Spinning Maple into Gold

With the 2020 (2021?) Olympic games set to kick off in Tokyo tomorrow, Canadian MTB athletes Haley Smith and Peter Disera got some super-sweet custom paint jobs for their bikes just prior to landing in Japan. Read on for all the details and photos, and be sure to watch their progress on Sunday, July 25 and Monday, July 26.

The potential of The Games runs through the veins of every athlete who commits to the pursuit of gold – and when you’re one of the select few Canadians chosen every four years, those golden hopes, and the pride of your country, course through you like the veins of a maple leaf.

When Norco Factory Team XC riders Haley Smith and Peter Disera were selected to represent Canada in Tokyo, we wanted to do something to celebrate, and give these amazing athletes something special to commemorate their experience.

We transferred the excitement that comes with Norco’s first ever trip to The Games into the creative energy it took to imagine the visuals for these one-off Tokyo-bound XC machines.

To achieve this amazing effect, we spun maple into gold by plucking actual Canadian maple leaves and imprinting them on the aggressive lines of Haley and Peter’s Norco Revolver FS 100 and HT frames. The finish was achieved by the skilled artists at Velocolour, and the results render a pearl golden-green organic leaf texture that shimmers over a clear coated carbon.

The frames were barely dry before being boxed up and whisked off with the hopes of a nation to surprise our two gold medal hopefuls, who are busy making their final preparations to take on the Izu MTB Course next week.