Review: Flow Mountain Bike - Norco Sight Bike

Flow Mountain Bike has reviewed the Norco Sight Bike. Here is what they had to say:

Norco has updated its flagship all-mountain bike for 2024 with some major changes to the suspension layout and kinematics. Does the new Sight raise the bar from its very popular predecessor? We've been testing the Sight C1 MX to find out!

Nick reviews the 2024 Norco Sight

The Norco Sight sits as the brand’s flagship all-mountain ripper, which in its previous form represented excellent all-round trail characteristics and brilliant value for money. Because of that, it has become very popular for beginners and advanced riders alike. Norco has truly jumped on the high-pivot bandwagon with the launch of its 2021 Shore and 2023 Range, so it was only a matter of time before the Sight jumped on board.

For 2024 Norco has updated both the Sight and its short travel sibling, the Optic, with the Virtual High Pivot suspension platform tailored for the application for each of the bikes. Various geometry and compatibility upgrades were also noted throughout, with all the initial details covered in our launch article.

Does the new Sight raise the bar from its predecessor? Nick has been testing a C1 MX model over the past six weeks to find out, and has been mighty impressed with its agility and suspension platform.

2024 Norco Sight Overview & Geometry

Apart from the obvious updates in suspension design, the biggest addition for the Sight is the compatibility with a 27.5in rear wheel, with all three models offered in Australia available in a mullet arrangement only. For those who don’t gel with the party-sized rear wheel or are 29in curious, Norco offers the ‘Missing Link’ kit for $199, which includes a new rocker link and lower shock mounts, converting the Sight into a full 29in platform.

New for 2024 is the shift to numbered frame sizing, moving away from ‘t-shirt’ sizing, which Norco claims provides a more accurate fit and increased overlap between sizes. The numbered sizing also prompts more thought into selecting the right size, rather than just reaching straight for the same labelled size each time.

Seat tubes steepen through the size range, starting at 77° on a size 1 and steepening to 78° on a size 5, allowing taller riders to maintain balance when climbing steeper trails. On the topic of seat tubes, Norco has opted for increased standover on all frame sizes with shorter seat tubes, allowing for longer dropper posts across the board, including a 210mm dropper on the size 4 tested.

The Sight has no adjustable geometry features (apart from the Missing Link 29in kit), so those who can’t help but tweak and tinker with geometry settings may have to look elsewhere. In my opinion, though, the geometry package on the Sight is dialled, and I would be unlikely to change it even if the option was available.

Other notable features include a threaded bottom bracket, moulded internal cable routing with a clamped entry port on the downtube, room for a single bottle on the downtube and bosses on the underside of the toptube for additional frame storage. Norco is yet to jump on the in-frame storage bandwagon, and while it’s not an essential feature, it sure is nice to have.

Virtual Pivot Suspension | High Pivot suspension

The most notable update to the Sight over the previous generation is the introduction of Norco’s Virtual Pivot Suspension | High Pivot suspension or VPSHP layout, sharing bump-devouring similarities with the high-pivot platform of the Norco Shore. While the big Norco Range is also a high pivot, it’s a slightly different platform and design. We have spent a fair amount of time on high pivots in recent years since their explosion in popularity, and have covered all of the general principles in our high-pivot mountain bike deep-dive for those who are curious as to why that is the case. Front and rear travel numbers have remained the same for 2024, with the VPSHP layout delivering 150mm of rear travel, paired with a 160mm fork.

So how did Norco make the call between the tried and true horst link layout, the high-pivot layout identical to the Range, and the combination of the two being the high-pivot horst link layout seen here? We reached out to Norco’s Senior Development Engineer, Colin Ryan, to find out;

“We considered sticking with the traditional horst link layout used on the previous generation Sight and also considered the high-virtual pivot layout we use on the Range. Ultimately, we ruled out the Range layout because we felt the axle path would be too rearward to suit the Sight’s intended use as the all-arounder in our lineup. We felt the more moderate amount of rearward axle path achieved by a high-pivot horst link layout could offer a benefit in rough and technical terrain while still keeping the responsive handling traits of the outgoing Sight but felt it needed to be tested before committing.

We ended up creating test mules for the Sight based on the high-pivot horst link layout that allowed us to benchmark the performance against the previous generation bikes. The performance of the mules helped solidify that moving to a high-pivot horst link design was the right approach for the Sight and with the adjustability built into them we were able to further refine the geo and kinematics before pushing play on production tooling.”

