Not only does this put you in a comfortable and upright position, but it also keeps your weight from hanging too far off the back. The Seat tube angle is very steep at 77.25 degrees. That’s one of the saving graces for the bike’s uphill performance. In fact, I never really felt the need to use the lockout lever. It doesn’t have that trail bike energetic feel, but it doesn’t just bob up and down the entire time your climbing. It pedals better than I thought it would. I was actually rather surprised by the pedaling platform during my rides on the Range. Now the question I want to answer is, is it too slow for how good of a descender it is? Let’s talk about that. The Norco Range isn’t a great climber - big surprise. I want you to know what you’re getting into. I don’t make a habit of sugar coating things and I would hate for that to be mistaken as me being harsh. I don’t want this part of the article to sound harsh or like I’m being unfair. It has a coil shock, heavy Maxxis Double Down casing tires, a 38mm stanchion fork, big brakes, and rotors - you get the idea. The Norco Range ends up making pretty much all the tradeoffs it can in order to maximize descending performance. All bikes make sacrifices - whether it be heavier tires for better flat resistance or lighter weight suspension for a faster climbing bike. Let’s start this off with a bit of a disclaimer. I’ll stop crying about it now so we can talk about how it rides. That said, the weight on this thing is noticeable. I think many folks care way too much about how heavy their bike is. I personally don’t freak out too much over bike weight. Although losing 2lb felt like a win, 38lb is still pretty heavy for a bike without a motor. After making a few upgrades, Enve M7 carbon bars and AM 30 wheels, TRP DH-R Evo brakes, and a Sram GX AXS drivetrain, I got the weight down to just under 38lb. My XL Range came in at 39.6lb out of the box (with tubes installed). My XL Range came in with a 63° head tube angle and a 77.25° seat tube angle. The Range has size-specific geometry to give every rider, large or small, the same ride experience. We will get into more about Norco’s High Virtual Pivot later, but know, for now, it can make a lot of travel feel like a lot more. It has 170mm of travel front and back, as well as an increasingly popular high pivot suspension platform. Even the Sight had some pretty long, low, and slack geometry. Before the new Range was released, I was curious to see what Norco would do with their enduro platform, especially after I had ridden the smaller Sight last year.
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