Rocky Mountain Instinct-to-Altitude Powerplay

Instinctitude:

Evolution of the Instinct/Altitude Powerplay Species

The goal of this project was to take a trail eMTB, the 150mm /140mm Rocky Mountain Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70, ride it stock for 10 to 15 rides, make a few modifications and then ride it with each mod another 10 to 15 times. I took notes on bike performance: likes, dislikes, and neutrals for each of the iterations of the bike. In each phase I tried to analyse what type of rider and terrain they were suited for.

The stock Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70 went through the following modifications over the course of the 5 month test period:

1 - Stock Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70: 150mm / 140mm

2 - Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70: 160mm /140mm

3 - Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70 (and each modification): separate commuter wheels with slicks

4A - Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70 converts to Altitude Powerplay: 160mm Fox Float X2/170 Fox 38

4B - Altitude Powerplay converts to mulleted Altitude Powerplay: 160mm Fox Float X2/170 Fox 38

5 - Mulleted Altitude Powerplay with air shock converts to mulleted Altitude Powerplay with coil shock: 160mm Fox DHX coil /170 Fox 38

In a similar project to Andrew’s one platform 4 bikes, I started with the Rocky Mountain Instinct Powerplay Carbon 70 platform. In my initial review I looked at mods 1 -3.

This article is concerned with 4A to 5B; Instinct becomes Altitude in various formats.

Instinct evolves into Altitude

From the Instinct's 160/140 setup, I swapped out the Instinct shock mount for the Altitude shock mount known as the Rocky Mountain Bikes Modular Shock Mount Kit 2 which retails for 94.90 CAD. I swapped the Fox Float X Performance shock for Rocky marketing guy and good times guru Dre's personal Fox Float X2 Factory shock bringing my rear travel from 140mm to 160mm. I removed the 160mm Fox 36 Factory eMTB fork and I installed a Fox Factory 38.

Changes

Weight, Ride Characteristics and best Trail Types - Altitude Powerplay vs Instinct Powerplay

Going from a capable Instinct Powerplay trail bike to a bigger travel enduro style Altitude Powerplay was a pleasant change. I felt more confident at speed through big bumps, rocks and roots. The extra travel smoothed out the trails without sacrificing the ride characteristics I enjoyed whilst riding the Instinct Powerplay. Harsh hits and steep rock and roll-over exits were noticeably easier. I found that my traction increased on the steeps as well as in and out of corners. However, flow trail corners were not as fun as they were on the Instinct. The snappy feeling coming out of a berm was slightly muted in comparison. In addition, my ability to pop off small hits was sacrificed on the Altitude. Compared to the Instinct, the bump sensitivity and traction made the Altitude setup much more enjoyable on all the trails I like to ride except bermy flow trails: Sea to Sky steep dirt, rock faces, high speed loam, medium speed jank and fast natural bench cut trails.

Weight

Rocky's claimed weight for the Instinct Powerplay is 50.8 lb. without pedals. I weighed the stock first version I rode at 52.9 lb. with inserts and Stamp 1 composite pedals. Rocky does not have a claimed weight for the Altitude. I weighed the final coil shock and mullet version with the Stamps, inserts and fenders at 54.1 lb.

Did I notice the extra weight? Not really; maybe slightly when loading and unloading the bike and on really steep climbs; but wasn't obvious. I think when eMTBs are in between 50 and 55 lb. the difference is not particularly noticeable. However, muscling my 60 lb. Norco range around the trails is noticeably harder than the 54 lb. Altitude.

Who Wants What

The Altitude platform seemed to climb more slowly than the Instinct but it was not noticeable enough to worry about.

Based on my testing, riders who are typically hitting fast flow trails or low lower angle smoother trails, and who like to climb technical singletrack, would prefer the Instinct. The Altitude appeals to riders seeking steeper trails with more rough sections, rock faces, bumpier jump landings, as well as rough and technical steep sections.

