![]() ![]() ![]() Those biggish tires really shine on this bike. I’m more than willing to trade off a bit of walking on climbs for the fun going down. Keeping enough weight on the front to keep the wheel down while not losing traction in the rear is frustrating at times. The long front center keeps things feeling stable when pointed downhill, but steep greasy climbs can be a handful. That short rear end invites all manner of rear wheel shenanigans, someone with more skill than me could really make this bike dance, but even I am always looking for things to jump up, over or around. Smart geometry and a dropper certainly help with this, but the tires are truly a stand-out for wet weather. The widely spaced knobs on the Nobby Nics dig in, but also let go and slide around with a predictability that made me feel like a much better rider. I’ve never ridden a bike that handles damp trails and wet leaves so well. The Torrent looks good on paper, but it absolutely shreds on the trail. ![]() I didn’t get to sample the stock RockShox Yari fork it wasn’t ready in time for the review. Nothing is a let down on the parts selection either: SRAM GX 1×11 drivetrain, Avid DB5 brakes, wide bar, short stem, KS dropper and the real stars-Nobby Nic 2.8s on WTB Scraper i45 rims. Head angle sits at a slack 67 degrees, 25.1-inch top tube, and a 12.8-inch bottom bracket. Smaller frames get shorter stays, larger get longer stays, a feature rarely seen outside of custom builders. Geometry plays the main role here, with a yoke allowing for 16.7-inch chainstays on my size large. Something about this bike just looks so proportional to me, from the size of the wheels, to the curve of the seat tube, to the angle of the fork everything lines up to make a right smart looking ride.īut you can’t ride appearances, and fortunately there is plenty of serious performance to back up the minty paint job. Fortunately no one listened, otherwise the Norco Torrent 7.1 wouldn’t exist, and that would be a damn shame. But it was years ago that certain media types declared the hardtail dead. I’m guilty of it myself recently in regards to singlespeeds (they make better zombies anyway). Get an overview of all of the bikes in this test, here, and keep an eye out for full reviews of each.Īge: 41, Height: 5’11″, Weight: 155 lbs., Inseam: 31”Īs a society, we seem fond of declaring things dead. Each bike was hand picked, not just for its price, but its components, geometry and modern features. These are great bikes for the price, and we’ll leave it up to you about what to spend. We could call them affordable, budget, real-world, blue-collar or college-fund-friendly, but someone would take offense at our assumption of disposable income level. This is our third annual roundup of trail bikes that aren’t priced to the stratosphere. ![]()
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