After five years of developing, testing, and racing, Norco has finally released its new downhill bike, appropriately named the Team DH.
They started with their Range enduro bike, evolved on its high pivot design with some additional links, prototyped a bunch of frames in different materials, and then had its legitimacy proven by their factory team.
Much of the process of creating the Team DH has happened in plain sight, so if you've been following along, what has become production may not be a huge surprise. But the fact that Norco is releasing the exact bike their factory team is racing is pretty dang sweet.
We tested the Team DH last week in Whistler as part of our 2026 DH Test Sessions. The full review will be up next month and I want to hold our impressions until then.
Below is an overview of the Team DH. Feel free to ask away with any questions and I'll do my best to get them answered!
Team DH Highlights
- Aluminum front triangle, carbon rear triangle
- 200mm of travel front and rear
- HVP6 suspension design
- Mixed wheels
- Two leverage rate options
- Adjustable idler position to change anti-squat characteristics
- Adjustable reach (+/- 5mm)
- External cable routing
- 62.5° head tube angle
- 12x148mm rear hub spacing
- Sizes: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5
- Weight (size S4):
- MSRP (USD): Team DH 2 FOX - $7,999 // Team DH 2 RockShox - $7,399 // Frame w/ FOX Factory DHX2 shock - $4,599
HVP6 Suspension Design
The most intriguing aspect of the Team DH is its all-new high-pivot, six-link layout, which Norco calls HVP6 (High Virtual Pivot Six Link). It’s an evolved version of Norco’s HVP design used on their Range enduro bike, but HVP6 adds two extra links to the equation.
The design can be broken into three parts: the rear stays, the short lower link above the bottom bracket, and the two links that actuate the shock. The links that actuate the shock control the leverage curve, while the seatstay and lower link control the braking performance and axle path. The the idler pulley position dictates anti-squat. Like other six-bar designs, it allows for independent tuning of each of these kinematic metrics.
Frame Details
The frame itself uses carbon rear stays attached to an aluminum front triangle to create a blended flex profile. The production stays match the stiffness the team wanted, balancing enough flex to track the ground with enough stiffness to keep the bike responsive. The front triangle remains aluminum due to its positive damping characteristics.
Other noteworthy frame highlights:
- External cable routing to help simplify maintenance and service.
- Oversized bearings for increased durability
- A large downtube guard and molded chain slap protection
- And water bottle mounts, so you can stay hydrated while you’re lappin’
Adjustments
A few adjustments are baked into the frame. Two idler positions offer a high anti-squat (stock) and low (-20%) anti-squat to change the support, feedback, and drive the suspension offers.
Two leverage rate positions offer a change in progression of only 2.5%, but importantly, the starting leverage stays the same while the slope of the curve changes. This isolates the adjustment and makes it a tool to change the amount of support at bottom out.
You can also adjustment the reach by +/- 5mm via different headset cups.
Geometry
Norco offers the Team DH in five sizes, each with its own geometry package. Because of the bike's high main pivot, the axle path moves rearward, and the rear center of the bike grows throughout travel. This means the S4 has a static 445mm rear center that grows to a healthy 463mm at sag. Total growth is around 30mm.
Build Kits
The Team DH is launching with two build kits and a frameset option. The frameset comes with a FOX Factory DHX2 and retails for $4,599 USD.
Hit us with any questions, and stay tuned for our Test Sessions video and review coming in the next few weeks!
For the full review, please put a lot of comparison to the other big hitters like the V10, Demo8, Frameworks, Commencal etc. At least that is what I am most interested in
Super keen to hear your ride impressions and how noticeable some of these adjustments are.
I put in a pre order for one much earlier this year, stoked these rigs have finally been released.
Weapon! Been riding a Range for years. It’s the best bike I’ve owned for the type of riding I enjoy. So cool to see this on the market finally!
Made in Canada? Looks rad!
Why isn't there a team replica build? Seems like a no-brainer with a name like Team DH and the fact that the Torrent exists and offers a similar build for $3k less.
If they did a team replica now it would be at the end of (very long) life cycle for the components that the team uses. I expect there will be a team replica in the first half of next year 😉
Am I crazy or is that just an inverted four bar? Upper "pulley" pivot is the main, down to the inverted horst link on the chainstay, chainstay to rocker link, rocker link connects to both another rocker as well as the main frame, but the link it actuates isn't doing anything with the wheel path, it's just an extra set of rocker links for leverage ala Knolly. Main Frame (1), Seat Stay (2), Chain Stay (3), Rocker link (4). It has another bar to drive the shock, but as that isn't actually defining anything beyond leverage, it's a four bar.
Edit; my bad, I thought I had read elsewhere it was six bar. That was me and my shite reading comprehension. As yah were.
Fair point. The build is called "Team DH 2" and there is a suspicious lack of a "1" build.
Still kinda waters down the launch.
The marketing saying it's six links is muddying the waters. But yes, it's a linkage driven four bar, just like the old Demo and Enduro are or most (all?) Knollys.
Assuming the full saint build with fox factory drops when the saint is ready. Those new levers to match the kashima look insane.
Curious how this feels with an air shock as the teams been running that for a bit.
And also curious how this feels in a bike park - popping between natural rollers and on jumps.
Also wondering if a 3d printed set back side load cage would fit a 22oz purist bottle in the S5 frame.
You’d think they could offset the development costs of this by charging a bit more for the torrent - that bike is a hell of a deal - the complete is less than a frame of this.
I was impressed at the restraint shown in the tech rumours thread to (so far...) not clog it up with "well actually" posts. It sure was tempting, though.
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