Tom reviews the 2023 Norco Sight

Can a bike first announced in 2019 hold up against bikes in (what is almost) 2024? We’ll cut right to the chase. The answer is most definitely if you’re referring to the Norco Sight. We’ve been aboard the carbon C2 model with a complete SRAM/RockShox build. This bike’s sales pitch promises to have you covered across all scenarios, and our Flow team have enjoyed putting this one to the test.

The Sight (in its current version) first became available to purchase as part of Norco’s 2020 fleet. Just as Covid (a respiratory virus you may have heard of) was beginning its rounds across the globe, so too was the Sight. One a pleasant addition to society, the other one not so much. It graced us with an amazing launch video featuring Sam Blinkensop and Henry Fitzgerald (WC DH racers) ripping the rowdy trails of British Columbia’s interior mountains—still a great video, well worth a watch.

Norco describes the Sight as a hard-charging ‘all-mountain’ bike. After putting the Sight through its paces, we’d have to agree with this sentiment. The bike comes stock with 150mm of rear travel, paired with a 160mm fork. However, the aggressive geometry allows this rig to push beyond what most 150mm travel bikes might allow. An all-rounder that is geared towards the gnarlier end of the spectrum.

Geometry & setup

The Sight doesn’t have any geometry adjustment built into the frame. Many bikes these days are designed with geo-flip chips and/or adjustable headsets. This allows you to dial in your preferred reach, head angle, BB height and sometimes suspension progression rates.

However, fear not. The absence of this may mean Norco thought even deeper about the fit and sizing of this bike. Each frame size has slightly different rear ends as well as seat angles. The size small has 430mm chainstays and a 77° seat angle. On the other end of the sizing, the XL frame has a 445mm rear end and a 78° seat angle. The large we’ve been riding has 440mm chainstays and a 77.7° seat angle. These variations throughout the size range are significant to see. It ensures you get a consistent experience and feel regardless of the size.

Our large frame has a reach of 485mm, accompanied by a head angle of 64°. This creates a slack and stable front end ready to charge. With the 440mm chainstays, the total wheelbase is 1262mm. This is another factor contributing to the bike’s overall planted feel.

We’d have to say Norco is one of the brands leading the way regarding user experience, specifically when setting up a new bike. Norco’s Ride Aligned system gives you detailed base settings to quickly get you out on the trails. It is not just the suspension manufacturer’s recommended settings in the manual. Ride Aligned is designed around the kinematics of the specific bike model—as well as the rider’s skill level and riding style. We’ve found this system to work well, and it is a great starting point. Ultimately, our setup was only a few clicks away from where it recommended we start.

Climbing

To enjoy the great descending performance of the Sight, you’ll need to find your way to the top of the hill first. The Sight is a capable climber but by no means an XC Billy goat. We weren’t flying up any climbs but found the bike comfortable and easy to spin up the steps.

The upright and neutral climbing position is credited to the steep seat-angle. The large we’ve been riding has a seat angle of 77.7°. We found this put you right over the pedals and allowed for power to be put down without needing to shift your body position too much. We found we could sit and spin for longer, whereas on other bikes, in similar situations, we would need to stand to deliver more power to the cranks.

The C2 model doesn’t have a climb switch on the shock, which wasn’t an issue on single trail climbs. The small amount of bob contributes positively to traction. However, it would be nice to have a lockout option when spinning up roads. The pedal bob is not significant but will be noticed on smoother climbs.

The carbon C2 build comes in at 15.1kgs (no pedals and set up tubeless). We would say this is an appropriate weight for this genre of bike and build kit. The weight was not something that initially came to mind when pedalling the bike. We wouldn’t say it is either light or heavy; it sits somewhere in the middle.

Descending

The slack head angle and relatively long wheelbase means the Sight doesn’t shy away from chunky descents. Maybe even more so than the rear travel would like to allow. The Sight enjoys high speeds and chews through rough sections. Sometimes you’ll need to be conscious of the 150mm rear travel. There isn’t much room for error compared with 170-180mm enduro bikes. We found getting the rear suspension dialled in on this bike is important. This machine will encourage you to push your limits, and you’ll want support to back that. We found that if the setup is even slightly wrong, you’ll be bottoming out more than what is recommended. It took us a while to get the balance right. We ended up settling on 238psi with 3 volume spacers. For reference, our test pilot weighs 76 kg kitted and ready to ride.

After perfecting the rear shock, the bike was glued to the ground and provided a lot of confidence. Compared to other bikes in this genre, it is extremely stable at higher speeds.

After doing field research we found a potential solution to bypass the back-and-forth, trial-and-error set-up period. Something we would like to try on this bike is an aftermarket link made by Cascade Components. This would increase the suspension progression rate from 18% to 25% compared to the stock link. It will also increase the travel by 5mm to 155mm. We wouldn’t say this is necessary, though it could be worth exploring if you’re drawn towards rowdier trails.

Whilst it is more stable than other bikes in its category, you can still find playful characteristics amongst it all. When needed, we could unweight and pick up over roots and rocks. Many people look for aggressive trail bikes like this as they find full-blown enduro bikes difficult to manoeuver. This is not the case with the Sight; it does sit quite nicely between stable and playful.

