Norco Restarts Factory DH Race Team for 2023

 Tom Brady

 Next year's pinkbike team??????

 The realised april fools is on april 1st

 Norco got a hit of Narcan and resuscitated the whole team.

 @suspended-flesh: Blenki missed the dose it seems. Bummer for him.

 Snip-snap, snip-snap!

 Yeah thought I’d take another year as a self run/sponsored too, mainly picking my own races and drinking water suits me fine… thanks for the offer tho Norco

 All made in Taiwan

 @fungal-ashtray: It's nice being Taiwanese and knowing nearly every bike from YT to Yeti will support the homeland.

 @cwatt: DH is like half of the riding I do, and its the raddest shit ever. Love watching DH racing and so glad it exists. Its the cutting edge of MTB. Obviously brand ambassadors and sponsoring local events is sick too, but to me DH is eminently relevant.

 @cwatt: Basically all the suspension components your bike uses is trickle down tech from DH.

 @cwatt: how relative is F1 racing to the cars we drive everyday?

 @fungal-ashtray: Try again... Devinci's DH model is made in QC.

 Double post. Sorry.

 @cwatt: well current enduro bikes are pretty similar to recent years dh bikes so very relevant. Just as f1 is to reg cars. Trickle down.

 @cwatt: then what would be consider a professional rider? An instagram pro? I would rather see high level riding then another influencer making meaningless content. Enough of that nowadays

 @ClarkHoward: I would actually go out of my way NOT to purchase from a company that strictly supported social media tools. Racing pushed everything forward and racers work their asses off and should be supported.

 @fungal-ashtray: Not Devinci alloy bikes. Made in Canada

 @cwatt:

Dude you suck

 @cwatt: @cwatt: I didn't downvote you b/c Im not in the downvote army of Chinese comment scrubbers - but: you're just wrong in lots of fundamental ways. Racing is high speed, high color, active & fast and a huge # of viewers (and most newbie mtb riders) don't know a DH from an XC bike. Most DH riders don't pedal their bikes that much -and fully zero XC riders can lose a chain and win or even come close.

Most viewers just see bikes flying, action, fans, color, speed, brands, times, they feel the tension - and then they wanna drink redbull (tho maybe next year they wanna drink Discovery-juice?). So when they see Trek, Specialized, YT, whatever brands - they just see bikes & brands & ripped men & women riders, and its wild & exciting - and they buy those bikes & brands. That doesn't happen with just filming trail rides.

This has all been discussed countless times on countless podcasts & online or mag articles: the DH tech does in fact trickle down from DH, but also other tech trickles up. None of this is exclusive either...supporting community & trails doesn't mean DH & XC (or enduro) need to be nuked or vice versa. I'm bummed Norco misspent their money on whatever they did but - they did I guess - but I'll bet the CEO / COO didn't take a pay cut! Doesn't mean they can't or shouldn't stil support a DH team. Ultimately this all comes down to how they spent or misspent their money & obviously someone effe'd up reeeeeeeallly good or they would be flush with cash.

I nuked all ideas of a Norco rig of any type after their announcement (being fully in the market for a DH bike and then a smaller play / fun / fast bike for everything under). When I heard Norco was blasting their DH and XC teams, they simply dropped off my list of options b/c if they can't support racing, why should I buy their products while some product-haired douche goes yachting with Elon Musk in the Med? f*ck that.

There are prob'ly only 23 other riders that thought the same thing but the point is - stop paying executives top bank and letting them blow the wad, while already-poorly paid riders & mechanic jobs get slashed? Focus on racing & community / trails (etc) more. I don't know that Norco did that exactly, but they lost my dollars (then & now on) and while I'm glad they're back, and I also do agree with the core of what you're saying. But DH is fully relevant, drives mega-sales well beyond DH (and XC) bikes, and it matters a lot - people aren't tuning into racing to watch trail riders ride trail, drop chains or build trails - we need some highlights and both DH and XC provide that.

