- But when you do wanna make a change,
you need a small child
to do it for you, Matt. - [Matt] Yeah. (upbeat music)
- Hey, I'm Matt.
And welcome to the 2021
Pink Bike Summer Field Test at Sun Peaks.
The new Norco Range was one of the most
highly anticipated bikes of 2021,
after multiple spy shots were leaked
from racing and testing.
A lot has changed since the old Range.
In fact, they aren't even really in the same category.
The travel has increased by 20 mils and the horst link
has kinda been flipped upside down.
Not only that, but the geometry is much more aggressive.
And the new frame with a few changes,
has even been spotted
on the World Cup for Downhill Racing.
Okay, so the first thing that catches your eye
about this Stealth Bomber is the high pivot
and the idler wheel.
It's a little bit different than the Aurum HSP,
because it's not just a single pivot,
but rather a virtual high pivot.
There's plenty of space inside this front triangle
for a water bottle.
And underneath the top tube is an accessory mount.
Then at the back,
there's a little fender to keep debris
out of the suspension.
Okay, on to the geometry.
As I mentioned, each size is tweaked
to follow Norco's ride aligned philosophy.
The head angle starts at 63.75 for a small
and decreases by 0.25 each size.
Okay, so let's talk suspension, the virtual high pivot.
We've got one pivot up here at the idler,
one at the dropout, one that's around the bottom bracket
that drives the shock,
and another tiny one just off of that on the chain stay.
One thing that Norco noticed in testing
was that the rearward axle path
gave short riders enough clearance
even with a 29 inch wheel.
Norco highly advises against the use of an air shock
on this bike because the kinematics
are so specifically tuned to a coil.
They recommend the Fox DHX2
or a Rockshock Super Deluxe Coil.
The new Range doesn't have an aluminum option
and at 37 pounds for a size large,
it's easy to see why Norco stuck
with only carbon construction.
Upfront, they had gone with a Fox Factory Level 170 mm,
38 with the grip2 damper.
Okay, so that's it on the suspension details.
We've talked enough about that.
Let's go see how it rides. (upbeat music)
- All right, guys,
we should probably talk about how the downhill bike we have
on test climbs.
So, the Norco range with the highest of pivots,
it has an idler pulley to make it all work.
So how does it climb?
- [Matt] Yeah. You know what it does pedal pretty well.
It has a really nice steep seat tube angle,
and that idler does have a little bit of drag.
Once you get it in the top three cogs.
- I want to stop on that drag.
- [Matt] Yup.
- So if you're out all day,
let's say you're going out for like a three, four hour ride.
You want to climb to the top of this big mountain to do this
awesome descent on the range,
a couple of times, it's a steep climb.
So, you're probably living in the big cog,
maybe not you, I am.
- [Matt] Yeah. - Isn't that annoying?
- [Matt] I know you don't like the idler thing.
There is a little bit of drag, but you know,
this is a 170 mil bike front and rear.
This thing, absolutely trucks.
So, you know, you're probably not gonna purchase this bike.
If you're looking for like all day epic bike,
- [Michael] Henry, I want to ask you about expectations.
What do you expect when it comes to climbing on a bike
like the Norco Range?
- I think something like the Norco Range is,
it shows how versatile a modern Enduro bike can be.
This is the bike like you said,
that the same frame can strap it up downhill fork on there
and go to a world cup.
If you have the right angles when your weight is
in the right place.
Yes, it might bob.
Yes, you might hear the gentle whir of an idler.
Actually - The gentle whir of an idler.
That's not what my legs tell me.
- That's the one they say about you at work, eh?
(all laugh)
But what it means is you can get to the top
of pretty much anything.
- Yeah.
- And I think it's about time that in an Enduro bike,
you know, pedaling performance of the weight climbs
up the hill and weight aren't
the most reliable premises performance.
- That's fair.
- [Henry] People want to pin it downhill.
And that's what the Norcos' are made to do.
- That's what it's made for, so expectation-wise,
I think it's fair to say, like when you're on that range,
you just want to get to the top, right?
- Yeah, totally.
