SUSPENSION

With bike companies becoming (become) increasingly standardized in the sales banter you will only see me returning to the familiar fields of joy that are mountainbike acronyms relating to suspension tech. Regularly revolving around themes that tackle finding that balance between pedalling efficiency, square edge compliance, braking performance and leverage ratio curves…and then adding a quirky spin on the design. In this case ART (I’ve already forgotten what it means).

Norco talk a lot about square edge slowing suspension designs down, which is massively relevant obviously, we waited eagerly to see if this resulted in better ground speed over (well they didn’t say which) less efficient designs. BoXXer R2C2 paired with a Vivid coil is quality through and through, Norco also say they have lowered the overall leverage ratio to enable greater tunability and longer shock life.

In many ways the Aurum is a difficult bike to fault. Having paired good aesthetic with a build kit that can engage with the job in which it is trusted and then having engineered a solid union between suspension design and shock tune it ticks all the right boxes. In terms of angles it’s the same as many downhill bikes going into the year ahead and this (a large) feels good for six foot, whereas say a Trek or Santa Cruz you’d be leaning more towards XL even though the numbers on this and the Session are pretty similar!

In amongst the action the Aurum sits well offering an understandable ride with no eccentricities in the suspension. In terms of dealing with the bigger hits, it copes well maintaining good shape and speed. Speed across the ground is fair, so too manoeuvrability. I put this less than glowing feel down to several factors. First of all the steering feels slightly slow and even with spacers between headset and top crown the front is a shade on the low side. Secondly, also the BoXXer fork wasn’t the smoothest having had some previous outings before reaching us.

For all its similarities on the numbers compared to many other bikes, the Aurum felt slightly lethargic leaving me slightly frustrated. Time to get to work on the dampers, or should I say time to phone up Dan Stanbridge and get hold of his World Cup race machine, a bike that you can be sure will have been agonized over in terms of settings. It did not disappoint. The Stanny set–up had energized the Norco by various means. First of all the bar height was half an inch higher (ground to bar end) and wider than our stock bike, having fitted more spacers between crown and headset and coming with a slightly higher stem. Second, a black spring had been fitted to an already prepped BoXXer which gave way more support.

The resultant changes to the ride were marked, giving more pick up, better support up front and increased manoeuvrability. The bike, already with sound and simple rear suspension design, was improved in overall balance. Speed across the ground was better but still the Norco must be viewed as a downhill only bike. I say this only because the top end modern downhill bikes are many pounds lighter and certainly quicker acting, more like long travel trail bikes given the guaranteed flatter traverses that are part of the race circuit. Still, the Aurum is nevertheless a highly proficient well–balanced bike once tweaked.

CONCLUSION

£3699 is a fair price for a good bike. £2499 for the lowest spec, that’s only just over a pound heavier than our test bike, seems a good option too. There are bound to be comparisons with the Trek Session. The Session 8 is less money but not quite the spec, whilst the 88 is better spec but £1300 more expensive. Kona produce the Operator, which again is either cheaper or dearer. I find downhill bike’s hugely frustrating mainly due to price/spec complexity. I cannot help but look at a similarly suspended Canyon Torque Speedzone for €2100 and I look back at the top end Sessions from only three or four years hence at £3500.

With the fastest carbon race machines running at around £3–4000 for frame only, and a Mondraker Summum almost £6000 complete, all with an ability to be built around the 32lb mark, it’s the battle around the £2500–£4000 mark that’s the most difficult ground to call. I think this particular bike is OK, and even though I was riding forty pound bikes with these angles six or seven years ago, £1699 for a Norco Dirt Team frame is a bloody good deal not to be missed.

And then £5200 for a top end aluminium Aurum with CCDB running at a claimed 34.7lb with a proven spec sounds tempting, although even the pro bike of Dan Stanbridge tipped in at 38.16lb. I weighed the stock test bike at over 39lb so I’m still thinking about the lower end bike and together with the standard Operator £2550 (apart from German on–lines) seem the way to go. Reliable but standard spec, upgrade the dampers as you need. I guess I want the bog standard bike with the better dampers for around £2700. At the moment I could buy a top of the range Deemax/Formula/X0 German online bike AND a Norco Aurum frame for a £1000 les than a top of the range Aurum complete.

Enough of the money talk, but clearly something that every rider will be considering. Getting back to the hardware, well the proportions that have been sorted front and rear of the bottom bracket is a huge plus in comparison to other brands, thank goodness for Gravity Tune! Overall it’s largely positive – a solid build, nicely presented, with a very effective, smooth and progressive suspension system. It’s slightly heavy and marginally low up front (as mentioned) which makes me think that maybe they should apply the headset sizing in line with their Gravity Tune front and rear centre proportions. Most of all big thanks to Dan Stanbridge for letting us ride his well prepped bike.

Price: Aurum 1 £3699.99

Evans Cycles 01293 574 900

www.evanscycles.com

www.norco.com