Whooo-hooo! This was a great bike to take down LPS and Porc rim. This was my 2nd favorite bike from Outerbike, behind the Sultan. All this bike needs out of the box is a better wheelset and maybe a dropper post (it has cable mounts for one).
Baisic highlight specs:
29er for "all-mountain"
140mm of front travel, 120mm of rear travel
uses A.R.T. suspension design (FSR variant) and 142mm rear thru axle
30.2 lbs claimed
I had to take a large out for my ride which is a tad larger than I need at 5'7" (normally ride a medium) but someone beat me to the medium. The Fit was not bad with the exception being that it was maybe a little tall in the standover dept.
I like the plain, uncluttered look of this bike. All the cables run full housing down the downtube which keeps the look clean. The white and black paint scheme was even a littled understated but classy.
The ride is what you would expect from a FSR type suspension. It had good overall suspension characteristics with only a little bob noticable during seated climbing, but not to the point where it was a hinderance or a distraction. It was not as active as the DW or the Rumblefish through the fast, rough sections but it wasn't too bad either. Small bump compliance and square edge bump handling were good (not DW Sultan good but good) even at very high speeds coming down some of the double track where the trail is full of rock lips. The Reba 140 on this bike worked ok but didn't seem to be as supple as the Fox I'm used to. It might still need some breaking in. The bike was well balanced and begged to be ridden fast. It manualed and wheelie dropped easily off the rock ledges. This bike liked to fly and had a great neutral feel in the air. Steering precision was good with only the weak wheelset comprimising it a bit. The rear was very stiff with the 142 20mm thru-axle (wish it could be removed without a tool, like a Maxle) with the weak point again being the wheelset.
This bike really had me thinking of getting a 140mm fork and some flat bars for my Sultan.
Overall, it's a very cabable AM/Trail 29'r that can be picked up compete for under $3k.
Details on the norco website - http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/29ers/shinobi/
Baisic highlight specs:
29er for "all-mountain"
140mm of front travel, 120mm of rear travel
uses A.R.T. suspension design (FSR variant) and 142mm rear thru axle
30.2 lbs claimed
I had to take a large out for my ride which is a tad larger than I need at 5'7" (normally ride a medium) but someone beat me to the medium. The Fit was not bad with the exception being that it was maybe a little tall in the standover dept.
I like the plain, uncluttered look of this bike. All the cables run full housing down the downtube which keeps the look clean. The white and black paint scheme was even a littled understated but classy.
The ride is what you would expect from a FSR type suspension. It had good overall suspension characteristics with only a little bob noticable during seated climbing, but not to the point where it was a hinderance or a distraction. It was not as active as the DW or the Rumblefish through the fast, rough sections but it wasn't too bad either. Small bump compliance and square edge bump handling were good (not DW Sultan good but good) even at very high speeds coming down some of the double track where the trail is full of rock lips. The Reba 140 on this bike worked ok but didn't seem to be as supple as the Fox I'm used to. It might still need some breaking in. The bike was well balanced and begged to be ridden fast. It manualed and wheelie dropped easily off the rock ledges. This bike liked to fly and had a great neutral feel in the air. Steering precision was good with only the weak wheelset comprimising it a bit. The rear was very stiff with the 142 20mm thru-axle (wish it could be removed without a tool, like a Maxle) with the weak point again being the wheelset.
This bike really had me thinking of getting a 140mm fork and some flat bars for my Sultan.
Overall, it's a very cabable AM/Trail 29'r that can be picked up compete for under $3k.
Details on the norco website - http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/29ers/shinobi/
