randyjawa 

Thanks to a friend, this Rocky Mountain Cardiac came my way, yesterday morning. I puttered with it for a while only to find that, other than a few scratches in the paint/art and a rip in the saddle, the bike is darn near perfect. It seems to have seen little use and will get its test ride today.

Has anyone else owned and ridden one of these bicycles? I intend to do a drop bar and eight speed Brifter build and think that this might be the perfect bike for me to do so...

T-Mar

The Rocky Mountain Cardiac with a Shimano STX./Alvio mix was produced 1996-1998. Based on the colour, yours should be the 1996 version. That year, it was 2nd form the bottom of RM's line, with an MSRP of $680 CDN. I very temporarily had a Fusion, which was one step above the Cardiac but used the same frame geometry. The frame is more relaxed and comfort oriented than their competition models. Equipped with drop bars, it should make a nice gravel and light trail bicycle. You won't know until you try. As such, I'd do the drop bar conversion and perform an extended test before performing the eight speed and STI upgrade, unless you've already got the necessary parts in your stash (which is probably the case).

randyjawa 

Thanks Tom and, yes, I do have the stuff stashed away. I have to gut another bike to do this but that is a non-issue since the doner bike is my Quintanna Roo, an aluminum steed that does little to blow my kilt up.

I need something that is tough and durable and tough for riding in Jamaica. My Bianchi does the job well enough and, to be honest, the RM will likely never see the light of a tropical sunrise...

VtwinVince

I've had (and have) numerous Rockies from this era, and they are all good quality framesets.

Darth Lefty 

Very lanky looking bike

zukahn1 

I really like the ride of these bikes. The slightly more relaxed geometry for a higher quality frame lends nicely to drop bar and other setups . Most of the higher quality MTB frames from the 90's were a little to aggressive to do custom setups on. I have found that rather road or MTB slightly lesser model bikes with nice frame sets and slightly more relaxed geometry with extra room for fenders and different drive train setups can work better for a drop bar gravel grinder than more expensive higher end models.

lostarchitect 

I feel like "Cardiac" is one of the worst bike names I've ever heard.

randyjawa 

Oh, come on - have a heart:-) Otherwise, the Forum Police might attack and arrest you:-)