2001 Norco Shore First Impressions
All Photos by Dave Drenth
Written by Dave Drenth
Click on the photos to enlarge

My new Norco ‘Shore’ showed up at the shop on Monday, Feb 26th 2001 at 1:30pm. The store called me at work and I dropped everything to scream over and pick it up (not exactly but that’s what I wanted to do). I was so pumped – all I could think about was taking the ski-doo out to pack down trails to rip up the following night on the ‘Shore’ (we do have about 4 ft of snow to contend with here!). It took very little effort to assemble with only the chain guide setup to ponder over. It was pretty much ready to roll by 11pm that same night even though I put in a solid hour playing with the box and my 2-year-old son. I’m sure any of the bike wrenches from the store would’ve had it done in 45min or so but I also did some things 3 times over to my liking.
Ride Riding in the winter with –20C weather doesn’t let you play with suspension settings a whole lot. Back off all of the rebound and take what you can get. My fork was still just a little sticky as well until the seals are broken in. Even so, the bike still seemed nicely balanced and easy to handle. The bars are nice and wide for excellent control. The SRAM grip shift allows setup for 1 finger braking with room to spare. Speaking of braking. The 8" Hayes grabbed strongly right out of the box. There is no need for a second finger on the lever. It’s going to take a little while to get used to the power and feel of these excellent stoppers. With only a few miles in thus far, I can’t go into great detail about the ride quality but this bike looks to have high potential for stunts and steeps. Can’t wait for spring!

Frame
To touch it, you’d swear it was made out of plastic. If it weren’t for the weld seams, you’d never know any different. Plus the sideplates actually are plastic – just to throw you off. (actually they are handcraftted aluminum imported from Portugal ed.) The final appearance is clean and smooth. The cable routing is a thing of beauty. The decals are ok and the paint job was actually surprising. Kinda a blasted rough finish instead of glossy smooth. Maybe scratches won’t show as much? The linkage is solid. Cartridge bearings. Clean machining. The medium frame came with a 700lb spring, which scared the crap out of me ‘cause I was riding a 550 on my Kona Stinky. However, the 700 works very well with this linkage and my 160lbs of manliness. Very different suspension designs of course.
Upon getting ready for the virgin ride at night, I learned that there are no water bottle mounts for my light battery – a BLT water bottle type. Oh well – duct tape fixes all.
Parts Squish
What are ya gonna say about a Super T and a Fox Vanilla R for the squish parts. Perfect. The fork offers plenty of tuning and the shock is bombproof. However, I share the opinion that the ‘M’ arch was a bad idea. No 3" tires – no fault of Norco though and I still think it’s the best fork to spec for this ride.
Brakes
8" Hayes. Nuff said. F.U.N.N. The F.U.N.N. components have a good quality finish to them and look solid. I’m thinkin’ the saddle is cool and the stem is really slick but I gotta be honest. I don’t really see myself making a whole lotta changes to the stem angle. Once I find something I like, it’ll probably stay there. I guess that at least you get to choose the stem angle you like right from the start, right?

Drivetrain
SRAM 9.0 – the SRAM rear der. and Gripshift shifter works perfect right now. The shifting action is very precise and light. The cable housing is continuous and I like the cable infeed to the derailleur. No big loop of cable housing to get in the way. The DMR chainguide is pretty simple in design and functions very well. I’ve removed some of the washers to let the roller shift side to side a little more, just to reduce roller/chain noise when I’m in the largest or smallest cog. It’s setup for the stock 36T ring right now. I’m buying a 32T and a 44T ring for the trails and Ontario races.
Wheelset
WTB 2.4 Moto Raptor tires – hook up real nice on snow and ice. Don’t know about dirt and mud yet but I think they will perform well. These tires have been spec’d on a number of other bikes this year. Vuelta Excalibur rims – I’m really interested in design of these rims. I’m not a real heavy or abusive rider (only taco'd one Sun Rhino Lite) but with a full season of DH racing and stunts riding there will be more than one opportunity to shine through or fall apart. Again, we’ll see if they hold up. Other riders have told me that they love Mavic’s 521’s and these look similar.
Overall
I think I’ve got myself an excellent (maybe the best?) mix between DH descender and all around freeride playbike. I’m really looking forward to this season because of this bike. I always used to feel outgunned at larger DH events (and always used it as an excuse). The Norco ‘Shore’ ’ looks like it’s gonna take a lot of abuse and offers the tools to go real fast downhill. Unfortunately, it looks as though I’ve lost my excuse for not winning.