News: Rocky Mountain

Vancouver, British Columbia's North Shore freeride scene is the cycling media and bike industry darling at the moment. With its demanding trails and "X"treme stunts, and the new breed of rider that the area has brought to prominence, it has grasped the bike world's attention span by the jugular -- and has plenty of bike companies latching onto the bandwagon.

What may not be widely known to the world at large is that the Vancouver area hosts a diverse cycling community -- one that has been building for the last two decades. A key part of that are the many internationally renowned cycling companies that call the Vancouver area home. To highlight the broad nature of the local Vancouver bike industry's focus, we presented a set of five questions to six companies headquartered there to show where each one's take on mountain bikes and the North Shore's influence are similar, and where they differ.

Welded with pride -- Canadian pride.

Rocky Mountain
If there's a company whose identity mirrors that of the Vancouver area, it is Rocky Mountain. It has a significant presence in the freeride movement, sponsoring some of its most notable athletes, and a complete line of bikes for going big. So it's easy to see why some might get the initial impression that Rocky is freeride-focused first and foremost. That is far from being the case, however -- with a highly accomplished cross-country race team and a cornucopia of bikes, including super-light hardtails, Rocky is all about variety. We caught up with Rocky Mountain marketing guy Mike Carroll to get the scoop on the company.

BIKE: Is there a big advantage to being a Canadian company?
Mike Carroll: The big advantage of Rocky Mountain being located in the Vancouver area is one that most people don't readily know. There are so many different types of terrain in this general area. We have everything from high mountains to deserts to rain forests to the world's best mountain bike park in Whistler --it's all just a short drive away. This helps us design and develop a wide variety of bikes for all different types of terrain. It's a great local scene and being part of it helps us as a company.

People should know that there's way more to this area than just the [North] Shore, and that's why Rocky Mountain produces 21-pound Easton Scandium hardtails too. There's way more than just freeride that goes on here. The local cross-country scene has developed some of the best riders in the world, like Allison Sydor, Seamus McGrath and Roland Green.