The Element is the rocket ship cross-country bike in Rocky Mountain’s lineup. Over the years, however, cross-country has changed, and with it, the demands of the machine. The updated Rocky Mountain Element is well suited for whatever comes racing its way. Whether skin suits, baggies, racing, or exploration, the new Rocky Mountain Element is lighter, faster, and ready to rip.
What is it – Rocky Mountain Element
The Element is Rocky Mountains cross-country ripper. It’s the most spandex of the Rocky lineup (minus the Solo Gravel), and its ethos is speed, agility, and versatility.
At its core, the Element is a cross-country race bike, but with 130mm of front and 120mm of rear travel, it’s slowly creeping up the down-country category.
The newest iteration picks up where the previous one left off. It boasts a lighter frame, updated suspension kinematics, and size-specific tuning. The Rocky Mountain design team added unique gear-carrying solutions and extra water bottle capacity to the Element, giving it a longer leash for adventure and all-day exploration.
What’s New?
The most notable parts of the new Element are the suspension and frame. The updated Element uses Rocky Mountain Smoothlink SL Flex Pivot suspension. It ushers in a new flex stay design that Rocky Mountain calls the Smoothlink SL flex stay. Some other mountain bike manufacturers have successfully used this design, and it’s cool to see Rocky’s twist on the idea.
The Smoothlink SL Flex Stay helps the team eliminate the traditional pivot, shaving a decent amount of weight from the frame. It also stiffens the rear triangle. The team has also upgraded dual-row, high-capacity bearings at the seat stay junction for increased service life.
Rocky Mountain says the new flex stay design “optimizes the flex to behave like our four-bar Smoothlink suspension designs. Our suspension philosophy balances efficiency, comfort, and traction to achieve the legendary Rocky Mountain ride feel.”
Rocky Mountain Element Frame Details
Aside from the SmoothLink SL, the Element frame has undergone some changes. First, it’s lighter than ever before. Now arriving with an updated carbon layup (combined with the Flex Stay suspension), the new frame is over 350g lighter than the previous model. The Rocky Mountain team says the weight drop and Flex Stay don’t compromise stiffness. Even though it’s much slimmer than the previous version.
The frame update also includes some practical additions besides losing some weight. The updated Element frames feature an accessory mount underneath the top tube, forward of the shock. This gives riders more options for bringing what’s needed for everything from racing to deep backcountry missions.
The frame also arrives with the Rocky Mountain Ride-4™ Adjustment System. This unique design lets riders quickly fine-tune their geometry with an Allen key. Move the rotator chip to alter your ride, with four possible variations.
Fully Internal Cable Routing
The frame has fully enclosed internal cable routing with consideration for moto-style brake setups – same as the previous model. Most sizes (except XS and SM) feature two lower bottle mounts capable of carrying full-sized water bottles.
Here is the water bottle breakdown per frame size.
- XS = 1x 650ml bottle
- SM = 650ml + x Fidlock 450ml bottles
- MD – XL = 2x 770ml bottles
Size Specific Tuning
The updated Element follows a Rocky Mountain’s size-specific tuning program. The suspension tune ensures that riders of all sizes get the right balance of small-bump compliance, mid-stroke support, and end-stroke progressiveness. Based on real-world field testing, custom shock tunes are adjusted for each frame size.
“The Element is my go-to bike, and I can’t stop riding it. It’s light and snappy on the trail and loves to be flicked through the corners. It’s playful and poppy, making smooth trails fun, yet still able to hit well above its weight class regarding technical trails. The flex stays make the bike simpler, lighter, stiffer, and more responsive. The engineers knocked this one out of the park. It makes me want to explore further and is my bike of choice for 90% of my riding.”
– Sam Schultz, Rocky Mountain Athlete
Rocky Mountain Element Geometry
The Rocky Mountain Element geometry has stayed the same. The Element is available in sizes XS, SM, MED, LRG, and XL. All sizes, except the XS, roll on 29″ wheels, while the XS Element arrives with 27.5″ wheels.
Rocky Mountain Element Models
The Element is available in many build options, starting at $4,500 and starting at $12,000.
The base model Rocky Mountain Element 30 arrives with Shimano XT shifting and a Marzocchi Z2 Float EVOL Rail 130mm fork.
The race-ready Rocky Mountain Element 70 has SRAM GX AXS shifting, SRAM Level brakes, and a FOX Performance 34 130mm fork.
As for the top-tier Element 99, this rocket ship spares no expense on the component front. The bike arrives with SRAM XX AXS, Rock Shox SID 120 Flight Attendant suspension, and all the trappings a World Cup rider would be happy to race.
Rocky Mountain Element Pricing
- Element Carbon 30 – CAD 5,599 | USD 4,499
- Element Carbon 50 – CAD 6,699 | USD 5,299
- Element Carbon 70 – CAD 8,499 | USD 6,999
- Element Carbon 90 – CAD 12,499 | USD 9,999
- Element Carbon 99 – CAD 14,499 | USD 11,999
- Element Carbon Frameset – CAD 3,599 | USD 2,999