Altitude Powerplay Mullet

I enjoy mulleted mountain bikes. They work well for my 5'9" bag of bones. All the other eMTBs I have ridden have been full 29rs, which I still enjoy, but I was craving the MX feeling during the first phases of this test. When I installed the Rocky Altitude mullet link I took the bike out on all my usual suspects and I immediately felt at home. This set up fit me better than the full 29'r version. Tight uphill turns became easier, popping the big rig was more enticing and carving turns was a joy. The added bonus of no butt buzz was also a treat. I did notice that I had to lean forward slightly more on steep climbs in order to counter the weight distribution from the smaller wheel. I kept the RIDE-4 chip in the slackest position (1) after two laps of my test trail with the chip in neutral position 3; according to Rocky, position 3 is aimed at a "balanced blend of geometry and suspension performance to cater to a wide variety of trails." I preferred the slacker head tube angle of position 1 with its progressive suspension creating all of the ride qualities I noted above. Graham Driedger reviewed the mullet link on his pedal-powered Altitude.

Altitude Powerplay specs notes

The Instinct Carbon 70 and the Altitude Carbon 70 have similar specs (aside from the suspension of course). I made a few changes during the Instinct phases: Rocky carbon bar off, One Up carbon bar on; WTB Volt Race 142 saddle off, WTB Devo w/Pickup on; the Race Face AR 30 29" rear wheel came with a big dent that was good for half a dozen rides then it would not hold air so it was swapped for a WTB Proterra Tough i30 wheel with a Butcher Grid Trail T9 instead of the stock Maxxis DHR II MaxxTerra; and finally, a broken XT chain was replaced.

The only spec changes I made to the Altitude were during the mullet phase where I installed a 27.5" WTB Proterra Tough i30 rear wheel with an E13 Grappler Mopo tire.

I noticed a slight lag when on uphills when I installed the 27.5" Proterra wheel. I brought the bike to R & D coordinator Lyle Vallie. He diagnosed the problem and I took his recommendations to wrench wizard Topher at Obsession Bikes. He overhauled the hub with his secret lube sauce and tensioned the wheels which solved the problem.

Another issue was a sticky Race Face Turbine R (by Fox) Dropper. Cable tensioning and slickoleum lubing helped a little but the post still had intermittent lag time extending fast and fully. On a number of occasions I had to pull the nose of the saddle up to get the post to its maximum height. I took the bike into the local Rocky dealer, Lynn Valley Bikes, so I could get the low down on issues with the up/down. LVB co-owner Rick Loader said the only thing you or a shop can do to the post yourself is cable adjustments and the rest has to be sent to Fox for service/warrranty. Rick's cable adjustments were more precise than mine which has solved the issues for now. Most posts can be user or shop serviced so this is a major hassle.

All of the other specs on the bike performed well without any issues.

Geometry

The medium frame is the best fitting bike I have ridden in the past few years. That includes the large Nomad 5 and medium 6, Enduro S3, medium Yeti SB 135 LR and large Norco Rang VLT. In my favourite and slackest setting, the 457mm reach, 624mm stack, 64.2 degree HTA and 76.2 degree STA combine for my sizing sweet spot.

Too hot to handle

The only real issue I had with this eMTB was overheating. I first noticed it while I was spinning fast in Ludicrous up the Seymour ski hill road for 8 km on a sunny 23°c day. The bike slowed a little and a message on the Jumbotron said the bike was running too hot at 79°c and the motor would limit output until the temperature went below 75°c. I pulled over to read from the manual and in the 5 or so minutes of resting in the shade, the bike was bike to full power under 75°c. It happened three other times on long steep climbs in Ludicrous: once on 20°c day, another on a 28°c day and most recently on at 21º. Each time the warning went away when I backed off Ludicrous for about 5 minutes. The issue was not a real problem for me, however I did hear from Megavolt participants that several Powerplay riders were having overheating issues in the 30°c Naramata, BC weather.

I asked Lyle Vallie (Rocky's R & D coordinator) what's up with that. Here is his detailed response:

"The bike’s peak draw when under full load is a huge amount of Watts from the battery. The majority of that converts to mechanical motion and massive torque at the output pinion, but some becomes heat. Let's say 10% for simplicity. So if we’re drawing 800W, that’s an 80W heater within the motor casing.

