ROCKY MOUNTAIN ALTITUDE POWERPLAY III

May 28, 2026

Continuously evolving and levelling up, the Rocky Mountain Altitude Powerplay recently launched in its third iteration, boosting drive unit power and utilizing the new LC2R suspension design first introduced on their analog Altitude. We were excited to check out the tech in Rocky Mountain’s latest eBike offering and hit the trails to get an initial assessment of its character.

As with all of The Loam Wolf Tech Check features, this was made with the support of the bicycle manufacturer, and is not intended to be an official review or endorsement of the Altitude Powerplay III. We’d like to thank Rocky Mountain Bicycles for making this feature possible, and look forward to sharing our longer-term impressions of its performance in our upcoming eMTB Shootout series.

While there are some similarities to the previous generation Altitude Powerplay, Rocky Mountain has made a host of changes throughout their new enduro eBike, with improvements to the suspension, geometry and drive unit helping to push its performance to the next level.

UPDATED, AGGRESSIVE GEOMETRY

Rocky Mountain worked on modernizing the geometry on the Altitude Powerplay III, giving it a slightly slacker 63.5° head tube angle and a steeper 77.5° effective seat tube angle. The chainstay length has been increased across the board and scales to improve the weight distribution, with a 440mm on the small size, 450mm on the medium and large, and 460mm on the XL.

LC2R™ SUSPENSION SYSTEM

Rocky Mountain moved the Altitude Powerplay from the mid-high pivot suspension design to the LC2R™ (Low Centre Counter Rotating) system, first reintroduced on the analog Altitude. This virtual pivot suspension design aims to provide a smooth and predictable ride, improving the pedaling performance without sacrificing descending capability. The concentric bottom bracket pivot found on this system is made possible thanks to the unique design of the Dyname S4 Pro drive unit, which utilizes a standard mountain bike bottom bracket and crankset.

SMOOTHWALL™ CARBON OR FORM ALLOY

Depending on the build level selected, the Rocky Mountain Altitude Powerplay III frame is made from either the premium SMOOTHWALL carbon fiber or FORM alloy. The carbon frame uses a sophisticated manufacturing process, which Rocky claims to produce an industry-leading stiffness-to-weight ratio and excellent ride quality and durability. The more affordable alloy frame is still a high-quality product, with engineered tubing to optimize its structure.

RIDE-4™, REACH AND WHEEL SIZE ADJUSTABILITY

Rocky Mountain continues to offer high levels of adjustability on the Altitude Powerplay, with the Ride-4 four-position flip chip combining with a reach-adjust headset cup. Ride 4 lets the rider select between four geometry settings, tweaking the bottom bracket by up to 10mm and head tube angle by 0.6°. Using the alternative headset cups provided with the bike, the reach can be adjusted to be 5mm longer or shorter from the neutral position.

Lastly, the Altitude Powerplay is supplied with a pair of 29” wheels on size Medium and above, and as a dual-27.5” for size Small. Riders with the 29” wheel setup can convert the bike to a MX wheel setup by using the built-in flip chip, which helps to preserve the geometry.

DYNAME™ S4 PRO

Unique to Rocky Mountain Powerplay bikes, the Dyname S4 Pro drive unit defies convention with its idler design. Driving the chain with a separate idler that sits above the crankset, and using a conventional BSA bottom bracket and mountain bike crankset, Rocky Mountain was able to implement the concentric bb pivot suspension design while delivering impressive power and torque.

Dyname S4 Pro produces 108Nm and up to 1000W peak power (750W in some regions), from its 3.2kg (7.05lbs) drive unit. Powering the system is an integrated and easily removable 720Wh battery, which can be boosted by the 314Wh Overtimepack 2.0 range extender. Charging the system is either a 4A or 2A charger, giving 0-100% charge times of 3hr 55min and 7hr 35min, respectively.

On the top tube of the Altitude Powerplay III, the Jumbotron display offers key information from speed and battery life to the assistance mode selected. Using the sleek three-button remote on the handlebar, the rider can select the mode and use the walk function, and tune the power settings without use of an app.

THREE BUILDS

Rocky Mountain offers the Altitude Powerplay III in a choice of three build specs, from the Alloy 30 build at $6,099 to the Carbon 70 tested at $10,799.

Our carbon 70 build features a mix of top-tier and slightly more affordable componentry, focusing on performance in the areas that impact the ride experience the most positively, without allowing the price tag to increase too far above the $10k mark.

A Fox Factory 38 170mm fork and Float X2 shock pairing offered excellent adjustability to obtain the best performance out of the LC2R suspension system.

SRAM’s Eagle 90 T-Type mechanical drivetrain offered dependable shifting but allowed the price tag to be dropped over an AXS model, and a RaceFace Aeffect Cinch crank in 165mm length drove a 34T chainring.

Stopping power was provided by the SRAM Maven Silver brakes – formidable stoppers when they are working their best. An in-house Rocky Mountain machined alloy stem held a RaceFace Turbine R bar, giving familiar handling. OneUp’s V3 dropper was fitted in generous lengths, with a 210mm on our size large test bike, and topped with a WTB Solano saddle.

The stellar DT Swiss HF1900 wheelset was fitted with Cushcore tire inserts as standard, offering the alloy rims some much appreciated protection and adding some more damping and calmness to the Altitude Powerplay. These were wrapped in a set of Maxxis Double Down tires, with the Assegai and DHR II, though we swapped these for a Schwalbe Tacky Chan Gravity Pro and Magic Mary Gravity Pro tire combination for our eMTB Shootout.