It’s Interbike in Las Vegas right now, wished I could be there, but I’ve pulled all Flatline pictures and impressions of the big websites for you. I’ll keep adding them as I find them. NSMB.com will be testing one very soon!
Pinkbike.com
Rocky Mountain’s all new Flatline bike has a bunch of cool things going on. For starters, the idea behind the FORM link, the rider can choose between 3 preset choices for shock mounting. What this means to the user is they can alter the feeling of the geometry the bike rides at. With a shift of your upper shock pin, into either of the 3 pre drilled holes, you can easily change it out. Also, instead of using a thrustlink, the Flatline is using a Tuglink, which makes the suspension more supple to small bumps. A really cool feature of this frame in my eyes would have to be the built in “mud guard”. Rocky Mountain created a flared section to the down tube of the bike, to guard any mud or muck from flying up in your grill. All in all the Flatline looks like a awesome bike, and completely capable of handling anything you can throw at it.
» Quoted from Pinkbike (and some more pics)
NSMB.com
Rocky had a couple of new bikes on offer. The first one to catch my eye was this 70s muscle-inspired Slayer Slopestyle. The Slayer SS 396 has a low centre of gravity, ample standover and enough beef to land a back flip off the big step down in the Boneyard. nsmb.com team rider Neil Meier has been on a prototype of this bike for several months now and he loves it.
This is a fine looking machine.
The Pro was the best looking of the Flatline models to these eyes. These are still pre-production models and the edges will be further smoothed once the bikes arrive from Taiwan. Taiwan? Was that a typo? In fact it’s the gospel. The Flatline will be the first Rocky Suspension frame, mitred, machined, jigged and welded outside of Canada. It’s not quite the end of an era yet but the writing appears to be on the wall. Build quality in Taiwan is extremely good these days but there is still a price advantage to be had – and in this competitive market Rocky has decided it’s time to move some things off shore – so to speak.
The Flatline was designed to be a versatile machine. There are three shock positions on the frame but things can be further tweaked by installing shocks with different eye-to-eye measurements. In this way Rocky has managed to replace both the RMX and the Switch with the Flatline. The Flatline 1 and 2 roll on single crown forks and are designed for freeride applications. The frames are designed to run four different eye-to-eye length shocks. When fork choice is added into the mix you get a table of 19 possible geometry and travel combinations ranging from a 62.8 degree head angle and 170mm of travel to 69 degrees with 213mm of travel. Most of us won’t have a box of shocks to toss in but one shock and the three settings should keep you happy on the Shore and at Whistler.
The Flatline 3 is the cleanest looking of the litter.
» pictures pulled from nsmb.com
Bikemag.com
© Alan L. Davis
The Flatline appears to be poised to replace the RMX with a stiffer, stronger, lower and after a few test rides we’d also say faster gravity machine.
© Alan L. Davis
Rocky Mountain finally officially released their new gravity beast called the Flatline featuring a radically formed down tube.
© Alan L. Davis
The LC2R rear suspension on the Flatline was first seen on Rocky’s slayer model, but has now been beefed up for more travel and abuse.
Quoted and pictures pulled from Bikemag.com
Nice pics. Very curious. Wonder how it performs, as it’s both dh and fr rolled into one burly bike. Love the brown finish, as is to be expected. 😉