Norco Sight VLT CX
Wheel Size: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Suspension Travel:
- Frame travel: 150 mm
- Fork travel: 160 mm
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: 2, 3, 4, 5
- Headtube angle: 64°
- Reach (size 4): 497.5 mm
- Chainstay length (size 4): 440 mm
Drive System Highlights:
- Motor: Bosch Performance Line CX (Gen 5)
- Torque: 85 Nm
- Power: 600 W
- Battery: Bosch PT800 (800 Wh)
- Display: Bosch System Controller
- Remote: Bosch Mini Remote
Frame Material: Carbon fiber
Price: Complete bikes starting at $6,699 USD / $8,649 CAD (build details below)
Intro
eMTBs are getting really, really good these days, but perhaps the final frontier of eMTB refinement is the constant struggle between weight and bike range. While a bigger battery means more ride time, it also typically means more weight. That tradeoff is, in part, what led to the rise of Lightweight eMTBs, with their more mid-power motors — less power meant less battery drain, allowing smaller batteries and a correspondingly lighter overall system weight. In practice, though, there were still compromises in range, and anyone who has ridden a mid-power motor with friends on full-power bikes has likely witnessed firsthand just how much impact the drop in power has on their ability to keep up.
More recently, though, it seems like battery technology has started to turn a corner. With Bosch’s latest fifth generation CX motor, they’ve managed to pull some weight out of the motor itself, but arguably the more impressive achievement is the fact that their new 800 Wh PowerTube battery manages to be both smaller and lighter than the old 750 Wh one.
Norco has taken advantage of those weight savings, and the new Sight VLT CX claims to have shed 20% of the prior Sight VLT’s weight for a sportier feel while keeping maximal range. It’s also still one of the few examples of a high-pivot eMTB. Let’s dig into the details of the new Sight VLT CX to see how it all comes together — and while this is just a First Look, we should have one on the way soon for some trail time, so stay tuned for our initial thoughts.
The Frame
The outgoing Sight VLT was unique for its early adoption of a high pivot layout on an eMTB platform, but it certainly wasn’t light at a claimed 55.6 lbs / 25.2 kg for the top-shelf C1 build (size 3). The front triangle looked quite burly with its brace between the top tube and downtube, and the aluminum chainstays likely didn’t help on the weight front, either. By comparison, the new Sight VLT CX’s frame aesthetic is far sleeker — gone is the brace between the top tube and downtube in favor of a cleaner and much more svelte-looking front triangle, and the rear triangle is now entirely made of carbon fiber, following the cleaner lines of the non-electric Sight and Optic. As a result of those changes, plus the drive system updates (which we’ll touch on below), the C1 build now weighs a claimed 48 lbs / 21.8 kg in a size 3.
The suspension design is also much cleaner on the new Sight VLT CX, adopting a vertical shock layout instead of the prior model’s yoke-driven horizontal shock design. It’s still a high pivot layout, which Norco still calls VPSHP. The high pivot means that the wheel can move backward and away from impacts, and while Norco’s design doesn’t use a wildly high pivot location, it still leads to a decent bit of rearward movement at the axle — Norco doesn’t publish any kinematics for the Sight VLT CX, but chainstay lengths grow by 9 mm from the static measurement to the length at the bike’s sag point.
As with most other models in their lineup, Norco claims to have tweaked the suspension design slightly across the lineup to account for differences in rider weights and heights across the size range. Just like the last Sight VLT, the new Sight VLT CX is designed around mixed wheels only.
Drive System
As hinted above, the drive unit and battery also contribute quite a bit to the Sight VLT CX’s weight loss. The new Bosch CX drive unit still pumps out 85 Nm of torque and 600 watts of peak power, but it has gotten a bit lighter than the Gen 4 motor and is allegedly quieter, too. The battery is 50 Wh larger than the one on the prior Sight VLT, despite being both smaller and lighter. 800 Wh is a whole lot of juice, but the Sight VLT CX is also compatible with Bosch’s PowerMore 250 unit, which allows a ridiculous 1050 Wh of total battery potential for particularly range-anxious buyers.
Fit & Geometry
Norco has made some very slight tweaks to the geometry with the new Sight VLT CX, but it’s generally quite similar to the old one. There are only four sizes available now, compared to five with the last bike, though, and some smaller riders may miss the size 1 option.
Norco has used numerical sizing rather than nominal (e.g., “Large”) sizing for a while now. Using the size 4 as a reference point, which I would approximate as a Large / XL, the new Sight VLT CX keeps the same (rather long) 497.5 mm reach matched to a 645 mm stack and 637 mm effective top tube length. The chainstays have gotten slightly longer, now 440 mm rather than 436 mm on the old bike. The head tube angle is still 64°, and the seat tube angle is still a fairly steep 77.75°.
Full geometry figures are in the chart below, but it’s worth calling out that both seat tube angle and chainstay length vary by size due to Norco’s Ride Aligned philosophy — we’re fans of that approach here at BLISTER.
The Builds
Norco offers three different builds for the Sight VLT CX, arranged in their typical letter-and-number format, where the letter conveys the frame material. The base model is the C3 in this case, and the top end is the C1.
All models get a RockShox Lyrik fork and Super Deluxe rear shock, ranging from the Select version on the C3 build to the Ultimate on the C1 build. The C3 bike also gets a Shimano Deore drivetrain and TRP Slate EVO brakes, while the C2 and C1 builds step up to electronic Transmission shifting from SRAM and Maven brakes. Continental Kryptotal Front and Xynotal tires are used across build options, but Norco has made the questionable choice to use the Trail casing up front with the rather hard Endurance compound — that’s something that riders may want to immediately swap, especially given the Sight VLT CX’s fairly aggressive intentions.
The full build details are as follows:
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore
- Brakes: TRP Slate EVO (203 mm front rotor / 180 mm rear)
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Select (160 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Select
- Wheels: WTB ST i30 rims / Bear Pawls hubs
- Dropper Post: TranzX YSP23 (S2: 150 mm, S3: 170 mm, S4–S5: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM S1000 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Bronze (200 mm front rotor / 180 mm rear)
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Select+ (160 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Select+
- Wheels: WTB KOM Team rims / Bear Pawls front hub, DT Swiss 370 rear
- Dropper Post: TranzX RAD+ Travel Adjust (S2: 150 mm, S3: 170 mm, S4–S5: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver (200 mm front rotor / 180 mm rear)
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate (160 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate
- Wheels: Crank Brothers Synthesis Carbon Enduro
- Dropper Post: TranzX RAD+ Travel Adjust (S2: 150 mm, S3: 170 mm, S4–S5: 200 mm)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) The weight savings over the old Sight VLT CX are very significant — so how differently does the new bike ride?
(2) That said, at 48 lbs for the C1 build, the Sight VLT CX still weighs a good bit. Does the fairly lightweight Lyrik fork offer enough stiffness for the eMTB chassis?
(3) There aren’t that many examples of high pivot eMTBs still. How does the VPSHP suspension feel in its updated implementation?
Bottom Line (For Now)
By adopting some frame design changes and implementing the latest motor and battery from Bosch, Norco has carved a serious amount of weight from the Sight VLT CX compared to the old one. We’re curious to see how this new one rides and have one on the way to start testing very soon. Stay tuned.