VPS History
Hey All,
Just to clear things up Norco and Avanti have nothing to do with one another. Norco are Canadian and Avanti are from New Zealand. On the bikes that were similar they used the same frame builder in Taiwan. As many people have commented the actual implementation is different on each bike but share the same basic structure. The Avanti's stopped being made and Norco evolved the design right up to 2004. There were a couple of other bikes with a similar look around those years including the 'Saracen' bikes in the UK and the Barracuda bikes in the US. None of those were around for long.
Back to the start. The first 'Bomber' (pre-VPS) came out in 1997. It had a 4" Original Orange Z1 Bomber (with formula disc tabs on both sides!). It was pretty hardcore for it's time with 4-6" rear with a Risse air shock and an Easton tube set. It had dual Magura Rim brakes, Raceface cranks, Gripshift and Panaracer 'Duster' tyres. Certainly an interesting bike for it's day. Sadly they used a unique clamping system to hold the rear shock and most (if not all) of those failed at that point. A mint one might be worth something one day! Total bike weight 28 pounds. And that was considered a big heavy bike in those days.
There were more budget versions of the same bike called the LOBOS. There is also an old bike called the Tango that had a very familiar frame design to others around at the time. These all look pretty average from todays point of view.
1998 saw the first VPS1. This beast had Jr T forks (not sure if this was before or after the stauntion tubes were joined???) with a massive 110mm travel (including sag!). It had a Formula 6" Hydro Disc at the front, XTR rear v-brake and no disc mounts. It came with the wonderful Rock Shox Couple Deluxe shock and put out 4-5.5" travel. Kit was finished off with a CNC stem, BIG RED DX pedals, Bomber orange Race Face cranks, ESP (!!!) deraileurs, gripshift, Rhyno Lite Rims and those Duster tyres again. Total weight was 32 pounds.
The next couple of pages in the catalogue have some beautiful XC rigs that would still be a blast to ride today (ok so maybe they'd be a bit old skool and that ESP.... shudder).
In 1998 there were still some other VPS bikes that shared the old 'Bomber' frame.
1999 started the range of 'big' VPS bikes and the VPS 1 in that GREEN that everyone seems to be going back to! This was a big bike for it's time with Monster T's, a Fox rear shock (putting out 5.5-6.5" travel!), an 8" Hayes brake, Raceface DH cranks with some MASSIVE chainring (like a 48t!!), a Sun Ringle chainguide, DX Red Pedals, Magura 'Tomac' rim brake, Rhyno Lites, WTB Tyres, saddle and Red Ano headset and XTR/Gripshift. Complete bike was 40 pounds apparently.
2000 saw the explosion of VPS bikes (4 models) plus the first North Shore hardtail the Torrent. Lot's of Bomber forks, Hayes brakes, Fox Shocks, Sun Rims and Race Face cranks in 2000. Apart from a few dodgy graphics these bikes still look kinda cool today. The DH bike had that cool Maple leaf graphic, Monsters and DUAL disc brakes. And DEAR GOD it's still got a big chainring.
2001 was when the first 'Supercross' hardtails got added to the range with the awsome 250cc (26"/24", Cromo cranks, Easton RAD frame, dual disc, 100mm/20mm fork and a chainguide) and the popular 125cc.
After that I'm sure most people know what's been going on in Norco land.
For those interested the Norco site has an Archive section with some of those old bikes (
www.norco.com).
Cheers,
Derek