- [Michael] So, it feels relatively efficient
when it's open and has a ton of traction.
We still got to talk about the
efficiency test time, for sure.
I know, like, I know this is not the bike for that.
And whoever's gonna buy this range probably doesn't care,
but it did have the slowest climb time
on the efficiency test.
- [Matt] Okay.
- Two minutes, 13 seconds.
So, 13 seconds slower over two minutes compared to the
fastest time, which is the, We Are One,
but to be fair,
those are probably different customers, aren't they?
- Yeah, totally.
You know, this bike is built for the nastiest stuff.
And like we said,
we've seen it on the World Cup with a couple other tweaks
and the, We Are One yeah.
Really light bike, very low front-end super, yeah.
Super capable climber.
- I think it depends on how you phrase it.
Is this a slow climbing Enduro bike
or a fast climbing downhill bike?
- That's pretty good.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, Matt we're at the top,
it took us a whole lot longer than it did on maybe a
lighter, faster bike, but we're here.
It's time to go back down.
What's the story with that high pivot suspension and the
idler, it looks like the thing just goes through everything.
Is that the case?
- Yeah, you know what, it's a really quiet
with that Onyx hub.
It just makes you feel like you're going fast
over all the small bumps.
It just propels you forward all the time
and it really keeps you nice and central in the bike,
the small bump was great.
The mid stroke was good.
The bottom out was excellent, and all with a coil shock.
- Yeah. Does it feel like 170 mills?
Like, would you guess it's 170 mills
or would you think it's more or maybe less?
- Yeah, it feels like a little bit more honestly,
like it's very efficient in the travel.
Like I said,
it doesn't blow through the mid and it's really well
balanced with the fork and the sizing it, yeah.
It's quite a bike.
- Can you talk to me a little bit
about that small bump performance?
How important is that for a bike like this?
That's obviously meant to go fast.
- Yeah, it's really good
at just keeping speed over those small
bumps, even on flatter sections,
really active braking as well.
And then if you were to compare it to say the GT,
which also has that high pivot and the idler.
They're both pretty close and they both love to go fast,
but the Norco does kind of out shined it a little bit
in the slower, slower speed stuff, yeah.
- Okay.
I look at that Norco and nothing, geez.
It looks like a cruise ship trying to park
in a little tiny lake.
You know, when you're on that slower, tighter stuff.
How did the bike feel in those situations?
- You know what it's still handled really well.
The chain state is relatively short in the static geometry
chart, and then it does get longer.
- [Matt] And the Norco also uses the right aligned system,
which tailors the geometry for different size riders.
So the wheel base and the head angle actually got quite a
bit smaller per size as you go down.
So yeah, it still allows it
to be pretty nimble.
- Okay guys, Henry, you first, you've got an Enduro race.
It's a pretty rowdy course.
Are you picking the GT or are you going to pick the Norco?
- For me? It would be the Norco.
- Okay.
- I just found and it's, it comes down to sizing again,
it comes down to personal preference
of all the bikes and tests, the ones that were just how I
expected the bike to be were the transition in the Norco.
I think they just suited me.
They fit me really well.
And that can't be overstated having a bike
that simply fits you.
- Right, yeah, okay.
Matt, you might have any WS Race soon, I think.
Would you take the GT or would you take the big Norco.
- [Matt] Again, another close one.
I did like both bikes and the GT went pretty quick as well.
I think they were very comparable times.
- Yep.
- [Matt] But the Norco actually had quite
a bit shorter C tube and it just allowed me
to move around the bike.
It's also a little bit lower center of gravity.
So yeah, for that, I can't really see any downsides.
I'd probably choose the Norco.
- Okay, so speaking of times, Matt,
you did a bunch of time testing on these bikes.
What time did the GT do?
What time did the Norco do and how close were they?
- Oh man. Yeah, but basically if we rounded it to the 10th,
they're on the same time.
So very close,
hard to remember all the different runs and what went good.
What went bad, but they were very consistent in the track.
Didn't change a lot, so.
- Did the Norco have the fastest descent time?
- [Matt] No, it didn't.
