Sunday, October 23, 2011

dirtwest spotlight - Norco Aurum 1



This a new series for us here at dirtwest. The dirtwest Spotlight series will be an ongoing "real-rider" product review series. For our first episode we were lucky enough to borrow a pre-production version of the brand new 2012 Norco Aurum 1.

We took this bike to a lot of lower mainland BC mountains: Burke Mountain, Burnaby Mountain, Mt. Fromme, Whistler Bike Park and Invergarry, an inner-City jump spot. Most of this video was shot(after work) in Invergarry Park(City of Surrey Bike park coming Spring/Summer 2012). Here is our take on the fantastic new Downhill rig:

Our impressions of this bike were really positive: The Aurum 1 was Light and confident bike to ride. The bike features a tapered headtube, a detail shared among many of Norco's 2012 line up. This feature provides the strongest frame possible while keeping weight to an absolute minimum.

The new A.R.T. suspension is another stand-out feature. ART is an acronym for Advanced ride technology. Basically, ART means your suspension system is tuned respective to the size frame you purchase, something uncommon in the bike industry. The Aurum's new ART suspension design handled small stutter bumps and hard square edge hits really well. The Aurum was fast and precise over rough terrain, and pedaled extremely well.

The bike accelerated rapidly and braked responsively in all conditions. I suspect this great performance is largely due to the use of ART suspension and the hydroformed aluminum frame and light weight parts our Aurum 1 came spec'd with.

We appreciated Norco's attention to detail on the bike. Cable routings were neat and tidy. The Aurum1 runs an X9 10 speed drivetrain with Syntace's X-12 axle system; used together the Aurum had incredibly crisp and precise shifting. Another nice detail were the bike's integrated fork bumpers. Overall, The Aurum is great looking bike, it is equipped with an excellent spec, and best of all the bike is extremely quiet.

Special thanks to Norco for lending us this bike for review!
For more info on the Aurum visit http://www.norco.com

Watch us take the Aurum 1 down Ninja Cougar/Fade to Black at Whistler Bike Park. Filmed on a GoPro HD Hero:
Watch the Aurum 1 GoPro footage from Ninja Cougar/Fade to Black at Whistler Bike Park:


Thursday, October 20, 2011

Toyohashi Cruisin

Toyohashi Japan has got some great looking spots to see. The bike riding there looks amazing. It seems there are more forgotten places to immerse yourself in than one would expect. This post features photos from our friend's blog.


Read more at  http://daddyinjapan.blogspot.com


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Brandon Semenuk

Brandon Semenuk rode in Utah at some point in the past. This video by Trek depicts how his time was spent. He also talks a bit about a shoulder injury. As always Brandon is super exciting to watch and uber creative whilst on bike.

Watch:

Garett Buehler

Rides some North Shore... Good Shore, not the other kind.

Garett Buehler Fall 2011 Edit on pinkbike.com

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Welcome to the Jungle

The Jungle Trails from Washington.
It is hard to imagine the amount of time and hard work that has gone into this spot. Anyone who has built trails or jumps will appreciate just how much work has gone into these trails.

Brasov Pumptrack

Today's pumptrack post comes all the way from Romania. Check out the weird plug-ins they have over there.

Watch this creative edit of an amazing looking track now:

More Mountain Biking Videos

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Steve Smith

Steve Smith rides an awesome looking trail. Clearly filmed while he was still riding for Evil

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Team Clonc

If you like hip hop and sweet tricks on cruddy bikes, This is for you:

Tottenham Track




Rowan Sorrell and his crew at Back on Track have produced an amazing looking pump trail called the Lordship Loop. The trail is surfaced with aggregates to provide a year-round riding facility. The singletrack trail features rollers, berms, roller doubles and step-up jumps and will be rideable by all abilities but with more challenging jumps for experienced riders.  Sadly, The trail is located in Tottenham, UK