Hi guys am looking for a new bike (currently riding a norco six three 2007) looking for something that i can use more on trails but hit the gravity runs when required…. 🙂

am 6 ft and am 17st….. (ex-rugby player :*(

anyway i need something thats going to take abuse!

the norco (albit the 2 SE ) won trail bike of the year and norcos are knows for being strong
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/norco/sight-3-se-2012-mountain-bike-ec036902#features

not had any experience with rocky mountain….
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/rocky-mountain/altitude-50-2012-mountain-bike-ec033383?xid=118488&utm_source=118488&utm_medium=Awin&utm_campaign=Affiliate#features

to me the rocky has the better spec but i am just looking for advice or alternatives in the £1500 price range…..

anyone help or advise 🙂

thanks for any advice or recomendations guys 🙂

I recently bought a RM Element as it proved to be a bit of a bargain: good kit, built to last and with a nice finish. Geometry was spot on for me too. I did a “sit on test” of the Altitude and whilst it felt good, it was more bike than I needed. Don’t forget to haggle… I managed an extra discount 🙂

can’t really haggle to save myself but tbh at £800 off the rocky and £400 off the norco can’t really complain much…. i just hope someone can advise me better on the specs as i said the rocky seems to have the overall better spec but the norco to me had the better suspension spec……better rear shock and forks unless am missing something.

my LBS doesn’t do either of these bike and i can only seem to find then on evanscycles… there are two evans stores within 30 miles of me but neither had either of these in stock… especially for me to test sizing… i would love to do a sit on test on both but tbh i think either of them will be so superior to my current lump! lol

thanks for the reply! 🙂

I own one of he first altitudes from 2009 and its a great bike, I’ve hammered it all over and regular gets battered in the lakes.

The geometry does have you sat up on the bike which can hinder descending as seat gets in way more, get a dropper if you can.

one of the main reasons i was looking at these two was the fact of adding a dropper almost straight away…..

just phoned both both evans stores near me they dont have either in stock to try sizes but they do have the model down and model up respectively which means i can get the sizing right ….. step in the right direction i guess lol 🙂

I might be wrong but doesn’t the Altitude have a crazy steep seat tube angle? Would make the cockpit short and not so great for spinning along. If it was my money it would be the Norco.

Have a look on bike discount.de, i seen a Fuji reveal 2 for 1399 IRC. Looked alright but don’t know how it stacks up against the Norco and the rocky.

Evans are the importers for both I believe, but they’ve dumped RM for 2013. Your local Evans should be able to get the right size in for you to demo. They do ask for a deposit but it is fully refundable!

Rocky’s angles are much more XC orientated than the Norco. I had a Norco Fluid LT until last year and it was great. I’d recommend it- the Sight is actually slacker and lower then my Fluid which had 160mm travel.

Rocky will be better made, but for the riding you describe the Norco sounds better.

@nonsense

yeah been reading that but its only 2′ of a difference….
also with the sizing in the rocky’s i could go for a 19 or a 20.5 according to there size ranging as they overlap which if i went for the 20.5 the cockpit would be bigger anyway…

@munrobiker

yeah seen that, the biggest thing with the rocky being better made is my weight and alot of people saying that its practically bomb proof…

rocky for me is
stronger (going by what i have read)
better overall drive train setup
better rims

norco for me is
better suspension forks and rear shock
got great overall reviews
from what a friend had told me better brakes than the rocky
the angles are slacker
wider handle bars to start with!

am so confused….. lol

It is short in the cockpit but thats why you need to make sure you have the right size. Why would you have trouble just spinning along?

The formula brakes are spot on by the way, I have fitted a 150 mm set of revs on mine.

I’ve used mine at antur stiniog, loads of trail centres, weekly lakes rides, Yorkshire dales, he den and Calderdale, brown backs XC races and I did the coast to coast on it this year.

This is mine a few weeks ago

was in evans earlier today and seen this bad boy up close and its stunning…..

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lapierre/zesty-314-2012-mountain-bike-ec031531

anything has to be a bigger cockpit than my norco six three atm anyway lol but yeah i will get to try my size on sat or sunday in both makes just different spec’ed models… so i should know for defo which size to get in both just really indecisive on which one i should be getting tho 🙂

I’d get the norco, but CRC are selling cheap commencal meta am thingies which look quite good.

@philfive

what else did you try first?
if you get the sizing right does the cockpit feel tight?
do you have any other high quality pictures?
hows overall wear and tear anything that needed to be replaced?

thanks

@hainman

just out of my price range tbh it was in the trail bike of the year comp that the sight 2 won (but its the same frame as the sight 3)

@davidtaylforth

i did look at the meta am a few weeks back but alot of reviews mentioned quite a bit of rear end flex…. but i have yet to see one in the flesh..

i did look at the meta am a few weeks back but alot of reviews mentioned quite a bit of rear end flex…. but i have yet to see one in the flesh..

which reviews?

