Rossignol Introduces Mountain Bike Lineup
Yep, you heard that right — one of the largest ski manufacturers in the game is now making mountain bikes.
So what’s the deal?
Well Rossignol (as in, skis) bought Felt (as in, bikes) last winter. And now, lo and behold, Rossignol is debuting a line of mountain bikes. Details are still a bit sparse, so it’s yet to be seen exactly how much of Felt exists in the Rossignol-branded bikes.
But we have learned that these are not Rossi-branded Felt bikes. Rather, Felt is helping Rossi manufacture unique Rossignol bike models – the specs, geometry, and components are all unique to Rossignol. Rossignol told us that they worked closely with the Felt team to define the right builds and price points for the market that Rossi is targeting.
Rossignol is advertising 11 models, including 5 full-suspension bikes. All models will be named All Track + application (DH, Enduro, Trail) or wheel size — for example, the hard tail bike in the action shots above and below is the All Track 29.
As for price points and wheel sizes, we know this so far:
Full Suspension:
– Starts at $2999.95
– Wheel sizes: 27.5 and 27.5+”
Hard Tail:
– Starts at $749.95
– Wheel sizes: 27.5, 27.5+, 29”
Junior Bikes:
– Starts at $349.95 (20”), $399.95 (24”)
We’ll hold off on further speculation for now, but among the questions this raises is whether we’ll be seeing any of the other large ski manufacturers following suit and crossing over into mountain bikes.
Here’s the press release from Rossignol:
Remember Rossignol roller-skates?
Cue snark:
Remember Pro Flex/K2 mtbs?!
In fairness, it doesn’t appear that the Rossi bikes have piezoelectric suspension, so perhaps they’ve learned from K2’s mistakes.
I don’t get it. Felt isn’t a big enough player to own any factories, and they’re a second-tier brand at best (in terms of size, design and reliability). At least when K2 bought Pro-Flex, the stuff they made was cutting-edge (for the time). For a brand that makes some really decent skis, this seems like a misstep or dilution of the Rossignol brand, not a well thought out expansion.
It’s just branding – all the bikes are made in China or Taiwan.
Sure it’s branding, but there should still be substance behind the hype. Brands like Yeti or Evil go to the same Asian vendors to get their bikes built, but have specific ride characteristics that are integral to their brands. If Rossi wants to do bikes, they should aim for a niche, for some core competency(or competencies) that distinguish their bikes from the other stuff out there. My beef isn’t with a ski brand doing bikes. It’s with a ski brand indifferently doing bikes.
The bikes aren’t made in China or Taiwan, they are made in Cambodia
Perhaps these bikes will be the perpetual demo fleet at mtb parks, with few actual private owners. I rode one recently at a bike park and it was quite decent.
These bikes are BikesDirect Motobecane Hal Boost re-skinned.
Dang your right the only thing different that I can noticed is the tires, head set and seat . I bought one at sun and ski I guess I got burned a little because it was $1999.99 but they gave me $400. in store credit so that makes it the same price in a way.