2012 Norco Product Launch
Whistler, British Columbia
18-20 July 2011

Demo Rides in the Whistler Valley



The trails in the Whistler Valley area exist because of a dedicated community of builders and the advocacy work of the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association - commonly referred to as WORCA (www.worca.com). Founded in 1989 to protect bike access to some awesome high-altitude locations, WORCA is now guided by a board of directors who represent over 1500 members. In addition to working to increase trail access to bikers at a political and administrative level, WORCA hosts weekly twoonie rides - the entry fee for these members-only races is $2 - with the support of local businesses and, together with the Whistler Bike Park, also co-produces the wildly popular Phat/Phast Wednesday series. WORCA's great work within Whistler serves as a model for similar organizations around the world, and it shows the positive effects that cycling can have on a community and its citizens.

Note: The following accounts are short-term impressions of each of the brand new models in Norco's 2012 lineup. As such, they shouldn't be mistaken for long-term reviews or absolute statements of a particular bike's capabilities. For that, we'll be putting a couple of these bikes through their paces over the long term and publishing full reviews later in the year.

First Ride Impressions : The 2012 Norco Revolver



The Revolver was generating a good deal of buzz amongst the assembled members of the mountain bike press so I showed up early and grabbed a large-sized Revolver 1 for a test ride (495mm / 19.5" seat tube). Immediately after hopping onto the bike, I could tell that it fit my 6' frame really well; I wasn't stretched out so much that I felt descending would be a challenge but I wasn't cramped either, so I knew climbing wouldn't be much of an issue. After setting up the front and rear suspension for my weight and riding preferences and slapping on a set of flat pedals, a mid-sized group loaded up a couple of vehicles and headed north to the trailhead of Kill Me, Thrill Me, a classic Whistler cross country track.

Kill Me, Thrill Me is a technical grunt of a trail that features plenty of punchy climbs that are filled with rocks and weathered roots and some fun descents down grippy rock slabs and loose singletrack. Our group started out at a decent pace and spread out fairly quickly as riders coped with varying levels of fitness and the technical terrain as best they could. For me, the first thing I noticed about the Revolver was how easy it made climbing through the rough sections of trail. The tires hooked up and rolled straight over the countless nasty roots in a way that made me feel like I was cheating. The ART-equipped rear end stayed glued to the ground and the suspension didn't wallow in the middle of its travel or rob me of too much energy from bobbing around under load. Being unfamiliar with the trail, I ended up shifting back and forth between the granny ring and the middle ring with more frequency than I would had I known what was coming around the next corner or dip in the trail, but the Revolver did well in both gearing scenarios. I'm pretty sensitive to pedal feedback in full-suspension rigs but I never really noticed it during climbing, despite a number of out-of-the-saddle mash sessions through rocky chunder.

There are a number of relatively steep rock slabs near the middle of KMTM that make for some super fun and, at times, technical descending. I was pleased with the way the Revolver rolled through these sections despite the terrain being a little beyond the trail / xc specification of the bike; regardless, the rear suspension worked well and I never slammed through the travel or felt any of the harshness that accompanies a heavy bottoming out.

Norco Factory rider Jay Hoots and Norco PR Marketing Manager Pete Stace-Smith sessioned one of the steepest sections of rock on their Ranges while everybody else regrouped and, eventually, we continued on down the next section of the trail. The Revolver cruised along the tight singletrack that followed and it had no problems slicing through a loose, sandy stretch of trail with no really "I'm going to die" moments. At this point, I swapped bikes with another rider and finished the trail on the Norco Sight, thus ending my brief first ride on the Revolver.

Overall, I was impressed by Norco's newest 29er. As someone who isn't totally sold on the 29er "revolution", I was surprised at how well the Revolver climbed, devouring terrain that would pose problems for many riders on 26" wheeled bikes. The bike didn't wallow in the mid-stroke of its travel and exhibited no significant degrees of pedal feedback. It cornered well and I found it was pretty difficult to break the bike loose in turns or on steep pitches.

While the 100mm RockShox Sid that is spec'd on the Revolver seems capable of handling some trail riding of moderate difficulty, I'd probably opt for a slightly longer fork to slack out the bike - something like a 120mm RockShox Reba would do the trick - and provide a little more cush up front, as I ran out of travel on the Sid pretty regularly. Also, as a larger rider, I'd have preferred a slightly larger diameter front rotor than the 160mm disc that comes as standard equipment on the Revolver. The Kenda Slant Six tires were a bit of a handful too, and I'd prefer something that was a little more substantial and better in chundery rock.

First Ride Impressions : The 2012 Norco Sight



Following the lap of Kill Me, Thrill Me, most of the assembled media members chose to head back into town to lick their wounds but a few of us decided to climb part of the infamous Comfortably Numb trail to Young Lust, a technical fall-line descent that led back to the parking area at Wedgemount.

