Norco 2010 Products

We just spent the last couple of days up in Vancouver B.C. riding, photographing, and getting time on the 2010 Norco products.

On the whole it appears that over the past year Norco has sat down, put their heads together, pulled in new team mates, engineers, and has busted out with a very strong bike line up for 2010.  Even the smallest details have been paid attention to, slight changes have been made to fit rider’s needs, another new and ‘real’ bike for women has emerged, colors and art design have matured, frames have lost weight, price points have come down to match the economy, and technology has advanced with custom carbon bikes, belt drives and new frame engineering. And more than that, the bikes are great to ride. This coming from me, with a lukewarm opinion of four-bar designed bikes.

Use the report list below to quickly jump to a section.  If you want specifics on a certain model along with price and photos, please just ask in the comments.

Bike Reports:
Team DH and Dh
Team Carbon XC
Judan 29er Belt Drive
Phena (woman’s all mtn)
Shore One
Empire 5 SE and Empire 5
Random Bikes Photos

What caught our eye this year?

Team DH and DH

MSRP: $4,750 and $2,700
Size: S M L
Weight: ~ 40lbs

Whoa, a legit DH Team bike for sub $5000.  That is great to hear, ride, and look at.  This bike got some key changes to meet the needs of riders without destroying their pocket books.  Good brakes, suspension, cranks, derailleurs,bars and stem (pretty much the key parts of a bike that are a pain to buy after market).

For 2010, the frame is a whole new design with a more angular, oversized down tube and straighter top tube. The rumor mill has it that Norco caught a bit of flack on some of the forums for having such a curvy top tube last year.  So they changed it. Not only to meet riders needs, but a straighter top tube actually weights less anyways, so win/win all around.  To shed a bit more weight, the shock mount for the frame no longer comes with a flip link.  Last year there was a link to adjust BB height, this year the frame is set to the lower BB height, period. The new down tube has increased frame strength and torsional stiffness as well.

The Rockshox Boxxer Team fork and Rockshox Vivid Coil rear shock are both smooth and balanced.  The spring rate for the rear shock will increase as the frame goes up the size scale.  The Elixir CR brakes are very powerful and should make the majority of riders very happy.  And actually, as a side note, the reach adjust on the Elixir is very well designed, easy to use, and totally works.

Norco is moving with the times and gives the Team DH Sunline V1 bars and stem.  711mm or 737mm wide bars depending on size of frame.  Again, showing that in today’s market frame size isn’t the only thing that has to change between a L and S bike.  I’m very glad that Norco has come to understand that a Large rider and Small rider should start out with different variations on equipment lengths, though the 737mm wide bars could add some issue in tight riding.

I got to spend a whole afternoon on a Team DH riding the shore.  For some of the classic tight and skinny trails the bike was a bit big, but when sections opened up to steep and fast, the bike was incredibly smooth and a joy to ride.  With the 64 degree head angle the bike loved to just point and shoot as fast as it could down the trail.  Rock gardens be damned, the suspension would just soak it up.

Frame color this year got a great make over.  The race inspired design and the anodized red highlights on the derailleur, brakes, hubs and more really make the bike visually awesome.

The Norco DH bike for $2,700, almost jaw dropping inexpensive, uses the same frame as the Team DH but with more affordable components.  I didn’t get any time on the less expensive DH, but talking to others it appears to be just fine.