05/16/2008

The Norco Team DH has been a bike that has grown with the demands of this sport. Each passing season uncovers new demands and challenges that bikes have to adapt to if they are going to compete amongst the best. The Team DH is an example of a constant work in progress, where the design has been modified to meet riders' demands year in and year out.

The 2006 bike was dialled. We spent considerable time on it here and the review scored well. As good as it was, there was room for some changes, and little seems to have been overlooked for the 2007 offering.

A new year, new frame, new colours and new graphics.

There are several key changes that have been implemented that make a similar looking bike more different than what first meets the eye. Subtle changes have brought big results, the most noticeable being weight savings. The frame has been slimmed down, the seat mast has been simplified, and the headtube and seattube use a cut-out gusset system that trims material without sacrificing strength.

The drivetrain has retained all that blew us away last year, but was modified to match something that many racers are doing today, which is putting a road cassette on the back. The lower gearing and tighter ratios are popular among the race crowd, and this change means one less thing to think about for racers saddling up on this bike.

Suspension offerings have also been mixed up, with the big M stepping in to handle rear suspension duties on a cleaned-up linkage. A titanium-sprung Marzocchi 888RC2X sits up front, offering top-shelf performance and reduced weight. We'll be logging some serious hours on this machine in the spring and will be reporting back with a full review on how the bike performs. For those that can't wait and want to grab one before they are all gone, they can be found at you local Norco dealer for a suggested retail price of CDN$6,050.

Big changes up front

Magura Wotan Fork Words and photos by Derek Timmerman A Magura 160mm (6.3") single crown all-mountain/free ride air fork? From Magura, the brake guys? There’s such competition in this area of the fork market, it makes you think they must have something serious up their sleeves to give this a shot. When I think Magura here on B.C.'s North Shore, I tend to only think of my Whistler all-day, one-finger-friendly Gustav brakes on the big bike, with friends giving the Louises healthy poundings on their bikes for years as well. But a mid-travel air fork? Product design, quality, construction, performance and service are things that Magura's known for. So let's see how Magura’s Wotan fork measures up in some B.C. freeriding.

The Magura Wotan - 160mm of travel mounted up to a Delerium

Yes, those are two arches. Wonder how they work?

A first look at this 5.5lb. fork with 1 1/8" inch steerer is followed by a few double takes: yes, those are two arches on the magnesium sliders, one in front and one behind the 36mm aluminum stanchions. My engineer brain says this should increase torsional strength with their Double Arch Design (DAD). Will it hold a choppy line better through a high-speed turn? Or in super tight, steppy and technical low speed turns? Next is two handlebar-mounted aluminum remote thumb shifters (one optional), each one entering the cold forged 6082 T6 aluminum crown beside each stanchion. The left Flightcontrol shifter controls fork travel on the fly, the optional right Albert Select shifter turns on or off the rider's pre-set oil compression platform dampening; the platform dampening level is pre-set via an aluminum knob on top of the right stanchion.

Clearly someone, somewhere will be pumped to finally have seven cables on the bars (if you're running a remote seat post adjuster as well). I’ve never had more than four cables on the bars before, so let’s see how this goes.

Cables to the top of both fork legs is a bit of a new thing. Flightcontrol on the left leg, Albert Select on the right.

Further details are as follows: the fork has 120mm to 160mm of adjustable travel, 540mm axle-to-crown length when fully extended, 203mm/8" disc brake post mount and RockShox's Maxle QR thru axle. If you want to match your fork to your frame, you can take advantage of the Magura Customize Program (white, yellow, orange, pink, red, olive, turquoise, dark blue or silver sliders). The fork is German designed and manufactured, and it can be serviced in Canada at North Vancouver’s Orange Sport. Yep, we now have local Magura service, along with Marzocchi, Fox, and Manitou.

Overall, the Magura Wotan (yes! the same Norse god you were thinking of) has a precision made, durable, clean-design feel to every part. It assembled easily, shifters included, without any surprises. Set-up is quick and straight forward: air compression via the left stanchion top’s Schraeder valve using the included shock pump. Rebound dampening is adjusted with a short, solid, red aluminum knob located on the right slider’s bottom, which looks tough enough for many slips off skinnies. Compression platform dampening is pre-set via a gold aluminum knob atop the right stanchion. Thread the cables around their stanchion top knobs, mount the bar shifters, and you're done. Canadian MSRP on the fork is $1,379 but dealers may sell for less.

