ROCK MACHINE BLIZZARD 50-297
If you like coil-sprung mullets give it up for the Czech Republic’s Rock Machine!
£2,799 / MX ( 29/27.5in)
/ chickencyclekit.co.uk
We don’t normally give brand rundowns at mbr but I’m going to here, because Rock Machine is new to the UK and little is known about it. Mention the name and most people will likely think of a heavy metal festival. View the company website, however, and you’ll see it’s a bike brand based in the Czech Republic.
It has a vast range including e-bikes, but all of the analogue full-suspension bikes come under the Blizzard moniker, which is a little confusing. To make things clearer the two XC marathon bikes carry the XCR tag, the three trail bikes have TRL added and the enduro bikes are just called Blizzard.
The 50-297 tested here is the entrylevel option in the three-strong enduro range, where the bikes are all mullets with coil-sprung rear shocks and 160mm of travel front and rear.
The bike is built round a 6061 series aluminium chassis – the tubes have a little bit of profiling for stiffness and all the cables are internally routed. It uses a twin-link suspension design and all in, it’s a tidy bike. At 16.36kg (36.07lb) for the complete build, however, it’s pretty weighty. Which is to be expected, given the price point. And while the frame looks a little ordinary even at this money, Rock Machine has fitted a couple of jewels in the DVO suspension components. The Diamond D3 fork is an OE only product, which means you can’t buy it aftermarket, but it does get a beefy 35mm chassis and a closed cartridge damper with low-speed compression and rebound adjustment.
At the rear there’s a Jade R Coil shock, which again is an OE option, and it only has external rebound adjustment. To accommodate different rider weights, Rock Machine fits different rate springs across the three frame sizes - 400, 450 and 500lb on the medium, large and extra-large respectively. The 500lb spring on our XL test bike was a little too firm for me, even at 87kg, so I struggled to get all of the travel.
As such, the rear suspension didn’t feel as plush or compliant as I’d expect from a coil-sprung 160mm bike. Still, it’s a good indication that Rock Machine has got good ballpark spring rates for the frame sizes, and most XL riders will be heavier than me.
Drivetrain and brake components are from the mid-range Shimano Deore stable. The four -piston disc brakes took several hard gallops to bed in, but they have a nice light lever feel backed up with plenty of stopping power. Shifting is only 11-speed and, while it didn’t have the smoothness of Shimano’s XT or
XTR drivetrains, I didn’t really notice the lack of a 12th gear when hoofing around because the cassette still offers a massive 11-51t range. To keep the chain corralled the frame comes with a mini chain device fitted.
As for the rest of the finishing kit, the in-house branded components are functional but the 760mm handlebar (I’d like 20mm wider) had a bit of a goofy profile with virtually zero upsweep.
To get it to feel okay I ended up rotating it quite far forward, which also made the bike feel longer, which is no bad thing. A comfy WTB Volt saddle straddled the One1 dropper post, which