BUILT FOR IT: THE 2001 NORCO SHORE
All Photos by Noel Hendrickson
Rider: Darryl Steane
Written by Cam McRae
Click on the photos to enlarge
Note: The Shore is available in Black for complete bikes or Blue as a frame. White bikes are for team members only.

It was a pretty audacious move for Norco. Naming your signature freeride bike the "Shore" was ballsy to be sure. You had better be sure a bike is up for the punishment if you name it after the most unforgiving riding environment in the world. Now before those of you in Topeka chime in about your gnarly trails let me qualify what I mean. The trails here are difficult and there are some very big moves but beyond that Vancouver has a climate that sometimes has Londoners booking an early flight home. It rains a lot. If you only ride in the dry you don't ride very often at all and riding down a trail that has a lot in common with the Thames takes its toll. Add to that an incredibly talented pool of riders hucking all sorts of crazy ass drops and you have cooked up a warranty clerk's nightmare. They are not going to be able to say, "sorry this bike wasn't designed for that sort of riding." It was.
Luckily Norco did their homework. First of all they knew that their frames were standing up to the rigours of the local scene valiantly. Every model of bike ridden on the Shore breaks so it is the rate of failure that is important. Obviously actual figures on that sort of thing are hard to come by, but the VPS reputation for durability is well known. Massive failure being a rarity, there were some other concerns to address. Previous VPS bikes came out of the shop riding smooth and fine but over time they began to get a little snaky and loose in the backend and needed to be maintained. This was sometimes not an easy job.

Bushings that were difficult to remove (some requiring special tools) and often difficult to come by meant that many vps owners were home watching the Ride Guide while their buddies were out ripping. Norco has addressed these concerns by placing cartridge bearings at the main pivot points (larger ones in the bb position make them much more durable this year) and making the only remaining bushings which mate the seatstays with the linkage plates tougher and easier to access. The chainstays were redrawn this year to add strength and allow for some meatier rubber in both 24" and 26" sizes. All this means that the Shore should be a very dependable machine.
I want to jump in with some ride impressions because that's really what you want hear. The first thing I noticed was that the shore felt comfy right away. My virgin trail on it was Upper Oilcan and I was following Lycra Jay Greenwood (aka No Dab Jay). The fact that I could almost keep up with him is a testament to how balanced and tight the bike felt straight out of the warehouse. The only move I botched was the U-turn. If you haven't seen this in person it is a log ride that takes you about 40 feet in one direction and then folds you back onto another parallel log that is about 4 feet down slope. Being unaccustomed to a double triple clamp fork lead me to panic and plant a foot when the crown came in contact with the frame (my panic move is one of my best). It was one of my best rides ever on Peter Morin's masterfully renovated trail.
My overwhelming impression was that this bike felt very solid on the dirt. Nothing rattled or felt loose as long as I had it. I also didn't find it as noisy as previous VPS designs - an added bonus. The feeling of solidity seemed to compromise some liveliness - perhaps a side effect of the stiff monocoque mainframe. This made the bike perhaps a little less forgiving on rough high speed trails but I was getting more and more used to the feel right up until the sad day when Norco finally cornered me to get the bike back to them. I find that some suspension bikes completely remove any feel for the trail. The Norco's rear end is nice and active and relatively plush without feeling like a couch. You still get pleasingly immediate feedback from the trail which I think is one of the hallmarks of a good design. VPS bikes also wheelie more easily than others I have tried and I honed my budding manual skills while I had the opportunity.
It has always irked me when reading bike reviews that you get no background into the person writing and what he or she normally rides. If you usually tool around on a scandium hardtail you are going to think a long travel bike is a pig - especially if you happen to be a leg shaver. Well my main ride is a Santa Cruz Bullit with Marzocchi Z1QR 20's (soon to be upgraded). The vast majority of my riding is done on Grouse, Seymour and Cypress. When I ride another bike that is my reference and that is where I take the bike. I have not ridden scores of full suspension bikes and I lack an encyclopaedic knowledge of suspension dynamics. What I am clear about is what I like and what feels right.


