When some of us here started riding off road, mountain bikers had one bike to do everything. The focus was on cross-country performance but weekend social events and races put cross-country, trials and downhill skills to the test. Then, riders did it all on one bike. One bike to cope with everything the trail can throw at it, limitations were accepted or overcome and skill attempted to compensate for the lack of braking power or suspension.

Now we have reliable and capable suspension forks, disc brakes that offer total control and frame geometry designed to make the most of these advances. Riding styles have changed in the UK since the early days but the ethics remain for many – one bike to cope with it all. The Altitude series is that kind of bike.

OVERVIEW:

The geometry and Reynolds 520 Cr-Mo tubes of the Altitude 00 and 10 frame combine to prove that the desirable ride feel of a quality steel frame doesn’t always come at a high cost. One of ‘What Mountain Bike’ magazine’s 12 best bikes of 2009, the Altitude 10 is part of a range that shows that even in 2010, it’s hard to beat the feel of a great steel frame.

The Altitude 00 uses the same frame with design details like cowled dropouts and solder-sealed down tube reinforcement taken from the Altitude 853. Add a smooth Rockshox Tora fork with 100mm of air-sprung travel and full Shimano gearing and braking for a ride that’s involving, capable and durable.

TECHNOLOGY:

We use Reynolds steel for many reasons, the main one being that we value the experience of the original maker of butted bicycle tubing. Every high-quality bike out there has been influenced by the tubing technology that Reynolds have been perfecting for over 100 years. Reynolds 853 is still made in Birmingham and developments such as 953 tubing show that steel is as relevant today as it was when they invented butted tubing.  Reynolds offer a range of steels from proven 520 Chrome-Moly (equivalent to Tange Prestige Cr-Mo or commonly used ‘4130′ tubing) and heat-treated 725 Chrome-Moly, to air-hardening, heat-treated 853 – a tube that redefined strength-to-weight ratios for steel when first introduced.