First Impression: Norco Truax

By Eric McKeegan

Part of me thinks I’m secretly Canadian. Not only do I always enjoy visiting our friendly neighbors up north, I also without fail enjoy riding their bikes. Case in point, the Norco Truax.

(East Coast mud not included in the MSRP)

For years and years the Norco Shore was the standby long travel free ride bike for scores of people going big, but it has been getting pretty long in the tooth the last few years. Enter the Truax, a bottom-up and top-down redesign.

One look at the new bike makes it obvious that the Truax is taking advantage of all the new technology for tube shaping and forming. Not only are the tubes hydroformed, most of the pivot points are directly formed/machined into the tubes, so there’s no need for welded-on bosses or mounts. The shock linkage is now one piece, and the head tube is tapered, adding up to a stiff, solid platform.

Yes that is a single crown fork with 40mm stanctions.

A few weeks after receiving this bike at Dirt Rag HQ, I was lucky enough to head up to Whistler to sample the terrain this bike was design to excel on. I took multiple runs in the bike park and competed (poorly) in the Canadian Enduro Race.

What do I think so far? Well after riding with Norco team rider Jay Hoots, I know I’ve got a long way to go before I find this bike’s limits. I plan to have as much fun as possible finding those limits.

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