Titus Rockstar Carbon 29er

Going into the second lap, things were a little sore on my right side, but I was able to navigate all of the various trails without any issues. As we approached the descent, I saw the ‘DANGER’ sign this time; I apparently missed that the first time around! Deciding to walk it was a bit of a no-brainer this time around. I even picked up a few water bottles off of the trail just to be nice. Yes, that meant a little more weight to haul up the switchbacks, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. And then things got a little weird.

On-One Smorgasbord tyres worked well

Once I neared the bottom of the descent, I remounted and started pedaling. I went through a couple of turns and then realized I had no clue where I was. I didn’t recognize where I was on the course, which for me, is weird. I’m no savant, but remembering courses has always been an easy thing for me. I probably pedaled a good 15 or 20 minutes before I recognized the trail again. Once I made it through the ‘mystery’ section, it was back into the switchbacks, down some easy descents and tearing into the lap point on the fast gravel descent and barely holding the turn.

At the lap point, I decided to get my arm cleaned up since it had a pretty nasty looking gash. I asked the medics to look at my face as well since there was still a little pain there. They requested I remove my helmet to get a better look at things. As I handed the helmet off to one of the medics, he piped up with a “Hey, you broke your helmet. You’re done for today!” The Rockstar spent the rest of the afternoon holding down the team awning while I nursed what my doctor later told me was a ‘Grade 1 Concussion’. My day may have been done, but I could still cheer on my team… and stare at the Rockstar a little more because, frankly, it’s a great looking bike.

So, what put me on the ground? Well, I actually have a couple of thoughts. Firstly, maybe I pogo-ed off the Rockstar due to that rear shock, platform switching issue I mentioned earlier. Or I may have hit a water bottle or hidden rock and was thrown. And, of course, finally the undeniable: I was racing and crashes happen.

Rockstar’s Rock Shox Monarch RT3 rear shock – not a favourite of our tester due to the switch/dial set-up

After all of this, you might think I’d dislike the bike, but I still really enjoyed riding the Titus Carbon Rockstar. The carbon frame is well built and the parts spec – minus that rear shock possibly – is solid; it took a good hit without missing a beat and was a blast to ride. One of the most common complaints against 29ers is that you feel like your steering is slow – the big wheel and slightly longer wheelbase just doesn’t flip around as quickly as the 26” wheeled predecessors. While I did not find the Rockstar to be entirely slow, the larger tire and longer wheelbase were noticeable in the switchbacks.

I had a chance to discuss this with Bre Rue, a former pro rider, and the person that put my demo Carbon Rockstar together. As soon as she heard that most of my race/riding experience has been on 26” wheel hardtail mountain bikes – I have been slow to jump on the 29er bandwagon – she immediately said that had she known of my previous experience, she would have set the fork up differently.

As previously mentioned the Rockstar came to me set up with the Rockshox Recon Gold fork set at 100 mm of squish up front, which is pretty standard but the Rockshox Recon Gold is built so that by simply changing the arrangement of the spacers, you can change your travel amount. Dropping to 80 mm of travel would have allowed the steering to be tightened up a little by dropping the head tube angle. Conversely, you can go the opposite direction if you find you need a little more slack and get to 120 mm of travel. All of this adds up to some pretty serious versatility in both the fork and the Rockstar frame.