Wile_E. profile

I leave them on all the time. If I'm driving from Vancouver to Squamish, it's 50/50 that I'd put them on at home. Whistler I put them on there. All my rides around the Tri-Cities, I put them on at home so I'm not fussing with shoes at the start of the ride.

They do have the inner and outer bumpers, but not as pronounced as the Sam Hill's. For some reason the Sam Hill has more padding on the sides but no skid plate, the Projects have the skid plate but less side padding.

The Projects have a really nice fabric as well that is more durable than most of the spandex type material that most pads have. I should correct, though, not exactly a "hard cap," more of a skid plate... 7idp calls it a soft hardshell outer. Flexible plastic of some sort.

I find with every pad I've tried I can get an abrasion where the edge of the dough digs in when (not if) I crash.

Sam Hills are awesome, but I was put in a pair of Projects after a warranty claim and like them better.  Just as comfortable, a little better front protection (hard cap), a little less side protection

I find my pads so comfortable and comforting that I rarely ride without them... even wearing them when I'm taking my daughter on beginner trails.  It's kind of like a seatbelt in a car for me where it is less restrictive without one, but it just feels wrong to drive without being buckled in.

My current pads are the 7idp Project which puts a hard cap over the super dough.  Not sure how much extra protection it really gives, but I do find the sliding surface reduces damage - I've had other pads pull up or down or the ground wears through the fabric and then into me. 

Leatt make great stuff, and I especially appreciate that they and 7idp make things that fit bigger riders.  There are a lot of great rated gear that I simply can't fit, but the brands with the moto backgrounds seem to be more friendly to bigger riders.

Can you comment at all on how this compares to the new Sight?  The bikes look really similar.

At 6'2" on the Sight, I have a little seatpost out, but not much (5-10mm).  I really appreciate that Norco put a 200mm dropper on this bike.  When the seat is down and I'm standing on the pedals, there is acres of space to move on this bike.  When the dropper is all the way up, I'm still centred on the bike and it is planted as opposed to my old Genius which placed me way over the back and made keeping the front wheel down on climbs a real struggle. 

The Sight is heavy and I feel it, and it feels slower on the climbs than my Genius which was several pounds lighter... but my times on the climb are all quicker on the Sight and I'm getting over stuff I couldn't on the Genius (and I don't feel like I've worked as hard).

Thanks for this and for the advocacy of the XXL crowd.  I'm 6'2" and 280 on the bike.  I've seen some of the Norco guys on Burke and we don't look like twins.  If I set the app to Professional and set the offset to have me riding off the back, the shock recommendation is 290 psi which is still about 25psi less than I need to attain a reasonable amount of sag.  I may need to set it up like a Red Bull Rampage rider according to Norco.  

I think all I can really do is aim for 30% sag in the rear and 25% sag in the fork and set rebound to (nearly) max (and have the shock custom tuned if it is too fast). 

I get that I am an extreme outlier in the MTB community.  I probably should get out and find a fun way to exercise and lose some weight (oh, wait, wouldn't a bike be good for that?).  I wonder, though, if part of the reason I'm such an outlier is that it's a hard sport to break into for the sized.  Trying to find pads, jerseys, rain gear, and shorts is a nightmare, before I even get to bikes that need custom tuned shocks and manufacturers who void the warranty if I throw a leg over their bike (Norco does not btw, they say I have another 20 pounds before we get there).  Really I wonder to what extent there is a "if they build it bigger, they (my kind) will come" thing here. 

I think if Cam really wants to do long term reliability reviews, he should get me testing parts... and I could scour the manufacturers for stuff that fits people who don't look like they did when they were 25.

Funny thing is I can't find an email address on their website.  There isn't any "contact us" information that I can see... I'd love to talk to one of the people who set up the parameters for Ride Aligned and see what they say.  I did try a web chat asking for suggestions. The best I got (and I don't know who was on the other side of the keyboard) was "try a little more pressure and maybe a couple more clicks of rebound.  Didn't really seem like they were offering any more than my experimenting with setting pressure to a target sag.

I keep reading these articles where testers set up the bike as they normally would and the bike was good but something was missing.  Then, they used the Ride Aligned App and unlocked a mode where Unicorns pranced down the trail in front of them smoothing out chunder and supporting them in railing turns. 

So needless to say I was psyched that Norco had advice for me as to how to set up my new Sight (A29 XL).  Unfortunately, the Ride Aligned App doesn't include the A3 (no help for the impoverished mountain biker on an entry level Sight), and the Ride Aligned system doesn't handle a rider weight about 240 pounds. 

As a bigger rider (tall as well as heavy) I must say the Sight is amazing at putting me in a balanced position on the climbs, feels really stable on descents, and the suspension is running pretty well... but come on, Norco.  I want the magic setup numbers too!!!!

No apology necessary.  Thanks for the reply.  I'm going to give it a try and I think it will all work out okay.  With the headset, my bike returns to stock geometry, but with a slacker head angle and longer wheelbase.  Fit shouldn't be an issue, it was more a concern with what I was trading off with handling, but I don't kinow that I ride well enough to really push the bike anyway.  I'll let you know how it goes, and thanks so much for the offer to brainstorm if it doesn't end up as expected.

Interesting read, Andrew.  I had my fork warranty serviced by Fox a number of years back when they changed a creaky CSU and didn't notice until James at Suspensionwerx pointed out that the fork came back 10mm longer.  I had been changing around the cockpit and noticed that my bike descended much better, but the front wheel got really floppy on climbs... something I decided to live with.  Once I realised the change was fork related, I found the MTB Geo calculator to see what had changed, and have now discovered that I can restore the stock geometry (reach, BB height, top tube, etc.) with a -2 degree headset.  The HTA will drop almost 2.5 degrees from stock while maintaining the STA.  The wheelbase will grow 25mm, all front centre.  My only hesitation is what new problems may emerge in handling moving the wheel that much forward.  Any thoughts?  I reduced the stock stem from 80 to 55, would going back up somewhat help, or should it be okay.  The geo of my bike after the headset change will look pretty similar to an Altitude or a Sight... both bikes I like.