Category Archives: Bike

Eugene and I hit Loftus this morning. He was on his trusty 26″ 2011 Giant Trance and I brought the Torrent out. I swapped some parts out with parts I had in the parts bin. Namely some pedals, 760mm Renthal 40mm risers, some Ergon GA2 grips and an Ergon saddle. I tried to convert the tyres to tubeless last night but failed. I managed to get the rear tyre bead to seat with a floor pump but then I had a leak in the valve. Feeling defeated I cried, chucked tubes in and went to bed.

Today’s ride was awesome fun (and exhausting, but in a good way) though! Initially I’d forgotten how to pedal up tech as I’ve been so spoilt with the Amflow, but it didn’t take long before I was clearing everything which really surprised me. Eugene and I swapped bikes a few times and we both were pretty in awe at how well the Torrent climbs up techy stuff. The Schwalbe Hans Dampf tyres were surprisingly fast rolling and grippy too. Makes me think the Assegai was the reason why my first Torrent felt sluggish. The brakes suck, modulation is AOK, just no bite. The Suntour fork works… kinda? I’m 65kg’s and doubt the coil suits my weight. I reduced the coil spring preload to the lowest setting and even then I’m still only using half of the fork travel.

I had my feet almost come off the pedals a few times. Pins on these pedals are not the long nasty sharp shin destroyer type though. Tempted to go clipless, but I want to better my wheelies so maybe later. Clipped a tree and lost a Ergon GA2 bar end plug. I googled to see if there were replacements and found that pretty much everyone has lost theirs lol, so I bung on some roadie bar end plugs in there, easy fix.

Anyways, very happy with the bike! I re-did the rim tape on both wheels earlier this afternoon and have both set up tubeless now. Forgot to mention, the cables do not have any internal housing dampening foam and they’re literally rattling around like mad in there so I’ll probably address this ASAP. She’s heavy at 14.80kg’s but the bike doesn’t at all feel heavy out on the trails. As much as I’m tempted to whack on the carbon cranks and wheelset I have in the parts bin I’ve decided to hold off for now (and also to hold off buying anything until I at least ride it some more).

I’ve recently sold off a few bikes, the main goal was to go from 11 bikes down to 8 bikes in total (because I’m Asian and 8 is my lucky number, OK?!). The Allez Sprint has gone, so too the S-Works SL6 and also both BMX bikes.

But I have an addiction. Building bikes and New Bike Day is real, and having all this cash from selling all these bikes has had me haunting FB Marketplace for something new to play with.

I try to justify this by suggesting that it’s unfair and a little unfun that I’m riding the Amflow when I’m out on the trails with Gina and Eugene (who’s on a vintage 26″ dually).

For the past couple of months I’ve looked at and researched the living daylights out of a few bikes. Big time analysis paralysis as there’s just so much good stuff out there. Everything from more boutique bikes from a few years ago like the Pivot Firebird or Santa Cruz Bronson going for $4-5K, to sub $1000 hardtails like the Commencal Meta HT AM.

In the end I’ve come to realise that I sold my Norco Torrent prematurely. At the time I thought it felt way too big, heavy, slow and sluggish, but the geometry on my Amflow is the same, and over time I’ve managed to adapt to it’s modern geo as well as get my fit dialled in.

I messaged the guy who bought my old steel Torrent in hopes to buy it back off him, but nope! Him and his wife are so happy with it, riding it lots and insist the bike has gone to a good home (can’t be mad about that!), but I then spotted this medium aluminium Norco Torrent on FB Marketplace listed by a lady who wanted to clear out some space in her garage. In her listing she said her husband bought it new, rode around the block 2 times and the bike has lived in storage ever since (I swear I have a knack for these finds!).

I managed to haggle it down to $1500. I’ve still got a carbon crankset with shorter arms which I took off my old Torrent before sale and I’ve also got a set of light carbon DT Swiss wheels which could make their way onto this bike, but I really like the idea of a strong paranoid free anti-carbon build as it’s so good to go old school and go by feel vs having to use a torque wrench. Also, I might at least try 29″ front and back for a bit before swapping the rear wheel out for a 27.5″.

Going backwards to go forwards kinda blows and Aluminium is not as real as steel but it’s lighter. The colour is nice, but I liked the colour of my old Torrent more, but all in all, I’m happy!

SPECS:

2023 Norco Torrent A2 HT

Frame: Butted 6061 Alloy size Medium in Green/Copper
Fork: SR Suntour Zeron35 LOR DS 29″, 150mm Travel, 44mm Offset
Rear Shifter: Shimano Deore
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore
Crankset: Shimano Deore FC-M5100-1, 30T, 175mm
BB: Shimano Cartridge, BSA Threaded, 73mm
Cassette: Shimano Deore CS-M5100 11-51T
Chain: KMC X11 11spd
Brakes: Tektro Orion HD-M745, 4 Piston
Brake Rotors: Tektro TR180-22, 180mm
Brake Levers: Tektro Orion HD-M745
Handlebar: Butted 6061 Alloy 800mm, 25mm Rise
Stem: 6061 Alloy 50mm Length, 35mm Clamp
Seatpost: TranzX YSP18 Dropper Post, 31.6mm, 150mm
Headset: Sealed Bearing, Tapered
Saddle: Norco XC
Grips: Norco
Pedals: VP Nylon Flat Pedal
Seatpost Clamp: Norco Alloy Nutted Clamp 34.9mm
Wheels: Stans Flow D 29″ HG
Tyres: Schwalbe Hans Dampf 2.35″ Perf/Twinskin/TLR

Original Weight: 15.14kg

Gave it a good go!

Some BTS shots from hangs with Jen and Nick in the CBD today.

Found these on eBay and I pounced on them!

Custom metal ZEN headbadge from UPSMUCK came in the mail today!

Finally found Bobcats today at Loftus! Had been searching for it for some time. It’s as intense as I thought it would be! Happy to say that I made it down most of the features and I’m super keen to work up to 2 of the larger features which I ended up walking down.