Matt’s New Norco Sight Carbon 7.15

With our 2014 Norco Demo Fleet arriving imminently Norco have sent Matt his ride for the year. Lets have a closer look and hear his thoughts on this carbon trail slayer

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I was presented with this bike shortly before guiding for Evans Cycles Norco Weekender at Afan (Wales). I’m not sure if I believe in love at first ‘Sight’ (pun intended) but I was pretty freakin’ stoked!

The Sight Carbon is a new addition to Norco’s range for 2014. There are three models available – The top of the range Sight Carbon 7.1 SE, middle of the range 7.1 and the entry level 7.15. The 7.15 is a special edition that Norco have put together exclusively for the UK. It’s mid range components make for a great value (£3000) carbon trail bike that promises to be every bit as good as it looks.

Afan was the perfect playground to push the 7.15 to its limits and we’d be riding almost every stretch of trail over the two days including technical climbs and descents as well as fast flowing sections.

The first thing I noticed about the Sight was how balanced it felt. Norco’s ‘A.R.T’ suspension design is silky smooth in its travel and the 14omm Fox forks and shock are ready to eat up just about anything in their way. With a slightly lower BB height than last year the Sight feels stable and planted through the turns, keeping the stoke high along with the confidence to push harder. Its worth mentioning that the high profile 2.25 Maxxis Ardent tyres do a great job too although I think I’ll be swapping them out for some faster rolling Onzas soon!

“The 7.15 is a special edition that Norco have put together exclusively for the UK”

As well as being stiffer and in some cases lighter, carbon breaks the aesthetic design limitations of hydraformed aluminium and Norco have exploited this with much cleaner lines than the alloy Sight. Perhaps the most noticeable change is the removal of the brace between the seat and top tubes, leaving a seat mast ‘fin’ to house the RockShox Reverb. With simple matte raw finish and the colourful accents each bike in the range sports, the Sight Carbon really is a head turner.

Since getting back from Wales I’ve changed a few things including the bars and stem. Wider bars and a shorter stem bring your weight forward encouraging greater traction on the front wheel. The wider bars also help with balance encouraging the bike to get lower in the turns. I got rid of the 2×10 SLX chainset and brakes, replacing them with an XT setup I had lying about but with a narrow wide chainring excusing the need for a chain device.

These changes come down to personal preference. The Sight Carbon 7.15 is a belter straight out of the box and is incredible value compared to some of the high street MTB names available in the UK. If you’re in the market for a carbon 650B trail bike come and check the Sight carbon out. If you can persuade me (biscuits are delicious), I might even let you go for a spin!

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