Yes, another bike knowledge request from me

Anyone ridden a sight, Evans have a cracking deal on the carbon 7.4 at the moment and looking at some pics online it looks a decent bit of a bike for the money.

Anyone have one or ridden one and wouldn’t mind sharing a few thoughts?

Had one for a few weeks (similar cracking deal from Evans). Had been riding a 29er hardtail for the last few years and last had a 2000 Santa Cruz superlight. Really fancied a carbon 5010 but demoed one at glentress and didn’t get on with low bb. Really pleased with the sight; rides well and I prefer 27.5 to 29. Make sure you take advantage of the trade in too. I bought a cheap second hand bike for this purpose 🙂

Cheers, how does it climb?

Fine. It’s a 2014 model so same frame geometry as 2015 but came with longer stem than this year’s model. It’s a large frame. Swapped 90mm stem for a 60mm and it still climbs well. The CTD shock on mine doesn’t seem to offer much more of a platform in C mode and thought I’d miss having a lockout coming from hardtail and previous fs with lockout, but it’s fine. NB I’m slow up hills anway…

I have the 2015 Norco Range – ordered a Sight but wasn’t available for 2 months + got a great deal on the Range instead, which is bloody great. Climbing on the Range is excellent, much better than I expected especially using the CS on the CCDB Air. I’m sure the Sight would be really good too. My only minor concern would be that there seem to have been a few issues with the CCDB Inline, although these might be ironed out by now.

Not ridden a sight but i have a Norco Fluid 120mm and it climbs really well, Just as well as my old Yeti ASR 90mm travel.

I have a sight . Really love it but then it’s my first full sus since a proflex 857 .

Would be my first full suss, full stop 😀

Only ever had hardtail bikes so its all a bit unfamiliar.

Bought an ex-demo Sight 7.1 carbon from Evans about 2 weeks ago. So far absolutely loving it. What really surprised me was how well it climbs. Thats not to say that it is disappointing down hill because it really isn’t, but just seems to get up technical climbs so well. I changes the wheels for Roval Traverse SLs which may have something to do with the it.

Ok! Just looked at the spec compared to my sight . Similar in lots of ways. The wheels are very basic but sturdy enough. They don’t go up tubeless though , so that may be a consideration for you. If it’s the one on evans for 1.9k Then I think it’s great value. Frame is fantastic and as future proof as it can be.

Rear wheel traction seems to be particularly good with the Norco full-sus system, at least WAY better than my previous bikes. Really showed up how much energy I was wasting before, especially on awkward / rocky terrain. Downhill the Range is amazing – haven’t tried the Sight though.

Cheers chaps, nipping into the local Evans before the footy tomorrow to see if they can get 1 in to throw a leg over.

Wheels were only real concern, although I’ve read of people getting them tubeless with a few layers of tape.

Appreciate the comments, and you are right frame looks fantastic and future proof.

I’m curious – what exactly do you mean by future proof ??

Futureproof?….head tube large enough to accommodate any standard steerer, swappable rear axle standards (135, 142, QR, 12mm etc), frame clearance to allow ‘plus’ size tyres….fairly standard question I thought.

I’ve got a 2014 Carbon 7.4. I absolutely love it. Gets up and down all the technical riding here in Canada without too much fuss. Frame is pretty bombproof as far as I can tell and I’ve had a few solid crashes with on it and it seems no worse for wear. Only downsides to my build are the wheels are a little heavy and I’m not a fan of the 2 x 10 system, but both of those are easily fixed without spending too much cash.

Matt – quite interested in the Sight too…when are you going to Evans?

Had a 2013 sight 2,great climber,not too shabby downhill,

I have a sight – a 2013 model – which was the first 27.5″ version Norco did. Generally been a great bike. Climbs well and fast on the descents. It is the alu version I have which is quite heavy. That said I still chose to ride it yesterday in the Glentress seven over my carbon hardtail which I use for off-road triathlons! Just wanted to have fun yesterday and enjoy the circuit!

Minor issues I have had with the bike as follows:-

* Support from Evans / Norco is generally poor – e.g. I crash damaged one of the screw cable guides. Contacted Norco who asked me to contact Evans…..Evans said 2 months for a replacement! Thankfully nukeproof do a similar guide that fits.

* Pivot bolt worked its way loose on a long ride and lost it. Don’t know how this happened as regularly checked them. Evans did have spares on-line this time thankfully. Never happened again.

All in all a great fun bike for everyday riding.

cheers
al

Matt – quite interested in the Sight too…when are you going to Evans?

