Spotted: Prototype Norco High Pivot DH Bike
The silver steed was spotted at Snowshoe.
Norco doesn't currently have a dedicated DH bike in their lineup (there wasn't a 2022 version of the Aurum HSP), but it looks like changes might be on the way. Aluminum test mules have been spotted at the Whistler Bike Park and the Snowshoe World Cup bristling with data acquisition equipment and shock coverings to keep prying eyes at bay.
Up until this point Norco's team members have been using a modified Range that has a different shock link to bump the rear travel to 200mm, up from the stock 170mm configuration. Realistically, the geometry numbers on the current Range are pretty much in line with what's found on many modern DH bikes, so using the frame for double duty isn't as much of a stretch as what we've seen from other companies in the past.
Photo: Eric Chernushenko
Still, a frame that's fully designed for DH racing and riding can be optimized for the single purpose of going downhill as fast as possible, and I'd imagine that's what Norco are working on. The aluminum prototype looks to have a similar inverted high-pivot suspension layout, although the pivot at the front of the chainstay is in a different location than it is on the Range.
The frame also looks more refined than the crazy-looking mule that was used during the development of the Range - that frame had loads of geometry adjustments, and a headtube that was the size of a tin can. There don't appear to be as many adjustments on this frame, although the replaceable dropouts would make it easy to experiment with different chainstay lengths. Personally, I'd love it if Norco came out with an alloy high-pivot DH bike, but we'll just have to wait and see.
According to Norco, "The bike is a one-off, highly adjustable aluminum Norco DH test platform that allows for isolated tuning and testing of almost every geo and kinematic aspect of the bike so we can engineer and learn in real time.
Last year, Norco added Kirk McDowall to our engineering team because of his combined engineering experience and perspective as an Elite-level DH-racer. This gives us an incredibly powerful technical feedback loop right from the get-go. Kirk will be doing live race weekend testing on the bike in Snowshoe and Mont Sainte Anne, and possibly the Canadian Open."
The mule that was used for the development of the current Norco Range enduro bike.
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In exchange for a “full ride” sponsorship of about $30,000 USD per rider per year (new bikes, travel, gear, etc), he said he’d have us up to Whistler monthly from Washington for riding, training, snowboarding, partying at his ski lodge, etc. A few weeks later, while negotiating the terms of the sponsorship, he revealed he wanted all of us team riders to ride narcotics across the border, monthly. My team manager gave him a, “Thanks for the offer, but no, and don’t ever contact any of us again.” Pretty sketchy stuff!
It was quite a scene back then, when downhill MTB was still a semi-fringe “extreme” sport, a sort of freak-show spectacle to tourists at Whistler (with the loud double-blade helicopter filming us attracting thousands of uninitiated tourists to the race). That was the tail-end of the 90’s extreme sports craze, when ESPN, ESPN2, and other TV channels would feature downhill races in prime time. I did that Joyride Bikercross event from 1999 to 2001 before it became Crankworx in about 2003 or 2004, qualifying #1 and finishing 5th or 6th in 2000, just after turning pro and graduating from high school (quite a weekend that was...part of the reason we still refer to Whistler as “Vegas North”).
And then in 2001, they put me on the cover of a calendar (which I discovered at at Chapters bookstore while on a date in downtown Vancouver BC...the gal thought I was lying until I bought 10 of them). Fun times at Whistler — we owe that place a lot, in terms of how it’s benefitted many aspects our sport. Here’s the calendar shot. Just call my Coverboy. Or Mr July. =P
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20234330/?s6
And the 2000 Whistler Joyride Bikercross with massive high speed Crabapple-Hits-size jump (60 feet lip-to-landing-spot at race pace):
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20234331/?s4
Making Andrew Shandro work in the dual slalom, Whistler Joyride, 2000:
www.pinkbike.com/photo/20234332/?s4
www.pinkbike.com/news/cbc-sam-brown-2009.html
I still remember that guy who sold weed on A-line, the clanking clatter of the Norco rental fleet echoing across the valley like a million shopping carts full of hammers, and drunken bike-jousting on the golf course being chased by the mounties.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
I wonder what the actual geo is of the norco Range is with a DH setup. If it doesn't modify it too much from the stock verison, I have a hard time seeing what needs to be changed for DH racing.
Sooo many alu Norco Aurums are rental bikes, and with that gone, there’s a bit of a hole in the line up. Norco has always had an affordable alu DH bike (A-line, alu Aurum) so that’s likely what this is.’
Prolly a similar sus design to the Range, but will be heavier..
Most of those types of things (yes from the 90's LOL, they were available for brakes, headsets, shocks, etc.) just held dirt and grit in, rather than having no cover but letting it get flushed away naturally.
Sure they do, it just doesn't have a 2022 model year attached. 2021 Aurum is still listed, and looks like frames are in stock even.
Norco is literally confirming it themselves.
As it is, just shouting a load of emotions about how you don't like it when people dont run the wheels you want them to, makes you sound like a spoiled kid who is used to getting his own way if he cries to mummy for long enough about it.
Once upon a time there was a thing called Unified Rear Triangles. Everyone, including sponosed riders swore blind they were the next best thing. Everyone thought they where amazing.. Best of both worlds.. Suspend the rider not the bike etc etc. Most bikes back then were URT bikes. I saw straight through them as a total fad. I was right they were! Despite the racers, magazines, industry, other riders etc saying they were amazing they weren't! They were a fad and people eventually woke up to it. Roll on 2021 into now we have another stinking Fad called Mullet Bikes! .. It's only a matter of time! They will be gone, mark my words!!
im grateful to URT. We all knew it had serious issues, but it paved the way for suspended real wheels, and that changed mountainbiking drastically for the better...
same bike, but different location and the rider wears different gear
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