Sitting at the top of Norco’s budget XC hardtail range, the Charger 7.1’s distinctive looks aren’t the only thing that make it stand out. With an airsprung fork and 2x10 Shimano Deore based transmission – pimped up by an SLX rear derailleur upgrade – it offers a fair chunk of componentry bling for your money. But how well does it perform?
- Highs: Handling blends fun and stability perfectly for day-long trail adventures, decent component blend and with added rack mount versatility
- Lows: Would be even better with a longer, more accurate-steering fork
Few things are more confidence-inspiring for novice riders than the ability to make a mistake on the trail without risking the tenderest parts of the body. The Charger’s radically sloped top tube follows a long tradition of Canadian hardtail design, giving its rider a precious inch or so of extra standover clearance. The seat tube has been extended – and braced with an extra tube – to keep the seatpost length within the realms of sanity.
A complex-profile down tube makes up the Charger’s backbone, widening to a stiffness enhancing rectangular section at the bottom bracket shell and curving where it joins the head tube to help disperse the stress from frontal impacts. The head tube isn’t tapered for extra steering precision, but that’s less of a problem on a bike at this level.
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The seatstays and chainstays wend their way in ankle-clearing fashion from the seat tube and bottom bracket joints to the dropouts. There’s plenty of mud clearance, largely thanks to extra dimples in the chainstays around the tyre, though the relatively slender stock treads help in that department too. Rack mounts are a bonus for commuters or wannabe tourers, though there’s only room in the compact front triangle for a single set of bottle cage mounts.
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