I Hardly Knew Ya Rocky!

I sold my 2008 Rocky Mountain Vertex Team to a friend a couple of months back. Problem was, the bike was in New Mexico, and we are in Venezuela. Well I went up to New Mexico last weekend for personal reasons, and brought back the bike.

I acquired the frame and fork,on a whim last year, for a good price from the RM sales rep in Vancouver, and actually only rode the it 3 or 4 times last summer, before it went into storage, so I was never really attached to it. To build it, I bought a set of wheels for it (nice American Classics), a Race Face crank, Cane Creek Aheadset, and some Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes. The rest of the parts came from my Litespeed after its extensive overhaul last summer, so it was built fairly cheaply.

Yesterday and today, I got to ride it on trails that I can do in my sleep and focus on the bike instead of the trail. Conclusion...super sweet bike! Climbs like a goat, descends straight and true, corners wonderfully, and is one of the most perfectly balanced mountain bikes I've ridden. The scandium frame smooths out the bumps and vibrations. Definitely a sweet bike!

Riding with a friend this morning who also has a Team issue.

This bike will eventually end up in Kiev, Ukraine where my friend has taken a teaching job at one of our sister schools. I hope it gets a lot of use there. It is a huge improvement on the POS bike he was riding. Everyone deserves to ride a good bicycle.

Now I want to retrofit disc brakes on the Litespeed and Merlin! 

Update: I have a line on a 2009 carbonfiber Vertex Team! Yes!