Rans Rocket Review and Age

Greetings! In a fluke stroke of luck, I'm now the proud new owner of an awesome RANS Rocket! Near perfect condition, insanely lucky price, matches my bright red truck, scooped it up - it's a fun ride and I'll try and write a review shortly...
One thing though - I cannot figure out how to determine the year of this Red Rocket - if anyone has ideas on how to determine the age of this bike, take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think...

 

OK, I took my first extended ride on the Rocket today... Shee-oot. What a bike. First, some background: I own 6 recumbents, this is my 7th. A mix of long and short wheelbases, over and under steering, 20/20 and 26/20 and 26/26. I've owned many more than that in my 24 years of recumbent riding. With that, here are some Rans Rocket observations:

(1). The Rocket is LIGHT. I was immediately struck by the weight of the Rocket, or rather lack of it. If you've ever been on an upright Italian race bike, or a carbon fiber bike, it's similar to that feeling. As in, you notice the lightness right away, and every moment as you ride. A flittery tossability as it simply responds faster to steering inputs and weight shifts than heavier bikes - and let's face it, most recumbents are heavy. But not in a nervous way, it's just, well, light.

(2) The Rocket is STIFF. Not stiff as in harsh ride (although it IS firm, again like an upright race bike). In particular you notice immediately from the 2 inch main tube and triangle frame, that the bike resists twisting, and creates a feeling that simply more of your pedal stroke is getting to the rear wheel. A feeling of True efficiency that is hard to describe.

(3) The Rocket is BALANCED. This is perhaps the most noticeable thing to my recumbent trained rear - on virtually every other recumbent I've ridden, you can feel the weight bias toward the front or, most usually, to the rear. For example, on my Vision and my Burley, you simply notice that the preponderance of the rider weight sits on the rear wheel (on a 26 inch rear, that's probably by design) heavy rear weight bias, light steering. NOT SO with this bike - I was struck by what felt like 50/50 balance between the front and rear, similar to a traditional sports car. Leaning in to corners, accelerating, braking, all felt amazingly even and balanced between front and rear. This also gave a feeling of a bit more bite on the front, which you could feel and use in handling. I don't think I've ever felt a bike dynamic quite like it. The steering felt insanely natural in leans, over bumps, and more - it simply felt stable and natural, like a pro athlete.

(4) The Rocket is LOW. This really surprised me as I have a Rans Vivo, which is, on paper, almost a twin sister to the Rocket... but not so! Apparently the Vivo's suspension puts the seat 4-6 inches higher (and the main tube!) than the Rocket's seat. This creates an unusually/ surprisingly low step over to mount the Rocket, incredibly easy to get off and on the bike! Step over is perhaps the single most difficult thing in every day recumbent usage, and probably keeps many people away. It's the easiest bike to get on, start, and stop, of any recumbent I have owned - surprising!

(5) The Rocket is SIMPLE. No bells, no whistles, no suspension, no trickery, just pure, simple, effective Chrome-Moly structural design and quality parts. (mine came with SRAM 9.0/ Sora, SRAM brakes, Deore hubs over Alex aero rims). It's hard to describe what effect this simplicity has on the ride, but I'll try to explain: My Canto has a great seat, but it's on an unusually complicated slide structure. Once during a ride, it moved, twisted, slipped, and it was impossible to fix in the moment, so I had to walk a mile back to the road. My Vivo has had "technical issues" with the suspension and seat many times, which left me stranded or limping back home. Even my Stratus has a complicated handlebar design, which has done weird things on occasion. The Rocket is pure, simple, reliable design, nothing weird to go wrong. Just a really great, simple bike.

(6) It's FAST. It's not my fastest bike, but it's close. Perhaps just as importantly, it FEELS fast. It LOOKS fast. Superbly comfortable (I forgot to mention it has perhaps the longest adjustment of X-seam of any of my bikes, again surprising! I'm 6'1" and the seat adjustment is right about the middle. For example, on my Tailwind, the seat adjustment is at 99%)

In summary, I'd say the Rocket is the Mazda Miata of recumbents - not the fastest or dominating, but the best balanced, best combination of performance and usability I've ever come across, with no downsides I can see. Amazing.

p.s. as per the title, I saw another thread which said that, for Rans, the construction date is hidden in the serial number, stamped under the Bottom Bracket. This guy was born in May 2002! It feels a bit like finding a Shelby in a barn.

 

Dozer, I have your Rocket's twin. In color, in birthdate, except yours is cleaner. And if you don't already plan on it, adding some form of SPD pedals will come along (I have always been partial to Speedplay Frogs). I bought it very low-mileage in Dec 2002 and rode it exclusively for 10 years. I haven't used my Rocket (since it was semi-retired in 2012 after over 23,000 miles) with the addition of a Corsa 650 and subsequently a Catrike 700 to my stable. But your writings have inspired me to get her out of drydock and become reacquainted with my old friend.

 

23,000+ miles?!! That's crazy awesome! Good for you - I've read that Rockets are bullet proof, your data point is yet another confirmation of that.
I've still got some tricks up my sleeve for the Rocket; my very first Recumbent was a Red Rans Tailwind, and I had a custom set of wheels made for it. XTR hubs over Marwi spokes and Alex DA16 black aero rims; I'll be mounting those on the Rocket shortly...! I'm also switching to Tioga FastrX tires, modern, higher pressure and I love them in my other bikes. And an 11-30 Shimano cassette, for a bit lower gearing, plus a 60 tooth black top chainring to bring the high end gearing down just a bit. Exciting!

 

p.s. I forgot to mention the clever and quality Rans Briefcase bag, which the previous owner threw in. It's virtually brand new, never used, and it's super high quality. Heavy woven nylon, with matching Rans stitched in reflectors, silver piping, and large enough to fit my MacBook Pro M2 Max 16 inch laptop. Multiple internal bag slots, many pockets both Velcro and zip, and an expandable bottom: a zipper across the bottom allows for another 4 inches of expansion, with an internal flip down support to stabilize the bottom. Heavy buckles and seat binders for a tight fit on the Rans seat back. Comes with a shoulder strap, and heavy duty carry handle. When new, this bag went for $200, which is more than I paid for the whole bike AND bag! I feel like I won the lottery.

 

Quick Rocket update:
(1) The matching Rans briefcase bag is terrific, but heavy, noticeably so. I'm configuring the Rocket for speed, so I swapped the Rans bag for an ultralight Lone Peak nylon seat bag.
(2) I'm in process of swapping my custom XTR wheelset on to the Rocket as well - I've got two 20x1.75 Tioga FastrX tires on order for a bit more air volume under me... Pictures to come once everything gets here.

 

Super Excited! Here is my Vivo with new wheels, tires, and cassette:
(1) Wheels are 36 spoke XTR hubs/ Marwi spokes/ Alex DA16 black aero rims;
(2) New SRAM 8 speed black 11-32 cassette for more range, lower gearing;
(3) Front tire is Tioga Fastr-X S-Spec (65psi), rear tire is Fastr-X BLK LBL (110psi), both 20x1.75;
(4) Oh and since it's DUMB to not have a kickstand, I put on a new Greenfield;

Much thanks to Walt's Bike Shop in Sunnyvale CA for the (always) exceptional work...

 

very nice.

 

I think I'm finally there - last planned upgrade, swapping the 63 tooth chainring for a black 60 tooth (the 63 was just too darn tall gearing). First ride today, the top ring gearing is just about perfect, plus a bit less load on the rear derailleur. $11 + free shipping from AliExpress.
Look out world!