I'll be mounting this fork on a 39lb. Knolly Delirium-T. The bike has an all-mountain build, but it's still tough enough to handle most of the Shore and what’s nearby. I'll report back on the Magura Wotan after pedaling up and freeriding down trails in Squamish, the North Shore, Maple Ridge, and the Sunshine Coast. Time for a rip!

Santa Cruz Nomad
Words and photo by Stuart Kernaghan

Santa Cruz is a well-known name on the Shore. Bullits and even Hecklers were very popular in the late '90s and early part of this decade. Hell, my first long-travel bike was a Bullit. Santa Cruz bikes always held a place in buyers' hearts around here, but for several years they were overshadowed by other brands and multi-pivot suspension designs. Things started to change, though, after Santa Cruz acquired Outland's patent for the floating pivot point suspension design and launched its own Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) line of bikes.

Over the last half-dozen years, Santa Cruz has applied the VPP concept to just about every type of full-suspension frame it makes, from 4" XC bikes to 10" DH race bikes. And that's gotten the Californians back in the game on the Shore, with the V-10 and especially the VP-Free definitely finding a home here. One bike that hasn't received as much attention from bike buyers in these parts, however, was the Nomad.

Introduced in 2005, the Nomad and its 165mm of travel filled the gap between the 115mm Blur and the 215mm Free. At that time, the 'bigger is better' mindset that had ruled the Shore for many years was just starting to wane. People were beginning to realize that a 35 or 40lb. bike was more fun to ride than a bike weighing 45 or 50lbs., and that 6.5" of travel was pretty darn good for most types of riding. For some strange reason, though, the Nomad hasn't struck quite the same chord with buyers that other 165mm bikes (like the Specialized SX Trail, for example) introduced at the same time did. Perhaps it's because the Nomad has made a name for itself as a very capable 'all-mountain' bike. Maybe buyers on the Shore don't think it's able to take a beating - contrary to what Santa Cruz's marketing material says.

A glistening white Santa Cruz Nomad, in one of what will be many different incarnations over the coming months.
That's Mt. Fromme in the background, visible during a rare break in the clouds.

Being the dutiful tester that I am, I have set to address that very issue. With a bit of a twist. I'm going to test the Nomad on the Shore and at bike parks, but I'm also going to do a little exploring on the same Nomad to see whether one bike really can do it all. I'm going to take a Nomad frame and build it up in several different configurations to suit whatever type of riding I'm doing on any given weekend: a 180mm single-crown fork, big tires, wide rims, short stem, and flat pedals for the Shore or the bike park; and a 160mm SC fork, smaller tires, narrower rims, longer stem, and clipless pedals for epic / backcountry / all-mountain riding. About the only things that will stay the same are the cranks, drivetrain, and handlebar.

Although Santa Cruz doesn't have model years for its frames, there have been a few updates to the latest version of the Nomad, including a OnePointFive headtube and a slightly steeper head angle. Those frames were expected to roll out early this year, but due to "some manufacturing issues" in the words of SC rep Juli Furtado, the new frame won't be arriving until the end of April. As a result, I'm on a frame with a 1 1/8" headtube. Weight for the size XL frame with seat collar and DHX Air shock was 8lbs. on the nose, while weight of the full bike in its current Shore-ready configuration is just shy of 37lbs.

American MSRP for the powder coated frame with Fox DHX 5.0 coil shock is $1,931, while anodized with that shock is $2,131. Canadian MSRP is $2,223 for powder coat and $2,441 for anozided. Expect to spend about US$80 / CDN$125 more for the DHX Air shock. Customers in other countries should check with their local dealer for pricing.

So is it possible to have one bike that really will do everything a rider wants? Is it possible to replace a quiver of bikes with a couple of different wheelsets and some component tweaks? Stay tuned and find out.

- Stuart Kernaghan

Wanna talk about the gear? Here's the place to do it.