Norco has 2 great teams in place now, the World" team as well as the "Dirt" team. I have ridden both the new TR450 and the Aurum and in my OPINION, the Aurum slays the TR450. That is the way I ride, both bikes are pretty nice but there is something to be said about the plush ride of a Horst link bike over the 4 bar system Transition uses. I have a guy working for me that has felt the other way, he loves the TR450, but...he just ordered an Aurum. Before everyone goes hating on Norco for defining and helping build this sport, ride the bikes and make an honest opinion on them.

I hope you aren't taking any of these comments personally Mike. I read the review and I see you have some great points. Most of these comments seem to be everyone's opinion, whether they are valid or not. Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. Having ridden for more years that most Pinkbike followers seem to have been alive, I get where you are coming from. The large lugs with the stiffer compound under the soft compound should do the trick in the deep slop. Being from Alberta if you have the balls to ride in the mud this tire might just do the trick, nothing I have ever tried works! Alberta mud is like riding on a Wet Banana! Thanks for the great writeup Mike, keep up the great work.

I've had a chance to throw a leg over it and I have to say it's pretty good. I was never a fan of the Bighit but was a huge fan of the original Demo 9. While the Status is nothing like either of those, it is pretty good for the price. Nothing is wrong about this bike. Let's try to remember this is not a World Cup race bike but something for the masses. The 135 rear spacing is great because wheels are easy to find and reasonably priced.

Genuinely the nicest guy you will ever meet. He even sent a text to my buddy wishing him a good night once.

Best AC DC song ever! And Epic pictures, feels peaceful, elegant and a ton of fun. Building memories for sure.

I still can't figure out how to buy a new headset with all the crap that's out there now. 1 1/8", 1 1/2" integrated, semi-integrated, standard! I think it's goona be great, provided none of my customers EVER need a new headset. I miss the days of 1" threaded or 1" non-threaded, things were so simple for a little while there. Except in bottom brackets, wait, BB's are still a mess!

I see that some people are hung up on the service schedule from Fox, has anyone really researched the service schedules for any high end race forks? I run a service shop and I can tell you that a Fox 40 has EXACTLY the same schedule as a RockShox Boxxer. All race level equipment is high maintenance. It intended purpose is racing. An oil change after 100 hours is actually a good length of time, think about a race run is what, 3 minutes? Lets say a racer does 30 practice runs and 1 race run, it's time for service. If you are skilled enough to race on the world cup or even a high level local level, that to me is a good couple weekends. I run this level equipment, not because it's what I need (I'm old and slow) but because I can. I personally do not service my forks this often as I am not racing at a World Cup level, actually, I should be servicing my forks after about 10 runs I'm so slow.

Well after ready these comments I have official decided NEVER TO READ THE COMMENTS AGAIN. Some of you people are stupid, plain and simple, others have valid points but sadly the stupid outnumber the valid by a huge ratio. Goodbye PB comments.

Sadly it doesn't matter how many bikes you put on the road or even if you choose to ride safely, if you go head to head with a car, you will lose. I hope that justice is done, this driver obviously was frustrated but I was not there, I saw a video of the incident. I don't even know the guy, but there seems to me more going on that we can see. I personally like the idea of the Critical mass but I don't think they are going about them properly. Iwould not ride in one because of incidents like this. I live in a small city and have been run off the road 2 times on my road bike, that is why I no longer ride a road bike.