On one of my first rides on the Norco Shore I managed to pull off 5 firsts - moves I had been looking at for a few years but had never pulled. They were all launches except for the roll at the end of the circus - the Shore just gave me supreme confidence. I think those new cajones I grew were fertilized by the 8" Hayes discs front and rear. I have been riding 6" Hayes for about a year and I love them. I like to have as much of my mitt as possible on the bar so I always one finger the brakes. With the 8 inchers I enough power and control to make Bill Gates cower. I was skidding the rear a fair amount in the beginning but once I got used to the extra juice I was styling (well, for me). If you have some extra cash jingling in your jeans and you're wondering if upgrading to 8 inch rotors is worth it, this is my advice: Run don't walk.
Everything about the contact points was pleasing but the VP pedals lost a few pins (Norco has ordered in lots of spares to address this). I really liked the FUNN bars. They are wide, stiff and confidence inspiring. You can always cut down a wide bar but you can't lengthen a narrow one. The Funn saddle was cushy and tough and the grips were fine. The SRAM 9.0 shifter and derailleur worked flawlessly. SRAM has added another spring to the shifter so it thunks into place more pleasingly than before. The shifter cable is completely protected with cool looking heavy-duty housing that seems to be kevlar wrapped. The choice of Gripshift also allows you to run your brake levers where they should be instead of too close to the end of the bars as you are forced to with rapidfire. While I had absolutely no problems with it I wasn't too pleased with the idea of the FUNN adjustable stem. It allows you to play with length and height but all that adjustability makes it seem more vulnerable. The Norco testers have been hammering it without any failures but I would prefer to see a more solid state solution - perhaps Kooka's flip which would also allow much quicker adjustments. Some other nice touches include DT Swiss spokes, 170mm crank size for small frames, cartridge bearing pedals and headset, ultra slick cable routing and an axiom telescoping seatpost. I was probably toward the top end of the height scale for the medium frame at 6'0" and I had no problems putting the post to the bottom and getting full leg extension at the top. The Wilderness Trail Bikes Moto Raptor tires hooked up nicely in all the conditions I threw at them and were meaty (2.4") but not stupidly so.

It is extremely clear that a lot of thought and, more importantly, a lot of testing by real riders went into this bike. Despite this there were a few things I found lacking. I really liked the feel of the super T. I nosed a landing on one occasion and despite riding over an ugly rock with only my front wheel on the ground I managed to keep the rubber down. (I flatted from the impact with the rock but the Vuelta rim was unharmed). Like all T's it is plenty stiff and smooth right through the six inches of travel but I found it a little soft. I bottomed it out regularly and I only weigh about 175lbs (although my lack of smoothness might push me into the Clydesdales). This is easily remedied with stiffer springs or heavier oil and other riders I have talked to haven't had this problem. It could be that I got an odd one. I also thought that the QR 20 plus system that combines a quick release with a hinge and Allen bolts was a little awkward. It is recommended that you don't ride without the hinges (at least not with the 8" disc) but you still need the QR. What you get is a redundant system that isn't as stiff as a true through axle. Don't get me wrong, it worked fine but the QR doesn't save you any time when you need to pull the wheel. It does inspire a little more confidence than the original QR 20.
The chain guide/tensioner was a little noisy in the lowest gear. I tried to muck around and adjust it to make it quieter but without success. It did work well though. In the same region I was happy to be standing on Raceface ISIS drive splined cranks. I have had serious headaches with cranks rounding out and coming loose so the splines have arrived none too soon for me. Unfortunately I didn't check the tightness of the bolts until well into the third ride and by then the right crank was already quite loose. It is hard to say if it wasn't properly tightened by the Norco wrenches (who did a flawless job) or if it was just seating onto the spindle. Either way it came loose and then did again when I passed the bike off to Eamonn Duignan to get some big hitter impressions. When he tightened the crank (perhaps over tightened big fellah?) it began to hit the inside of the chainguide mechanism, a situation that could not be adjusted away - at least not by me. The lesson here is check your cranks when your ride is new but be careful not to over tighten them. Until now I have always run a granny ring. I like to climb to get myself warm and chase away the jitters before the ride down and there are some inclines that have my knees begging for the kiddie gear. The Shore comes with a standard drive 36 tooth and that is it. The 34-tooth cog at the back lowers the bottom gear some but I was longing for my compact 34 in the front in the absence of a granny. The good news is that you can easily retrofit a front derailleur and shifter to make this bike more of a climber. If you are a shuttle monster you will love it as is. The bonus with this system is that if you have an inkling to ride some DH you are ready to go. The bike is not shipped with any sort of rock ring but the chain will always be in place to protect your teeth.
Speaking of going up hill I was pleased with the way the shore climbs. It feels best when you are seated and there is very little bob for a bike with this much travel. It didn't make me shy away from climbing except in cases where the slope was too steep for the 36-tooth ring. The Super T doesn't suck too much juice either unlike many other 6" travel forks. Often it is the front end of a bike that destroys the out of the pedals climbing experience.

To drop the cash or not to drop the cash. There are many folks who love to buy a bike piece by piece and who don't mind paying a luxury tax for the process. With a bike that is dressed as nicely as the shore it is like picking up a custom build for a fraction of the cost. About the only thing I could think to upgrade would be the Fox Vanilla R up to the RC with a reservoir - not that I noticed anything problems with the performance of the stock spring. For around $4300 CDN (around $3000 US) you can pluck yourself a fresh Norco Shore. That kind of cash wouldn't go nearly as far on most brand name bikes. Don't dally though - many shops have already sold out their year's supply and Norco is out as well.

So if you are a rider who wants the ability to go big and ride anywhere but without making shuttling mandatory you would be hard pressed to find a better bike for this dollar. Anyone with freeride aspirations could benefit immediately from the performance of this fine machine and also have plenty of room to grow into it. It would also suit those eager for the occasional downhill race with 6" of travel front and rear.

In short this is a bike worthy of its name.