Rocky Mountain elevates Solo gravel bike with full carbon fibre frame
Big tires, fenders and room for four water bottles in the frame
Photo by:
Margus Riga
The Solo has, in various and very different forms, held a place in the line-up of Rocky Mountain bikes for decades now. Recently, it morphed into the North Vancouver brand’s gravel bike. Now, after several years as an alloy gravel rig, the Solo is graduating to a full carbon fibre frame.
Meet the new Solo
Where most mountain bike brands dipping a toe in drop bars tend to make a very mountain bike-esque gravel bike (think Evil’s Chamois Hagar or YT’s Szepter), Rocky Mountain takes a much more balanced approach. Sure, there’s plenty of tire clearance and room to run a full-length dropper post. But the new Solo is also 2x compatible, so you can run a realistically adventure-ready drivetrain. It also has mounting hardware for all kinds of gear. So you can carry everything you need for a weekend in the woods (or longer) and have the gearing to get it up proper hills.
For those stoked on metal, the Solo still comes in an alloy frame as well.
Ryan Anderson's Rocky Mountain Solo: fully loaded. Photo: Margus Riga.
Ryan Anderson putting in Saskatchewan miles in on the Solo. Photo: Margus Riga
Big tires. Photo: Margus Riga
All the mounting options. Photo: Margus Riga
Likely the only Rocky Mountain launch to feature a grain silo. Photo: Margus Riga
With only one gravel bike in Rocky’s line, the Solo aims to cover everything from more adventurous gravel racing and weekly rides to occasional singletrack segments and even big bikepack adventures. Retired Canadian road pro, Ryan Anderson, has over a year on the new Solo and has used his time to test all those angles. The Rocky athlete’s bikepacked across his prairies home and well into the Rocky Mountains and raced the solo at Gravel events all over.
“The Solo gives me the freedom to explore from the prairies to the mountains and it’s handled everything I have thrown its way,” Anderson says. “It’s an extremely well-balanced bike whether it’s loaded down with gear or not. It’s definitely a Rocky Mountain- it rides best when things get wild!”Â
Fat tires and fenders.
More mounting options on the fork.
AXS or Di2 compatable.
Alloy cable routing is slightly different.
Clearance for tires and fenders
Based in North Van, Rocky Mountian knows being comfortable when the rain starts to fall is important. The Solo has clearance for 700c x 40mm tires with fenders (650b x 2.2″). Max tire clearance is better than your 90s mountain bike at a hefty 29″ x 2.0″ or 650b x 2.2″.
Frame details inside and out
Rocky Mountain’s made the Solo ready for any set up. It has fully-enclosed internal cable routing. That includes Shimano Di2 electronic shifting, complete with a downtube panel/battery holder.
12 mounting points on the frame and another eight on the fork will help set up the Solo with all manner of bags and racks. Rocky says there’s clearance for a full four water bottles inside the front triangle.
To make sure the Solo can confidently carry all those bags into any terrain, Rocky’s tested it to its mountain bike frame standards.
Solo Carbon 90
Rocky Mountain Solo C 70
And the Solo Carbon 50
Solo Alloy 30
Rocky Mountain Solo Alloy 50
2023 Rocky Mountain Solo
Rocky Mountain offers the 2023 Solo in five models. That includes three carbon fibre models (50, 70, 90) and two alloy frames (50, 30). All frames come in five sizes, from XS to XL.
Pricing
- Solo Carbon 90 – $8,500
- Solo Carbon 70 – $6,300
- Solo Carbon 50 – $4,900
- Solo Alloy 50 – $3,200
- Solo Alloy 30Â – $2,000