2024 Norco Sight Price and Specs

For testing is the C1 MX model of the Sight, which is the top-tier model available in Australia.

You’ll have to shell out $10,499 for the C1 edition, but in return you’ll receive a full carbon fibre frame, Fox Factory suspension, SRAM Code Stealth Silver brakes, a GX AXS T-Type drivetrain, and a 210mm OneUp V2 Dropper.

An interesting choice was a Maxxis DHF/DHR2 tyre combination in the EXO+/MaxxTerra flavour, which remains consistent across all models — more on this later.

A keen eye might notice that our test bike has some minor differences from the stock configuration, which Norco stated was due to this being a pre-production model.

These part swaps are as set of Code RSC brakes, an XO AXS T-Type derailleur and orange lowers on the Fox Factory Forks, none of which impacted the overall review of the bike.

Thankfully, Norco is also importing two other models into Australia which we covered in our first launch article, which includes a C2 model with the same carbon frame as we see here paired with a Rockshox suspension package and a GX mechanical drivetrain which retails for $8,999. Alternatively, for those that prefer aluminium, the A2 model delivers the same newfangled high pivot and geometry with a Fox Performance suspension package and a Shimano SLX drivetrain, coming in at $6,999.

The spring rates for both the fork and shock felt spot on, although the Ride Aligned system suggested a 515lbs spring for my 80kg weight, which wasn’t achievable with the adjustable Sprindex coil which maxed out at 500lbs. The recommended tyre pressures were a bit soft to what I prefer and I settled at 22psi up front and 26psi out back. Compression and rebound settings on the fork were a brilliant baseline, with only a few minor adjustments to the compression and rebound.

What we dig about the Norco Sight

Norco categorises the Sight as an All-Mountain bike, well suited from all-day epics to steep enduro stages and everything in between, and as such should be able to get you to the top with little fuss. Keen readers might remember that the Norco Range we reviewed back in 2022 was an excellent descender but struggled on the climbs due to its hefty weight and slow-rolling Maxxis MaxxGrip tyres. The weight of our C1 model test bike came in at a respectable 15.83kg, and while it’s no featherweight, it certainly didn’t feel like a slouch when heading to the top of the trails.

We were impressed with its sprightliness on the climbs, with the high-pivot platform delivering brilliant traction and stability on technical ascents, and the smaller rear wheel never made it feel as though I was losing efficiency. The rear suspension was settled during seated climbing, and the climb switch went mostly unused for the entire test period. Out of the saddle sprints prompted a little more movement from the shock, although still propelled the Sight efficiently up the hill and without wallowing into a bottomless abyss.

Component highs and lows

Coming in at a whopping $10,499, we had some high expectations for the build kit, and for the most part, the parts on the C1 model delivered. A fairly substantial shortcoming however was the build quality of the wheels, the rear in particular, which lost almost all spoke tension on the non-drive side during its sixth outing in Mystic.

The wheels themselves are built with some high-quality parts, with the Race Face Vault hubs being a standout, however the overall build quality let the team down on this one. After a 30-minute session in the truing stand and a drip of Loctite on each of the brass nipples, we had the wheel running relatively true and it remained that way for the duration of the test.

Who is this bike for?

So who is the Sight for? We think the newest Sight is ideal for two types of people; those who have loved high-pivot platforms in the past but are looking for something more lively and responsive, or those who fell in love with the old Sight platform or similar all-mountain bikes, and are after something a little more capable but don’t want to sacrifice efficiency and playfulness.

Can you race on the Sight? Absolutely. The efficiency and responsiveness of the Sight lend it very well to enduro racing, and I’d be interested to try it in the full 29in configuration to improve its rolling efficiency that little bit extra.

Flow’s Final Take

Jono’s review of the high-pivot monster truck Norco Range back in 2022 left the Flow team wondering what Norco could come up with in a shorter travel high pivot platform. It seems Norco was listening, or maybe they weren’t but had the same thought.

Regardless, the 2024 Norco Sight delivers all that we loved about the high-pivot bruiser Norco Range, in a package far better suited to Australian trails. The suspension platform is excellent and delivers a brilliant mix of bump-devouring hunger and liveliness, and the geometry is dialled leaving us with minimal requests for improvement. The only let-down is the quality of the rear wheel build, which if addressed at the pre-purchase stage, shouldn’t be an issue in the long-term.