Prefer your XC/Trail bike with a little more attitude? If so, bikes like the Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt should be right up your alley. Initially designed with a fun, playful ride in mind that was equally pedal efficient, the Thunderbolt was an instant success – but now it’s gotten even better.

Last built with 120mm of rear suspension travel, the newest Thunderbolt bumps up to 130mm for the standard build, and 140mm for the BC Edition. That’s thanks to a longer stroke shock on the BC version to get more travel out of the same frame. Using bearings at every pivot including the lower shock mount, Rocky also claims the frame is “significantly stiffer” as a result of new one-piece seat stays and layup for the Smoothwall carbon frames. Note that all of the bikes shown in this release are carbon – no aluminum here.

Both builds still use Rocky Mountain’s Smoothlink suspension system and Ride-9 adjustment system, but both have been updated for the new bike. Suspension performance has been improved by flattening the suspension rate curve to make more of the travel usable and improve small bump performance. It also includes higher anti-squat performance to improve pedaling even further. By repositioning the Ride-9 system, Rocky claims to have made it both lighter and narrower, while still remaining easy to change your geometry with a few allen keys.

Between the Ride-9 positions and the Thunderbolt Carbon and Thunderbolt BC Editions, there are a dizzying array of geometry options. But the short version is that the bike has a longer reach, slacker head tube angle, and an even lower bottom bracket to follow with industry trends. Slightly longer chainstays and steeper seat tube angles should help with climbing as well.

Other improvements include the integrated Spirit chainguide, two bolt ISCG 05 mounts, lighter tooled axles, Boost spacing, Metric shock compatibility, and single sided pivots at the rear to improve heel clearance. Frames continue with a BB92 pressfit bottom bracket.

Built using 27.5″ Wide Trail wheels and tires, the Thunderbolt is also 26+ compatible up to 2.8″ or 3.0″ with “low profile knobs”. Most riders will probably run 27.5″ however, and the bike has clearance for up to 27.5 x 2.5″ tires.

As we’ve seen with a number of recent bikes, the seat tube on the Thunderbolt have been shortened to allow for longer dropper posts at full insertion and offer lower standover thanks to the lower top tube. Cable routing has also been improved with larger access ports and full length shift housing. Looking forward to the future, the bike is compatible with Fox Live, Di2, and dropper posts simultaneously. However, like many bikes these days, the Thunderbolt is 1x only. You will be able to fit a water bottle in any frame with any reservoir shock out there, though.

Weights are claimed to be around 2.56kg (5.63lbs) for a complete medium frameset, and from 11.80kg (26.0lbs) to 12.57kg (27.7lbs) for a complete Large bike depending on the build.

Complete Builds

Lining them up with a new naming convention, bikes like the Thunderbolt 770 MSL are now known as the Thunderbolt Carbon 70 – the higher the number, the nicer the spec. With the new Thunderbolt, Rocky is offering four complete builds in two colors each, plus a BC Edition Frameset ($3,999 CAD / $2,599). Bikes will be available starting today.

Thunderbolt Carbon 90 BC Edition

When you want a shorter travel bike but still want to party, this is the Rocky way to do it. Using the same frame but a longer stroke shock, the BC edition ekes out 140mm travel front and rear including a beefed up Fox 36 fork up front. It also has bigger, more aggressive tires, wider bars, and components chosen for their increased capability.

MODEL HIGHLIGHTS

• Travel: 140mm/140mm
• Full Smoothwall carbon frame
• Longer travel Fox 36 / Float DPS Performance Elite suspension
• Wide range SRAM 12spd drivetrain
• DT Swiss rear hub
• Fox Transfer dropper post
• $7,499 CAD / $5,999 USD

IMPROVEMENTS OVER PREVIOUS MODEL

• All-new frame
• Integrated chainguide
• Fox 36 / Float DPS Performance Elite suspension
• SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain
• SRAM Guide RS brakes
• Fox Transfer post