Rocky Mountain Instinct C50
All-day trail adventurer
As part of Rocky Mountain’s 40th anniversary, the company significantly upgraded the Instinct, the brand’s venerable trail bike. Four decades of building mountain bikes in Canada pay off in the form of a well-balanced, mid-travel machine capable of adding fun to a wide variety of trails.
The first major change for 2021 is that Rocky Mountain merged the Instinct and Thunderbolt models. making the Instinct Rocky’s only mid-travel trail bike. To make sure riders of all heights have the same experience, the Instinct moves to size-specific wheel diameters. Size extra-small and small come with 27.5" wheels. Small is also available in 29", while medium to extra-large are 29" only.
The second main change for the 2021 Instinct is the addition of a 10-mm chainstay adjustment. In the short position, the Instinct is playful and snappy. Set the flip-chip in the long setting and the bike is more balanced at higher speeds. Located at the rear axle, this flip-chip is easy to operate using simple Allen keys compared with some brands' more complex geometry adjustments.
Rocky Mountain’s time-tested Ride-9 system adds even more options, adjusting geometry and suspension characteristics with a chip in the shock linkage. Combined, the new chainstay adjustment and Ride-9 allow you to tailor the Instinct’s performance to both your local trails and how you like to ride. Since n+1 isn’t a realistic prospect for many of us, having one bike that, with small changes, can adapt to a wide range of terrain and riding styles is a much more pragmatic approach.
With 140-mm rear wheel travel and a 150-mm Fox 36 Performance fork, the Instinct is well-positioned to cover an impressively diverse range of riding. The bike’s snappy acceleration and efficient pedalling make it viable as an all-day adventurer for those who get just as much enjoyment from the climb as what comes after.
Set the Ride-9 to “slack” and the Instinct takes on a whole different personality. A stout parts build, including fourpiston Shimano XT hydraulic brakes, help the Instinct eat up steep, technical trails. Add in the 10-mm chainstay chip and you have a bike that’s just as exciting on modern flow trails as it is confident on old-school gnar.
Small frame details, such as the addition of dual bearings in the chainstay and seatstay pivots for durability, an integrated Canadarm chainguide, down tube protection and Canadian Shield yoke protection, make sure the Instinct’s frame is suited to all weather and all kinds of abuse.
There are limits to the Instinct’s abilities, of course. It’s not an enduro race bike or a cross country machine. Instead, the Instinct is at home anywhere in the wide expanse of riding between those two dedicated racing-focused extremes. Rocky Mountain delivers a bike that makes riding more fun no matter where you are. From flowing singletrack to challenging trails, this Instinct is one you can trust to deliver a good time.