First Look: Rose Root Miller

After getting a good look at the new Rose Bike range during the 2017 London Bike Show, we’ve been eager to get our hands one of the full suspension bikes since. Fin from Rose Bikes UK has followed through with the goods, having delivered a fresh Root Miller to Singletrack Towers for an upcoming Pennine Pasting™.

The Root Miller is the German brand’s 29in full suspension trail bike, with 140mm travel front and rear. It’s based on the same suspension platform as the 27.5in version, the Granite Chief, but adds in the wagon wheels for extra traction and speed on rougher terrain. Offering a bang-up package for the money thanks to its direct-to-consumer model, the ocean-blue Root Miller test bike is certainly appealing on paper. Before getting stuck into testing, we’re going to take you through some of the details of the bike here.

German brand Rose offers bikes direct-to-consumer via their website.

“The trail is rough and challenging. You know that you can rely on your bike. Everything that gets under your 29-inch wheels suddenly seems small. Your ROOT MILLER quickly absorbs bumps and gives you full control. The trail is flowing, you feel like a surfer, you celebrate the profile of the track, you enjoy every corner, every drop. This bike is your fun bike – even more potent than before. For this we have upgraded the travel to 140 mm in front and rear, lengthened the top tube and slackened the head angle. In this way, we could further improve the bike’s downhill performance and increase riding pleasure. The new Boost standard and the option to ride 27,5 plus size tyres also promises a boost in performance. Even more possibilities, even more action – the ROOT MILLER offers you the full range” – Rose Bikes.

140mm of travel combined with 29in wheels for a fast-rolling technical trail challenger.

Rose Root Miller Features

Full suspension trail 29er
AL 7005 alloy frameset
140mm rear travel via four-bar suspension design
Designed for 140mm travel forks
67º head angle
74.5° seat angle
Threaded bottom bracket shell
148x12mm Shimano E-Thru rear axle
435mm chainstay length
2x compatible
Upgrade options available
Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large
RRP: €2149 – €4399

Up front is a 140mm travel Fox 34 fork with a 29in specific chassis.

Although Rose offers several models in the Root Miller series (there’s a 1, 2, 3, and 4), the customer has the ability to custom spec various upgrades at the point of purchase. So you can upgrade the suspension, wheels, drivetrain and cockpit as you wish. For our test bike, that means it has a fully custom spec, which is built around Fox Factory Series suspension with lovely gold Kashima highlights.

With 34mm diameter Kashima-coated stanchions, the 34 Float is a slippery-plush trail fork.

FIT4 damper cartridge inside with rebound adjustment at the base of the fork leg.

And compression lever at the top. Open, Medium and Firm settings with extra low-speed compression adjustment available in the Open mode via the black dial.

Spank wheels aren’t a particularly common OEM spec.

The Spank Oozy Trail 345 wheelset features wide alloy rims with a 30mm internal rim width, sealed cartridge bearing hubs, and a claimed weight of 2090g for the 29in set. They’re built for durability, and are ready to go tubeless with Spank’s Bead Bite technology that helps to decrease the chance of burping – of your tubeless tyres that is, we’re not sure they can control your own indigestion.

Boost hubs front and rear with 32x spokes per wheel in a traditional 3-cross lacing pattern.

Nicely wide alloy rims with Spank’s ‘Oohbah’ tubeless rim profile that promises greater strength.

The Spank Oozy Trail wheelset uses a 30mm internal rim width to keep up with the Jones’.

A conventional four-bar arrangement controls the 140mm of rear wheel travel.

The rear suspension design is a relatively straightforward four-bar arrangement. Using a horst link rear chainstay pivot, the four bar linkage sees a small alloy rocker up top that drives the base eyelet on the rear shock. Despite being void of any fancy acronyms or showy graphs on the website, the conventional arrangement promises a smooth, active suspension feel with less influence from chain torque and rear braking.

Burly main pivot sits just above the bottom bracket shell.

Boost 148x12mm rear thru-axle dropouts.

A two-piece alloy rocker link uses cartridge bearings for smooth rotation.

Nice hydroforming for the alloy seat tube where the rocker link connects.

Our test bike features a Fox Float DPS rear shock, though you can also spec a RockShox Deluxe or Superdeluxe shock too.

Bolt-on internal cable ports at the top of the downtube.

Stealth dropper post routing down below.

For 2x setups, there’s routing available for a Shimano Side Swing front derailleur.

Welded seatstay brace.

To keep the rear end taut under load, Rose has welded in a brace between the upper seatstays, while adding in an alloy outer tube between the rocker link plates where the seatstays meet the rocker.

Downtube armour for a little reassurance when ploughing into a field of rocks.

Clean 1×11 drivetrain setup, though the frame is ready for 2x should you want it.

Lovely alloy Race Face Turbine crank arms, which pass through a conventional threaded bottom bracket shell with external bearing cups.

A bit of bling for the rear wheel in the form of an XTR rear derailleur.

Not so sure about the zip tie for the rear mech cable though.

A matching XTR trigger shifter for punching out each shift.

Being a German bike, we have German brakes from Magura. Superlight MT6s no less.

180mm rotors front and rear for the twin-pot machined alloy callipers.

Nice and clean rear brake mounting.

The Turbine cranks are equipped for the Boost drivetrain offset, and use the Cinch chainring system.

125mm travel RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post, topped with an Ergon saddle.

The under-the-bar remote is good, but the new Reverb 1x remote is even better.

Rose has spec’d the Root Miller with a 35mm diameter bar and stem from Race Face.

And lovely Ergon GA3 grips.

There’s not much carbon on our test bike, but the Next bars are trick and light.

Milling for roots?

And there you go – a brief virtual tour of one of our latest test bikes from German brand Rose. What do you think of the Root Miller? Do you dig the colour? The frame design? The spec?

We’ll be getting down with testing very shortly, with our Lake District correspondent, James Vincent, giving this bike a solid going over on his local challenging and rocky singletrack. Stay tuned for the full review, and head to the Rose Bikes website for more info.