 @fungal-ashtray:
Devinci makes a massive amount of bikes in Quebec.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: just to play devil's advocate, but maybe they cancelled their teams because of all the crap that UCI was pulling with the switch to discovery channel. Team fees are approx 10 times higher, less races and those races will be behind a pay wall. I've no idea if this is the case but the manner UCI has managed this transition and particularly the way the athletes and teams have been treated has been pretty bad

 @fungal-ashtray: we are wan

 @Mtn-Goat-13: their old ceo/bean counter guy got canned allegedly so there were consequences. Bit of a weird deal all around though I have to say.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: WTF. Blah blah blah . f*ck off Marbles

 @slickwilly1: Racing tests a lot of tech out that does eventually end up in our cars. Aero, hybrid, ABS, traction control, adaptive suspension, drive by wire, multiple valves per cylinder, variable valve timing, etc... All racing first then to us.

 These bikes are about as Canadian as every other model made overseas, unless you're buying one of the few modest Devinci's manufactured in-country.

 @cwatt: spoken like a true flat lander.
Notice there’s no mention of the xc race team. Now there’s a sport that does nothing for the majority of consumers

 @ClarkHoward: watch brendog jump his roof into a pool of peanut butter!

 @shredddr: the old CEO got canned because he failed to run his decision to stop all race teams by the board of directors. The cancellation of the XC team was agreed upon in May. The gravity team was a one man decision.

 @cwatt: DH is sick, “aggressive trail” is not

 @OnTheRivet. Gotta disagree. Today’s social media “tools” like Remi and Yoann are an evolution of guys like Brett Tippie and Wade Simmons who just did video parts. Those guys have done a lot for the sport. Just because you like one doesn’t mean it can’t include the other

 @slickwilly1: My 1.2L 3 cylinder turbo, low friction high efficiency.....uuuuhhhh! Active ride was kind of a 90s F1 thing too. Most of it really! My 94 Toyota Celica GT4 was a homologised rally car and it drove like one too!
Not saying the same for bikes though. Mostly the suspension you buy has been race developed and race tested. Those little compartments on enduro bikes, tyres, anything you give to a pro racer to destroy will be a better product after the fact but they would get there anyway. It would just take longer than having a few shredders push the limits for a season. But Fox and Rockshox need the racers.

 Psych, yours sounds like counterfeit Nike shoes.

 www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Sike

 @Bomadics: shut up nerd

 @Bomadics: digging the hole deeper lol

 @bl4pb: www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Psych

 Just left a rant

 Kenny Blenkenship?

 Apparently Blenky is moving to Cube

 He must of already signed with another brand/race team. Otherwise I’m sure they (Norco) would’ve said so.

 @austenselk: If the spare spot on Pivot Factory doesn't land on Jacob Jewett, I think Blenki might be a good bet. He's a Kiwi and would fit in great with his mates Matt and Ed

 @purplegorillaz: I think that's a great move:
Nice weather, excellent rum, music and happiness....

 @ryanandrewrogers: jewett is confirmed

 @mkul7r4: Guy Le Douche maybe?

 @OnTheRivet: The world NEEDS Guy Le Douche on the DH scene!!!

 @mkul7r4: right you are!

 @ryanandrewrogers: Pivot have announced Jacob Jewett as their new team rider.

 That's great news. It's a bit a shame that Pinkbike Free Agent presented by SRAM and hosted by @mikelevy keeps getting scooped on this big signings by the comment section.

 Any World Champ is.....

 @suspended-flesh: I think it's more a "Reece" joke than a "Wallace" joke

 @ybsurf: This is the next level, m8

 Makes you wonder…

 @shredddr: the article say the decision has been made last year. and Blenki contract was due to renewal....i think....was a good timing and then a new CEO walks in with a diffrent look on the situation....

 Canadians will go to some pretty extreme lengths to avoid a confrontation...

 @criscoe: new CEO walks in partly because of the prior CEOs decision to can the race team. perhaps...
I think Blenki was up, but they also ditched a bunch of XC contracts too. They also seem to have dumped their enduro team. wonder what's up with jill and lewis?

 Gwen went to Trek... not sure where the Disera bro's went. I think Trek is just trying to sign all of the fastest females in the XC and road world... Their rosters are like the female version of Ineos these days.

 The aurum is what.4 year old approx...the range platform is so good they could use it has a tool for designing the next gen Aurum I would Say...

 Careful they might freeze ya PayPal

 i wish I graspd all of these allegations. sounds like fun.

 She is going to dominate when she goes Elite. Her body position is fantastic and she charges at terrain...only other Elite woman doing that at the moment is Vali.

 first paragraph

 @pmhobson: DOH! more coffee needed.

 @plustiresaintdead: Coffee makes me do that more