bike in the history of bikes, but if it’s no fun to ride, it’s no good. So, we make insanely sure that every bike we build has good ride feel—that means tireless feedback from our athletes, friends, and the staff who work here.
Be honest
Sometimes things go wrong. Recalls happen to every bike company, and they have happened to us in the past. But we never place blame or make excuses. If we make a mistake, we take responsibility and tackle the problem head on. If something happens and we don’t have the answers yet, we tell people that and do the work to find out what went wrong. Trust us to be honest, transparent, and responsible at every and any touchpoint.
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