Joining the likes of Specialized, Trek and Evil at the long travel 29” party, the new Range offers the same fit principles they debuted with the Optic. The ideas are, regardless of what wheel size you choose, the fit and handling will be as close to identical as possible. You can read more about the concept in our interview with the bike’s designer, Owen Pemberton, here.
The 29” variant comes with a little less travel (160mm front and 150mm rear) to accommodate for the larger wheels, and the 27.5” wheeled machine, which packs 170mm of travel in the front and 160mm in the rear, adopts a slacker head angle and longer stem to accommodate for the difference in reach.
We’ll save you the speech about how this bike has been made longer, lower and slacker than its predecessor to enhance descending confidence – we reckon you know the drill by now. What is more interesting is the employment of Norco’s Gravity Tune geometry, where the rear centre measurement gets longer as you move up the sizes, growing from 430mm to 440mm.
In Australia, only the second-from-top in the lineup Norco C9.2 and C7.2 will be available, both retailing for $7299. This pricing puts the C9.2 in the same price range as bikes like Trek’s Slash 9.8, and Specialized’s Enduro Elite Carbon 29”. We’ll be putting together some comparative content over the coming months related to this segment, so watch this space! This is a pretty awesome segment, in our opinion, the next frontier of long-travel bikes.
The smaller wheeled C7.2 sits in a very hotly contested price bracket that includes bikes such as Specialized’s Enduro Carbon Elite 650B, YT’s Capra Pro CF Race, Canyon’s Strive CF 9.0 Race and Giant’s Reign Advanced 0 just to name a few.
We’ve been lucky enough to receive a fresh Range C9.2 that’s ready to hit the trails, so let’s take a bit of a closer look at some of the finer details.
That’s our first impressions of the new Range C9.2, read on for the official word from Norco on the new range of Ranges, and keep an eye out for a full review of the C9.2 once we log some miles aboard this exciting beast.
Below you’ll find an interesting round-table chat with some of Norco’s big-wigs, all about the Range.
Introduced today, the 2017 Norco Range Carbon features a new frame redesigned around both 650b and 29” wheels, with updated modern Enduro geometry and improved suspension kinematics.
Building on the best qualities of the previous generation Range, our engineers applied their evolved geometry philosophy to redesign the frame from the ground up and introduce a 29er with the same fit and nearly identical handling characteristics as the Killer B.
The result is a geometry that is longer, lower, and slacker, with a new A.R.T. Suspension system with improved performance that is slightly more progressive. The new design is stronger than ever, borrowing elements such as the head tube design and rear derailleur hanger from the Norco Aurum.
“We looked at the way Enduro bikes are being used – yes, they’re pedaled to the top, but essentially in an Enduro event they go through four or five downhill races over a weekend. This is a bike that’s going to be ridden hard, so we took everything we learned from the Aurum, which is the strongest bike we’d ever made, and employed it on the new Range.” – Owen Pemberton, Senior Design Engineer
To achieve the renowned fit and handling of the Range Killer B in a 29er platform, the 29er is designed around the same rear centre lengths, with a longer front centre, steeper head tube angle, shorter stem, and 10mm less travel front and rear to offset the characteristics of the larger wheels.
When stem length is incorporated into stack and reach (a measurement Norco engineers call Reach Plus and Stack Plus), the fit between the two platforms is identical.
The Range Carbon 29er is available in the widest possible size range without compromising its geometry, fit, and handling. Whether you prefer the quick acceleration and playfulness of 650b wheels or the improved rollover and momentum of a 29er – the Range Carbon offers riders choice without compromise.
For more details, visit norco.com/range.