Montra Mad Rock (26) (2017) - Review

The Montra Mad Rock 217 comes with hardtail MTB 66a alloy frame. This is the same frame as in the 216 Mad Rock. This frame has been welded to perfection with a lot of attention to detail to make sure there are extra alloy reinforcements only where it is absolutely needed. This has made the frame take in a good amount of vibration from the surface this making it a comfortable experience for the rider.This hardtail comes with a front suspension Zoom fork. This fork has been installed and adjusted properly. This gave about 5 to 6mm travel comfortably during the test ride. The suspension does not come with a lock or a pre load adjuster.

The Montra Mad Rock 217 has the perfect gearing for flat trail use and commuting. The Shimano Tourney FD TZ3 at the front and Shimano Tourney RD TY 3 at the rear functioned properly during the test ride with no real lag or glitch. The gearing was noisy when down shifting especially in the rear derailleur. The Shimano Tourney ST-EF41 21 speed shifters were easy to operate with a large thumb base for shift up's. Changing gears up hill might have a slow reaction but nothing major to affect the gearing performance.

This bicycle has a great frame design. The bottom and top tubes are disconnected and the bottom tube has a neat curve at the start. The tubes are not cylindrical they are a mix of both round and flat shapes which looks slick and aero. The Montra Mad Rock 217 comes with colour coded orange brakes and gear-cables, which make it, look funky. The bicycle which we test rode came in a matte black primary colour with matte neon orange as the secondary colour. The colour coded saddle and handlebar grips also enhance the aesthetic appeal of this bicycle.

The quality of the brakes are very important for the over functioning of an MTB. The Montra Mad Rock 217 comes with alloy mechanical disc brakes at the front and rear. The disc brakes have 16mm rotors, which are decent level in depth for brakes on a hardtail MTB at this price. The brake levers weren’t lengthy but they were easy to use with only three fingers.The 58mm XMR steel handlebar had a slight raise from the middle and is of perfect length, giving the rider the needed control to handle the bicycle when riding on rough terrains.

The Montra Mad Rock 217 rolls on a pair of Wanda 26 inch x 1.95 inch MTB tires. The XMR alloy double walled alloy rims support the tires well. The wheel sets were a bit heavy but the treads on the tires make up for it by having great traction on rough surfaces. The Mad Rock 217 also comes in a 27.5 inch tire variant now which is priced at Rs.14,49 with the exact same specifications.The Montra Trail saddle on Mad Rock 217 is a MTB specific saddle with the right amount of padding and an ergonomical shape for soreness free trail riding. This is a slight upgrade from the Montra comfort saddle on the Mad Rock 216. The overall ride quality was great on rough urban roads on flat trails.