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Maybe it's a subsidized assembly fee or something. I don't know how Spesh works, but when someone buys a Norco online they pass on the normal margin to the shop that gets the bike and assembles it for the customer which makes it not a problem for the dealers that they sell online through their own website.

100%, a high margin inventory mover. Fine for me, will get them to the levo 5 more quickly.

Like the Hummer X it looks like AI slop from what I’ve seen

30+ years ago bullet bros was trying to solve the same problems.

You are correct, thanks for making mention before I could catch up in this thread. On longer climbs I would take the chain off but most times I just wouldn't care to. The bigger problem was the chain length in my largest rear cog when using the lower guide, only a problem during climbing though. The system was great while descending. But I just run the ochain now instead of the lower guide because it's manages the chain whipping and is less faff.

Why is it worth hiding a knucklebox

The Torrent isn't for bike nerds. It's for people that set it and forget it and spend their day lapping A-Line and Dirt Merchant. And for that purpose, the Torrent sounds like a perfect bike. Simple, reliable (hopefully) and affordable.

Extremely hot take in the bad way lol. Marin makes awesome bikes, I regularly check them out. Transition as well, albeit a little spendier but also more dialed (imo). The only reason I don’t buy either is because I already own a 6 year old Norco that has given me zero reasons to spend money on a new bike,

That's a hot take on things. A lot of us don't care if a bike is inside the box or outside it, we just want it to be a good time. Oh, and pretty much all mountain bikers are uncool. That's fine with me, I don't really like the cool people anyway.

I have to admit, I do not love the side profile of some of the 32" bikes that are coming out. They end up looking like XS bikes with cramped triangles and kinked bottom/top tubes. Hopefully more progressive geo will enable these things to look like something other than a 2010-2012 era niner.

As someone who, for 20+ years, got at least 1 new bike every year, I haven’t purchased a new bike in almost 3 years. I feel like 90% of bikes in the last 5 or so years have been great. So much so, that I’m actually considering buying the last gen Norco Optic as my next trail bike. Coming into 2026 I was convinced I would get a “New” full suspension frame this year. While I’m sure I’d be happy with the new Tallboy, Reya, or Ranger, it’s hard to justify the $$$$ for a new frame when I can...

I know I was being sarcastic dick about the industry. 🥴

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