Norco owners and watchers - Need Questions for Norco from you!

[atomicAdam]

Hey there fellow Norco owners or people who might want to buy a Norco in the future. MTBR is going to cover the Norco 2009 product release on July 16-18th and we want your questions to ask them.

If you have specific questions on the new line up.
If you have questions on getting any problems/bugs fixed.

If you have comments, things you'd like to see changed.

Please post a question for Norco and I'll do my best to get you an answer next week.

Thanks
-adam

[bailout]

Are they going to address the lack of rear tire clearance at the seatstay yoke on the Fluid LTs?

[Skipp]

Will more attention be paid for 09 to spring and damping rates? eg Team DH came stock with a 500lb spring and damping to match - waaay too much for 99% of riders. Shore's came with realistic spring but are over damped resulting in packing out

[j5ive]

Have the six and shore hangers been beefed up? Bolts were way too small last year. Team dh spec list would be great too! Oh and the lt1 with i9 wheels?!?! WTF awesome.

[atomicAdam]

Dampening rates and hangers, both good questions.

I know so far I busted a hanger on the xxxx bike, and looking at the design it did seem a little on the.....soso side, but I'll look again and get some close up shots for everyone to see.

I road an A-Line yesterday for a couple hrs and definately had issues with the Marz forks packing up. Not really any time to fine tune them for 35 different riders, so, I dont really blame this issue on Norco.

[atomicAdam]

lot of pictures and info on here - check it out - more info, images, videos, highres images to come.

[j5ive]

thanks man, haven't busted a hanger on the xxxx of mine yet. But ever 6 and shore I sold last year had issues. They had m4 or m3? bolts holding the hanger on- the hanger was too strong and ripped these bolts off before it bent. I ended up drilling out the frames and running m5 bolts through the back and a nut on the front. No issues yet.

Can you ask how much lighter the new frame on the team dh is? cheers
Oh and who makes the handlebars to match the six frames? that looks nice.

And can you tell me which models these are?

[atomicAdam]

Originally Posted by j5ive

thanks man, haven't busted a hanger on the xxxx of mine yet. But ever 6 and shore I sold last year had issues. They had m4 or m3? bolts holding the hanger on- the hanger was too strong and ripped these bolts off before it bent. I ended up drilling out the frames and running m5 bolts through the back and a nut on the front. No issues yet.

Can you ask how much lighter the new frame on the team dh is? cheers
Oh and who makes the handlebars to match the six frames? that looks nice.

And can you tell me which models these are?

Hey - the head bike know it all guy has left but I will get in contact and get you an answer. I know some of dropouts have changed, but I am not too sure at this time which ones so I don't want to say incase I might be wrong.

The new Team DH is 37.5lbs - stock - freaking sick! but - it does come w/ Kenda 2.35 tires, not sure if those are dh steal beed tires, but, at that weight they might be. I'll find out. I do know that they bike comes stock w/ saint cranks and you could easy switch those out for a lighter crankset. Granted the new Saints are lighter then the old ones, but the raceface altas fr cranks i've been running for a while that are really nice weight in at 970grams for 165mm 73mm shell.

[j5ive]

Thanks for the info man, would be interesting to know what those tyres are!

I think you'll find those new saints are lighter than the atlas you have. Old saints were around 1kg, but the new ones are closer to 900. In any case the slx are the crank to look at in my opinion, 680g with bb. Nuts.

I ask about the frame as my 08 team dh is at 34lbs


No sits at dead 34 and thats with dual ply tl.

[atomicAdam]

Originally Posted by j5ive

Thanks for the info man, would be interesting to know what those tyres are!

I think you'll find those new saints are lighter than the atlas you have. Old saints were around 1kg, but the new ones are closer to 900. In any case the slx are the crank to look at in my opinion, 680g with bb. Nuts.

I ask about the frame as my 08 team dh is at 34lbs


No sits at dead 34 and thats with dual ply tl.

j5ive - good call - i haven't seen the weight on the new saint stuff so if it is lighter than sweet!

I talked to Pete and Dusten about the drop out issue and they said it has been fixed since Mid '08 and any warrenty chainstays that went out after that had the update as well.

The Norco notebook i've got says the tires on the '09 Team DH are Kenda Nevegal 2.35 Stick E rubber, CAP casing.

[Hose Dragger]

I am from Arizona and there are no Norco dealers here, I did however buy a Fluid LT1 while I was in California and had the bike shop there strip it down except for the rear shock and headset. Since then I built it up and used 2008 Juicy 7's for the brakes. I have tried 6",7", and 8" rotors, metallic and organic pads and still was getting a horrible vibration when lightly applying the rear brake that went all the way up into the handlebars (the only thing that really dampened the vibration was water on the pads after washing the bike and that only lasted for a few miles). SRAM just sent me a new rear 6" Juicy 7 and after 15 miles it seems to be ok, but only time will tell. I did notice something in an article here on MTBR that read:

"('09/'08 Fluid LT. This one has the '08 seat stays that can humm a bit under braking. The new '09 ones are square and a bit beefier. They aren't supposed to viberate under braking force but I wasn't able to test it because they had not come in yet from overseas. But this bike is fun, and if you follow Ryan Leech down some of the upper mountain trails you'll see this bike is handle a lot.)"

Anyways I am just trying to find out if this problem is maybe not the brakes like I have previously thought and now according to this article may be caused by the seat stays and if that is the case is Norco going to be replacing the old seat stays on these 2008 versions or am I just at a loss?

[atomicAdam]

Originally Posted by Hose Dragger

Anyways I am just trying to find out if this problem is maybe not the brakes like I have previously thought and now according to this article may be caused by the seat stays and if that is the case is Norco going to be replacing the old seat stays on these 2008 versions or am I just at a loss?

Hey there Hose Dragger -

Yes the vibration is because of the seatstay - and the Juicy 7 brakes - probably the worst vibration causing brakes I've ever tried and they just make the seatstay issue worse. I am not sure if you can, but if I were you I'd get in touch with an LBS that sells Norco bikes and see about getting a new '09 seatstay. The Fluid LT One I road around Whistler had an '08 Seatstay with '09 colors and the rest being an '09 frame and what not. I even got the vibration with the new Avid Elixer brakes - there is seriously something weird with avid brakes - but anyways - Give it a shot - it seems like it should be something Norco should help replace because they did change the '09 seatstay because of this vibration problem. You could also try a different brake manufacture, like Formula - that might help with the vibration as well.

[atomicAdam]

Originally Posted by bailout

Are they going to address the lack of rear tire clearance at the seatstay yoke on the Fluid LTs?

Yes - the rear can now handle a 2.35 Kenda tire with some room to spare - see the image in my blog post.

[atomicAdam]

Originally Posted by j5ive

And can you tell me which models these are?

Black/Orange/White - '09 Havoc - single speed
Mint Green - '09 125 - geared version of Havoc / 4Hun
Yellow - '09 Ryde - Geared Chromo bike

4Hun - is yellow/blue - not shown in picture above but my post has image here.