Cornering grip and confidence come easily with the Sight. Even on flatter turns that don’t offer a lot of backing. This could be attributed to the wheelbase of 1262mm, which is quite long compared to other bikes in this category, such as the Santa Cruz Hightower, Specialized Stumpjumper EVO and Giant Trance X. We would say that the flickable feeling we all crave when hitting back-to-back berms doesn’t come as effortlessly with the Sight’s more stretched-out length.

We did find the Sight to be a competent jumper, with the rear suspension providing a responsive feel when popping off lips. Some longer travel bikes can have a slow and soft armchair feel when loading the suspension. We’ve found bikes in the 150 mm-160 mm range generally jump well. This is because you get a healthy balance between travel and responsiveness. The Sight prefers ‘long and low’ type jumps. The kind that has more gradual take-offs. With the longer wheelbase and 29er wheels, steeper lips become more difficult to get the timing right.

Components and features

The Sight C2 comes with either a Shimano/Fox or the SRAM/RockShox build kit that we’ve been testing. With this, you get a GX drivetrain, which we’ve found reliable and consistent. It’s the ‘bang for your buck’ model if you’re looking at a SRAM drivetrain.

As for the brakes, they’ve gone for SRAM’s Code RSC’s. SRAM has recently released a newer version of the Code brake with Stealth-style brake levers. However, the slightly older model of the Sight C2 is still one of the best brakes on the market. It offers more power than you’ll need in 99% of scenarios and has plenty of adjustment. We particularly love how you can fine-tune the bite point on these. It is a great way to dial in your brakes to get that perfect, personalised feel. Equipping the bike with highly adjustable stoppers will always be celebrated by us!

RockShox has the suspension duties covered. We’ve seen the RockShox Zeb become extremely popular with forks sporting 160mm or more travel. However, you won’t find one on the Sight. This bike has a RockShox Lyrik attached. We really like this specification choice. The Zeb being stiffer isn’t always better. The Lyrik has 35mm stanchions and is considerably lighter. The 35mm stanchions provide enough stiffness when the bike is pushed hard; however, maintain enough compliance to give a comfortable feel. Your hands and arms will appreciate this! We’ve started seeing many World Cup Enduro racers opting for smaller forks like the Lyrik and Fox 36. This can help to find the right balance between stiffness, comfort and weight-saving.

The specific model Norco has spec’d is the Lyrik Ultimate Charger 2 RC2 version. Like the brakes, this isn’t the most current model, but is still a fantastic fork. So much so we’d have to say it is one of the build’s highlights. Regarding adjustment, this fork has high and low-speed compression. We found it helpful to have the two compression adjusters (high and low speed) as this is something that we like to tune precisely. With rebound, it has just one dial. Having just one rebound knob means that setup is relatively easy, particularly if you don’t want to dedicate quality time and effort to do so.

The Ride Aligned software recommended 78psi and no volume tokens. This is where we ended up after trying a few different setups. Credit has to go to Norco and its Ride Aligned calculator for getting it right first go.

Looking now at the rear suspension. The Sight C2 has a RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate DH, LINM Tune. Over the years, this shock has gained a solid reputation, and we’d have no issues backing that. It was awesome to see the shock come with the MegNeg air can. This was initially introduced as an upgrade kit that must be purchased separately. Props to Norco for including this stock. Whilst we rate this shock, it did take us a while to get it feeling right with the Sight. As mentioned above, 150mm isn’t a lot of travel for a bike that likes to be pushed hard. It was difficult to locate that sweet spot where you’ve got a supple feel without always bottoming out. In the end, we ran 238psi with three volume spacers. That was about 15 psi more than recommended, sitting at around 26% sag.

The Sight C2 comes with Stan’s Flow S2 rims on DT Swiss 370 hubs. Here, we a have a solid and reliable combo. The DT Swiss hubs are easy to service, which will be a big plus for maintenance in the future. The one gripe we have with the wheels is the front tyre choice. The C2 has a Maxxis Assegai in the firmer Maxx Terra compound. We’d love to see a softer compound on the front. We like the Max Terra compound on the rear, which is in the form of a Maxxis Minion DHR II. Both tyres have EXO+ casings, the minimum thickness we’d run on a bike like this. You might like to think about a Double Down casing on the rear particularly if you don’t run inserts.

Flow’s Verdict

The Norco Sight C2 is a competent ‘do-it-all’ rig. It sits on the more aggressive end of the trail or light enduro spectrum. It’s for someone who wants a bike that can be taken on long pedals but also wouldn’t be out of place doing bike park laps.

Considering this bike was first released in 2019, it’s not ‘new’ by any means. However, we’ve been impressed with how the geometry has stood the test of time. In terms of geo numbers, it stacks up against more recently released bikes and is probably why Norco have not been rushing to bring out an updated version. Don’t fix what isn’t broken!

This particular build comes in at RRP $8,399 AUD, which is starting to get up there. With that, though, you get a well spec’d build that we can honestly say is trail ready from the get-go. Swapping parts would be mostly for personal preference and not because of performance or quality. However, if this build is pushing your budget, Norco offers a wide range of build kits for the Sight. Including many alloy options, which significantly lowers the price.

After our time on the Sight C2, we can see why this bike has become so popular. It’s a great ‘one and done’ bike. Chances are you’ve probably got a mate that rides one; ask them for a go!