Dirt Norco explain Gravity Tune
With the release of the 2012 bike range from Norco, the ‘Aurum’ is the DH rig that the team have been working on with the engineers at Norco. Some more exciting news about the new frame is the addition of ‘Gravity Tune’ as explained here by Ben and Dan.
I’ve always wanted more cock space on my bikes too. didn’t realized it was a common problem! perhaps I’m smaller than i think i am & my wife has been lying too me all this time! all sort of personal questions now need answering.
Great article and the new frames look fantastic. Be great to see Dirt do an article on Ben and Stanny’s bikes, spec list, set up etc.
The Mondraker has adjustable chainstays..
I feel quite sceptical that this is actually a ‘new’ concept/idea. How many other companies have offered adjustable rear ends that basically do the same thing anyway.
How much change is there anyway because all sizes have got to accommodate the rear wheel?
If you think about it, between any manufacturers smallest and largest frame, for example the 2011 Demo 8 XS and large, there can anything up to 2 inches difference in the wheel base, all of which is usually built into the front centre of a bike that that has constant length chainstays.
Two inches is quite a lot; I suspect it will make a bike feel quite different and that’s before you start to talk about front/rear balance.
Having a sizing system that keeps a bike’s proportions in balance does make a lot fo sense on paper and will need a lot more adjustment in the chainstays that other manufacturers have previously offered.
Liteville have been doing this for a while now. great idea but it must be a pain in the arse for everyone above the end user. it sounds like the rear ends are fit specific to the relevent front end too so it’s not like you could retro-fit a small rear to a med front if you fancy. adjustable chainstays/drop-outs are a much better way around this.
but why call it ‘gravity tune’…its not ‘tuning’ your bike its just buying one with different geometry…unless it plays a nice tune when you ride downhill
Just addressing a few things that have been brought up. Firstly the only difference in sizing is in the front triangle. Rear ends are still one size only. How Norco have done this is by essentially rotating the BB assembly to suit individual sizes. So you could mix and match all you want. Secondly this isn’t about adjustable chainstay lengths at all, plenty of bikes have that feature and that’s fine. What this is about is rider size and how they are positioned on the bike. What this amounts to is that somebody like Stanny and Reid can be in the same place on the bike in reference to the axles.
“How Norco have done this is by essentially rotating the BB assembly to suit individual sizes.”
does anyone have a graphic for this, I’m not getting my head round this bit! if the chainstays are the same length on all sizes then the BB can only go forward and shorten the front end while lengthening the rear…which is not how it came across in the video at all.
Shame really that this has to be made into such a massive marketing fad, bike companies should have been getting their sizings right in the first place