Small Ski Brand Changes Lanes With First-Ever Mountain Bike

RMU (Rocky Mountain Underground) is known primarily for making and selling skis. But RMU is more than just a ski brand. It has three bar/restaurant/retail locations in Whistler, British Columbia, Breckenridge, Colo., and Truckee, Calif. RMU has also been producing and selling a range of fanny packs, backpacks, tailgate pads, and other MTB accessories for several years.

Turns out, lots of skiers ride mountain bikes, and vice versa — including the folks at RMU. It seems that RMU is now taking that crossover a step further, with the brand’s first mountain bike, the Nighttrain. It teamed up with legendary suspension designer Dave Weagle. (Yes, that’s dw-link Dave Weagle.) Together, they created a 170mm-travel enduro bike with a pretty unique suspension and drivetrain design.

RMU has been building anticipation for the past month or so with numerous posts saying that it’s “coming soon.” Well, the bike has finally arrived, and it’s a good-looking debut for a ski brand fully entering the cycling world.

The original version of this story appeared on BikeRumor.

RMU Nighttrain: First Look

Just a few days ago, Dave Weagle posted a video of the Nighttrain where he discusses the suspension design. In the post, he calls it “a new generation Orion suspension layout ‘flexing’ a mid-pivot, 6-bar flex stay layout.” That’s combined with a dual-idler, dual-chain drivetrain, which he states is the most efficient way to get an elevated chainline for the mid-pivot design.

Check out Weagle’s Instagram post to hear what he has to say about it. 

For the basics, it’s a 170mm travel enduro bike that rolls on 29” wheels front and rear. The frame is full alloy, with internal routing for the shifter cable and external routing for the rear brake line. One of the teaser posts mentions that it will “drop in three distinct build kits, with limited color releases rolling out throughout the summer.” You can check them out now on the website.

Other Design Details

The mid-pivot, dual-chain, dual-idler drivetrain setup looks nearly identical to that of the current Pivot Phoenix DH bike, which happens to use a dw6, six-bar suspension layout. The RMU Nighttrain, however, uses a slightly different six-bar flex stay design, which Weagle refers to as a new-generation Orion suspension layout made for aggressive riding.

Regardless, it looks impressively plush, and we’re definitely interested to see how it performs.

Interestingly, Weagle also mentions that this is the first in a range of mountain bikes from RMU. So far from the looks of the Nighttrain, they’re off to a good start, and they’re obviously working with one of the best in the business.