2025 Rossignol Heretic

Rossignol Heretic

A couple of years ago, Rossignol ad banners on mountain bike media said " Yes, we make bikes!" A little self-effacing humour from the iconic French winter sports company, letting us know they were eager to get into summer activities. This year, they return with a minor revision to the slogan and a major one to the product to shake things up a little:

Yes, we make great bikes!

The 2025 Rossignol Heretic is a complete redesign of the company's heavy-hitting enduro bike and I went to Grenoble, France to find out how. Having ridden and reviewed a Rossignol bike before (Mandate Shift Review) I knew the name and the looks weren't telling the entire story when it came to Rossignol and the bikes they make. The catalogue look of the Mandate Shift surprised me, along with how it rode and how it was specced. The 150mm Fox 38 fork was a subtle clue into the people in the "Bike Division" at Rossignol and how they wanted to direct the brand in the cycling sphere. Bikes with purpose and heck a lot of fun to own and ride.

The Heretic model has existed in the Rossignol catalogue for a few years now without any major change. It's been raced at EWS and multi-day stage races by the French Enduro rider Morgane Jonnier across the globe. The bike had its weaknesses, and the team at Rossignol and Kairn Bike Design Lab sat down to collaborate on a new Heretic to bring it up to today's speed and stability standards. They had a few marks to hit with the new bike. First of all, it had to be race-ready in geo and travel numbers to tackle the toughest enduro stages and tracks across the globe. Secondly, it needed to be playful and accessible to the general public for less demanding trails in Europe and North America. Finally, it had to be durable, low maintenance, and easy enough to work on when things did go sideways because of Rossignol's strong roots in Bike Park rental fleets.

The new bike is designed around an aluminum frame with 4-bar suspension and 165mm of rear wheel travel. The fork is 170mm with the option to go up to 180 in single or dual crown. The new Heretic is 29" from the showroom floor but is fully mixed wheel size compatible with the geometry adjustment chip located at the chainstay link by the rear wheel. The Attack/Flow mode adjusts the bike's characteristics from a bump-soaking descending machine to a well rounded long-travel trail bike in a matter of minutes.

There are no size-specific rear centers with the new Heretic, and that may upset some folk, but the decision was not taken lightly as the crew worked on a design that would suit the majority of the riders without increasing the final cost. The geo adjustment chip also takes care of the rear centre numbers to a degree, even though it is not an independent adjustment as the head and seat tube angles will change slightly along with the kinematics.

The brains behind the new bike are impressive. The head of development is Esteban Deronzier, who is a Master's French DH Champ. He sought the help of Kairn Bike Design Labs, who conveniently are down the valley from Rossignol Headquarters. Kairn Design Studio's two Pierres (Francos and Vioules) and Ettienne Megalhaes specialize in industrial design and suspension development for a few French brands, including Lapierre and Rossignol. With a heavy hitting repertoire of knowledge they took on the challenge to make the new Heretic not only race-fast but also aesthetically pleasing while still being affordable; gargantuan task.

The new silhouette is clean and purposeful and the colour choices are bang-on for all the builds. While the GX T-type build comes with an excellent gloss purple with yellow highlights, the British Racing Green SLX build and the DHL yellow Deore 12sp are all very good-looking options.

Construction Decisions

Nobody loves working on bikes when there is riding to be done. Kairn Design wanted to ensure more time is spent on the trails than in the bike shop. Rossignol bikes are direct-to-consumer. Depending on where you live, your bike will be touched by a particular set of hands. In Europe, the Grenoble headquarters bike shop is manned by Nandor Csender. With a name like that, you can be well assured that the bike you will receive will be inspected and repacked by a meticulous man who is passionate about bikes. Nandor will also handle ALL after sales inquiries without taking time off in the summer months! In the attempt to make his life easier, Kairn designed the Heretic with big bearings and proper seals to be trouble free. Big hardware and simple construction means most people will be able to perform at home surgery with simple tools. Wet climate riders sure appreciate this gesture. While there is no tube in tube guiding for the cables, Kairn also avoided headset cable integration to preserve friendships. For a company that serves the rental bike industry, this was an important box to check.

Geometry and Sizing

The geometry numbers on the Heretic are not extreme. I landed on a size Medium for a few rides in March. The 170/165mm platform is on par with my Orbea Rallon. The reach, stack and rear center are all within millimetres of what I am familiar with. I did appreciate these decisions by the Rossignol team. I am attaching the geometry chart below for your consideration.

Riding the Heretic

I was invited to the Heretic launch along with a select European media in early March. Rossignol also wanted me to have a feel for the company and the ethos behind it during my visit, so I overstayed my welcome for a few days to soak it all in. Stick around for an in-depth look at the operations in the upcoming weeks.

