Norco Revolver C1 120 review

This past August at Crankworx, Norco released its updated Revolver. The bike is the Port Coquitlam, B.C., company’s cross country rig, which had not seen a refresh in six years.

It seemed a bit odd that Norco would unveil its flagship short-travel bike at an event focused on bigger squish bikes, but the Revolver and Crankworx go way back. The first iteration of the bike made its debut in Whistler in 2011.

Fourth Revolver continues to elevate modern XC

The new edition of the Revolver, the fourth generation of the line, follows the trend of making cross country bikes more capable and prepared to handle the demands of modern XC race courses. The frame is 450 g lighter than the old Revolver. The geometry has been slackened noticeably. The outgoing 120-mm-travel Revolver has a head-tube angle of 67.4, but you’ll recall some early bikes were as steep as 70.5 degrees. The new head-tube angle on the 120-mm-travel bike is 66.5 degrees and 66 degrees on the 130-mm-travel one. Norco has also adjusted the reach, making the Revolver better at descending, but also allowing for a forward riding position for climbing. This really is a totally new bike.

Norco Revolver C1 120

My test rig was the C1 120 model. That’s the middle build kit of the shorter-travel Revolver configuration. It came equipped with a mix of the new Shimano XTR and Deore XT drivetrain and XT four piston brakes. That Norco specced the full combo of Shimano trail/enduro levers and four-piston calipers shows how confident the brand is that this XC whip can double as a fun trail bike. The shifting of the lateset Shimano components is, as we’ve found in our long-term reivews, close to flawless.

Suspension comes via a RockShox Sid Ultimate fork and SIDLuxe Ultimate rear shock. Norco claims the Revolver’s suspension is tuned to get trail-bike performance out of an inline shock like the SIDLuxe. Zipp 1Zero Hitop S wheels and a Race Face Era handlebar rounded out the build nicely with more carbon fibre goodness. While TranzX dropper post was adequate, it would be nice to see an upgrade here considering the…