Hi mate, to be honest I’m not sure when I’ll be nipping in as I’m going to watch the match so might be before or after, depending on time so difficult for me to say.

Looking at the stock checker online they don’t have any in so It will just be a quick visit to see if they can get one in.

Another minor issue if you get the one – the rear brake cable causes obvious cable rub on the inside of the rear stay – best to put some frame protector on as for some reason Norco haven’t.

Im going to go against the flow on the climbing thing. Ive ridden a 650b alloy sight for 2 1/2 years, really great bike, much more capable than you would expect a 140mm bike to be. the norco take of the horst link makes for a very good descending platform. The only thing I would say against them is that horst link which is great for going down hill is a bit to active climbing, particularly technical climbing, especially when you want to get out the saddle, you just seem to loose so much power through the suspension. If your a light rider then you will be fine, Im not. I tried everything 300psi, push fit the shock, cane creek dbcs, all made some improvements but it was still there compared to other bikes.If you climb in the saddle you will probably never notice it. won’t stop me getting another one either.

I have the 2014 Sight 2 SE (great deal from Evans on their ex-demo). Climbs like a mountain goat, descents are point-n-shoot.

Apparently they have an issue of ovalising the pivot bearings, should check mine at some point.

Edit: Interesting post above about light riders – I’m 61kg and don’t notice the bike bob when in climb setting on the shock.

chain stay bolt on mine worked loose and i lost that.. also agree about support and Norco. Check their website, not a thing on maintenance , parts etc

Yes they insist you contact the dealer for everything, but that means Evans, and although they have been good in my experience it does mean having to rely on the dealer as a go-between, which is annoying. Their website has no contact information for technical skills support, queries etc.

id also agree with duffrider my pivot bolt bearing used to come loose on a frequent basis, I also have a 13 alloy frame, the newer model seem to have a much more substantial bolt/bearing setup so maybe they have looked into the problem?

Also agree on the Evans issue, I snapped my chain stay coming off a drop, Evans / Norco were happy to replace under warranty as the weld on one of the cable routes was defective, good. But it took 2 months to get the new stay, not good. the Evans store kept saying they were having problems with the distributor,which wasn’t the best line as they are the sole distributor/retailer in the UK. It came in the end and also the pivot bolt issue on the new stay never arose.

the other thing to be aware of is that because evans are the sole supplier replacement bearing are a fortune through them, for the lot and replacement shock bolts you are looking at £150+, they are only enduro bearing and the bolts show very little wear, so you can do it much cheaper.

yes i got new bearings from Qbikes. ignored Evans. Very good service and cheap

Purchased the Sight 7.3 from Evans two weeks ago and have now ridden 150k on the bike, impressions:
Climbs like a goat, great traction, very little pedal bob, solid transfer of power, running the Hans Dampf at 28 psi, float with boost valve is easy to tune and give a really supportive ride. Fox forks are good, bit wallowy at start of stroke for my personal liking but lots of support mid/full stroke, left both on trail mode all the time. Good spread of gearing.
Downsides – chain slap from shadow mech, will fit a shadow + a some point, frame rub from rear hydraulic brake line on carbon seat stay, after 50K was through to carbon, cable/frame rub between front mech cable & clevis link, frame rub on head tube from plethora of cables/tubes, slight side to side movement in reverb seatpost.

Overall it is a great bike with huge upgrade potential, don’t know how it will stand up to a Scottish winter and or how the Sun rims will work tubeless, only time will tell.

My local (to work) Evans has a carbon Sight 7.4 in the window for a very good price indeed…

…just been to look it over, it’s not as light as I expected (thanks to the heavy steel test pedals and that wheelset), the cable routing is haphazard and it didn’t feel quite as long in the top tube as I’d hoped – coming from a 2011 Spesh Camber as near as like for like.

That’s the bad stuff out of the way. It looks beautifully put together, the frame is well finished and the Rockshox Monarch/Revelation setup is excellent for the cash.

I’m still keen…would anyone be able to give updates on life with their Norcos since this thread was started, please?

I’ve briefly ridden the 7.4 carbon. It’s a pretty bike and is a decent deal for south of 2k. I thought the dropper and gears were disappointing however. It’s difficult but — and I have hindsight here — try not to let the carbon blind your decision making!

I went for the 2015 7.2 carbon on which I got a fair discount. It’s a decent bike and rides very well, although I’ll be honest and say it isn’t quite as well put together as I’d hoped. Mainly little things like the ‘tubeless ready’ rims and their rim tape which somehow manages to leave the rim bed completely exposed in areas. That said, I paid for a whole bike with Pikes and a DBInline roughly the same as one would pay for a Bronson frameset.