Having swapped the Revolver for the Sight near the end of Kill Me, Thrill Me, I decided to carry on with the 140mm travel rig for the rest of the afternoon. At this point in the day, I was the only rider still on a bike with 26" wheels - the others in our group were either on a Revolver or a Shinobi - and the climb up Comfortably Numb proved to be a little bit of a challenge on the smaller-wheeled bike. The ascent from the parking area to the trailhead of Young Lust was very similar to the climb on KMTM and I found myself having to work the Sight a whole lot more than I did the big-wheeled bike. The bike got hung up in a number of technical spots where my colleagues just rolled over the biggest of the roots and chunky rocks that infested the trail.

Despite the relatively difficult time I had with climbing the Sight on this section of trail, it still handled well enough and I'd likely do better on a second lap after I was more familiar with the route. Regardless, even with the ProPedal setting on the rear shock disengaged and me using lots of body english to get up and over the chunder, there wasn't any noticeable pedal kickback and the shock action took the edge off the roughest parts of the climb. Eventually, we made it to the high point of our climb and, after a break to fix a flat and enjoy the view of Wedge Creek from the Al Grey Memorial Bridge, we turned our attention to the descent of Young Lust.

Young Lust is a steep, fall-line trail that is cluttered with sharp rocks and tight corners and the Sight really stood out during the descent. While the Revolvers that dusted me on the climbs had a little difficulty negotiating the steepness of the terrain the Sight just railed through turns, thanks to the bike's low center of gravity and its relatively short chainstays. The 140mm Fox fork was well-mannered and soaked up the bumps while retaining a good deal of straight line control, and the ART-equipped suspension was plenty plush without any annoying pedal kickback at the end of the shock stroke when I went through all of the rear wheel travel. When we finally rolled out of the trail, I was ready for more descending but the ten-minute ride up the highway to the vehicle sucked any motivation that I had left from of my legs and lungs.

In short, then, the Norco Sight seems to be a capable bike for a wide variety of trails. While the Revolvers that were on the demo ride seemed to handle the technical ascents a little better than the Sight, I have no doubt that with a little a more saddle time on familiar trails, I'd be extremely comfortable on the bike for long rides or short rips after work. The Sight descended really well, and while it wasn't as much of a point-and-shoot bike as its longer-legged siblings, there was still plenty of travel to keep things under control.

The 2012 Shimano XT group that was kitted on the Sight performed really well too, with no problems to report; the latest iteration of the XT brakes are fantastic stoppers and I had no issues with fade or brake pump. As with my experience on the Revolver, I wasn't crazy about the Kenda Slant Six tires because they didn't seem to offer the type of grip and braking traction that I'd like on a bike that would see its share of technical descents. Obviously more time on the bike on a wider array of trails would give me the chance to offer a better evaluation of the tires, so keep your eyes peeled on this site for a detailed review in the near future.

Demo rides in the Whistler Bike Park

The second day of bike demos for the media attending the 2012 Norco Product Release was scheduled to go down in Whistler Bike Park, a gravity-fed playground that gives riders access to more than 200 kilometers of trails spread over more than fifty separate trails. For the day, the team at Norco had assembled a fleet of brand-spanking new Truax and Aurum bikes and, as expected, those in attendance snapped the bikes up pretty quickly, and the late risers likely had to wait their turn to get some laps in.

First Ride Impressions : The 2012 Norco Aurum



I was able to get my hands on a medium-sized Aurum 1 and, after spending some time configuring the fork, dialing in the rear shock, and making other minor adjustments to suit my personal preferences, I strapped on some leg armor and my full-face helmet and headed over to the chairlift for a handful of runs down the trails on the lower part of the mountain. The general consensus among those attending the press camp seemed to be that the 2012 Aurum is a fine-looking bike and, judging from the number of positive comments it received in the busy lift lineup, there won't be a whole lot of people complaining about the aesthetics of the frame design.

The Aurum has 200mm of front and rear wheel travel and modern race geometry that keeps the bike low slung and slack, which is ideal for downhill racers looking to go as fast as possible on the race course. With Norco's ART suspension system providing very good mid-stroke support thanks to its engineered anti-squat characteristics, the bike doesn't wallow in its travel like some of the previous generations of Norco's downhill bikes, and this trait really allows you to haul out of corners. Similarly, the rearward axle path that is a core part of the ART design keeps the rear wheel from getting hung up on the countless braking bumps and helps it float over the exposed roots that dot the trails of the park.

It took a few runs through the trails on the lower mountain for me to become comfortable on the Aurum but, by the end of the day, I was riding well enough to really enjoy my time on the bike. I had only intended on riding a half-dozen laps on the mellower trails in the park so the fact that I ended up riding for most of the day and pulling in twice as much vert as planned says something to me about the bike's capabilities and how much fun it was to ride.

My only real complaint about the component spec was with the Avid Elixir 9 brakes, which pumped up on me a couple of times during laps on the Garbonzo trails; since this is a common complaint with Avid's brakes, it's more than likely that they needed a better bleed than the one that was done at the factory.