It was about three seconds slower.
So the YT had the fastest descent time with a 46, a low 46.
So you have three seconds.
- All right, since we're talking about timing, races,
they're one in lost in the corners.
So let's talk cornering on that Norco.
It has a really high pivot.
That means that the rear end can get quite a bit longer,
relatively speaking, compared to some of the other bikes,
as it goes into its travel.
What did that do to the bikes handling in the corners,
if anything at all?
- [Matt] Yeah, it was still pretty lively,
but it was a little bit bigger for me.
So I had lots of room to move around the cockpit and like
manage where the traction was front and rear.
But yeah, trying to manual out of a turn or like,
get a little bit creative
and fancy was a little bit more effort.
- Yeah, you really looked like you were struggling up there.
- You did, yeah.
I was going to give some pointers,
bend your elbows, you loser.
- Keep those knees in!
(all laughing)
- Knees in always.
- Henry, let's compare the two bikes, the GT and the Norco.
And talk about our favorite word, nimbility,
- Nimbility.
(mellow music)
(keyboard clicking)
- Which of those bikes,
if you're a rider who maybe you want a big travel high pivot
bike, you're not going to race though.
So you want to jump and do that kind of stuff, GT Norco.
- [Henry] They are both, they're both good bikes.
I think that, I think for me personally,
I'd be lending towards the Norco.
That's nothing against - Even with the coil shock?
I just see coil shock and I think ground hugger.
- [Henry] Yeah, it is.
But that's also providing,
I love that they are both good bikes,
but I do think even with a close shock,
I think the Norco is the easier to get one in mind.
(mellow bluesy guitar music)
- All right, that's enough about how the bike rides
let's get into some detail on the components
and the spec, Matt.
- Yeah, the spec is pretty dialed,
but there are a couple of things
that are pretty specific to this bike.
So you can't change the shock for an air shock.
It has to be run with the DHX2,
specifically or RockShox super deluxe coil.
The cable routing is a little bit convoluted.
The dropper post, I know that the one-up,
it works really well, but early on in the test,
we might've got some sticks in there from that.
- [Matt] It does have a lot of bends to feed up
through the seat tube.
One other thing I think we would have liked to have seen
with this bike was a, maybe a 220 front rotor.
- Absolutely.
It did come spec'd on a couple other bikes.
- 200's not big enough?
- I just think for this bike, yeah.
- [Matt] It's so capable downhill.
Why not have the huge breaks as well?
- Yep, okay.
Henry, I want to ask you about adjusting the shock.
So, I was looking after these bikes
while these guys were testing.
You're welcome.
- No problem.
- And I noticed that that rebound adjuster on the Fox shock,
like, do you adjust it telepathically?
How do you turn that dial?
- What you need is a young child with very small hands
- Okay. - To actually get in there
- Long, skinny, skinny fingers.
- Long, skinny, skinny fingers and basically
that's, that's the way you do it, I think.
You've got to have a toddler about the house to say
Oy! Michael, can I get a click off this bad boy?
- Why is he named Michael? (laughing)
- Well, Matthew.
- That's better.
- But it is slightly hard to access.
- To be fair, I mean, you're not tinkering
with the rebound adjuster that much,
but when you do want to make a change,
you need a small child to do it for you.
- Yeah.
(mellow jazzy music)
- Next up, we're going to talk models
and pricing range, which one we would like.
So there's three complete bikes,
the C1 at nine grand,
the C2 at seven grand and the C3 at 56.
And then the frame is $3800.
Which one of those are you going to choose?
- You know, I mean sometimes
with high-end bikes and e-bikes,
I think you get the desensitized nine grand.
It's just too much for a bicycle.
It's a bicycle that six grand C3,
well, sorry, 5600 C3 represents something
like good value to me
in the it gets you to a really high end frame,
et cetera, et cetera.
But then you compare that to the spec that is hanging off
the Whitey, which is 400 bucks more, or the spec,
which is still really, really good on the transition.
And I think,
although it's got really sensible parts and this is parts,
I would probably spend my own cash, just like a deal mix,
which is all you really need for it to be like this bike.