I’d have thought they’d be anything but flexy. Got one of them bolt through axels aswell.

ah looking again at the review that said that that was based on the 09 version…..
While the ’09 model is stiffer around the front end and linkages than previous Metas, there’s still an ‘articulated’ feel between the two halves. There’s a serious amount of wheel ?op at the rear tips too, which makes it smear rather than stick lines

will look at more current reviews…. 🙂

On the face of it the Rocky Mountain is hand down the better bike. Way better forks, superior rear shock, better finishing kit (Easton v own-brand), better wheels (I’d be looking to swap out the ones on the Norco pretty much straight away) and (arguably) better brakes. The only potential downside is the seatpost angle. Half a degree difference can make a huge difference in terms of frame design and performance, so a couple of degrees? I’ve discussed the Rocky Mountains with the guys at Evans in the past and apparently they climb well. Not sure how that impacts on descending, but if you’ve a dropper post then you can set your weight where you want. Rocky does look like more of an “up, down, around” xc type than a descender. probably an ideal trail centre type bike whee you always know (within reason) what’s coming up.
In reality you want to test ride them both on a mountain somewhere. Given that that might prove problematic, my money would be on the Rocky Mountain.
FWIW – I’m 6’3″ and 17 stone (also ex-rugby player 🙂 ) and got my knickers in a twist about whether bikes would be strong enough etc. Reality is unless you’re planning on chucking you + bike off 10 foot drops on a regular basis, you don’t need to worry too much about the strength of the frame. Unless its a supermarket special, any mountain bike frame will be strong enough for the vast majority of UK riding

@funkrodentt

cheers for that… 10 foot drops nah but 3 to 5 foot drops are quite normal on most of the trails about me…. one thing i was always worried about was the air rear shock…… blowing seals ect…. due to weight 🙁 but am leaning more and more towards the rocky now as mentioned with the dropper there is no problem with cramped cockpit and decents, while with the seatpost angle climbing should be a piece of cake

Cazum

I had a 2006 orange five before.

As stated the seatpost angle is steep but it does help climbing, to help descending get a dropper as I stated before.

Nothing wore out faster than normal, I put a shorter stem on and run a double but that was my choice, did a bearing change after 2 years.

Vid of bike on jumps at gisburn

[video src="http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m205/phil1977uk_2006/C2EC96EC-5D73-4EC5-B3F0-B875E57CDE89-3433-00000086C65B4CE5.mp4" /]

Me at antur

Loaded up on the coast to coast

mmmmmm defo leaning more and more on the rocky mountain….. would have like to have seen it make the trial bike shoot out that the sight and others made to see what the “pro’s” thought of it but guess i will just have to make my own mind up 🙂

cheers for advice and any help

keep it coming if anyone has anything relevant 🙂

I’m on my second Rocky Mountain, first was an 05 Slayer and am very happy with my Altitude. Its a great ride and very comfortable,dont find the angles too steep or feel limited on the downs. My only complaint is the rear wheel clearnace isnt the biggest so it can clog up there at times in the muck (2.1 Nobby Nics).

@stayhigh thanks for another vote for the rocky, going to try sizing and feel of the bikes on sunday. should know more then. got alittle side tracked by the new 2013 altitude….. 650b wheels 150mm travel…. ooooohhhh it looks nice but will be out of my price range for a year atleast

but i did come accross

Jamis Dakar Sixfifty B Comp 2012 650b Mountain Bike

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jamis/dakar-sixfifty-b-comp-2012-650b-mountain-bike-ec031864

anyone know anything about there bikes? i googled the fusion forks they seem decent enough in reviews ect…… the brakes are kack but….

i have a real soft spot of the dakar and it looks good but can’t tell you how they ride.

If I weighed 17st and was doing drops of any size, I’d be looking at the Range or Slayer to be honest…

well being 17st is a major issue for me tbh…. but am looking for something to do it all in the £1500 price range and if you can recommend something then great i will try it out!!!!

I can’t help on pricing as I’m in Canada but the Norco Range and Rocky Slayer are the burlier versions of the bikes that you mentioned. Both are pretty solid but not too heavy. There’s also the Giant Reign but lower linkages are a bit weak on those. Not a major issue though. Prices should really be the similar to the bikes you’ve found. They are over here at least.

so got to the shop today 🙂 checked out these two also the jamis 650b and a BMC, put the deposit down on the rocky and they are getting my size in they only have a 20.5 in the altitude 70 and a 18 in the altitude 50…. but am sure the 19 altitude 50 will feel great! 🙂

Excellent choice.

+1

yeah i agree the pictures on the site dont do the rocky justice! just looks the far better bike also its spec’ed better than the others that i looked at and its light!!!!! wow! couldn’t beleive how light it was considering am running a norco six three atm and that thing is about 37 to 40lbs!!! just can’t wait till they get it in

1st things on the list

780 bars
getting the front crank swapped out to a 2 x 10 with a bash guard
was looking at the seatpost situation dont know if am gonna be able to fit a dropper 🙁 there aint much of the post that goes into the frame lol

well got my bike very happy with it….

not been out riding on it yet not heading out until my helitape is done…. my front crank is a 2 x 10 with bash and i have a dropper….. should be done by next weekend hopefully 🙂

Bit of a random bump, just wondering how you are finding the RM a couple of months down the line? Hapopy with the purchase?

I was on the cusp of buying a Norco Sight 2 SE for £2250 when I spotted the Alpine 50 for £150. Struggling to choose between them – I’d want to stick a Reverb on the RM anyway so its roughly £500 difference between the two which couple be well spent elsewhere! I’m really hankering for the Norco though…

Added to that someone at working is selling a 3 year old Whyte E120 for just under a grand. Tempting but fearful of buying such an expenseive bike second hand.