Early March in the Alps may not be the ideal time to ride bikes in shorts, and my arrival did bring the spicy weather on. Spring like conditions on my first couple of days slowly turned into snow and heavy rains for the majority of the riding we were about to do. While I often don't intentionally head out in pouring rain, even back home, being mentally prepared for the conditions ahead was easy for this Canadian. Long pants, rain gear and wool socks were my trusty companions for comfort and fair shakedown of the new bike.

The region we were taken to was passionately called the "Le Squamish" by the local trail builder and guide Theo Doumas. Chamrousse ski resort at 1700m was about to get a dumping of snow on our test day but if we could stay under 1400m elevation, we would be treated to some excellent conditions that would deteriorate throughout the day.

Setup

The size Medium Heretic GX T-Type I was given was in Flow (High) mode to begin with. The trails not being very steep or particularly challenging and I was in no particular rush to change the geo to Attack(Low) mode. The 64.5° head angle and 437mm rear center seemed appropriate. The previous generation Fox Float X2 (which will be the spec. customers will get this year) was set to 32% sag at around 175psi for this 160-ish pound (72kg) French cheese connoisseur. The Grip X2 damper Factory Fox 38 was at 90psi, and compression was left somewhere towards closed for the impacts I was warned for. The French love their jumps, and a few were waiting for us on the trails. Rebound was fast to generate traction on the loamy trails and combat the slippery roots that one should never touch! The first couple of laps were to get used to the terrain while trying to hold the wheels of rather fast Frenchies. The bike felt dead and not as responsive as I wanted. The Fork also uncharacteristically bottomed out a couple of times.

In the pits, chatting with the suspension designer Ettienne, we decided to reduce the sag to 28% with 185psi in the shock and 92psi in the fork. Leaving the rebound compression the same as the lower pressures, the Heretic jumped to life with more gusto and maneuverability.

The rain was holding off, and the dirt was prime with recent trail work done by Theo and his crew. I began to feel more comfortable on the Heretic as the laps piled on. The Squamish parallel was rather accurate, and steeper trails were being unlocked for the daring media people. While I missed the direct power transfer of the suspension design of my Orbea Rallon, the 4-Bar Horst linked Heretic generated rear wheel traction with ease. There was very little noise coming through my feet. The all aluminum Heretic was planted and sure through all the rough stuff at speed. The faster I went, the better the bike responded. On flatter ground, the lower engagement hub and the extremely active suspension felt lazier.

It would be interesting to change the bikes character with carbon wheels and possibly a coil shock for longer review, which I hope to do once our test unit shows up in North Vancouver.

Builds

3 colours and 3 builds to go with them.

Purple GX T-Type for the turn-key solution for racing and heavy hitting riders. This build is pretty spot on with Sram GX Transmission and Maven Bronze brakes. The Aluminium DT Swiss E1900 wheels and 350 Hubs. There is very little to change save for the tires if you want more grip and protection. 36ish pounds without pedals is not out of order for a 3.2kg frame. 6200 EUR - 6200 USD – 8000 CAD

Racing Green SLX this is a sweet middle ground with key suspension components and pedestrian drivetrain. SLX drivetrain is tried and true while the Performance Float X2 and 38 are low in complication and high in performance. Shimano wheels with E13 hubs are not my general cup of tea but they roll well until they won't and you can lace up something burlier if you desire. 4700 EUR - 4500 USD – 5800 CAD

DHL Yellow(not an official name) is a sweet deal and a fun colour to match. Marzocchi Bomber Shock and Z1 fork are both crowd favourites where the performance/value graph intersects. Brakes are Deores, which we all know stop just as well as the XTRs and the Deore 12x drive train is one of the better values in the market of shifting gears. The all steel cassette sure is heavy, but will probably never wear out either. If you are doing shuttle laps mostly or spinning up roads to earn your turns, this is a key build. Rental fleets will most like be built out of these as well if you want to demo before you buy. 3300 EUR - 3300 USD – 4300 CAD

Final Thoughts

Chatting with a few French friends about my visit and experience on the new Heretic, they were hesitant to show excitement for the new bike. They could only think about a brand found in rental shops across Europe. The Rossignol Heretic has a serious job to do, bursting through its preconceived image of being cheap and poor performing. Rossi claims to have the largest demo fleet in the world through their partnerships with bike parks. This key opportunity for the brand to put smiles on newcomers to the sport or the last minute travellers who didn't want to bring a bike is important. The bike needs to be easy to ride, perform well and should feel premium when presented to the experts and newbies in the same showroom. I think the bike looks spectacular with its well thought out lines and excellent colourways. The suspension performs well and is adjustable enough to change the character of the bike to suit the rider.

I think the Heretic will do well in races under experienced riders too. On the North Shore, it may not be the spriteliest climber but there is no doubt the traction it generates will be welcomed on the greasiest of days on the steepest terrain. It will also do very well in the bike parks here in BC whether it's high speed or big jump lines. There is a 5 year warranty on frames and a healthy Crash Replacement Program for owners.

Rossignol Heretic