Norco Nitro Frame

[punga]

I've found a good deal on a 2001 Norco Nitro frame and wondering if anybody has had any experience with these?

I'm looking to move the parts from my old Giant Warp hardtail (XT drivetrain, 2001 RockShox Psylo, SRAM 9.0 V-brakes and Sun Rhyno Lyte rims) so there won't be much build up costs. My Psylo is set to about 100 mm right now, but I may stretch it out to 125 mm.

I read a few good reviews where ever I've been able to find them.

Comments on how a longer for would affect it would be helpful too (it came stock with an 80mm Mars).

Thanks

[themonkeyman]

While I haven't ridden one, the longer fork will slacken the head angle, and slow the steering a little bit. It will help the descending yet won't effect the climbing much.

A tip I know for calculating the head angle is: look up the stock head angle, and then for each extra inch of travel you add, take away one degree. I.E. if the stock setup has a 3-inch-travel fork, with a 70* head angle, and you put on a 5-inch-travel fork (adding 2 inches) the head angle will decrease to about 68*. It's just an estimating system, but it works pretty well. For an XC bike I wouldn't have a head angle any slacker than about 67 degrees, becasue it will slow the steering down too much, and climbing will be really tough. Hope that helps--Graham

[punga]

I won the auction (only paid $80!) and the frame should be on its way. I'm having the shop do some maintenance on my fork and extend it out to about 4.5 inches to see how it rides. The specs on the web say it has a 70* headtube (and the seller got the year wrong, it's a 2002, the only year it was offered in black and white), so I'll be taking about a degree off the head tube.

Combined with a riser bar and shorter stem I plan to install, it should be nice, stable ride for my girlfriend to learn on and for me to play around when the Stumpy S-works is offline.

Thanks for the tip. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[themonkeyman]

You're welcome--have fun! :)