Rocky Mountain's Solo 70 CR

Tested By Brian C. Grenier

Introducing Rocky Mountain's 'Solo 70 CR' equipped with Dura Ace

One has to wonder some times just how much technology can help one in any endeavor.  Those of us that are heavily involved in cycling make it our life and attempt to seek and find that answer. The technology that is being applied to road racing today is nothing short of amazing! Techniques that were once the guarded secrets of the defense industry are now common place at the local bike shop. Gone are the days of metal bikes and even wheels. Today’s top of the line bikes are assembled with compounds that some of us can hardly pronounce. 

When I got the 70 CR from Rocky Mountain Bikes I was skeptical that I was just getting something up to date but that I would have to spend a 1000 Lbs, Dollars, Euros or Quid to get it race ready, pretty much like any other bike that comes from a factory. I have to admit I was wrong and was about to be treated to a first class ride that was ready to race as soon as I had tightened the last bolt! 

Rocky Mountain Bicycles has been predominately a mountain bike manufacturing concern located in British Columbia . RMB has been around for some 25 very successful years. Their quality and innovation in off road bicycles is legendary. In 2004 RMB embarked on their SOLO Road Bike program taking a chance on a growing market.  The SOLO program was designed to bring the best in design combined with their now legendary quality to the road scene. In 2006 they launched their SOLO custom road program where riders could build their own bike centered on the RMB frame.  The end result is something short of phenomenal so much so that I would coin the phrase for these exceptional factory gems “Victory in a Box”

These past couple of weeks I have had the privilege to train on the SOLO 70CR road bike. I ran the bike through the paces that are normal in a rigorous road training schedule as well as some evolutions that I had prior data on for comparison, this is what I found:

THE SET UP: My SOLO 70 CR arrived from Rocky Mountain Bikes in the usual bicycle box we have all encountered. The bike was well packaged and padded with plenty of bubble-wrap. Once getting all the pieces out of the box and conducting a detailed inspection it took me a mere 5 minutes to put the bike together. The only tool I needed was a tri-allen wrench tool that has three sizes on it. I took another 10 minutes or so to insure all my sizing measurements were dialed in and I was ready to go! Now the statement of “ready to go” fits into another realm here as not only was the bike ready for my very first ride, I have to say that it was truly ready to race. The sleek SOLO 70 CR comes equipped with a full suite of SHIMANO DURA ACE components, MAVIC KSYRIUM SSCES wheels, VITTORIA DIAMANTE PRO 23 C tires, FSA CARBON HANDLE BARS and COMPACT CRANKs and CHAIN RING. This whole set of goodies sits atop a GC High Molecular Monocoque Carbon frame, the same frame that BH puts out and saw victory at last years Vuelta! 

THE INITIAL RIDE: Just to make sure things were right I took the SOLO 70CR out for a short spin, nothing fancy but to just “get a feel” for it. I instantly picked up on that trade mark hum that only a carbon bike can give, much like a light wind breezing through high tension wires. The first thing I noticed was the ease I was able to maneuver the bike with. The first few moves were clumsy as I struggled to feel the bike under me but once I got the feel for it, maneuverability was a cinch. The road feel was some what dampened as a carbon bike will do and after the initial 30 miler I felt comfortable enough to begin putting the Solo 70 CR through it’s paces the following morning!

THE CIRCUIT COURSE: I am lucky enough to be blessed with some very large parking lots near by. I am doubly blessed not to have a large winter population where I live, so even on busy winter days I can find a vacant parking lot to simulate a circuit course. Today’s test course was a loop course of about .5 miles, with 4-90 deg turns, after a 30 minute warm up I hit the course to see how the bike handled in this environment. After a few feeler laps I put the hammer down and started an aggressive 15 lap circuit run at about 22-25 mph. Since the course was wide open I was able to attack the corners any way I wanted to keeping it tight or swinging wide to see how the bike handled in every aspect of the turns. The Vittoria tires took what ever I threw at them and never slid out once even in light sand. The Mavic wheels maintained a firm foundation underneath no mater what acrobatics I happened to be performing above or how fast I shifted weight. The frame gave a very responsive ride while maintaining a stiff platform for me to transfer power to the pedals and the gearing components keep pace with multiple shifting patterns. In this environment I just didn’t have any solid training data to compare it too but I can say that the 70CR performed beyond expectations!

THE HILLS: Here science takes over! The bike is light, very light the best weight I could get on it was 13.5 lb for the full package, so it was no surprise that I could climb the same hills with the exact same amount of effort in less time. Being the far side of the base season I still have a little bit of non race weight hanging on to my personal frame as well as very few dietary restrictions, which meant I showed up for these tests heavy, fully fueled and bringing a bunch of new power and strength to my output. The bike took all I had to give and didn’t moan once, from the power put out by seated climbing to the frantic sprint to the hill top finish the frame never swayed, twisted or gave out. I experienced a smooth stiff ride no matter what I did here.

THE ROAD RACE COURSE:  This is where I was able to bring in some well established data and see just what difference the bike could make with everything else neutral. The team I ride for Coastal Carolina Velo uses a 79 mile (126.4 K) road course for weekend training. I had done at least 45 rides on this course in which I had steady data for so I wanted to duplicate a good solid endurance ride with matching Heart Rate profiles. While out on this course some issues came up that were not apparent on the shorter training days. The seat for starters is very light on padding and that is not really a complaint but a point some one needs to keep in mind with this configuration.  I normally ride on a San Marco saddle so I didn’t suffer but I noticed it enough to bring up the point that if you are not used to a small, light saddle then it will take a little time to get used to, even though I feel it is an excellent saddle. The end caps on the handle bars need to be taped in place, I was lucky enough to notice when one slipped off , a little too easy for me. Besides those two very small issues I have to say the bike performed remarkable in varying weather as well as road conditions. 

But enough about all the cool stuff on the bike what was the data right? Well here you go. The goal was to repeat an endurance ride on this course that I had done 2 weeks prior. I took off and hit the go button on my HR monitor and maintained a HR of 147 for the duration. In the end I dropped 10 minutes off my total time for a personal best on that particular course. Even if I account for a gain in fitness over the 2 weeks I would have to give the bike the benefit of 6 of those minutes, impressive, victory in a box!

I have to say Rocky Mountain Bikes did their home work on this one! Each one of the components of the SOLO 70CR DURA ACE compliments each other, delivering race results right out of the box! Cyclists can sit around for hours and discuss the merits of this component or that one, however RMB has packaged up the best built around an impressive platform so much so that the 70CR delivers professional performance with no extra out of pocket expense, which as you know is rare in this industry. For some it will be all about the #s and who could argue for some it is the price, for me it is all about winning!

COLOUR(S)  White + Clear Carbon