Norco Bicycles Announces Sight VLT 29 eMTB
PRESS RELEASE: Norco Bicycles
We are excited to announce the next generation of our electric All-Mountain full suspension bike – the 2020 Sight VLT 29. It's an exciting evolution to the bike that received praise from both riders and cycling media.
 | It’s been just over a year since we launched our first electric full suspension mountain bike, and there’s been a lot happening at Norco since then. |
The Sight VLT 29 features Norco’s exclusive Ride Aligned™ design system, providing the same All-Mountain performance and handling as the 2020 Sight non-electric platform, with authoritative climbing, eager descending, and high-speed confidence that can only come from the complete integration of rider fit, frame geometry, suspension kinematics and precise, app-assisted bike setup.
| Earlier this fall, we introduced Ride Aligned™, and we’ve also seen the emergence of some exciting new e-MTB technology, like the range extender battery. The benefit to the new design and tech is big – and riders really want a 29er – so we had to go for it to keep this bike on top! |
We believe that by engineering the entire bike around a Shimano STEPS e-MTB drive unit with in-tube battery technology and an efficient power management system, e-MTB longevity and performance are brought to the next level. With the optional range extender battery, which is sold separately, you can add 50 to 70% more battery capacity to make All-Mountain rides even more epic.
The new Sight VLT 29’s refined design and geometry hold the perfect line through high-speed corners, send gaps with ease and provide all the pedal assistance you need to open the door to bigger adventures, bolder routes, and increased accessibility to rides that used to seem out of reach.
With five models that integrate e-MTB-specific components – including robust, easy-rolling 29-inch wheels with Maxxis Double Down casing tires, e-rated suspension forks and strong 4-piston brakes – the Sight VLT now makes the next level of electric full suspension mountain bike performance available to more riders in both carbon and aluminum.
The carbon frame is strong and stiff in all the right places and built as light as possible. The aluminum employs the same engineering principles to duplicate the performance and handling characteristics built into the carbon bike with a minimal weight penalty.
The Sight VLT 29 will be available in S, M, L, and XL with 29” wheels in three carbon and two aluminum options starting at $4,399 USD.
Find out more about the 2020 Sight VLT 29 at norco.com/2020-sight-vlt-29.
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Whirrrrrr, WHIRRRRRR. Not sure if it was the Shimano motor since it was a preproduction. Maybe it was the mode it was in? It wasn't the rider's bike (he was borrowing it) and he was trying to conserve power to get through the ride with some juice left for the climbs.
That's a great question!
But I did feel like the rear triangle was noodly
You are comparing it to your musical bike? Maybe you have sram brakes on you other bike?
Acoustic doesn’t mean non-electronic and it is so cringe worthly using it in this context. Please drop it!
29ers only? Why?
I have to disagree with you. A large segment of people are inherently lazy and will always take the easier way to get things done. Down vote me into hell, but an Ebike plays into that laziness. Less effort needed to get to the top. As these get cheaper, and lighter over time, more people will invest in them. Plain and simple.
So no, it’s not a product most people will someday own, just as most mountain bikers don’t have a moto and most road bikers don’t have a street bike.
But if this sort of rationalizing makes you feel justified in riding an ebike, good for you.
Plain and simple: ebikes are for folks who can’t adequately, in their estimation, ride a regular bike.
Not to mention those pesky logging road gates that we have all over washington. Opportunities open up big time with ease of access
My truck and my Kuat rack have no problem transporting two ebikes, and even my diminutive-stature wife has no problem picking up her ebike to load.
Oh, and if it's too steep to ride, most ebikes have a walk mode to help pull you up the incline.
39 years ago, road bikers said the same thing about MTBs. Different century, new generation, same Luddite attitudes towards advancement.
On one trail I'll call at best, boring, I got a chance to ride an e bike and it made a dull trail fun! There is certainly a use for these, maybe not as your sole bike but if it opens up new areas and improves a boring trail, then why hate it?
Good work Norco!
News flash: then it’s not a bicycle. It’s a MOTORcycle. 40mph up a road isn’t “pedal assist”; it’s a motorcycle that only works when you’re moving your legs...
@Schralpedrubber I have a ktm 450 sx-f. I'm definitely not riding that on a downhill trail.
Or invent a 50lb "motorcycle" to run me up the hills for DH fun that doesn't destroy trails like a 250lb dirtbike would...
From what I understand the E7000 motor is less powerful but more energy efficient and sensitive than the E8000 motor, which makes a lot of sense for the purpose of riding mountainbikes. Probably not interesting for those who only climb fireroads but I suppose fireroads are only a means to an end. Not much of a (technical) challenge nor much fun unless you've got good company to chat with (where pedal assist would probably help to be able to actually chat instead of pant). But yeah for actual climbing proper trails I think better modulation at the expense of some power is a good one. Not interested in an e-bike right now (simply as I live in The Netherlands so there isn't much that I wouldn't be able to climb here or within a few hours across the border) but when I'd regularly take one of these to proper mountains I'd choose modulation and efficiency over power any day.
You know what that means? An order of magnitude more runs on natural trails that previously had the natural limitations of inaccessibility. That means an order of magnitude more tracks, more erosion, more required maintenance—the type of maintenance that actual bike parks struggle to keep up with on their official trails.
Apply that to unofficial, unsanctioned natural trails—and the inevitable public and government backlash will be intense. It will result in increased crackdowns on unsanctioned trail use and more and more restrictions on where mountain bikers are permitted.
This is the way.
So those motors are already a concern, although hopefully a solvable one...but now you've got riders in here calling for a 1500+ watt, 45mph pedal-assist Bafang motor. And I'm sure in the next year or two, someone will figure out how to make a 3000-watt, 75mph pedal assist motor with the same size factor, and, to quote Joker, here...we...go!
It's playing directly into the hands of people and regulators who view these things as essentially motorized vehicles that should be prohibited off-road. And while I think there's a great MTB use case for the current limited-pedal-assist bikes (especially as size and weight continues to decrease and I continue to get older), I think those people who are hell-bent on motorbike-like power with bike-like weight are selfishly going to ruin it for the rest of us.
Hope I'm wrong on that, but at this point it seems pretty clear that the result is going to be increased regulation, along with banning MTBs outright and increased actions against use of renegade/unsanctioned trails....
TLDR: this is why we can't have nice things.