The downcountry bikes were all tested on a section of trail that included a mix of everything you'd expect to find on an aggressive XC loop. The riding position distributes your weight between the wheels very well and lets you focus your mind on the task at hand when the trail gets more technically demanding. The Element is balanced and steady yet very adequately responsive. The bars sit in very health range of movement, and let you move your weight around the bike, and exact it where you need to, very easily. How great the distance is between your contact points, or how stretched out you're feeling, does affect your fore and aft balance on climbs and really becomes apparent on steeper sections. However, itРІР‚в„ўs not as high as the Niner, striking what I found to be a happy balance. The Rocky feels a little bit shorter in its seated position compared to the Trek due to the slightly taller front end. Much like the Santa Cruz, itРІР‚в„ўs also very comfortable because of this. The new Element tracks the ground very well, and while itРІР‚в„ўs not quite as supple as the Santa Cruz it is one of the grippier bikes for seated climbing in the downcountry group test.

It was also the second fastest on the timed climbing section of singletrack. ItРІР‚в„ўs perhaps not quite as firm under load as the Trek, but that comes back to you on technical climbs. This bike is not only very efficient, by our reckoning it was the second most efficient and came within a second of taking top honours. The new Element, with its low weight, renewed kinematics and shock tune, as well as its steep seat tube angle, absolutely delivered on its promise on the climbs. Other nice touches include the either-way routing options for the rear brake and 2.6 inch tire clearance at the rear of the bike. I can make my peace with the FIT4 damper and light two-pot XTR brakes, and never felt they lacked power or bite, but I would love to have seen some slightly wider rims than the 26mm models that came on our test bike. Every time we complained that the bike was a bit under-gunned compared to the burlier components of the Trek or the Niner, in the next breath we said how fantastically light it was. Speccing this style of bike is a double-edged sword, and how you feel about how aggressive the parts should be will probably depend upon where you live. If the size specific tune on our large test bike is anything to go by, then it's a level that most riders across all sizes should be able to achieve. The damping of this bike felt spot on, and struck a great balance between comfort, tracking and support.

The Fox 34 was exceptional and did a great job of letting the bike's geometry fulfill its promise. The spec on the Rocky definitely leans towards lighter parts than burlier ones. ItРІР‚в„ўs one of the few bikes where I believe this to be the case. IРІР‚в„ўve made my disdain for chips such as this very clear in the past, however the Element gives me a chance to clarify my position - on bikes as extreme as this, where itРІР‚в„ўs not trying to jump between conservative and very conservative, I think a degree of geometry adjustment is very appropriate. However, weРІР‚в„ўre now down to merely 4 positions as opposed to the dizzy-days of the Ride-9 system. Unsurprisingly, RockyРІР‚в„ўs flip-chip appears.

This should mean that riders have usable adjustments and arenРІР‚в„ўt operating near the end of the range. Similarly, each size has a damper tune to suit. The rest of the range comes with 29РІР‚Сњ wheels. For instance, there is an XS but it comes equipped with the smaller wheels. Rocky have also adopted the idea of wheel-size specific frame sizing. Our large came equipped with a 175mm dropper post, which was very welcome because what this bike lacks in travel it certainly doesnРІР‚в„ўt lack in capability. It also manages to temper some of the shortcomings or quirks of other bikes by having well proportioned dimensions, even with the geometry measurements that donРІР‚в„ўt grab the headlines, such as a nice short seat tube and a good insertion depth. Its headtube, which can be as slack as 65 degrees, is as much as 2.5 slacker than the Canyon Lux on test.

The bike delivers on many of these attributes in droves. ThereРІР‚в„ўs just so much going on, it essentially just seems to write itself. Writing about this bike is like writing an obituary for Brian Blessed.

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