Norco

I was looking at the Norco Sidewinder, anybody have anything good or bad to say about this
bike? Thanks

 

In article <[email protected]>, "Al McFarlane"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> I was looking at the Norco Sidewinder, anybody have anything good or bad to say about this
> bike? Thanks

Whoa. The Sidewinder is a very cheap full-suspension bike. It has low-end components throughout, and
for the same money almost any hardtail would be a better deal.

http://norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/sidewinder.htm

What are your riding goals? If you're just hitting gravel "trails" and bike paths at the local park,
you will be better-served by a hardtail in the same price range.

Staying within Norco's line, something like the Mountaineer...is still a pretty low-end bike, but at
least it has a half-decent frame and will weigh about 10 pounds less than the Sidewinder's crappy
"hi-tensile" (bikespeak for "worst frame material") frame and avoids its useless low-grade rear
suspension:

http://norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/mountaineer.htm

I would dare to take the Mountaineer out on a "real" MTB trail with some expectation that it
wouldn't fold in half on general principles.

Norco makes lots of good, high-end bikes above this range, probably starting with the Wolverine or
somewhere around there. But the Sidewinder is just garbage so that they can offer their bike shop
distributors a cheap competitor for Wal-Mart bikes.

In this price range, the best deals are used bikes, followed by new hardtails.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

Can you tell me what you think of the Norco Scrambler? I bought my son one 2 years ago, made of
Chromoly, and we bought another one this year (another son) made of Aluminum.
http://norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/scrambler.htm Thanks for your input.

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, "Al McFarlane"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I was looking at the Norco Sidewinder, anybody have anything good or bad
to
> > say about this bike? Thanks
>
> Whoa. The Sidewinder is a very cheap full-suspension bike. It has low-end components throughout,
> and for the same money almost any hardtail would be a better deal.
>
> http://norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/sidewinder.htm
>
> What are your riding goals? If you're just hitting gravel "trails" and bike paths at the local
> park, you will be better-served by a hardtail in the same price range.
>
> Staying within Norco's line, something like the Mountaineer...is still a pretty low-end bike, but
> at least it has a half-decent frame and will weigh about 10 pounds less than the Sidewinder's
> crappy "hi-tensile" (bikespeak for "worst frame material") frame and avoids its useless low-grade
> rear suspension:
>
> http://norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/mountaineer.htm
>
> I would dare to take the Mountaineer out on a "real" MTB trail with some expectation that it
> wouldn't fold in half on general principles.
>
> Norco makes lots of good, high-end bikes above this range, probably starting with the Wolverine or
> somewhere around there. But the Sidewinder is just garbage so that they can offer their bike shop
> distributors a cheap competitor for Wal-Mart bikes.
>
> In this price range, the best deals are used bikes, followed by new hardtails.
>
> --
> Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

In article <[email protected]>, "The 70's" <[email protected]> wrote:

> > Norco makes lots of good, high-end bikes above this range, probably starting with the Wolverine
> > or somewhere around there. But the Sidewinder is just garbage so that they can offer their bike
> > shop distributors a cheap competitor for Wal-Mart bikes.
> >
> > In this price range, the best deals are used bikes, followed by new hardtails.

> Can you tell me what you think of the Norco Scrambler? I bought my son one 2 years ago, made of
> Chromoly, and we bought another one this year (another son) made of Aluminum.
> http://norco.com/bikes/2003bikes/scrambler.htm Thanks for your input.

Well, it's a hardtail, which is good. The frame is not in their top line, and the components (Altus
and worse) are below the range I would consider for my bike. The fork is heavy and undamped.

But for a kid? unless he's racing XC or hucking 5-footers, no problem. I hear from people who know
better that Shimano's low-end stuff is fairly durable in practice. This bike is already more capable
than any number of horrid Dunlop 747s or whatever the local version of "dual-sus" department-store
wretchedness is in your area. The greatest weakness isprobably the fork, but that can be upgraded as
a reward when your son makes his school's XC team. 7 speeds is obsolete technology, but I race an
ancient Marin with 7-speed and an elastomer fork, and I beat people on lighter, newer bikes. The
only impediment is that descending is scary because the fork is wretched and I have no technique.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club