1989 Rocky Mountain Blizzard
A bold design and great ride quality from 1989, updated for the new century.
This is Rocky Mountain’s Blizzard model mountain bike. It’s from the upper end of the Canadian company’s lineup in 1989. Built out of Tange’s sweet-riding Prestige steel tubing. Built up with Shimano’s ground-breaking Deore XT M730 component group and built for laughs with their stupid-looking (but powerful) Deore XT U-brakes.
We have given this bike the hotrod treatment.
Study the pictures and you’ll see that the vintage frame & fork is still shod with a lot of the original M730 XT parts, but important elements have been updated to make this a wonderful modern gravel rig. The original equipment list is comprised of the Synchros seatpost, a Nitto stem, Wolber rims with the old M730 hubs, the aforementioned U-brakes, brake levers, front derailleur and crankarms.
Instead of the old 3 x 6 Deore XT stuff we now have modern Microshift thumbshifters controlling a 2 x 10 Deore XT drivetrain with a modern chain, sealed bottom bracket, and a Deore XT clutch-style derailleur (which does a great job of handling the old chain slap irritation.
There’s a new WTB Rocket saddle, WTB All-terrain tires, Shimano platform/SPD pedals, and a flat handlebar that looks like the original but significantly is four inches wider than the original.
All of these updates make this an excellent bike for modern gravel races and tours, as well as bringing some needed refinements to a terrific old machine.
Gotta have it? It’s a medium 18” size, good for a rider 5’7” TO 5’9” and it’ll only set you back $1199.