I'm going to keep this opinion piece short and sweet so I don't get too riled up. I have a friend who I go back and forth with in regards to bike news. We will send each other new bike releases, oftentimes followed up by if either of us will be pulling the trigger. Over the last few years we have noticed it almost seems as if bike companies have either given up or completely forgotten an important element to bikes being desired and that is weight! But why would they remember? The last few years have been spent on a hyper fixation with motors in bikes where weight doesn't seem to matter and superlight e-bikes being often times overlooked for their full powered siblings. It seems like this hyper fixation has led us to a “50 First Dates” scenario where it is up to me to remind bike companies that weight does in fact still matter. Hello, remember me?? The crucial deciding factor on if I should go for a bike or not??
The most recent bike launch my friend sent to me was the Norco Optic, a 125mm light weight “short travel trail bike” coming in at more than 31lbs for a top of the line build (35lbs for some other builds, I don’t want to talk about this one, it will rile me up too much). Who in their right mind wants a 125mm trail bike to weigh 35 lbs? Well, they just signed Greg Minar so I could see someone with his insane skill set enjoying a little bit more of a capable trail bike to handle whatever jibs he throws at it!
Or maybe it's a bike for the employees at Norco? Norco is a BC company filled with employees who rip hard! But is that the end consumer? Because let me tell you something, the average mountain biker doesn't want their short travel trail bike to come in at what many enduro 29ers come in at! I don't care how high you put that pivot or how many pulleys are on your bike, a short travel trail bike should share the same numbers as a quarter life crisis, 25 to 27. Its weight shouldn't be a number where its life is starting to come together like someone who is 35. What are we even doing anymore? Do we care? Have we given up on the bicycle? What am I even saying any more? Don’t blame me, blame Norco.
The purpose of a short travel 29er trail bike should be to get out there, rip hard up, and still have the ability to rip capably down. If I want to huck off a huge cliff, I'll bust out my enduro bike. This pure disregard for bicycle weight is something that companies need to realize will affect sales. You can't blend bike categories, especially when there are so many other bike companies making awesome bikes. I'm not saying Norco bikes aren’t great, I actually have a few models in for testing soon. I'm just trying to say, a bike doesn't have to do everything. In fact, that’s how you sell less bikes. I can guarantee you, if you want to make a bike that does most things good and nothing great, there will be a company that makes a bike that does most things great and very few things pretty good. And that’s the bike I will buy.
Norco Optic: https://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/trail/
-Mo Awesome