Also, my bike was sold to me with a cable routing that led to abrasion causing sudden rear brake failure in under 50 hours of riding. I was manualling clipped in and would be dead if I hadn’t been wearing a helmet. It’s been a month and half but I still have post-concussive symptoms and can’t ride or run or anything. Apparently Norco and Evans ‘are aware of the issue’ but are seemingly doing nothing to address the fact that the brakes of thousands of bikes as they’ve sold them are very likely to fail in just a handful of rides. This affects the Range too. However, correct routing is pretty easy to achieve. I imagine it’s less of an issue with banjo-less Shimano brakes, but for the Guides the banjo needs to be pointed downwards towards the bracket on the chainstay where it fits in nicely inside the seatstay.

PLEASE DO POST if you find this useful. Check your hose routing for abrasion if in doubt. Like I said, this would have been the end of me had I not been wearing a helmet.

I’ve had a carbon 7.4 for the last 6 months and 1300km. Upgraded the wheels from scratch and swapped to stay brakes, other than that it’s pretty much stock. As mentioned above the cable rooting can cause some issues, the front derailleur cable has rubbed against the rocker enough to remove its outer but have had no issues with the brake hoses. My biggest problem has been frequently loosing the chain. I hope this will be remedied by changing to 1 by 11.

Have ridden it all over my local trails, everything from sandy XC races to loose rocky steepish stuff. It’s never felt out of it’s depth (unlike me) and is the easiest bike to get airborn I’ve ever ridden (not many admittedly). Climbs very well, best if the shock is left open I think.

I choose it over a stump jumper, Rocky Mountain Instinct and Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt and don’t regret it.

900 or so KM on the Sight by the end of the summer. Swapped to SLX brakes after I broke the original Formula C1 and went 1 x 10 with a One Up 42t ring. Still love it, suspension still feels great, still climbs well, no mechanical issues that weren’t caused by myself crashing into things. Only time I’ve felt I wanted a bigger bike were on a couple of the double black diamond trails on Blackcomb, but even then only for the steepest sections. Otherwise an outstanding bike for a great price.

Bedeabc: could you explain more about your cable issues? My rear brake cable heads in towards the inside of the rear stay and started to rub quickly. Also the rear derailleur cable rubbed on the frame due to incorrectly placed frame protector. The only solution I came up with was better frame protection but you mentioned an easy fix, wondering what you meant??

Jesus bedeabc glad you are ok , that sounds awful. Will be checking my rear brake cable for wear now.

I too have noticed that my main pivot bolt has started to frequently come loose . I replaced the bearings in May but have ridden a lot this year . Ovalised? Is it a case of just looking and checking? I also have to savage cable rub round the chainstay and from the dropper which isn’t a stealth on mine.

Planning on getting a respray , a new rear shock and replacing headset BB and bearings again come April time. Occasionally think of a new bike but I’m really happy with it.

So, two months on and mindful of the advice above – thanks all, by the way – I took the plunge and bought the sight 7.4. For £1680 it was and still is a bargain, it fits me very well (size large and I’m a long-limbed 5′ 11″) and my initial fear about top tube length was unfounded.

My first tentative, winter rides thus far have revealed it to have very active suspension, more so than either Specialized full suss bikes I’ve been riding immediately beforehand. I’d prefer more progression, but that may be me getting used to a different suspension philosophy from the Norco. To this end, I invested in a lot of helitape and have hopefully preempted the reported cable rub on the rocker and chainstays, not to mention the unprotected downtube.

Component-wise, it’s not the same bike that left the shop two months ago. The stock wheels were replaced with a brand new Hope/Stans Arch build, the gears, crank and brakes have been swapped for XT and I’ve swapped the Monarch RL for a DB Inline.

I’m somewhat nervous about the Inline as I’m no eight stone flyweight, but it makes a significant difference to the suspension feel.

I can’t wait for Spring to finally arrive and dry out the trails, as I suspect this bike will be a very engaging ride.

Photo required 🙂

I’ve got a 2016 Sight 7.1 – love it!

The spec is incredible for the money.

Its a Warranty replacement for my 2015 Sight 7.1 which sadly cracked 🙁

Wow that truly is a crack! Known issue?

When I first posted up pics in August another member said that the exact same thing happened to his mates bike – same bike, cracked in the same place.

The 2016 frame now has a front mech / chain guide mount point – also strengthened the problem area I’d say….