Isn't something that's gonna rip up.
And anyway, so I would say the C3 will be
the one that I would probably go for,
however, compare it to the white deal,
or the transition.
And it struggles to look
like a particularly enticing proposition.
(calm techno music)
- All right, we're getting close
to wrapping up this Range review.
We've got to get through pros and cons.
Tell me the stuff that you liked, Matt.
- Yeah, I mean, we know this one has the high pivot,
so it's really capable of descending.
And the other great thing that it has is with the virtual
high pivot versus a single high pivot,
it doesn't have the energy kickback
that the single high pivot does.
It's really muted, really good chassis composure.
And then it also has very good independent braking.
You don't get the break squat that some of the other single
high pivots do where they kind of squat the suspension and
get into the firmer part of that stroke.
- Yeah. I'm going to add a pro of my own as well.
The Sigma is compatible with dual crown forks and we've seen
a few Enduro bikes go down that road now.
And I think something like this that is so capable.
You might as well make it compatible
with the dual crown fork, right?
- Totally, yeah, I mean, we're here at Sun Peaks bike park.
I would love to have a dual crown on this thing and see if
it would stack up in a race.
- You just can't get the downhill out of it.
- No.
(calm techno music)
- All right, Henry, I'm going to lean on you for the cons.
- Yeah.
- Give them to me.
- It is a heavy bike.
- Yeah, just over 37 pounds.
- [Henry] Yeah. I mean,
it depends a little bit because I think it's great to see a
bike that is just about descending.
It does have, if you are the kind of person
that cares about losing half
a watt on a climb in weight is half an idler.
Heaven forbid prioritize the performance
over a little bit whooping.
- It isn't about losing Watts.
It's about knowing you have another hour and a half of
climbing to go and hearing (imitates chain scraping)
as the chain is rubbing that guide and being shitty.
- I mean, this just isn't something that I care
one iota of fecal matter about.
- Okay.
- It doesn't bother me at all.
I want to bike that prioritizes descending,
idler, who cares?
- Fair enough.
One place you might notice a bit of noise is that monocoque
can kind of reverberate noise.
- Matt, mentioned that as well, too.
It's pretty loud.
- It can be kind of loud, yeah.
- Okay.
(upbeat music)
- Okay as always, we wrap these reviews up
by talking about where and who the bike best suits.
Henry, who does the bike best suit?
- The bike suits somebody that is tempted
to sell their downhill bike and commit to an Enduro bike.
You know, a couple of years ago
when Enduro bike started getting better
and oh, you can do anything on an Enduro bike.
And some of them are kind of crap.
- Yeah.
- This is genuinely a bike that you could say threatens a
downhill bike, even forget access trails.
Yeah, well, like you said, you know,
you could ride pedal around for nine months a year.
- Yeah.
- The drag of the island and all heaven forbid
and then stop it on a hill fork on it
and go and smash some runs.
- [Michael] Okay.
- Matt, what type of terrain does this bike best suit?
I think I know the answer, but I want to hear it anyway.
- Yeah, the steepest gnarliest stuff,
it really carries speed over like chunky terrain just keeps
you nice and neutral on the bike.
Even the flatter sections you can pump through.
It's a little bit more effort or just muted with the high
pivot, but yeah, the nastier the better for sure.
- Yeah, you've mentioned to me a couple times,
and I've only heard you say it about this bike that you want
to take this bike home with you and ride it harder
and more and faster.
- Yeah.
- And that's the only bike of the bunch
that you've said that about.
- Well, I think it really suits the type of rider
that is just going to pedal up an easy road climb.
Not worry about their time at the top.
They're just gonna, you know,
shoot the crap with their friends
and then just smash out big downhill laps
that are only accessible by like a shuttle
or something like this, so yeah.
- [Michael] That sounds like the perfect day
in the Norco Range. boys.
- [Henry] It does indeed, yeah.
- All right, that is it for our review
of the new Norco Range.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel.
So you don't miss any more field test videos.
Cause we've got a whole bunch more coming
and we'll see you in the next one.
(slow techno music)