Hey folks, how's it going?
So what do you say when you find a box like this at the door?
It's got to be new bike day!
This is a Cannondale box but inside it's actually a used 2020 Norco Revolver HT.
Buying used is a bit of a gamble, but if you find a seller
that's going to pack the bike like this one did,
just consider yourself lucky, I know I do.
And here's the bike guys!
This is the Revolver HT1, 2020 model,
the most expensive version with 120 mm fork
before they moved into the 100 mm forks which is the XTR 2020 and the AXS 2020.
As you know and as you've probably seen on my channel, I've been using Norco Revolver hasrdtails
for the last little while, and this is the previous generation.
That's a 7, or 27.5 wheel bike.
This is a 9 series, or a 29er,
and this 2020 29er was redesigned pretty much from the ground up
to make it more up to date and longer, slacker if you want.
And I'm not just talking about the lack of support for a front derailleur anymore,
but if you look here on this little sticker,
you're going to see that all the dimensions here are quite aggressive for a hardtail,
definitely for one that was designated as a race bike.
Eagle GX disappeared for 2021 models but otherwise
the frame is identical with this, so let's take a look at how it is built.
Like I mentioned, this new frame is 1x specific,
so you can't install a front derailleur anymore.
Also on this Small frame you have bosses here for a bottle cage,
I assume Medium and larger you're going to have a second one on the seat tube.
But what they've worked on quite a bit is the internal cable routing.
And you still have internal cable routing for everything, if you look carefully there
you're going to see the hose for the brake coming into the chainstay,
then it goes all the way up,
and it comes out whichever way you want it.
If you want moto brakes it's going to come out here.
In my case I have two ports on the other side for hoses and cables.
The old bike did not have a provision for more than one cable or hose to go through here.
Also, what they have is this little hole here, it's like a port where you can grab all your
cables with a tie wrap and keep them from rattling inside.
I don't know if that was absolutely necessary but it was done nevertheless.
I already mentioned the aggressive head angle, this is anywhere between 67.8 or 68.5,
depending on the fork you have.
In my case it is 67.8 degrees.
Also, the seat tube angle, this is 75.3 right now, or it would be 76 degrees
in case you use the 100 mm fork.
So, the numbers, the geometry numbers are quite different.
Also, if you look at the Reach, this is a way longer Reach bike than the previous model.
Just to give you an idea, this Small has 422 mm Reach.
The old Medium had 414 mm.
Just like the old model, the down tube was not protected with anything, this is a film
that was applied by the previous owner.
I mentioned that port, mine is ripped off so I just have a hole over there.
You can see the shifter cable coming down here,
goes underneath the bottom bracket,
then re-enters the chainstay and it comes out at the bottom.
In the past it was coming from the top of the chainstays.
This is a Boost frame, and you see how much space I have left here.
These are 29 x 2.25 tires, they say that you can install up to 2.35 tires,
I would argue probably 2.4 is doable in here.
And the serial number,
this is BB92, this is a nice change from the previous generation
which was using the PF30, which I kind of hated.
So this is PF92 bottom bracket, use it with whatever cranks you have or want.
In this case it is used with a DUB bottom bracket
because these are carbon cranks from SRAM.
SRAM X1 carbon, DUB bottom bracket, 32T chainring,
this is an Eagle chain, they installed the NX to cut some cost.
However you have the 10-50T GX cassette and the 10-50t GX derailleur
that doesn't seem to wiggle as much as the early versions of this,
so that's a good thing.
And to finish the drivetrain, you have an Eagle GX shifter installed with a bar clamp.
The half waffle Ergon grips are lock-on,
and they are attached to a 760 mm low rise aluminum bar,
which I think it is excessive, definitely for a Small frame.
They used the Norco branded 60 mm stem, also Norco branded is this top cap.
And they ise an FSA tapered headset.
On the left side you have the dropper remote,
this is an X-fusion remote, however the dropper
in this case is a TranzX, 100 mm drop.
And they use a Fizik Taiga that seems to be quite nice.
Where they cut cost here and that trend seems to continue in 2021 is the brakes
These are he Shimano MT501 levers with MT500 calipers.
These brakes are like a cheaper version of a Deore
with a smaller caliper and smaller pads.
And you see the code of the caliper BR-MT500, made in Malaysia.
Also, the discs are the cheapo Deore, RT56 is the product code.
These only take resin pads
and you have 180 mm in the front, and 160 mm rear discs.
And that brings me to the fork which is a 2020 Rockshox SID,
you see the DebonAir, so the new air spring installed.
The air cap here on the left hand side.
This is a 120 mm fork that uses a Charger damper.
This is not charger 2.0 or 2.1, however the Charger, I've been very happy with it in the past,
and I don't see why I wouldn't be happy with this again.
Even though these are 120 mm forks, the stanchions are 32 mm.
It's only 2021 when they introduced the 35 mm stanchions.
This is the SELECT fork, they also have the OEM SELECT+, and Ultimate.
And, as usual, here at the bottom you have the rebound adjustment.
On the back of this right leg you can see the offset of the fork, this is 120mm 29er.
If you go up a bit you're going to see the serial number,
and if you go down on the left leg,
If you punch that information into trailhead.rockshox.com
you're going to find out everything that needs to be known about your fork.
Frame is Boosted so 148 mm spacing
and I was pretty happy to see the DT Swiss 350 hub.
This one came with the 18 tooth ratchet so you may or may not like that.
Obviously up front, the same DT 350 hub, the spacing is Boost so 110 mm.
And the wheels are custom built by Norco.
They are using the Stan's ARCH S1 rims which have 26 mm internal dimension.
Bike was specified with Schwalbe tires
however it came with Nobby Nic front and rear,
now it is equipped with Racing Ray up front and with the Racing Ralph in the back
for a bit more cross-country race setup.
Speaking about tires, you can see the clearance here on the new frame with this 2.25 tire.
The chainstay would be the limiting factor, not the seat stays.
However, compared to that, if you look at the previous frame,
even the 2.25 was tight and you had to make sure
you didn't have much flex in your wheels, otherwise they would rub on the frame.
Also changed on this new design is the seatpost diameter.
This one was 30.9 mm,
the new one moved to 31.6 mm.
Also the new frame is supposed to be slightly lighter than the old one,
this was 1350g,
this should be around 1200g.
That should mean lighter bike build with the new frames,
however in the current configuration
bike is a bit over 24 lbs.
My old Medium frame, also with 100 mm dropper,
XT pedals and bottle cage comes up to 21.5 lbs.
With all the bikes side-by-side you can see how much more aggressive
the head angle is on this new frame, but you know what?
The old one was a rocket on the trail
which I hope this is going to be as well.
Especially since I plan to install a 100 mm Rockshox SID to replace that 120 mm.
What do you guys think about these new, redesigned Norco Revolver hardtails?
I know everybody is going after full suspension,
just like they're going after 4-pot brakes these days,
but I think these are some of the fastest bikes out there on the track.
And that's the end of my video folks!
If you have any questions let me know in the comments below.
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And until next time, hope to see you folks on the trail.
Have a good one!