2020 Norco Optic C1

K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Day one at Redwoods complete, but I'm still not in love with this thing. I can't think of anything it does better than my Carbine and there's a laundry list of things it does worse, not least of which is that it's not 'fun'. The Carbine makes you ride like an idiot pumping and jumping off every little undulation in the trail, but this is heavy and lazy. It's hard not to manual the Carbine everywhere but this is hard to manual at all.
On the really steep stuff where no pedals required and it's just point and shoot it's good but the rest of the time it just feels slow and heavy. So much so that on downhill trails I have to pedal my guts out so that I don't case doubles, no the brakes aren't dragging.

The back wheel has already backed the spokes off so I'll have to sort that before we go back tomorrow and perhaps look at the XTR ghost shifts. Or drink beer.....
 
K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Day 2 complete and today we just did shuttles all day.
Since I didn't have to pedal it anywhere I set the sag back to 25% and dropped the tyre pressure slightly, it certainly brought it to life. On rough steep terrain it's very confidence inspiring and I was more than happy to hit jumps and features where the landing was obscured before committing, I was sure it would handle whatever was there.
On sections with bermed corners it sticks like shit to a blanket and blows over roots and rocks without much drama.
But, it is still sluggish to pedal and now the back wheel sounds like I've got spokey dokeys which proves that you shouldn't true wheels half passed with no tools.
I'm still not sure if I'll keep it, it's in the rough stuff but probably too enduro focussed for my lack of balls and local trails.
 
K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Having reflected about this some more over a refreshing libation I have a theory about the 'dead' feel of the rear end on the Optic.
I had the shock pumped up so hard to try and make it pedal without wallowing around deep in its travel, but but today with more sag it was certainly more fun and more engaging to ride.
I'll have to fuck around with it a bit more.
 
K

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
komdotkom said:
Having reflected about this some more over a refreshing libation I have a theory about the 'dead' feel of the rear end on the Optic.
I had the shock pumped up so hard to try and make it pedal without wallowing around deep in its travel, but but today with more sag it was certainly more fun and more engaging to ride.
I'll have to fuck around with it a bit more.
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Sounds like it’s main purpose is a downhill bomber that pedals up a bit better than a enduro bike. Pinkbike rode it on everything at whistler happily, kinda says it all really.. A bike like that ain’t going to be a snappy.. Keep as your shuttle bike..
 
K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Th
Kerplunk said:
Sounds like it’s main purpose is a downhill bomber that pedals up a bit better than a enduro bike. Pinkbike rode it on everything at whistler happily, kinda says it all really.. A bike like that ain’t going to be a snappy.. Keep as your shuttle bike..
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The point was to reduce the number of bikes I own!
I sort of struggle with an XTR spec bike with 125mm travel that is built for shuttles, it's all ass about.
It's a pity there are no demo Revels in Australia....
 
D

Daniel Hale

She fid, he fid, I fidn't
komdotkom said:
.
On sections with bermed corners it sticks like shit to a blanket and blows over roots and rocks without much drama.
But, it is still sluggish to pedal and now the back wheel sounds like I've got spokey dokeys which proves that you shouldn't true wheels half passed with no tools.
I'm still not sure if I'll keep it, it's in the rough stuff but probably too enduro focussed for my lack of balls and local trails.
Click to expand...
mate bought a sworks stumpy 29, coming off a 27.5 chamber -he finds the same thing, camber is quicker more,lively everywhere, the sworks will plough over anything though & has a real cushy ride, he admits the sworks stumpy isn’t worth 12K, and is just for real rough stuff, big jumps etc

pity, the norco looks the bus
 
K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
29 for sure, can always fit smaller wheels if needed.
I think if I didn't take too much of a haircut on the Optic I'd probably just do it, or maybe a new Primer S because I like the colour scheme.
 
K

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
komdotkom said:
29 for sure, can always fit smaller wheels if needed.
I think if I didn't take too much of a haircut on the Optic I'd probably just do it, or maybe a new Primer S because I like the colour scheme.
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I just bought a 2019 Primer on their runout sale, was good value couldn’t be bothered waiting for the norco or the 2020 Primer. Very different bike than the Spider 29.. Feels like going back to smaller wheels. Everything you describe that you miss from the carbine sounds pretty much how the primer rides. And the Primer pedals better than the Spider both climbing and on the flats.. I’m near Heidelberg if you want a spin when you get back. From what I have heard the 2020 Primer isn’t a world different..
 
K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Kerplunk said:
I just bought a 2019 Primer on their runout sale, was good value couldn’t be bothered waiting for the norco or the 2020 Primer. Very different bike than the Spider 29.. Feels like going back to smaller wheels. Everything you describe that you miss from the carbine sounds pretty much how the primer rides. And the Primer pedals better than the Spider both climbing and on the flats.. I’m near Heidelberg if you want a spin when you get back. From what I have heard the 2020 Primer isn’t a world different..
Click to expand...
We should catch up for a bike swap.
I did see the fully loaded 2019 Primer on their website pretty cheap....
 
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