AJ,
Interesting to hear about your playing around with spacers under the bars and deviation from ride aligned.
I'm 6'2" 285 pounds on an A3 with the Super Deluxe shock. The Ride Aligned system is of no help to me however as it only makes suspension recommendations for riders up to 240 pounds, and they did not include the A3 as one of the bikes in the guide. I've been grumbling about this since the first day I owned the bike. There are other issues with Ride Aligned, though.
All sizes of A1 come with a Deity bar with 25mm rise. The XL A2 and A3 come with a generic Norco bar with a 30mm rise (20mm on small and medium). The ride aligned guide tells me that my ideal at 6'2" is an XL bike with 20mm rise bars and 15mm spacers regardless of whether I have the 25mm Deity bar or the 30mm Norco.
I find the generic Norco bar a little too flexy for my liking and wanted to upgrade so I messaged Norco about the inconsistencies on this and got nothing back, but your discussion on stem spacers in the video helps a bit.
I was wondering about 5mm more stem spacers but given that I'm already above Norco's recommendation by virtue of the 30mm bars they put on the bike I was hesitant. Sounds like the additional 5mm worked for you so maybe I'll try anyway (I know rise achieved by bars and stem spacers aren't equivalent).
I'm also wondering about your thoughts on their recommended tire pressures. They seem high to me.
Overall, however, I love this bike. It has amazing stability and is burly enough to handle my weight without complaint. Thanks for the review (even if it only served to validate my purchase!)
Aug. 6, 2020, 4:25 p.m. - Wile_E.
AJ, Interesting to hear about your playing around with spacers under the bars and deviation from ride aligned. I'm 6'2" 285 pounds on an A3 with the Super Deluxe shock. The Ride Aligned system is of no help to me however as it only makes suspension recommendations for riders up to 240 pounds, and they did not include the A3 as one of the bikes in the guide. I've been grumbling about this since the first day I owned the bike. There are other issues with Ride Aligned, though. All sizes of A1 come with a Deity bar with 25mm rise. The XL A2 and A3 come with a generic Norco bar with a 30mm rise (20mm on small and medium). The ride aligned guide tells me that my ideal at 6'2" is an XL bike with 20mm rise bars and 15mm spacers regardless of whether I have the 25mm Deity bar or the 30mm Norco. I find the generic Norco bar a little too flexy for my liking and wanted to upgrade so I messaged Norco about the inconsistencies on this and got nothing back, but your discussion on stem spacers in the video helps a bit. I was wondering about 5mm more stem spacers but given that I'm already above Norco's recommendation by virtue of the 30mm bars they put on the bike I was hesitant. Sounds like the additional 5mm worked for you so maybe I'll try anyway (I know rise achieved by bars and stem spacers aren't equivalent). I'm also wondering about your thoughts on their recommended tire pressures. They seem high to me. Overall, however, I love this bike. It has amazing stability and is burly enough to handle my weight without complaint. Thanks for the review (even if it only served to validate my purchase!)