FIRST LOOK: Norco Sight Carbon 9.2

Words: Lachlan McKillop

Photos: Robert Conroy

When a new bike is arriving for a test, I get a little antsy. At heart I’m just a big kid and although the bike isn’t mine I am super pumped to try out what this new bike has to offer. But with Norco’s new Sight Carbon I was more eager than most to see what would be delivered. Firstly the model is completely updated, secondly is uses bigger wheels (which I love) for the 9.2 model I would be testing, and thirdly it was the first one to reach Australian shores.

When you get a new test bike there can be a whole spectrum of how a bike is built and how much of the bike needs to be put together. The Sight Carbon arrived in a large box (always a good sign) and to my surprise there was minimal to put together, bars on, front wheel in, front brake on, dropper connected, shocks inflated – done. Put together in under 20 minutes. One of the best bike builds from a box I have had, so hats off Norco.

The quality of how the bike was put together was great too. My first pet hate with any test bike is the cables out the front of the bike, basically no one wants a bird nest of cables out the front, it just looks bad. For the first time since working with AMB these cables were perfectly neat out of the box which has to be applauded. The cables for the majority are internal which is always great and aesthetically pleasing. The way the cables go into the frame have great little cable guides that bolt onto the frame too. The finish on the frame is great with smooth paint and no markings or paint bubbles and although the paint is loud up close it’s a pretty cool scheme.

The model on test is the Sight 9.2, the model sits second from the top and utilises RockShox suspension front and back with Shimano taking care of the shifting, brakes and rolling duties (hubs). Key in the suspension is the addition of a new metric sized shock. With metric offering more bushing overlap this delivers a stiffer shock which allows the suspension to work better through its travel when it may be under flex. The build is burly and to be quite honest very close to how I would build my own bike, downhill tyres, one-by chain ring and some wide handlebars. This added a new level of wanting to take this onto the trail.

With the bike together, suspension setup was fairly easy. The rear shock feels quite progressive on the bike, to match it I have set up the 140mm Pike with 3 tokens to balance the bike and so far soo good with feeling. With these tweaks the bike feels snappy when taking the bike through corners and it responds great to harsh hits.

So far I have had three days on the bike. The bike is nimble and playful, with an aggressive geometry the bottom bracket sits at a great height to rail corners while the 67 degree head angle with the 29" wheel and tall front end inspire confidence on the steep descents. The bike is capable to say the least, I’ve taken it from local trail rides to now more gravity inclined trails and it chews up everything that I have put in front of it. The addition of pretty much downhill tyres helps the bike take on more then it’s labelled 140/130mm suspension level.

Taking it back up the hill the bike holds it own too. With it’s lightweight construction the bike is easy to move around on those tight twisties. I have had to play around with the rear shock a touch to get it to sit in the travel and limit the bobbing, but nothing that won’t take anyone more then a couple of rides to tinker with. The 29 inch wheels really help with climbing and although both tires are fairly large there wasn’t any point where I found a thinner tire would have helped at all.

I have a couple more weeks on the bike but so far so good. Norco have really updated their Sight well, offering a 29" wheel option is a great idea as riders now have an option. The geometry is playful and offers a bike that can really do a bit of everything. With a solid parts lists that looks like something that would be more likely spec’ed on an enduro race bike the Sight looks at you and wants to be pointed downhill. Stay posted for more in the next issue of AMB.