Now wrap that heater in a carbon blanket. Then reduce the amount of airflow due to a lower riding speed while climbing. The motor components will heat soak under these conditions. Our motor controller’s temperature regulation is automatic and designed to allow it to continue performing while heat soaked. The motor will not allow itself to reach any sort of critical damaging temperature. Riding the bike continually at full output power and full load through complete heat soak, it is still putting out as much power as many of the mid-power ebikes.

We allow our users to tune the input gain of our system as well as the output power to best manage the bikes performance to the rider’s style of riding and type of ride. The Jumbotron warning when the bike begins to self regulate is a courtesy, simply to let the user know. There’s no need to stop riding.

In our current production firmware it only displays the warning once per ride so it's not too intrusive. We’re almost ready to launch a new dealer update tool as well, to make sure anyone with a Dyname 4 bike can have the latest firmware updates without any headache.

We’ve also got some new motor covers for MY24 that will help increase airflow to the drive at lower speeds."

Evolution complete: coiled up

As soon as I rolled into my favourite test trail with the coil, I felt like I'd found the magic. The coil plays well with the Instinct/Altitude's geometry. Chatter bumps and square edge hits were smoothed out, steep roll exits were easier than with the X2 air shock and the bike felt planted at speed allowing me to ride faster with more control. The coil seemed to give me more traction on loose technical climbs as well. The only area where the coil shock was inferior to the air shock was in the usual popping for air category. Like coils I have ridden in the past, I need to plan ahead and initiate with more force than with an air shock. To me the tradeoff was well worth it. The mullet helped with this ride characteristic a small amount. The mulleted Altitude coil was the best iteration in the evolution of this test.

Overtime

The Overtime battery pack 2.0 pack is a range extender that gives an additional 314 Wh of battery capacity. When combined with the 720 Wh battery, you have 1034 Wh total. The extra power comes with two costs: 869 CAD and 2 kg of weight at the water bottle mount. I really did not feel the need for the extra battery life even on my big back country rides. Most of my battery draining rides were 20 -25 km total distance /1300ish m ascent coming in around 3 hours. I did appreciate the lack of range anxiety when I rode with the Overtime pack: Knowing I had few hundred added watts gave me peace of mind and the ability to go full Ludicrous mode on all climbs. I really appreciated the extra juice on my 55km round trip commutes. I can do the ride there and back on a single charge but it drains the battery to 3% so I usually bring the charger in my backpack. I prefer getting the charger off my back so the Overtime pack is perfect.

Riders looking for 3 hour plus rides would benefit most from this extra juice.

Summary

At the start of the test in May, I put the Instinct Carbon 70 through about 30 rides in the three different set ups. I concluded that the Instinct Powerplay was an excellent eMTB that works very well as a trail bike. I appreciated its willingness to pop, carve and manoeuvre on almost all trail types other than steep technical descents. I preferred the 160mm/140mm set up as it worked better in steep terrain and over technical rocky rooty sections as well as over steep drops and rolls. In terms of climbing, Rocky's high torque Dyname 4 motor makes any of the 6 iterations the best eMTB climber I have tried.

Having taken the Instinct through transformations into Altitudes with air shocks, mullet mixed wheel set ups and coil shock equipped rides I found the Altitude was much more suited to my style of riding and trail selection. I did enjoy all of the Altitude formats but in the end I preferred the mulleted coil the most.

I enjoyed the whole process of the test and I am thankful to Dre and Lyle at Rocky for facilitating this idea. I think bike companies who have platforms that can be adapted to differing ride categories are forward thinking. I see benefits from the manufacturing side but most importantly, from the consumer side.

Prices are all over the place in bike land these days but I have listed the current Rocky prices at post time for all of the different base set ups and accessories to make the changes.

Altitude Powerplay C70 11,399 CAD

Instinct Powerplay C70 11, 779 CAD

Overtimepack 869 CAD

Modular shock mount kit for Altitude 95 CAD

Altitude mullet link aka MX mount 136 CAD