Rocky Mountain – Visiting one of the world’s cult bike brands
Three and a half decades have passed since Grayson Bain, Jacob Heilbron, and Sam Mak founded Rocky Mountain from their garage in North Vancouver. It has since evolved into one of the world’s most admired bike brands, but while on a global scale many things appear to have changed over the past thirty-five years, there’s a still a lot going on that’s just like it was…
Despite their long history, it’s still satisfying to note that sometimes ‘no evolution’ can be good evolution – especially when we’re talking about the team’s love for their backyard trails and forests in the north of Vancouver, where the city’s bordering North Shore Mountains have had such a momentous influence on the riding world. Films like the North Shore Extreme series were those videos most likely to get chewed up in your VHS machine due to overuse, seeing them a firm staple of most riders’ youths back when videos were de rigeur.
These are the exact same trails that Rocky Mountain continue to shred while testing their latest prototypes… exactly the trails that they were envisaging when they designed their bikes, and therefore more than fitting as the right namesake for their newest models. Take the Pipeline for example, named after Wade Simmons’ home trail on Mt Fromme.
The BC Edition models are the epitome of what works for North Shore-style trails: more travel, bigger tires, wider cockpits. In short: built to match far burlier trails than your regular backyard. Ask the guys about their local XC loops and you’ll hear about shredding, jumps, and big booters – it’ll be everything but lightweight, watts, and power meters.
Given their roots and their strong connection to the rugged trails that surround them, it’s not surprising to see that the crew from Rocky Mountain have always trodden a slightly different path when it comes to bike design. Their ethos is clear, as their main aim is to have fun – particularly on descents!
From the outside, you could brush off this building as just another business complex, but there’s a little sign above the small entranceway to confirm that this is where Rocky Mountain house their development and marketing departments. Their immediate neighbor is a crossfit studio, filled with lean-looking musclemen pumped up on a wellness hype. Once in the Rocky Mountain sanctuary, there’s a sense of nostalgia (and, no, we’re not talking velvet upholstery and dusty bookshelves); it’s lined with bike frames like the legendary Suzi Q and the Altitude Hardtail, both tracing back to the firm’s earliest days. Directly beside the bikes are the team’s workstations, where – in typical Canadian style – they’ve gone for an open-plan layout for the majority of the twenty-five staff members. Relics from the brand’s past have reclaimed space that isn’t in use by desks, and who wouldn’t recognize the flame-sporting RM7 frame that’s collecting dust on a shelving unit?
After leaving the office via a small kitchen, you’ll make your way into a large industrial hall where there’s a small testing lab, the warehouse, assembly stations, foosball, and a workshop purely for prototypes. It’s best described as organized chaos, as everything seems to have its own space. It’s all testament to Rocky Mountain’s creative charm, and the decades spent tinkering, tweaking, and tuning to create the goods, permeating the space with an air of resourcefulness. There’s one man who knows his way around the space like no other, and that’s Billy Chang, who has worked with the firm for more than twenty-five years. Turning, milling, and welding prototype after prototype, virtually every product has been through his hands. Tom, the brand’s Head of Development, is busy at one of the control stations, and with unabashed pride he outlines the latest features they’ve built on the Pingu trail that we’re planning to ride later. Having recently taken over the reigns for the trail, it’s now Tom’s role to maintain and develop it – alongside his responsibilities for the actual bikes. In essence, you can argue that this is the guy whose job it is to make riding more fun: creating new bikes and the ultimate trail.
The more chatting that goes on, the clearer Rocky Mountain’s hallmarks become: first, there are the unassailable ties to their roots here in Vancouver, building enduring friendships with team riders like Wade Simmons, who has been part of the success story for the past two decades, as well as staff members like Billy.
Then there’s the overarching love for riding, letting the team focus on bikes that really get their seal of approval. It’s a tight-knit team that concentrate on what they know best, leading them to have a massive declutter in their collection a few years ago, putting a number of models out of production. Shortly before 5 pm, almost the whole team decamps from the office and gathers in front of the building to load the pickup trucks and head out for a post-work ride. ‘Love the Ride’ clearly isn’t just marketing hype – it’s their way of life. And it’s obviously one that not only keeps them happy but us riders too.
Don’t miss our reviews of the Rocky Mountain Pipeline and Thunderbolt BC Edition, as well as the first looks on the brand new Slayer enduro bike, Element XC bike and Reaper kids bike.